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/127158
00 00 O'l ........ Kelly Getz chased Fredette most of the race but missed a turn and got off co urse . Getz fi nished 46 seconds beh ind Fredette. Team Green's Jeff Fredette claimed his th ird-career victory at the 11th An nua l Illinois Cross Country Championship. Cagiva rider Geoff Mellinger (below) fin ished second place in the 250cc A class beh ind w inner Ray Krantz. Fredette wins Illinois Cross Country C'ship By Merle Acord MO RR ISON, IL, OCT. 22-23 Team Green's Jeff Fredette, riding a WL&J Enterprise-prepped KDX200, completed the two 33-mile loops in three hours and two minutes and edged out CR250 Honda rider Kelly Getz by 46 seconds at the rain shortened 11 th Annual Bike Barn-sponsored Il linois hi Cross Country Chamni ampions ip 12 race. Th is was Fredette's third o verall win here. " " I won last ye,ar," s~id Fredette, an d I h ad to wm again this yea:. I wa~ a lmos t halfwa y. h er e this m ormng . before . I realtzed I ~ad forgotle~ to bnng th e tr aveltng tr~phy.wI.th me. ' " . \~ IS ~s th e best r~~:mg 10 HIt~OlS, said . Fredette. These o pe n fields a:re hlg~ speed b,ut th,e sa ndy SOil mixed with that peat mak es yo ur mo tor work. The woods ar e tig h t b ut ridea b le a nd th ere a re a few technical areas. " Getz a nd I were a few seco nds a pa rt w he n we fini sh ed th e fir st loop ," sa id Fredette, " b u t I was the first ou t of th e gas sto p. I didn't h ave the lead very long. Before we had crossed the first ope n field G etz had ca ught me. Wh en we got in th e woo ds I go t a hea d o f him aga in an d we staye d close for th e rest of th e race ." " I didn't thi nk I would be a b le to catc h Frede tte a fter the seco nd gas $IOP," said Getz, " But wh en I ca ug h t and passed h im in th e o pe n field I though t hey, o kay! But I co u ld n' t hold him off a nd he passed me again in th e woods right a way. Fredett e is real good in the woods, so I just followed h im . We wer e going down ~ome ki nd of land whe,:! J eff. dives into the woods and I missed It and had to co me ba ck to wh ere he turned off. I lost abo u t 46 seconds and that's probably wh ere I lo st th e race." Steve Sulzberger , aboard a Grove and Burke Kawasaki, finished 12 minutes an d 54 seconds behind the leaderforthird overall. " I came upon Dave (Hea the ring to n) , a lso riding a Grove and Burke KDX , in a n open field ab out 10 miles from th e finish but he had locked so me th in g up in th e transm ission and there wasn 't anything I co u ld do for him so he wa ved me on " "I d ' k f h ' ~ n t . n ow or. su re w" a t s ~rong, sa id H eatherington. B~t u s locked up 3;nd th e motor won, t tu rn ?ver . !hat s to~ bad beca:use I d been 10 third pl ace smce th e.fust gas sto p. And wh en I pulled into the barrels on th.e se~ond gas sto p C etz was Just leaving. . . The co uple o f in ch esof ram th at fell during th e even in g hours was ' foll ow ed by a ch illy, cloudy morning th at threat en ed more rai n a nd had th e,serio us racers. sea rch ing throug.h th eir array o f mam) ets. !he cool au a nd th e hard J:>u llt ng !Ields took a heav y toll o f seized engine s. ISDE team member J oe Zierman was the first to fall victim, seizing