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/127130
W inner Scott Tyler (90) chases Tony Graves (68) as Gary DeP illo (2 6) sneaks up behind at the start of the ma in event. J im Holley f inished third in the main after battling up through the pack following a poor start. He leads Tommy Watts in the point standings. Tyler takes Seattle Ultracross By Brian Barnes SEATrLE, WA, APR. 9 O lympia, Washington's Sco tt T yler scored a narrow b u t irnpress ive victory over O regon 's Tony Graves and the 1988 Ultracross point leader "Gentleman" J im Holley to wi n rou n d three of the Mickey T hompson Off-Road .. .. Chamr;>JOns.hlp pran P n~ In Seattle s Kingdorn e Stadium 18 with 31,124 fans loo king on. Ty ler, spo nsored by R en to n Yam aha /Buri en Toyota /S mith Goggl es /Devo l E ngi neering a nd Screwy Designs was second to Idaho 's Lo well Thompson in timed qual ifyin g, second to Ho lley af ter passin g nine riders in hi s heat race and th en passed 12 ri ders to edge Graves aboard a H ond a-Yama ha of R o sebu rg /O 'N Ea l a n d Maxim abacked CR 250. H olley, wh o led th e points race comi ng into Seattle a lso left . with, th e lead, th e ~ccurate Racmg/ O Neal/Ya ma ha rider had virt ually no cha nce to catch th e fron t-runners during the ma in event aft er he , was mired in heavy traffi c for the first two la p s. T he track featured the same basic MTG P course layo u t with th e bi kes ru n ni ng the opposite di rection of trucks and cars. Although the trac k developed ru ts d ur ing practice a nd q uali fying, it grad ua lly im p roved . and by race time was in fine sha pe as the event came off with out a hitch . A two-l ap qualifyin g sessio n hel d d uring the af ternoon was used to The main event win · was Tyler's f irst major victory of his professional career and put him in a t ie for fourth with Rick Ryan in the point standings. det ermine th e heat ra ce starting positions. Only two seconds separated the top 12 of 25 qualifiers, with T eam Green's Lowell Thompson posting a (30.303) time to garner top qualifying honors: T yler (30.606), . Suzuki-mounted Mike " Bif£" Larson (31.169) a nd Kaw asaki's Tyson Vohland (3 1.357) a lso added extra fast qualifier po in ts by taking th e seco nd, third and fourth , while th e Yam ahas of J eff Mab ery and Gary DePill o fro m Ca liforn ia , in herited 'first row inverted starti ng spots with their 11th a nd 12th pl ace qualifier spots some two -seconds behind Thompson. . Du e to th e fact that on ly 25 riders en tered th e Seattl e even t it was decid ed that o ne ' heat race would determ in e th e grid positions for th e main. This meant nearl y a n ything co uld happen as 25 riders dic ed for spots in th e main. As the riders lined up for th e heat, Kentucky's Tomm y Watts, seco nd in the MTGP points, sat in the second row with Phil Larson behind him in row three. Ho lley and Canada's Steve Frieson were in th e fourth row a nd to p q ualifiers Thompson and Tyler sat . in row six. When the green flag dropped it was Watts who made a n early move to th e front of th e pa ck on his KX250 but was soon dispatched as Maybery put his Yamaha into the lead . The o ne to watch though was Holley as he sliced hi s wa y into th e lead by th e fourth lap with th e likes of Watts, Portland H onda' s Mik e Bell , Vohland, Mike Larson and Tyler all engaged in battle over the next five spots. Tyler gradually worked his wa y pa st Watts to c1aiin th e second spot and set after H oll ey, but with o n ly two laps rem aining T yler 's valia nt effort ran sho rt o n time as Holl ey rewarded the fan s with a grea t one -ha nder as he crossed th e fini sh line. T yler 's fin e ride nett ed him seco nd a lo ng with valuable pa ssin g po ints whil e Watts, Thompson , Mik e La rso n and Voh land rounded ou t the top six. Pro -Cal iber rider Bell a nd Phi l La rson ga ined second ro w main staring spo ts, while th e lucky winners in th e first row main lotto were DePillo a n d Wa shing ton Suzuki rider Dan Fitch . With th e main even t on th e line (actua ll y 13 different start ing lines) th e crowd was on , its feet as th e announcer billed the ma in as a battle between hometown favorite T yler a nd Cali fornia 's Holley, both of wh om sat in the seventh row . With only nine laps in th e main event, Holley a nd Tyl er, as well as a ll th e other riders, wou ld have their wo rk cut out for them. When the flag dropped it was Bell and Phil Larson who made the early move to the front. Bell, a second year Pro, led the first circuit over P hil Larson, Graves, DePillo, T yler, Freison and Mike Larson, while Holley was stuck in traffi c but gaining momentum. During th e seco nd lap it was Graves wh o took over th e lead when the elder of th e Larsons bailed hard. Graves ex tended h is lead riding brilliantl y wi th T yler, Mik e Larson, Bell, .Freisen a nd Thompson bringing up the second through sixth pl ace spo ts. By lap three Holley and Vohland had worked their way into striking po sit ion, while the yo unger Larson lived up to his ni ckname and " Biffed " just as Phil had. Graves was now in Tyler 's sight but no matter wha t Tyler did, he cou ld not reel in th e Honda pilot until Graves falt ered sli ghtly on lap five. For the next two laps it was a fierc e battle between the two northwest Pros with Tyler gaining the lead during lap seven . Behind the top two, qu ite a war was bei ng waged as H o lley had moved to the fourth spot behind Bell. Bell's third place spot was soon taken over, as Holley a lso had th e crowd roaring with his hard charging style, but with only two laps remaining could he catch th e top two? T yler would not be denied the win, though as even with a last corner bobble he was abl e to finish ahead of Graves who was closing in fast. Tyler ended his race by punching his hands into the air and thanking the crowd after taking hi s first major career win. Graves' great ride gave him second, Holley's time ran out and he took third. Bell , Mik e Larson, Vohl and , Mik e Tresch , Watts, Freisen and Ted Devol rounded out th e top 10. In th e winner 's circle T yler wish ed to thank th e fan s for th eir su p port a lo ng with hi s parents, mech anic Gard Hollinger and all hi s spo nsor s, for mak in g his victory possible. • Results OVERALL: 1. Scan Tyler (Vam); 2. Tony Graves (Han); 3. Jim Holley (Vam); 4. Mi ke Bell (Han); 5. Mike Larson (Suz); 6. Tyson Vohland (Kaw); 8. Tommy Wans (Kawl ; 9. St eve Freisen (Kaw); 10 . Ted Devol (Suzl; 11. Dan FilCh ISuz); 12. Lowell Thompson (Kaw); 13. SCali S, eHy (Vom); 14. Joe Cosey (Han); 15 . JeH Moybery (Yom); 16. Seogrom Riddele (Suz) 17. Phil Lorson (Han); lB. Gary DePilio (Vam); 19. Todd Hoovar (Kaw);.20. John Hodges (Kaw); 21. Tracy Bethel (Suz); 22 . Tom Moriarity (Honl: 23. John Oauth (Hon); 24 . George Heere (Hon); 25 . Jeff Jacobson (Yam) . POINT STANDINGS: 1. J,m Holley (19n 2. Tommy Wans (108) ; 3. Lowell Thompso n (97); 4. Scan Tyler (77); 5. Rick Ryon (77); 6. Brion Monley (71); 7. M ike Keidrowski (681 8. JeH Maybery (67); ; 9. Frank Brun dage (59); 10. Tyson Vohland (58).