Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ O"l .... Q.) ..0 8 Q.) ;> .0 Z Winner Kyle Lewis (12) holeshot the second 125cc Pro class moto as M iEhael C;aig (59) begins to fall . . . ... taking Jeremy McGrath (125) and Ty Davis (1) with him . Davis recovered to w in the 125cc series title . CMCjDodge Truck Trans-Cal Series: Final Round Davis, Antunez do damage at Carlsbad' . . By Ken Faught Photos by M ike Koger and Faught CARLSBAD , CA , ocr. 23 Tea m Su zu k i ' s T y Da vis 'a n d Bu d d y An tu n ez sh owed l i ttl e mer cy to the ir com petition as both riders won class an d series championships at the final rou nd of th e Trans-Cal Series at Carlsbad R acewa y. . . d Da.vIs .dId th e most amage by wmmng th e 250cc P ro class 16 a nd fin ishing ' fourth beh in d Kyle Lewis in the 125cc P ro class . Dav is' o vera ll positions were good enough to a llow h im to pi ck up titles in both classes. Antu nez 's vic tory ca me in th e 80cc Ex pert class after a long string of dom in ation th roughout th e series. T he R&D Suzu ki rider wo n almost every event d uri ng th e seven ro un ds o f com petitio n, T he Ca rls ba d track was th e first time durin g th e ser ies tha t all riders were ab le to compete o n the sa me co u rse: Two co u rses wer e us e. throughout th e first six ro u nds o f com pe titio n due to the large turnout o f both am a teu r a nd p ro rider s. Davis sta rte d hi s day o ff rig h t by lead ing Mike Young , Lew is, Ryan Hughes an d Randy Mood y at th e sta rt o f th e first 125cc P ro mo ta . Lewi s managed to get arou nd Young durin g th e o pe ni ng lap a nd immedi at ely began p ressu ring Da vis for th e lead. The to p two slowly opened u p a four-second lead as H ughes sn uc k aro u n d Young. The most im p ressive pass o f the rac e came o n th e last lap as Mich ael Craig jumped past Mike LaRocco fo r th e fin al positi on in th e top five. . Go in g in to th e fin al moto Davis a ll but had th e ti tle in the bag sin ce a ll h e needed to do was finish th e race to be crowned cha m p. Ho wever , short ly after th e gate dropped Davi s found h imself in a first-turn pileup wi thCraig and J erem y McG rath. As th e tri o struggled to get up, Lewi s held th e lead over Moody, H ughes, Young and Chr is Young. Moo dy's stay in th e top three on ly lasted for two laps before th e Honda ride r fell back to fourth. Hughes too k seco nd with Mik e Young third. As Lewis gained a few bike lengths advantage on the pack, all eyes were focus ed on Craig and Davis who were ra p id ly cu tting through th e field. By th e halfwa y point Crai g had broken into th e to p 10_with Davi s on ly a short d istance beh ind.. The last few laps p ro ved to be the decid in g fa ctor for th e top fi ve overall as Steve Lam son a nd Cr ai g ca p tu red fo u rt h a n d fifth whil e Lew is took the win ahead of H u gh es a nd Mike Young. Davis fin ished a disappointing nin th . . Lewi s' 2- 1 gav e h im th e o vera ll for th e day a hea d of Hughes' 3-2 a n d Mik e Young 's 4-3, but 1'>avi s pi cked up th e seri es cha m p ionsh ip, topping Lewi s in points 517-498. Hughes fini shed th e series ou t in third with 430 points. Davis had it much eas ier in th e 250cc P ro class as fa r as th e ser ies ti tle was co nce rn ed. If he were to DNF one m ot a a nd p lace wi th in th e top 15 in th e o the r, he wo u ld be a dou ble class win ncr. In th e first mot a Dav is gated sixth behi nd La mson, Mick y Dym ond, Ron Tu rn er , La rr y Bro oks a n d Kenny Zahrt. Dym ond wasted n o time in ge tting arou nd Lamson an d soon held a two -second lead. T h e o rder o f th e front runners. sta yed th e same for m ost of th e race with th e excep tio n of T urner who fell back to n in th . Dym on d gree ted th e