Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Illinois' Billy Fosnock was. t he overall points ·Ieader at the Tah iti Supercross before a DNF in t he f inal moto dropped him to fourth . Fosnock, Stahlman team up for Tahiti SI Challenge By Davey Coombs PAPEETE, TAH ITI, ocr. 30 AMA Amateur National Motocross ' Champions Billy Fosn o ck and Mik e Stahlman form ed th e two -man U.S. 32 T ea m tha t placed seco nd overa ll in th e three-race Su percro ss Challenge on th e South Pa cifi c island of Tahiti. The week-l ong Ch all enge featured three separate, three-h eat races with rid ers goin g for both individual and team titles. New Zealand's A team o f Darryl King and Darryl Atkins won th e T ahiti Cup by p lacing first a n d sec o n d, respectively, in th e individua l standi rigs. Yamaha rider St ahlm an and Fosnock finish ed third and fourth in that order for the runner-up team finish. Another twoman squ ad from New Zealand rounded out-the top three teams. Ill ino is' Fos nock and Missouri's Sta h lm an were the 250cc A Stock a n d 500cc A cla ss winners, respectiv ely, a t th e Loretta Lynn National s this pa st August and were thus invited to attend th e island event put on by th e Venus Mot o Club. Also pr esent a t th e even t were co m peti tors from Au str ali a, new Cal edonia , Morrea , ·New Zeal and a nd T ahiti. T he first ra ce was ac tua lly a n o utdoor m o to cr o ss. H ea vy du st requ ired an in verted start , a nd a t th e sta rt o f th e first 15-mi n ute rnoto Sta h lma n quickl y th read ed th rough th e pa ck to inherit seco nd just five mi nu tes into th e race a n d the n passed Aus tra lia n Steve Maquire a t th e ha lfway m ark . Sta h lma n won easily while Fosn ock overca me two ea rly falls to tak e fifth at th e fin ish. T h e seco nd m ot o saw Atkins go fro m a mi d -p ack start to th e front on lap three and th en vir tu all y lea ve everyo ne else in the d ust. Fosn ock and Stah lm an wen t down together on th e seco nd la p trying to overcome a slower rider a nd were both fo rced to . co m e from be hi nd. Stah lma n cli m bed up to th ird wh ile Fosnock scored sixt h. T he final race o f the day proved to be th e begi nning o f the end for Am eri ca' s hopes. Stahlma n su ffered a blown rear brake system on the seco nd lap a nd finished ninth, wh ile Fosn ock lost a Ioot peg a nd then cl ipped a co ur se ma rker to finis h I Itho The winning rid er in th e fin al e wa s T ahiti 's Kurt Vernaudon. M. qu ire claim ed th e day's overa ll a Will. For th e 'seco nd event th e ride rs found th em selv es in th e Mahina Footba ll Stadium o n a ca lm co u rse by U.S. su percross sta nda rds which wa s still enterta in ing for th e 2000plus fan s th at a tte n ded eac h o f th e even ts. , The Wednesda y-ni ght opener featured Vernaudon a n d Da rryl King battling th e length o f the race from th eir near-last starting spots. King pulled away on th e last lap for th e win as Stahlman and Fosnock rode to sixth and seventh. The second race saw Vernaudon make an impressive co m e-fro m behind effort 10 win his second moto of the week ahead of Fosnock and Stahlman. Fos nock fin a lly got his first win of th e week with a runaway fina l race win that allowed the U.S . team to overtake New Zealand's A team in the standings. · Vernaudon's thirdheat fourth gave him top overall honors for the even ing. Saturday n igh t's fina le look ed to be a battle between Verna udon and the Americans for individual overall honors but th e star of the show was ou t one lap into th e race. Verna udon crashed into King and su ffered a fra ctured wri st. After running third (Fos noc k) and fifth (Sta h