Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ezra Lusk (12) chases Craig Decker (15) in the 85cc (12-13) class. Lusk earned the Stock win. while Decker won t he Modified division. There was no holding back Jimmy Button (5) in the two Schoolboy classes. although Scott. Shear (41) tried; Button topped both classes. . AMAjHonda Amateur National Motocross Championships Button, Neeley score .record wins at Loretta Lynn's By Davey Coombs H URRICAN E MILLS, TN , AUG. 8-12 Yo ko h a m a /P J I / P r o Ci rcu i t/Am er ican Honda rider J im m y Button and Team Green 's Robbie Neeley wrote th eir respective n am es into the AMA record books at the Amateur National MX Ch ampion ships at Loretta , . Lynn s Dude Ra nch . Button, a 16-year-old Schoolboy class racer from Phoenix, Arizona, became the winningest rider in AMA Ama teur MX histor y wh en he collec ted his fifth and sixth career titles by swee p ing both l25 cc (12-15) divisions. Neeley, a Senior class hotshoe from So u th Ca rolina , broke th e reco rd for co nsecu tive amateu r titles pi ck in g up his fifth-strai ght Dude Ranch win by tak ing to p hon ors in the most exci ting division of the week - th e Sen ior +30 class. j oi ning Button as th e week's only o ther two-cl ass win ner was Kaw asak i pilot Bill y Silvarole. Silvarole capture d both th e l2 5cc B Stoc k a nd ? Team G reen two of th e 16 titles it wo~ld w.in in Te~nessee. FIVe different nders head ed up th e five A clas s div isions for mot or cycles in T ennessee. Yam aha r iders Bill y Fosnock, Mike Stah lma n and Steve Lamson each put in Nationa l Ch ampi onship rid es on th e white bikes, while Kawasaki 's Mik e Brown and J eff Emig led T eam Green 's A clas s attack with individual Exper t division titl es. The week 's top minicycle race r was l 5-year- old Hayd en Rich ards, a KX80 pil o t from Ohio. Richards ran up a 1-2-2 score to tak e the 85cc Stoc k (14-J 5) trophy and then returned with a 6-2-1 showing. O th er mini class winners incl uded Ezra Lusk, Crai g Decker, Robbie Reynar d and Andy Bowyer. h e AMA /H onda MX Cham- p ionships, organized by MX Sports, were making their eighth annual appearance at the Dude Ranch home of fam ed country and western singer Lorett a Lynn. The race, billed as " T he World's Greatest Motocross Vacation," took p lace over five days with each of th e 27 divisions completing three motos, Trophies were a warded to the top 10 riders in each class though some riders wou ld be taking home a great deal more: Yokohama Tires, a sponsor of the event, gave away free trips to Japan for th e Japan Supercross, to any rider winning a class with their tires mounted. In between the 81 heats that went off line, th e nearly 1000 en tran ts were ab le to occupy their hours with a wide array of activities incl uding a voll eyball tournament, rem ot e-control car racing, so ftba ll a nd the HRC Chili Co ok -Off. T he ri ver-bottom Dude Ranch co ur se measured just over a mil e long for th e race. It was a flat su pe rcrossstyle course with numerous jumps and obstacles and la p tim es that ran a little more th an two a nd a half minutes. The week was rain-free but dust was never a prob lem for th e a p pro xima tely 20-motos-per day . Button opened h is assault of th e record books with a co n vinc in g sweep of th e first moto in both the Stock and Modified versions of the Sch oolboy class. Suzuki riders Chad Lough and J eff Curry gave early chase to th e Hond a rider with runn er-up rides , though Button seem ed to ha ve each race well in ha nd by th e two- lap signal. Button wo uld spend the week undefeated to clinch his record-breaking titles. Immed iately a fter th e following moto he confirmed th e rumors that he wo uld turn pro th e next week and co m pe te in his first l 25cc Pro National in Minnesot a. Curry match ed his opening Stock ride with a second-more second and th en p laced fourth in th e fin al to seal up the runner-up spot for th e week . Scott Sh eak would fini sh the event in third. Lough went 2-3 in th e early Modified heats but faltered to ninth in th e final , losing second overall in that class to Billy Schlag (3-2-4). Yokohama/ Answ er/Smith/Team Green rid er Neeley took th e opening win in th e Sen ior class and then foll ow ed through wit h a heat-two victory with Yam aha ' pi lot Mark Ash worth trailing on both co u nts. Wh en the fin al moto hit th e first corne r,' Neeley hit the deck as th e pack roare d by. Ashworth, who gated first, wast ed . no time in breaking a way with Rick Munson in tow . Ash wo rt h needed to beat Neeley by two spots to win the ' overa ll and a p peared on his way to doing so until Neeley began the comeback of the week. The KX250 rider was passing riders in bunches, and by th e halfway point, he was up into eighth. With two laps to go Neeley took third and began closing in on Munson, who was beginning to tire. "I tried to hold back and keep him (Munson) thinking he could catch me," said Ashworth, " b u t Neeley was just going too fast. Now he's going to Japan." With two corners to go before the checkered flag Neeley dove in tight under Munson's RM250 and secured his fifth co nsecu tive Amateur National Championship. Ash worth was a deserved second overall with Phil Alderton (5-3-5) edging Munson for third. In th e other Senior divisions Kevin Fol ey, who works o n th e Space Sh u ttle as a NASA enginee r, dominated the Junior +25 cla ss with three runaw ay wins. Fol ey bett erd KTM's Todd Stith in all three heats for th e win. Ironman Ashworth aga in put in a fine performance for third overall ahead of Fred Vertucci. In th e Sen ior +40 ra n ks Yamaha-mounted Steve Lewis, cap tu red the overall win. Like Foley, Lewis put up ..ones" across th e leaderboard to take his title; both riders earned trips to japan as well. Illinois' Gary Peak was a consistent 2-2-2 for the runnerup prize, while Mi chigan's Dave Curry, ninth overall a year ago, did himself six better for third this time around. Team Green's J eff Emig took command of the 250cc A Modified class from the word go, grabbing an earl y rnoto one lead that would tak e him well clear of runner-up Lance Smail. Emig 's score would be I- II by the tim e th e checkered flag fell, though Smail would fade to fifth with a' 2-10-13 ta lly. Yamaha rider Steve Lamson wou ld tak e second after three heats with a 4-2-2 showing, while Tallon Vohland overcame a disastrous first moto for a 12-3-4 third overall. Emig was the early favorite to win the 125cc A Modified division as well but hopes for double titles ended with a turn two slip in th e opening heat. H e would eventually post a 31-5-1 score for ninth place, well off of the win ning 6-13 mark of YZl25-mounted Lamson. Defending A class Champion Greg Bowen would go 3-3-7 for seco nd ov eral l with Kawa saki 's j erem y McGrath th ird. Honda Support rider jeff Beckington was th e Iirst-moto winner but was forced to scratch before the second race even started due to a stomach ailment. H e rec-

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