ch ecke rs fir st ah ead o f La mson , Brook s a nd Da vis, wh o wrapped u p the titl e. McG ra th sn uck hi s wav into fifth . . McGrath ca me back in th e seco nd moto to h ol esho t Davis , Shawn Wynne , Dymond and Turner. Dym ond followed Wynne for a lap before dropping th e Suzu ki rid er to th ird. Dym ond's advance set th e stage for one of th e best races o f th e day. Da vis a nd Dymond pounded away a t McG rath 's lcad for a lmost five laps. The battl e slo wed wh en Dym ond cras he d while runnin g third , but Davis kept hammering aw a y a t McGrath. Short ly aft er th e halfway point Davis got a good drive co rning out of a ha irpi n turn a nd j u m ped past McGrath a nd into th e lead. McGrath hung close to Davis for th e rem ainder of th e race as Brooks pushed his .H on da into th ird a hea d of Lamson, Turner a nd Young. .The 4-1 mot a score ea rned Davis th e overall with Brooks, Lamson, McGrath and Young rounding ou t th e top five. Davi s topped Lamson in points, 529-468. Ro n Turner placed third with 437. . Buddy Antunez sh ow ed his competition how he got to be number one in th e mini ranks by easily winning bo th 80cc Expert class motos. An tunez gat ed second behind T omm y Clow er s in the first moto, but quickl y passed th e Kaw asaki rider an d ·ga ined a co m forta ble lead. Sp ud Walt ers was third a head of J eff Grafto n a nd Derek Natvig, T he seco nd moto wa s a little to ugher fo r An tunez as C lo we rs h ol eshot N atv ig a n d Walters. Antu nez was fourt h a head o f Grafto n, but took over th e lead before th e co m p let io n of t he se co n d ·la p . Antunez managed to open up a fourseco nd lead before taking th e win over Clower s, Natvi g, Walters and Grafton. Antunez performance ca p tured th e o vera ll win a nd th e series titl e a head of Cl ow ers a nd Walters. For th e seco nd stra ig h t wee k Greg Zitt erk opf used a perfect I-I tall y in th e 500cc Pro cla ss to put hi s ATK in to th e winner 's circle . In the first m ot a Ziuerkopf used a good start to a id him in topping Jim Ell is, Dan Berg, Ron Turner and Pete Murray. Seco nd moto ac tio n saw Ellis get th e dr op on th e gat e to lead Murray, Ziuerkopf', Turner and Mike Hooker aro u n d th e first turn . As th e pa ck ca me around to complete the initial la p , Ellis su rre n dered th e lead to Zitt erk opf with Turner h olding onto third. On th e fourth lap Turner shot past Ellis an d began cha lle nging for th e lead. T u rne r kept up th e pr essure a nd chased Zitterkopf all th e way to th e fin ish wh ere th ey pl aced a head o f Ellis, Berg a nd Dave Newell. Ziuerkopf' s two fl a wl ess rid es handed him th e ove ra ll win a head o f Ellis, Tu rn er, Berg a nd Newell. But co ns istency paid o ff for Rich Myth en as th e Honda rid er , who never won a n overall in th e seri es, finish ed ninth to tak e home th e 500cc Pro titl e. Sean Con ley broke a tie with H ook er to slide into th e runnerup slot with H ook er co m p leting th e . lOp three. Marc Bun ch adva nced from seco nd pl ace in l25cc Beginner class to pass series po int leader Donald Upton. Bunch used a I- I score to win th e day 's overa ll wh ile U pton fin ished sevent h wi th h is 16-2 mot o tall y. Bunch 's pair o f smoo th rides Jet him claim th e title a hea d o f U p to n, Peter G u n ter Ri chi e Sh erman and Eddi e Patterson . Sh erman came back in th e 250cc Beginn er class to capture th e overa ll win. T he Honda rid er used a 2-1 sco re to top Mike U lric h a nd Steve Rassm ussen , and Sherma n's fin al positio n gave h im a to tal of 3 10 po ints to beat seco nd p lace Bobb y Bien ia by more tha n 40 points. Rassm ussen top ped Kevin Belch er by th ree points for thi rd.

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