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/127181
When Cra ig Davis fell near the end of the first lap, Tallon Vohland (3 ) shot by for t he lead and easily pulled away for the win. Brian Manley (2 9 ) worked his way up from a back-row start and passed Chris Young (2 3 ) and Jim Holley lat e in the race to finish second . Davis (8 1 lleads Tony Graves (6 8), Young (2 3 ) and winner Vohla nd (3) at t he start of the ma in . Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gr~n Prix Series: Round 2 Vohland rocks San Diego Ultracr'oss By Ken Faught SAN DIEGO, CA, FEB .25 Team G reen Kawasaki's Tallon Vohland cruised to an easy victory In the 250cc Ultracross at San Diego's J ack Murphy Stadium. Vohland led nearly every lap of the 10-lap feature main event to capture the win in front of , h 49 000 more t an -, spectators. H e was followed by teammate 14 Brian Manley and Yamaha 's Jim H oll ey. Manley's seco nd-p lace finish was however, good enough to put him fart her ahead in th e seri es points chase wh ere hl leads H oll ey by 26 points. T he Ultracross format is rather unique. First th e riders run in ·timed qualifier s whi ch det erm in e th eir sta rt in g position in on e of two heat races. Once th e riders transfer to a h eat ra ce th ey ar e pl aced in one of 12, two-man rows. The start is in verted with th e faster riders sta rtin g in the rear and the slower riders leadin g off ~p fro nt. Th~n th e.riders who p lace hl g~ enough IJ.1 th eir heat race adva nce Into th e fin al where th ey a re aga in in verted. An MTEG offica ldra ws a num ber o u t of a box a nd whatever numb er they draw , is whe re the in ver tin g sta rts with the heal race wi nners. . During th e timed q ualifiers Voh land clock ed-in th e fastest lap with a 42.099 seco nd lap. J erem y McG ra th ' stop pe d th e clock seco nd with 42.252 , loppin g Man ley' s 42.273. In th e firs t heat race Tim McCl in tock came o ff th e front ro w to lead Eddie H icks, Paul Vla ch , Terry Fowler a nd Vohland a t th e start. Before th e end o f th e first la p H icks forced hi s KTM aro u nd McClintock an d into the lead. Whi le Hicks stru gg led to pull away, McCl intock fell back to ninth with Fowler ca tch ing up to Vla ch . Fow ler was setting a blistering pace and soon ca ugh t th e Honda nder . Fowler chased Vlach for severa l laps but cou ldn' t seem to find a line aro u n d the fast movi ng Vlach. Back -in the p ack Manl ey was tryi ng to m ake up for h is handica p starting position th at left h im seventh on the ' fir st lap. Manley co n tinually cha rged a fter th e leaders a nd managed to move up to six th on th e seco nd lap behind Tallon Vohland an d T yson Vohland. T vson Vohland was makin g h is return to raci n g a fter a spectacu la r -cra sh in ro u nd o ne o f th e Mickey T hompson Off-Roa d Champion shi p G ra n Pri x Series a t the Anaheim Supercross. Vohl an d lo oped h is Kawasa ki o ff th e fin ish line ju m p a t An a heim a fter trying a midair pass on J eff Emi g in th e ma in even t. The crash la ter forced Vohl and to ta ke a month off fro m racin g. Back up front Hicks still mainta in ed a sma ll lea d o ver Vlach, Fow ler; Tallon Vohla nd an d Tyson Voh land. Near th e halfwa y point a three-way battle for seco nd was crea ted as Tallon Vohland began .. push ing Fowler and Vlac h. On the fifth lap Tallo n Vohland temporarily moved into the runner-up positi o n u nti l Ma nl ey ca me out of nowhere to drop th e Kaw asak i rider to thi rd. T he last few laps saw th e battles for th e top five positions ra ge as Manley ca u gh t Hicks, forcing th e KTM rider to work for hi s money. T he race came down to th e wire with Hi cks barely edging o ut Manley by , on ly a fraction of a second. Vlach took third over Tyson Vohland with Tallon Vohland dropping to fifth on th e -last lap. Heat ra ce number two wa s th e most exc itin g race o f th e night. Shawn Wynne came off the first row to lead Tom Holt, J erem y McGrath, Chris You ng a n d Sco tt J ohnson. La st year's cham p io ns h ip winner , Holley wa s sixth, trying to make up for hi s poor sta rt . U p on to p Young a nd McGrath '. worked th ei r wa y into th e top two slots as Wynne dropped to th ird. Holley slowly bumped himself to fourth with Ca giva 'sMike Young rounding o u t th e top five. On th e seco n d lap things again started to change as McGrath and H olley pressured Chris Young for th e lead. H oll ey used th e wh ole track to try to find th e lin es that would earn him th e lead. As th e riders entered the third lap, H olley found wha t h e h ad been sea rch ing for a nd ro cketed past both Young and McG rath. McGrath a lso managed to strut o n by Young and co n tin ued to ch ase a fter Holley. With on ly four laps to go McGrath moved up a lo ngside of Holley and jumped past th e Yamaha rider before the fin ish lin e jump. The move allow ed McGra th to tak e co ntrol of th e ra ce wi th Holley less th en a bik e len gth beh in d. Holley staye d on McGrath 's rear fender and stalked th e Honda rid er for th e n ex t half a lap with McGrath maintainin g co m p le te co ntro l. H owever , all o f that changed as McGra th bobbled ina turn all owing Holley to edge up alongside of him. As th e two entered th e following turn H olley h eld the inside line and s tu ffe d McGrath in th e h ydraba rr iers. " He kind of mess ed up in th e whoops before the tu rn ," said H ol - . ley, " a nd I was a ble to get o n th e inside, and it was eithe r he sh ut o ff a nd 'Iet me ta ke the hi gh line or risk going down." " He had .the inside. looked right at m e a nd th en stu ffed m e hard." sa id McGrath. " After tha t I go t kind of sca red of him doing th at an d just cruised in second." While McGrath tried to regain hi s momentum Chris Young a lso shot past th e H onda rider for second. McGrath dropped to third. The last few laps saw McGrath co n tin ue his ch a rge and collect ' seco nd at th e fini sh behind Holley. Mike Young wa s third ahead of Steve Lamson and Scott Tyl er. Chris Young fell back to sixth. As th e riders lined up for the final Tony Graves and Craig Davis were.