Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Kevin Erion (01) rode his Two Brothers Racing Honda Hawk to a thirdplace f inish at Tsukuba. Japan. Katsunori Koyama (2 ) was t he winner. Erion. two-time AMA Pro Twins Modified Champion. in Japan. Japanese SatIIe of The Twins Erion third at Tsukuba By Kyoichi Nakamura TSU KU BA,.jAPAN, J AN . 15 Most A mericans have heard stories of overpopu la tion in J apan , and they would have been convi nced of it if th ey. had been at the Tsuk uba race track, about 30 mile s north of Tokyo, to see the recen t Ba ttle of the Twins meeting. More than 5000 specta tors and no less than 430 bikes at this ' 1.27-m ile, tw isty a nd techn ical race trac k pro ved th e pop u la ri ty of BoTT raci ng in j apan, as th is was bigger than any o ther BoTT meet in g ever held in j a pan . . It was inevi table th at one co mbination of champion rider a nd champ ion bi ke from the opposite side of th e Pacific Ocean would be attracted to this race meeting: 1988-89 AMA Pro Twins Modified P ro d uction Champion Kevin Erion and his Two Brothers Racing Honda Ha wk. Upon arriving in j a pan , Erion had tim e for just one short practice sessio n, bu t he learned the technical co urse very qu ickl y. Erio n found th at T sukuba did not offer much traction, and op ted to co mpe te o n Du nlop tires rather tha n his tradi ti ona l Michel in s. Followin g qu al if yin g , Er ion found himself in th e second gri d posi tio n on the front row . joining h im o n th e fro nt ro w were three Du catis: a 906 Paso with a Harris chassis ridden by eventual wi nner Katsunori Koyama, a 780cc Pa nt ah and Hirishi Maruyam a's 900SS with a Spond on chassis. On the seco nd row were two HRC-brewed Honda BRO S (the Hawk 's nam e in japan). T he race was shortened from 10 laps to nine due to the tim e required to clea n up o il sp illed o n the wa rmup lap by a Harley-Da vidson, Wh en th e Rising Su n £l ag was waved, Erio n go t o rr th e lin e with a h uge whee lie a nd dived into the first turn in second pl ace beh in d Sachio Yajima, but a head of Koyama and hi s Paso. Maruyama's Ducati was left on the lin e when it would not start due to electr ic problems. Erio n ran second beh ind Yaji ma unti l th e sixth lap , whe n he was a ttac ked by Maruya ma on the long, sweeping righ t-han der before the pit stra ig ht and was push ed back to third p lace. A la p la ter, Yaj i m a was di sturbed by a slow rid er at o ne of the two tig ht ha irpi ns, and was overtaken by Maru ya ma whi le he avoi ded a collision. The order stayed the sa me until the checkered £lag. " T he level of com peri tion of the j a pan ese Batt le of The Twins was well beyon d o u r ex p ec ta tio n s," Erion sai d lat er. " o rne of the top j a panese rid ers could match th e U,S. Pro T wins rid ers if they ca me to the U.S. ''I'm not sa tisfied with my resu lt because I wasn 't able to prope rly set up th e sus pe nsion for th is track; th e front was bottoming out in most of th e turns. I really enjoyed the race , tho ugh, a nd I like the attitude of j apanese life. I want to come back here a nd am hoping to ta ke pa rt in th e Suzuka Eigh t-Hour on a Honda RC30, if the sponsor a nd my partner are co nfir med." Erion 's third-place finis h must be praised , however, because the T wo' Brothers H a wk was ac tua lly th e smalle st-d isp lace me n t bik e in the class; pl us, it wa s foll owed hom e by no less than Iou r sur viving Honda BROS, in cluding o ne from H RC! Results Chuck Blackmon (5 3) takes the inside line to lead Todd Bennick (21) and Kent Rogerson (43RI at the 125cc Amateur start at Montrose MX. for the rest of the mo to , wh ile Ro gerson fin ish ed th ird . Rich ar d Ibiso n and J ason Mor gart.ro u nded o u t the top five. In th e second mot o , Rogerson sto le the holesho t. lo llo wed by Benn ick, Li nv ill e a nd Ch uc k Blackm on . T hen Rogerson bobbled and lost his lea d (0 Iirst-rno to wi n ner Li nvi lle. Rogerson , ho wever, wasn't ready 10 qui t j ust yet. In stead , Rogerson opened u p th e thr ottle on e mor e time and rega ined the lead and held o n 10 it for th e win. Linville. Morgart a nd Yar br o foll owed Rogerso n