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/127178
Ken McGrath (150) ho leshots as Brian Roth (5 ) and Andy Gr ider (6 1 ) miss a f allen ri der in the f irst div ision of the 125cc Intermediate class. Eddie Reed (2 5) jumps out in f ront of w inner Butch Smith (71 9 ) in t he second divisio n of th e 250cc Intermediates. Gustine grabs the gold at Marysville By Troy Scott MARYSVILLE. CA. FEB. 5 Robert Gustine and his KTM fought seesaw star ts and below-freezing tempera tures to claimt h e overall win in th e 500cc Junior class when round five of the CMC/Dodge Truck Golden Sta te Nationals invaded Marysville's E Street . " .h k trac. G u,sun e s w.m came wit ou tsta ndm g 1-1 ndes. 18 An Alaskan storm and co ld front moved through th e area o n race day, and weather conditions were so bad th at s.ome rid ers left the tra ck before practi ce had even started after sta ndin g in th e 30 mph freezin g winds. Those that stayed found a frozen sand track. The record-breaking lo w temper- a tu res d idn 't see m to hamper Kawasaki-mounted Andy Grider . who took home top ho nors in the first division of th e 250cc Intermed iate class with hi s 3-1 showing and nearl y took th e first division of th e 125cc di vision as well. Hi s 1-5 tall y was n 't enough to hold off Scott Ta kacs' 2-2 first-overall sho w ing or runner-up J ason Young's 5-1 scor e. Yamaha-mounted David Smith was able to cap ture th e first division of th e 250cc Junior class with hi s 23 sho .....ing, while second overall w en t to Dan Allen for a 3-4 effort. A 7I mark was all Mickey Cren shaw needed for third overall. Both motos of the Vet J unior class were domi nated by J ohn Layne. Doug Johnson nabbed second overall just ah ead of Tony Shipman. In th e first rnoto of 500cc Junior class action J irn Phillips got th e holesh ot but qu ickl y fell off th e pa ce. Gustin e seized co ntrol of the lead and was chased by Danny Stymacher, Eri c Nordin a nd Kevin Weltner. Nea r th e end of th e second lap Gustine sta lled hi s KTM and let Stymacher by for th e lead. Gustine qu ickl y got go ing agai n a nd th e two fro nt -ru nners began to increase their margi n over the rest of the pac k. Not much cha nge d until th e last lap wh en Gustine started to reel in Styrnac he r. Going down o ne of th e many rough straigh ts, Stymacher go t out of sha pe and nearl y w ent down , which was eno ug h for Gustine to get by a nd tak e th e win. St ymach er recovered for seco nd followed by Weltner. Gonzales and Nord in . At th e start of th e second moto Gonzales go t th e hoel sh ot but did a com plete sp in, saving the bik e and himself but dropping back in th e pack. Mark Alverez took th e lead but .....as closely foll owed Weimer. who was tra iled by Gustin e a nd Styrnacher. Towards th e end of th e second lap Gustine stalled o nce aga in a nd Stymach er slam med into the back of him , sending both rid ers tumbling. Both remounted and held on to th eir posi tio ns. Up front Nordi n was reall y pressuri ng the leader Alverez. Alverez seemed to be fading. but Nordin soon fou nd himself trying to hold off the hard-charging Custirie/Styrnacher ba ttle beh ind him. No rdi n cou ldn 't hol d th e pace a nd the two riders moved into second a nd third , th en clo sed in on Alverez a nd passed him in a half a lap. T he battle for first wen t a ll the way to th e checkers a nd Gustine was a ble to hold on to the lead and took th e win over Stymacher, Alverez, Nordin and Weltner. As the I25cc Intermediate Division One clas s motored down th e long Marysville start for th e first mo to Kawa saki rid er Ken McGrath grabbed the hol eshot but was passed by Grider. wh o was on the gas after comin~ from a fifth -place start, A short time later Brian Ro th slipped to the insi de of McGrath to take second. By th e end of th e seco nd lap McGrath wa s making a co meback for second wh en a rough straight got th e best of him and sent him off the track and out of th e top 10. By lap three Grider was in comp lete com mand followed by Roth , Mi ke Menning, Takacs and Jeff Finch. By lap five McGrath ha d worked hi s way back up to sixth. . While Grider held a six-second lead, Takacs had gotten around Ro th for second. Grider stuffed his front end in a berm a nd went down, but remounted in time to stay in control.