lman) in th e o pen ing race th e Yanks turned u p th e h eat to fini sh seco n d an d third in race two with Sta h lma n th e runner-u p behind Au str al ian Step he n Andrews. That gave th e Ame rica n riders th e number o ne a nd nu mb er two spots heading in to th e fin al mo to of th e week wi th Fosn ock leading by fo ur points. Their tea m to ta l was nearl y 10 poi nts h igh er th an th e New Zeal anders, who were th ird a nd fourth in the . ind ividual tall y. But th e ra ce was over before it sta rted. As Fosn oc k rod e to the line th e rear brak es went o u t co m p le tely. A team manager tried to read just th e system but it was o bvious that th e bike wo uld be u nrideab le. Fosnock bo rro wed o ne of th e Au stra lian 's pr act ice bikes in o rder to try a nd keep the American team from defeat by defa u lt, b ut th ree laps into th e race th e rear shock broke. S ta h Im a n a tte m pted to ta ke ind ividua l hon or s bu t before th e hallwav point hi s bik e suffered a no the r rear bra ke fa ilu re whi ch fo rced him int o the slo w lan e. The New Zealand A tea m ra n o netwo in n th e fin al e a nd accepted the top two ind ividua l p lacings as well as th e overa ll team ti tie. Missouri's M ike Stahlman won the opening moto of the Tahiti SX. Results 0 / A STANDINGS: 1. Darr yl King (Kaw) 137; 2. Darryl At kin s (Hon) 133; 3, Mike Stahl man (Yam); 130; 4. Billy Fosnock (Yam); 126 ; 5. Leon Andrew s (SUl) 107; 6. Kurt Vernau don (Hon); 104 ; 7. St eve Maquire (sUl) 91; B. Shane king (Yam) B6; 9. Stephen An drews (Yam) 79; 10. Raphael Bonno (Kaw ) 7B; 11. Dale Britton (Yam) 66; 12 . Christ ian Claverie (sUl) 54; 13 . Francois Valls (sUl) 39; 14 . Roy Chapman (Kaw) 35; 15. Gavin Hutton (Yam) 33 . TEAM STANDINGS: 1. New Zealand ·A (270); 2. USA (255); 3. New Zealand-B (193); 4. Tahiti·A (182); 5. A ustralia· B (14 5). Davis takes four at Barstow GP By Donnetta &. Bob Murray BARSTOW, CA, NOV. 4-5 Suzuki's Ty Davis claimed wins in all four classes he entered at the 5th Ann ual Barstow G rand P rix. At the end of th e two-day event, Davis ha d rac ked u p wi ns in the U nclassified, 125, 250cc and O pen Expert classes at the Prospectors M.C. -hosted grand prix he ld on the grounds of Barstow College. Fo r th e first even t of the G P a mixed group of ride rs on all sizes of bikes tested th e co urse of asphalt, motocross and desert in the U nclassified race. Derr ick Paiement, aboard a Kawasaki KX500, grabbed the holeshot with 250cc Suzuki pilot Charlie Morris nipping at his heels. Vet rider Mik e Sixbery on a 250cc Yamaha was next around th e first turn , foll ow ed by Davis, who had an eigh t-kick sta rt. Morris passed Paiem ent o u t in th e desert a n d kept th e lead through th e first loop of th e 11mile co u rse, but had to co ntend with Davis, wh o had slipped past Pai ement a nd Sixbery to dog th e leader. Da vis m ad e his m ov e midwa y through th e seco nd loop a nd wa s well o n hi s .way to hi s first win of the da y. Morri s h u ng o n to seco nd , followed by Chris Crandall on a n O pen Kaw asaki an d Greg Zitt erk opL A fin ish in the U nclassified race cl inched the overa ll titl e in the Best of th e West Series for Ken Lew is, wh o rides a Yamaha YZ250. T he Barstow G P wa s the fin al event in the series wh ich included severa l form at s o f o ff-roa d rac ing. Eleven rows o f sen ior ride rs were stac ked up a~i th e start ing line fo r th e thi rd race. With th e Expert Open riders lea vin g in the first wa ve, fo llow ed by th e 250cc Ex perts a nd th e n! n e re m a ini l)g row s i n success io n. After th e firs t loo p , it was a 250cc rider, Ro n Ha ll o n a Suzuki , in the