acr oss th e fini sh lin e. Ho wever . th e war was won by Linville with h is 1-2 score agai nst Roberso n 's 3-1. The 85cc ( 12-15) rid ers put o n a good sh ow, today. In th e lirst mot o , lac Brad sha w . Bill Cha rles. Chad Newt on . Jell Do naldson a nd J ason Baldwin bl asted ahead 01 th e pack. Brads haw held his lead , as Chad Newton moved up to tak e over seco nd . As the race progr essed, Bradshaw p ut a wide ga l) bet we-en hi mseJf a nd the field . H e event ual y crossed the finish line in first p lace over Ba ld win , Charles. Gage Fortson a nd Chad Newto n. Gage Fortson gra bbed the bolesh ct in th e seco nd mota. wh ile Brads haw. Newton and Baldwin pursued. J ohn Sharp ca me o n strong but suffered a lall and lost valuable tim e. Meanwhile. Bradshaw took the lead, while Baldwin moved into seco nd. A short ti me lat er, how ever. Bradsha w took a header and dropped to second when Bald w in blasted by th e downed rider. Althou gh Bradshaw mad e a valiant effort, he had to scu ll' for second p lace behi nd the overall winner . Baldwin. Sharp linished third. Results 85 17· 131 1. Bill Cain (Kaw l; 2. Kell y Kell is.(Suzl; 3. Brent : lo8~~~3~~~:'1~hj:s::il~7~~:fH~n1;'e~~ ~:cB=~~~:~ (Yam); 3. Gage Fortson (SUd; 4 . John Sharp (Honl ; 5. Chad Newt on (Suli. S/MINI: 1. Gage Fort son (Suz l; 2. Trav is Layson (Yaml SCHe OY: 1. Todd Benni ck (Kaw); 2. Gra n J eff erson (Kawl ; 3. lee " Gator" Todd (Yam); 4. David Pr ice IHonl; 5. Br ent LO~~~ ~SO~~·1 . Coby Adams (SUl ); 2. Ned Blackw elder C ); Kaw 3. John Sharp (Hon); 4. Kenn y Cur ran III (Honl ; 5. Kevin Simpson (Kawl. 125 AM : 1. Ronn ie Yarbr o; 2. Kent Roger son (Ya m ~ 3. Jason Mor gart (Hon l; 4 . Todd Benn ick l!(a wl 125 PRO: 1. M ike Andrews (SuzJ; 2. J im Neese CKaw ): 3 . Chad Lough IHon l; 4 . Lee W alst on (Yam ); 5. Larry Andrews (Suz). 25 +: 1. M ike Privett e IHonl; 2. Cra ig Ell is IYam); 3. MotoJoe Norder (Suz): 4 . Jay Hause r (Han); 5. Charl es Todd (Yam). 30+: 1. Steve St arn es (K.awl; 2. Rich ard Shafer (Hon ); 3 . Craig Coll ie (Yl); 4 Jo hn Jwne (Hon l; 5 . Denis Hihon (Suzl. 40+: 1. Ed Donaldson (KX): 2. Har ry And rews (Yam l; 3 8i11 Est ell (Suz). 250 NOV: t . An th ony Dyson (Yaml; 2. Dw ayn e Daves (Hon); 3. Ju nior Bryant (Yam ); 4 . M ike Keller (Han ); 5 . Ray Leat herwood (Suz). 250 AM : 1. Kent Roger son (Yam); 2. Craig Barbo ur (Yam); 3. Sam M itchn er (Han); 4 . larry Wh it e (Hon ); 5 . Jason Everhart (Yam ). 250 PRO: 1. J im Neese (Kaw ); 2 . Mi ke A ndrews (Suzl; 3. Ton y Flores (Kaw); 4 . Kevin Bow les (Hon); 5 . Brad Proctor (Yam). OPEN AM : 1. Jay Hauser ( H o n~ 2. Rid Saunde rs (Hon l; 3. Roger Lineberger {Kaw l; 4 . Crai g Wa hers (Hon ); 5 _Andy Wi lhams IKTMI. Bon FINAL: 1. Katsun ori Koya ma (Due); 2. Sachio Yajima (Due); 3. Kevin Erio n (Han); 4. Ak ir a Shiin a (Han); 5. Tadaaki Yoshino (Han); 6. Hiro Vamagishi (Bim); 7. Takashi Inoue (M G); B. Katsu mi Okamoto (Hon); 9. Seiji Nakano (Due); 10. Ryoji Ishikawa (Due). Linville aces Montrose Motorsporfs Park MX By Hurley and Dot Short RAEFORD, N.C. , JAN. 2 Tom my L invi lle used a 1·1 mo to co mbi natio n 10 claim top hon or s in th e I 25cc Ama teur class at Montrose Mo tor sports Park MX. As the ga te dro p ped lor the first mo to 01 the 125« Amateur class. Linvi lle launch ed h is . H onda into the lead and grabbed the holeshot, Lynville was lo llowed by T odd Bennick, Kent Ro gerso n and Ro n n ie Ya rbr o. H o wever , Benn ick moved pa st Linville lor the lead . while Rogerso n held o n 10 thi rd. Linville sta yed with Bennick and eventually recaptured the lead. Benn ick sett led in second Tyler terrific at Salt Palace Arenacross By Dale Bohm and Ste ve Liedberg. Tyler quickly moved by Sm ith lor th e lead , while Metz po u nded on Sm ith's door and event ua lly go , by lor seco nd. T yler held o n to win o ver Meta, Smith. L ied berg a nd J ell L u nd gr en , In last cha nce q ua lifier action , Yam ah a rider Allen Donald son it'd wire-to-wire to w in over Chance Ma ugh an. Bret Smith and Brad Min er. The linal was tense as the 12 rid er lield read ied th em selves befo re the F sta rt. Co rk y lag Ma ugh an was lightning-quick. as he pu lled th e ho leshot