Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127116
Tommy Watts (1 81 led the 5 0 0 cc Pros t o the fi rst tu rn at st art of th e second m ota. but Kell y Andris (21 took the lead on t he next straig ht. CMC/Dodge Truck Golden State Nationals: Round 2' Breker, Johnson, Ryan sail at Sandhill Ranch By Nate Rauba Photos by Troy Scott and Rauba BR ENT WOO D, CA, J AN. 10 H on da-m ou n ted Goat Breker lived up to his word by winning the 500cc Pro class a t Sandhill Ranch. At the conclusion of round one ofthe Golden State Nationals Series in San Bern ard in o Breker who finish ed third that day ~owed ' k d th.at h e wall ld come b ac . an. WIn th e next ro u nd, which IS exac tly wha t he did at Sandhill with 2-1 mot o finishes. " I said I'd wi n this week and I did," Breker sai d. In th e first mo to Breker finished a distant second behi nd Kawasaki rider Tommy Watts, who had a race long battle with Yamaha- mounted Bill y Fra n k that ended o n th e fina l lap wh en Frank's bik e seized. In rnoto two Breker had to wo rk up fro m a fifth pl ace start th en battle with Kaw asaki -m ounted T yson Voh land for th e lead . Vohland held Breker off until a few turns befor e the fin ish where Breker surprised h im with an in side pass. Vohland questioned Breker 's line, but CMC offi cial s declared th e pass lega l, so Breker was awarded the win a nd overall victory. Watts finis hed the m o to thi rd to wrap up second overall , and Kell y Andris was third overall after 8-4 finishes. A 2-1 score also secured the overall ' victo ry in the 250cc Pro clas s for 250 " and 500cc National Cha mpio n Ri ck ohnso n. In th e first moto, J ohnson ound himself mired at m id pack after a terribl e start. H e then pi cked off rid ers until he moved to second, wh ere he finished well behi nd Kawasaki 's J eff _ Ward, who led from the start. J ohnson headed the pack at the start of rn oto two, and whe n Ward dropped out of th e race early, it wa s l clear sai ling 10 the finish for J ohn son . Ward 's teammate Ro n Le~h~en blazed through the pack to Iin ish second and second overall ahead of Team H onda' s Jeff Leisk. Rick Ryan proved that you do n 't always nee d th e very lates t equipment 10 wi n races, as he took the 125cc Pro class wi n with 2-1 fin ish es aboard a n '87 H onda CR1 25. Ryan had 10 fight for hi s posi tion in both motos, since some of the closest raci ng of the day was in this class . Suzu ki's Donny Schmi t wo n th e first moto after passing Ryan for th e lead . Ryan fought off some la te-race charges by Kaw asaki-m ounted Mik e Kiedrowski for second. In the second round, run as darkn ess began to fall on th e track, Rya n exc ha nged t he lead w ith L a rry Brooks severa l times before taking com man d at the ha lfwa y poi nt. Kiedro wsk i gave hi m som e tro u ble at the en d but was held back. Kiedrowski was th e ru n ner-up overall a nd Schmit co uld only manage a fifth in the second moto and ended u p third overall. Prize money was paid accordi ng 10 th e rider 's fini shing pos itio n in each rnoto, making Breker's, Johnson's a nd Ryan 's pay th e same at $465. Several Eu ropeans com peted in th e event, incl uding form er 250cc World Cham pio n J acky Vimon d (F ra nce) , ,C h r is t ia n Vi mond (Fra nce), Mervyn Anst ie (G rea t Bri tai n ) and a " Pete H art " who is rea lly 500cc G P co ntender Peter H a nsso n from Sweden. Anstie was Jeff Matiasevich {4 81 leads Ro dney Smith {4 31. Ric k Ryan (1 1 I~ Ky le Lewis (121and Mike Kiedrowski on lap one of the f irs t 125cc pro race. the hi gh est finisher with a sixth overa ll in the 500cc Pro class. When th e first 500cc P ro moto left • th e lin e Mike La rson grabbed th e ho lesh o t, bu t Watts blasted by after th e first turn. Larson cras hed short ly th ereaft er and dropped to last, whil e Frank, Ri ch Myth en , Doug O'Donnell and Mike McLain took up th e chase o n Watts. . By lap two Frank was wor king on Wa tt s a n d Vohland m o ved into fou rt h behind O 'Donnell. Myth en had Breker o n hi s rear fender, a nd r' Gordon Ward was close behind. On the next lap Breker got by Mythe n and started moving in on Voh la nd, while Ward, who also had gotten by Myth en , cras hed. At the half wa y point of th e IO-Ia p , mot o Walts had managed to p u t a bi t of di stance o n Frank. Voh land came under fire from Breker, a nd th e two battled side -by-side until th e rear sub- frame of Vohland 's Kaw asaki began to co me off, p u ll ing th e carbu retor o ut of the intake manifold and ending hi s charge. J ust whe n Wat ts seemed to be getting away, Frank poured it on to keep him wit hi n sig ht. Each lap Fra nk would get close to Watts on one section of the .tra ck, then Watts wo uld p u ll away on a nother section . .Breker was chargi ng hard in th ird, but he was a long way back. O 'Donnell was even further behind Breker, whi le Da ve Newell and T im McCl intock had a fierce battle goi ng for fifth . , U p fro nt th e dis ta nce betw een Watts a n d Fra nk co nti n ued to cha nge each la p u nt il Wa tts ca me around on th e final circuit alone, as Frank pushed his seized Yamaha bac k 10 the pits. Watts then cruised to th e checkered flag as Breker assumed the second position. O' Do nnell finished a distant third and McClintock secured fourth, as Newe ll dropped 10 sixth behind Eric McKenna. " L uckily I sta yed outfron t," said Watts, who knew that Fra nk was close beh in d. " T h e p ressure was eno ugh to keep me honest." Watts holeshot moto two, bu t Andris scoo ted by exiting th e first turn. Voh land was third at the start followed by McKenna and Breker. Vohland moved to second on the fir st lap a nd McKenna was passed by Breker a nd O 'Donnell. On the next go -aro und Voh land took th e lead 9