Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Mike Healey (37) leads Craig Davis (6) and Brian Wheeler (8) on the way to one of his six Pro class mota w ins. Pete Murray (7 ) battled w ith Ryan Carlisle in the 1 2 5 cc Pro class. then _ later topped bo th motos in the Vet Pro class. . .f.; M ike Genzoli (2 3) got t he holes hot in t he f irst 125cc Beginne r .m oto and sta yed ou t fron t for the w in . CMC Golden State Nationals: Round 6 Healey, Murra'Y' sweep Prairie City By Donn Maeda SAC RA MENTO, CA , FEB . II Mi ke H eal ey and Peter. Murray dominated the Professional classes a t round six of the CMC Golden State Nationals at Prairi e City OHV Park. H ealey won the 125, 250 an d 500cc P ro classes, while Murray ran away with th e Vet Pro win . . Just one week ear lier, after ta ki ng seco nd in th e 125cc ciass a nd wi n ni ng th e 250 and 500cc class, H eal ey sig hed, " O h well , m aybe next week I ca n win a ll th ree." H eal ey did just th a t toda y, sweepi ng a ll six mo to s to fullfill hi s quest. " I fin ally d id it!" said th e KTM rider ; " And now I a lso have th e points lead in every class. My manager wants me to retu rn to Europe soon , but I think I ma y ca nce l a race to fini sh o ut thi s . series." H eal ey go t things ro ll in g b y gra bbin g th e hol esh ot in th e fir st 125cc P ro moto. Cl ose behind we re Ray Crumb, Ryan Carlisle and R yan Pederson. On th e fir st lap, Pederson wasrun off th e co urse a nd through th e banners th a t lined the track. Ped erson p u lle d off the track to remove th e banners th a t had wo und around hi s rea r wh ee l a n d re mou nted in last pl ace. Mea nw h ile, H ea ley pulled out a h uge lead a nd began to th rill the crowd with a ntics ove r a lar g e led g e -fa ced j um p . Cru mb was running a strong seco n d , but a t th e halfway poi nt overshot a . doub le a nd landed in so me deep mud fro nt wh eel first. Cru m b was ejecte d from hi s Kawa saki , all owing Ca rl isle a nd a hard charging Ped erson to scoot by. Ped erson had set a incredib le pace after hi s first-lap i n ci de nt , and carried hi s momentum past Ca rl isle and into seco nd place. H eal ey took an easy win over Pederson, Carlisle and Jon Nelson. : " I got a good sta rt, a nd Pederson got a li ttl e messed up a t th e start," sa id H eal ey, " b u t I bent m y bars from landing so hard off that jump!" Pederson n abbed the seco nd rnoto hol esh ot a head o f Nel son, Chri s Young a nd Greg Ti rh eimer. H eal ey was st uc k in six th, but swooped into third by th e seco n d lap. After following Young for a co u p le laps, H eal ey opened up hi s KTM and smoked into seco nd. H eal ey th en began to pressu re Peder son, wh o wa s nursin g a brok en cran kca se th at wa s sp ur tin g o il. H eal ey took th e lead on th e back stra ig h t and began to pull away , wh ile Butch Smith worked up from a poor start an d o n to Pederson 's rear fender. Pederson held on to second ove r Smith a nd Young. H eal ey took th e overa ll , Pederson was seco nd, a nd Nelson was th ird overa ll wi th h is 4-5 scores. " I se ttled into th ird for awh ile," H eal ey said, " bu t I go t tired o f the roost and got goi ng." P ed e r son bl a st ed a b o rro w ed Suzuki out of th e ga te first in th e open in g 250cc Pro moto just a head o f H eal ey a nd J on Ne lso n. H eal ey too k the lead o n th e ope ni ng lap a nd qui ck ly p u lle d . a way. Smith p ressured Nelson for thi rd and worked past on th e fourth lap. The rest of the m o ta was uneventful, as H ea ley cr u ised to . th e win over Ped erson , Sm ith a nd Chris Young. Pederson led the sta rt o f moto two ; wi th Smith, Ca rl isle and Murray in tow. H ea ley worked into third by th e thi rd lap, a nd began to pressu re Sm ith. H eal ey quickl y stuffed under Smi th and set a fter Pederson. Pederso n a nd H eal ey arg ued over first pl ace, but Pederson lost hi s rhythm " in th e mud hole and surrenderred the I lead. Once in front, H eal ey cruised ' • to th e fin ish. Murray ca me ou t on top of a clo se di ce th at involved Low ell Thomson an d Carlisle to fin ish third. H eal ey took th e overa ll , Ped erson was seco nd a nd T homson was third o vera ll wi th a 5-4 score. " T h a t was f u n," sai d H eal ey. " I cruised a t th e sta rt and pl ayed arou n d ' a li tt le bi t. On ce I decid ed to go , I took o ff a nd wa lked a way ." T h e o peni ng 500cc Pro moto sawCraig Davis power hi s FMF -backed H onda do wn the -sta rt straigh t a head ~ of Mar c Peters an d Brian Wh eeler. H eal ey was b ack in fo u rt h , but wi thi n th e first three turns had ta ken co m ma n d o f. the lea d . Wh eel er stu ffed his way past Da vis in th e back section of th e co u rse, an d took over seco nd. The crowd wa ited in anticipati on to see if H eal ey wo ul d E perform th e sa me acrobatics abo a rd h is bi g 500, a nd were de lig h ted when he began to at th e halfway poin t. No t to he o u tdone, En glishman Wheeler, did a few o f hi s own. H eal ey cru ised H to th e win over Wh eeler , Davi s and ' »m a ch argin g Tim McClintock. Davis ho leshot m oto two, but lost ' ll th e lead to H eal ey a nd Wh eeler o n lJ th e o pe n i n g lap. M oto two was r sim ila r to th e fir st race a s H eal ey pull ed a way from Wh eel er and Da vis. H ealey to ok the o vera ll, Wheel er wa s secon d and Davis third , o vera ll. "Today went reall y well ," said ' Heal ey aft er sco ring h is third overa ll victory. " Last time we raced h ere I had some bad luck and fou led a sp ark plug. " Peter Murray was quickest out of I the gate in th e opening Vet Pro moto, ·w but clawing at hi s lea thers were ... Randy Chapman a nd Rex Staten. " Stat en worked his way past Chap- if m an a nd look ed for a way arou nd Murray. Sta ten had to sett le for th e , runn er-up p o sition h owev er, as Murra y ro de a flawl ess race a nd pulled a way a t th e fini sh . Ch apma n held on to third pl ace. " I got o u t front a nd rode a stead y race, " sai d Murra y. Staten pl ow ed ou t of th e ga te in th e second moto in front of Murray an d J ack Lawren ce. The lead du o beg an to pu ll away a n d Murra y displaced Staten in th e back secti on of th e track. Once in front, Murray set it o n cru ise control. Alt hough Stat en stayed close, he was never a serio us threat to th e series points leader. Mu rray took th e m oto a na overall wins ove r Sta ten, Lawren ce a nd Chapman. " Sta ten got away a t th e start, and I had to work through some traffic,"

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