o ver Matt Smi th , John Christian, Travis Metz and T yler. Maughan was ridi ng o n the edg e. as he contin ued 10 hold th e lead o ver Sm ith and a hard-charging T yler . Smith tried desperatel y to hold o il T yler , but the H o nda rider used hi s U h racross expe rience to ge t b y o n lap seven . Corky Maugha n was T yler's next target. as he zeroed in o n th e Suz u ki rider. Tyler and Maughan pu t o n a gr ea t di sp lay o f rid ing as th e two rid ers rod e th ro ug h la p ped riders tot all y ta pped o u t. T yler fina lly got by o n la p n in e. as he o u rj u rnped Maug han t h rou g h the tri p le j u m ps and stuffed h im in the next co rne r, Sm ith held do wn thi rd over Ch ristian, as the pack so rted out. The li n ish lIa!( saw Ty ler th e w inner ove r Ma ug he n , S m i t h a nd Christian. " I hav e a hab it of trying 100 hard a nd cra shing," sa id T yler. "Ton igh t I took it easy and worked my way up 10 win ." Results 250 PRO: 1. Scan Tyler 3 . Man Smith (Yam ). (Hon); 2. Corley Maughan C Suz l; Boterus doubles at Virginia MX . By James Jarman DILLWYN , VA, J AN . 21 Bruce Boteru s, a board hi s RR I)-backt'd Su zu ki mad e th e trip from Eng lis htown , NewJcrsey, su ccesslul by winnin g both the 125 an 250cc B clas ses in th e first rou nd of a five-race winter MX series at S ME MX Park. " II was a lo ng trip, however, I enj oyed raci ng here and I do p lan to come ba ck ,... Borerus said. T o sta rt th e fir st mow of th e 125cc B cl ass. Ya maha -mo u n ted Mark Swart pow ered o u t 01 th e hol e lollowed by Cagiva -mou n red Dann y Wh iu en . Ho nda -mou nted T im Dea n a nd Bo terus. \ Vh iuen soo n got pas t Swart to lead. Meanwhile. from h is fourth -place start. Boerus was mo un ling a cha rge th a i soon lou nd him behi nd whiuen , cha lleng ing lo r the lead . Wh itt en was determi ned not to make it easy for the new guy lO get by. The IWO rid ers went int o (he back section OUI o f sig ht , an d whe n they rea p peared, Boter us had tak en over th e lead. \Vh itten tr ied to stay close, b u t was u nah le to regai n th e lead. The two Finished in that o rder wit h Dean findi ng 3. way arou nd Swa rt to claim th ird . T he seco nd moto , Boterus ca p tu red the lead from the start and never loo ked back as Dean , Swan and \Vhiuen were Id t 10 fight over seco nd posi tio n. Dean won that ba ttle to ga rner second in the mo w as well as overall: Swart fin ish ed thi rd wit h whi tten fo urth in rh e m oio . SALT LA KE CITY, UT; J AN. 13 Washington's Scol! T yler made hi s trip Sa lt Lake worthwhi le, as he dominated Sat u rda y night's Aren acr oss held in the main arena o f the Sa lt Palace. Ty ler won th e ha rd way, as he wo rked his way u p from a fifth pl ace sta rt to wi n in front o f a packed hou se. The race was hel d in co nj u nc tio n wit h a mud bog and an a weso m e wh eel ie disp lay b y Do u g Dom o kos. Twelve riders fi lle t he sta rt o f th e main , d after trans fer ri ng via two semi-qualifiers a nd a last chance q ua lifier, In the Iirst qualifier Was hi ngton' s John Christian led the wa y o ver Cor ky Maughan, Mark L u ndgren , MIke Thomas and Steve Jones. In qualifier n u mber two Ma tt Smith took the ho leshot over Tyler . Idaho 's Travis Meu '0 T o sta rt th e first mor e o f the 250cc B cl a s ~ Kawasaki -mounted Travis Daniels pulled th e hol eshOI lo llowed by Wh ill en and Boterus, Daniels held on for the lead , bUI soo n found hi s ha nds fu ll wi th BOleTUS. Borerus d ispe nsed 01 Dani els q u ick ly, a nd pu lled ou t to a very co m forta ble lead tha t wo u ld never be cha llen!;ed. Daniels laded, endi ng up thi rd with Wh it ten ta ki ng over second . ., T he second mo te o nce again saw Daniels stea l the ho lesbo t wi th Bot eru s in low. Boierus got arou nd Daniels and wen t o n to wi n for the lo u n h tim e today. Th is moto , Dan iels hung o n lor second lo llowed by whiuen. The 30 Plus cla ss firs t motu saw Ya ma hamo u nt ed Kennet h Brow n. the ea rly leader . get passed by Ho nda -mounted David Bell . Bell cruised o n to victory in the mot a over Bro wn. Third place was being decided between

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