lead, followed by Open rid er Steve J en n ings a nd Da ve Kersti ng aboard a 250cc Kawasaki. Kerstin g caugh t J ennin gs before the first check out in the desert terra in and was soon upon Hall. " T h a t litt le ras ca l, he got me; then I fell down," sa id Hall, who had a front wh eel wa sh out in som e powder. " He's too fast for me. I didn 't even try to catch up, just kept hoping for him to make a mistake." Mi stakes were not on the menu for Kersting, who had to fight through the dust o f lapped riders to maintain th e lead. H e cru ised in for a win , forcing Hall to sett le for seco nd o vera ll. AI Hull , m ounted o n a Yamaha 250cc, wa s running third in th e mo tocro ss foll owing a good sta rt , but had lost severa l positi ons wh en h e slid ou t on a sm all berm. H e sta rte d loo sening up and picked up his pace to eventua lly pass Steve J ennings' a nd a few others to snag th e third pl ace overall finish . Hull didn't need th e Senior 250cc win as he h as a lready sewn up th e District 37 number one pla te forthat class and was just tryi ng to keep in shape for the upcoming Bvto-V race. Davis racked up a nother win in th e 250cc Expert-Amateur race . Saturday aft ernoon. Morris bagged th e holeshot with Scott Stearns and Davis in hot pursuit. Davis quickly overtook Stearns th en passed Morris in th e first motocross secti on . By th e co m p letio n of th e first loo p, Davis had more than a minute lead and ex tended that to nearl y two minutes by the fini sh of th e second loop. H e continued to pull away and won by a wide margin. ' 'I' m not used to riding desert that long," said the US Suzuki/Malcolm Smith/Terry Cable-backed Davis. " I came out to do some training for Barsto w-to-Vega s and to do some PR work for Suz uki. I don't get to race with the desert people that much. I enjoy seeing them and the Pro spectors do a great job wi th the course." David Alford worked h is way up through the pack from ninth place to pass everyone except Davis. Da le Kn ap and Morris excha nged positions several times during th e race, with Kna p p ge tting Morris at th e final li ne to claim third. Back in fourth and fift h, Stearns arid Gauthier battled for 250cc desert points. Gauthier took a whi le to ca tch u p to Stearns a nd the duo eventually passed Morr is to place . fourth .a n d fifth. Morris came in sixth. In Sunday morning's 125cc race, Davis beat everyone to the first tu rn. O n th e long straightaw ay of pavement Jimmy Lewis, Dustin Eva ns , Keith Loonsfoot and Eric Hallgath jock eyed for positions. Hallgath overtook Loonsfoot near th e.end of th e hi gh-speed trip across th e parking lot. Davis hung onto the lead as h e sped throu gh the m otocross co urse followed by Lewi s, Hallgath, Evans a nd Loonsfoot. A close battle for seco nd erup ted a s Hall gath a n d L ewis cha rged across a sma ll vall ey n ever more th an two len gths apart. " We even sh ifted together ," said Hallgath. Eventuall y, Lewi s ga ve in as a u re went flat. Davi s wa s saili n ng ou t front, 42 seco nds a hea d o f Lewi s wh o wa s struggting -to keep ahea d o f H all gath, H allgath fin all y go t Lewi s, bu t had p roblem s him self wh en hi s eng in e seized, Lewis retook seco nd but ga ve it back 10 Hall gath again wh en h e pitted for a wh eel cha nge just before th e fin al loop. Dav is flew th rough a ll th ree sectio ns o f th e th ird loop, tak in g th e checkered flag ha rdl y o u t o f brea th. Seco nd to fi n ish wa s Evans, who had passed Lew is on th e seco nd loop a nd Hallgath co m ing into the mo tocross section at th e beg inn in g of th e th ird loop.

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