Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M OloeROSS CMC Golden Slate Nationals: Round 7 I Mike Healey's (37) suspens io n problems allowed Craig Davis (6) to cap tu re the overall win in the 500cc Pro class. Healey (37) beat Ry'!n Pederson (11) Ear the 125cc Pro class win and used a 3-1 score to top the 250cc class as well. Davisb sHeale 'sstreak at Sunrise reak y By Donn Maeda ADELANTO, CA, FEB. 18 rai g Davis used cons istency and a little bit oE lu ck to capture th e overall win in the 500cc Pro class at round seven of th e CMC Golden State Nati onal s at Sunrise Cycle Park. KTM 's Mike H eal ey scored th e overall wins in the 125 and 250cc Pro classes, but lost the overa ll in the 500cc class to Davis wh en suspens ion problems for ced him to reti re from the first moto. Surprisin gl y p leasa nt weather gree ted the racer s in the morn ing, as many had expected the foul wea ther that lingered over the valley on th e o ther side of th e mountains . It didn 't C 50 last how ever, as first rain, then snow fell o n th e riders during the second moto. The cold weather didn 't coo l down the da y's racing however, as riders battled with the same intensity as always. Healey took the lead early in th e first 125cc Pro rnoto, with Ryan Carli sle, Mike Ch amberl ain and Scott McEl ro y in tow . Ch amberl ain pulled alongside Carlisle in th e whoops and sailed pa st as they navigated the main tab leto p jump. Ryan Pederson began to cu t through the pack after a sixth -p lace start, jumping pa st , McElro y a n d pr essu ring Carlisle for third. Pederson displ aced Carlisle in the wh oop section and set after Ch amberlain. Chamberlain held off the Suzuki pilot until the last lap, when the two made contact in th e wh oops before th e fini sh . Chamberlain Ilew' off the course and crossed the fin ish lin e o n the wrong side of the banners. Heal ey took an easy win over Pederson and Chamberl ain, who recovered in tim e to save third. 'T hat was easy. " said Healey. " I go t the holesho t and j us t rode away." Pederson took the lead at the start of the second rnoto , with Chamberl a in and H eal ey scratchi ng at h is rea r fender. On the first lap, Scotty Takacs pin ned it o u t of the "compression chamber" and displaced bo th Heal ey and Chamberlai n . Bo th riders fou nd their way back around Takacs o n lap th ree, and bega n to reel in Pederso n. Ch a mberlai n began to knock on Pederson 's back door , but the Suzu ki rid er cont in ued to lead. Hea ley seemed to get fed up with foll owing, and swooped past both Chamberl ain and Pederson on the ninth lap. Healey took th e rno ro and overa ll wi ns, wh ile Pederson 'a nd Chamberl ain fill ed o ut th e top th ree. " I just got o u t front and rode at my own pace, " sa id Heal ey, " but this weather stinks! " In 250cc Pr o class actio n But ch Sm ith blasted hi s Yam ah a o ut o f th e ga te a hea d o f Carl isle, jon Nelson and Lo well Thom son. Smith began to pull away, but Don Pa tton was on the move and forced hi s way into third pl ace beh ind Carl isl e. Patton cu t un der Ca rli sl e a n d se t a ft er th e lead er , ca tch ing Sm ith by the halfway po int, Carl isle then faded back to fifth place. Also o n the move was Healey, wb o had suffered a near-last-p lace start. He al ey closed on the lead ers, and looked for a way around Thomson, who was running third. Patton took the lead fro m Smith in the wh oo ps and began to pu ll away, whi le Heal ey forced hi s way pas t Thom son . Patton 'crossed the fin ish line ahead of Smith and a disappointed Heal ey. " I p icked a bad spot on the lin e," commente d Heale y. " I shifted twice befor e I even left th e concrete. The track isn't very rough yet, and I j us t ran out of time befor e I could catch those g uys." Seco nd moto actio n saw Smith claim his second ho leshot of th e day, but Patto n and Healey also got good sta rts. Smi th rod e a blazing pa ce a nd led for most of th e rnoto, bu t couldn't hold off the charge of KTM/ Fox/ Gaerne/ O a kley/K St yle/F&L Fuel s/ jojos/ Ren th al /K N AC-spo n so red Healey. Hea ley too k th e lead j us t past the fini sh area and proceeded to pull o ut to a commandi ng lead . Sm ith he ld his lines and supressed the advances of Pat ton, fin ishin g a dista nt seco nd beh in d Hea ley. A th ree-wa y tie for th e overall win was broken by H ealey's 3-1 score, wh ile Patton ha d o ne mor e po int than Sm ith a nd too k second overa ll. Crai g Davis timed th e ga te perfectly in the first 500cc Pro moto, but hot o n hi s tai l were Rex Sta ten, Dan Berg and H ealey. Heal ey weaved throug h the pack and moved onto Davis' rear fender by the third turn , then stu ffed hi s way into the lead in a sweeper and began to pull away . Meanwhile, Berg set hi s sights on Davis and tried everything to get by th e FMF/jR Racing/ Dall a s Baker 's Pro T ec/Winning ColorslWhite Broth ers/Smith Goggles! Long Beach Honda/Golden Spectre/ Renthal-sponsored rider. On lap three, , Berg jumped pas t Davis and took over the runner-up pos ition. Davis seemed a bit surprised, as Berg turned a double and sing le jump into a triple, and was the only rider to do so. just before the h alfw ay p o int. H eal ey pull ed off . th e tra ck with sus pe ns io n problem s, leavin g Ber g and Davi s in th e top two po siti on s. Davis cont in ued to hound Berg, but the number on e pl ate-holder hung o n to tak e th e win over Davi s and KTM rider Brian Wheeler. " I didn 't even know I was leading," said a su rprised Berg. " They told me I won wh en I go t back 10 the truck." " If I had ano ther lap I would've won." said Davis. " Berg was slowi ng down and I wasn 't even tir ed. "

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