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/127148
J ason Gray led 1 25cc A w inner Jim Chester (1 3 4) in t he f irst m oto. Winner Ch ad oug h (9 1) is f orced t o the outside by Matt Adent (1 1 9) and Craig Vall e (1 1 5 ) in the 125cc B class. Lough also w on the 2 5 0cc B class and took home $4000 in U. S. Sav ings Bonds from Suz uki. Suzuki riders cash in at RM Finals HUR RI CAN E MI L LS , TN, AUG. 14 Suzuki riders Chad Lou gh and Mike Morris were the biggest winners at the 1988 Suzuki National ·R M Series Finals in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Virginia's Lough, mounted on a 1988 RM125 , picked up a pair of class wins at the ' $110000MX' open exc 1usrve1Y ! to nders on the yellow rna- 18 chines. In th e process Lough picked up $4000 in ' U.S. Savings Bonds. Morris, com pe ting in th e 125cc and 250cc Stock Expert cla sses, sco red a firs t place fin ish in th e Big-B ike cla ss a nd finished second in th e 125cc di vision, good for $3200 in cash; th e two A classes received greenbacks ra the r than bonds. . Other cla ss winners at th e Sunday afternoon event at Loretta Lynn 's Dude Ranch included 80cc hotshoes Jeff Grafton and Damon Huffman, I25cc A winner Jim Chester, Schoolboy competitor Chad DeHoop, and C class .front-runners Glen Guedry a nd William Cox. The RM Seri es Final s took place the da y after th e final set of motos for th e 1988 AMA Amateur National Ch ampionships. The event was the centerp iece o f Suzuki's 1988 contingency program, worth $1,500,000 to both professional and arn ateur rnotocrossers. According to the co m pany's advertising manager, Bob Starr, " Suzu ki wanted to show its appreciation to those riders who purchased our motorcycles as well as to allow them the opportuni ty to pursue their careers further." Suzuki had support trucks on hand the entire week at Loretta Lynn 's as well as several factory technicians to assist the riders in both events. . . Also on hand in Tennessee was Bob " H u r rica ne " Hannah , th e winningest rider in motocross history. Hannah helped introduce Suzuki'sI989m~elswithaque.stio~ and ~nswer session before the nders meeungandaceremomalparadelap before the da y's opening minicycle rnoto. Hannah mentioned before the racing got underway th at he ex pected a gr eat day of racing. " With more than $10,000 up for grabs in each of these cla sses I know th at I sure would be goi ng for it ," said Hannah before his run around th e course. G rafton ope ned th e action with a start-to-finish win in the first 85cc rnoto. All of the classes were limited to stock machinery in order to ensu re fairness, but it might have taken even more than a modified bike to stop Grafton. The Californian opened his lead on runner-up Dana Wiggins from th e first lap on, finall y winning by a four turn m arg in. Behind R edlands , California ' s Wiggin s ca me Saginaw, Mi chigan 's , Jeff Curry and yet another West Coast rider, Derek Natvig.Heat two went much th e same for Grafton as he opened a n early lead and th en stretched it all the way to the fini sh in the 15-m in u te-p lu s moto. Wiggins again ran seco nd to seal up a $1200 payda y, while Curry ran third. North Carolina's Jim Meese bettered Natvig in the second heat and in the overall tally, taking home $900 for fourth. In the 85cc (12-13) cla ss Huffman was the winner in both rnotos, besting Georgia 's Brian Raymond in th e first and then topping Arizona's Steve Andrich in the second. The II score meant $2000 for Huffman while the second place bond ended up with Andrich. Rounding out th e top five overall were California's Bill y Fel ts J r., Raym ond , a nd Ill inois R M pilot And y Hendrickson . DeHoop's Schoolboy win ca me on the heels of a 2-1 tally. Meese, fourth i n hi s M in i cycle divis ion, ti ed DeHoop on points with a 1-2 tally, but the Michiganer's second moto victory coun ted for more as the tiebreaker. Missouri's John McMillen, th ird in both heats, took home the third place prize of $1000 while Ohio's Doug Kramer and Florida's Chad Chancey rounded out the first five. The first 125cc A Stock moto featured a battle between Morris and North Carolina's Chester. The earl y lead, however, belonged to Ohio's Jason Gray. Gray led the pack for four laps, with both Morris and Chester at his heels, before finally surrendering the top spot to Morris a ll the way to the £lag though it was still Chester chasing at the finish. In th e second moto Mis souri's T om Sawyer and North Carolina's Mark Spriggle took matters into their hands, leading the first lap of th e race, but Chester was by both on th e second lap and began opening a lead he would carry to the £lag. Spriggle maintained second to th e fin ish with a slow-starting Morris up to third. Chester coll ected $2000 for his 2-1 ride while Morris took second overall. Sawyer's 5-4 was good for third while Missouri's Bart Shiflett accounted for the number four spot. The 9-2 tally of Spriggle gave him fifth on the da y and an envelope with $800 enclosed. . The 125cc B class riders came to th e line with over $1l,000 up for grabs. Ocala, Florida's, Justin Jackson took the first shot at the top prize with a heat one win ahead of Lough and Matthews. Jackson could do no better than third in the second outing, leaving the top dollar position to Lough who climbed to the lead after a midpack start. Lough's 2-1 tally earned the rising East Coast star his first $2000 payoff of the day while Jackson to o k h ome the number two prize. DeH oop rode 42 for third overall, followed b y Matthews, Wexford, and Pennsylvania's Mike McDonald. Lough 's bad starts followed him into the 250cc B Stock ranks. In both heats the Virginian gated so-so and had to work for hi s wins. In the firs t m oto it was McDonald tha t Lough moved by last, just a fter the white • £lag signal, and in the seco nd rn o to it was Florida's Lonnie Seay lea ding the wa y. Lough di dn' t take as long to gain the lead in the seco nd heat, and o nce out front he was a ble to sh ift in to cruise a nd hold orr Matthews a nd . McDonald. McDonald snatched second in the overa ll tally while Matthews, Arizona 's J im Hale, a nd Washington's Jim Cottet filled o u t the leaderboard. In the two Novice cla ss divisions it was Louisiana 's Guedry ' and Virginia 's Cox sweeping both motos of the 250cc and 125c c classes , respectively. Guedry was followed by Michigan's Steve Poschke in both heats while Ohio's Shane Smith and John Hatfield an d Wisconsin's Jeff Way rounded out the top five overall. In the 125cc C class Cox was contested in the first moto by Ohio's Roy Randlett and then chased home in heat two by Minnesota 's Carla Nelson. Randlett was still able to pick up the second prize of $1200 via his 2-3 tally. Ohio's Jackie Welker ran third on the day with a 4-4 score while Illinois' Guy Mattson and New Jersey's Craig Mason ran fourth and fifth overall. Morris' best showing of the day was in the 250cc A Stock class, where the Kentucky rider picked up the overall win and $2000 with a 2-1 showing. Chester led th e wa y past th e checkered flag in the first moto after following Morris for more than half the race, but the North Carolina rider could only account for three laps in the second moto. His DNF while holding down second in the last moto paved the way for a Morris runaway. Spriggle's 3-2 allowed him to claim th e second overall p