Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kawasaki 's Tommy Clowers (7 8) captured the M inicycle GNC t itle at Ponca City. Here he pursues Jeff Dement. Jeff Em ig (47) t ook the Motorcycle GNC laurels by topping three out of the four motorcycle Pro classes. NMA/Coca Cola MX Grand National Championship . Clowers, Emig top Ponca City action By Kit Palmer PONCA CITY, OK , J ULY 31-AUG: 6 Kawasaki riders Tommy Clowers and Jeff Emig stole the spotlight in the minicycle and motorcycle divisions at the 14th Annual National Motosport Association's Grand Natio na l Cha mpionships a t . f Pon ca Clt~. Cl o wers, rom Santee, California , sewed up th e Minicycle Championship after f in i shing .f~rs t and thi rd in the two 80cc Modi fied and Stock (12+) Expert classes, whi le Em ig, from Kan sas Cit y, Kansas, overa lled three o ut of th e four mot orcycle Pro classes - alt houg h he did win all four of th e motorcycle Pro run-off motos. Emi~ topped th e 250cc Stock and Modified , and th e 125cc Modified classes. There were sligh tly more th an 1050 ent ries this year, alt ho ugh many of th e entries included riders wh o rode more th an one or two classes. Fifteen ou t of th e tot al 31 classes this year required at least two div isions, a nd the to p overa ll finish ers - out of two motos - in eac h divi sion competed in a th ird run -off mota o n th e fina l day of racing. Points earn ed , (one point for first overa ll, two for second, three for third, etc.) from eac h riders' overall fini sh in th e divsions were carried into the fin al ru n-off m ota. The riders with th e lowest combined total of points after the run -offs were declared as o vera ll class winners, H owever , th e 16 o the r cl asses , includi ng all th e 80cc Expert cla sses. used th e standard two -mo ta format. In the 80cc Stoc k Expert (12+) class, Kawasaki-mounted Ezra Lusk earned th e overa ll win , via 1-3 mo to scores. Lusk topped the first moto over Suzuki-mounted Craig Decker and Kawasaki riders Joel Albrech t, Clowers and Jeff Dement. In th e deciding second mota, Clowers, Dement and Lusk battled back and forth th e ent ire mota with Dement edg ing ahea d for the moto win over Clowers and Lusk. However, th e war was won by Lusk, foll owed by Dement, Cl ower s, Albrech t and Decker. Clowers overca me a fourth-place finish in the first 80cc Modified Expert (12+) class race to win th e second mota and cap ture the o vera ll class win. First mota winner Dem ent cras hed whi le leading and dicing with Clowers in th e second mo to and was hit fro m behind by ano ther rider. Dem ent suffered a brok en bone in hi s hand in the accident which put him o u t of action for th e rest of th e event . With Dem ent out of the race , Clowers cruised home for an easy win foll owed by H onda rider Steve . Ol son , Lusk , Albrecht and Kawasaki -mounted Kevin Bloxom. Second overall went to Albrecht with Bloxom finishing third. Su per Mini (12-18) action saw Clow ers take the overa ll win wi th a 2-1 mota score. Dement won the firs t mo ta , but after breaking hi s hand in th e 80cc Modified Expert race, he was unable to start the Super Mini second moto, Clowers led from start to finish in th e second Super Mini mota, clinching th e overall cla ss victory. Second overa ll went to Lusk who went 33, while third overall was filled by Albrecht and his 5-2 combination. Rounding out th e top five were Honda rid er Steve Olson (4-4) a nd Bloxom (7-5). In th e 105ce (9-11) class two motos were run , and finishing first and second in th e first moto were Kawasa ki r ide rs Kevin Windham and Robbie Reynard , while third went to Kawasak i-mounted Jason Partridge. As th e pack bla sted ou t of th e gate fo r th e sec o nd a n d fin a l moto, Reynard sho t into th e early lead with Windham in ch es behind. The two dic ed for th e lead until Reynard began sligh tly pulling away from Windham during the final two laps. His second-mote win gave Reynar d th e overa ll with Windham taking second. Partridge, again, fini shed third for third overall. Su zuki rider Chris Wheel er (5-5) and Yamaha rid er Zach Brad shaw (4-6) ro unded out the top five. In the motorcycle Pro class action, Kaw asaki 's T all on Vohl and an d Mike Brown went into Sunday'S 125cc Stock Pro run-off moto with one point a p iece; Emig ha d five points . Emig sh ot into th e lead and quickl y developed a com fort a ble advantage o ver last year 's NMA Min icycle GNC cha mp. Suzuki's Buddy Antunez, wh o went into th e 125cc Stock Pro run-off with three poin ts. Both Bro wn a nd Vohland had mediocre starts and were back in eig h th and ninth pl aces. Antunez, how ever, closed in on Em ig du rin g the second lap but cras hed hard w hi le cha lle n g i ng Emig for the lead o n the nex t lap. The Suzuki pi lo t q uic kly remounted in second p lace, bu t Emig was long go ne. Vohlan d passed Bro wn in the early stages of the 12-lap race and then th e two played foll ow the leader as they worked up th rough th e pack. At the fin ish it was Emig way o u t in fron t follow ed b y Antun ez, Vohl and , Br own , Kawa saki r id er J erem y McG rath , Suzuki-mounted Jeff Pestan a a n d Kaw a sak i r ider T erry T inney. Vohland (fo u r p oints ) secured th e overall cla ss win over Ant unez (5), Bro wn (5), Emig (6) and

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