Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M OTOCROSS GFI California Winter MX Series North-South Showdown: Round I e Craig Truglio (48) led early in both 60cc class motes, but Jesse Ketcham (36) came from behind each time to win. Kawasaki-mo unted Mick y Dym ond (24) jumped out front in both 250cc Pro motos, but he couldn't hold off th e charges of Kawasaki Team Green's Ryan Hughes: Ryan Johnson (10) battled for first in both l25cc No vice 0-1 mo tos. Albrecht invincible at Perris way up from back in the pack, and the pair closed in on second p lace Dan Barnett and third place Bill y Felts until time ran out. Albrecht motored away from Felts in the second moto as Ulven got shoved out of third by Pete Piantanida. After constant pressure Pagel passed Ulven then caught up to Pian tan ida and pressu red ' h im into crashi ng. Pagel the n closed in on Felts, but time ra n out before he could engage in a battle. Albrecht to pped Kevin Geyer in both 250cc In term ediate Di vision On e rno tos, Ulve n finished th ird in the first moto but dropped to 15th in mo to two . Pagel trade d mo to wins with J ake Trist in the seco nd division wi th T ris t comi ng up wi th the decidin g victory in mo to two. "I will probably move up to th e Pro class alter Po nca Ci ty (in August)," said Albrecht. " But for now I need to thi n k abou t the World Mini Grand Prix and Ponca." Ryan Hughes go t the holeshot at the start of the first I 25cc Pro moto. Jerem y McGrath was second but after two laps succu mbed to intens e pressure from Eri k Keh oe. Keh o e qui ckl y cu t By Tony Alessi and Nate Rauba PERRIS, CA, FEB 24-25 . oel Albrecht was in vin cib le in the 125 and 250cc Interm edia te classes as he won every mo to entered in both divisions at the first GFI Ca lifornia Winter MX Series No rt hSouth Showdown at Perri s Raceway. T he event was th e first of two meetings in which competi tors fro m th e northern and sou them regions of the GF I Ca lifo rnia Winter MX Seri es went up aga inst each o ther o n the trac k. Each region had a five-race series, but the showdown was open to all riders regardless of whether or not th ey had ridden a regional series event . No points from either regional ser ies were cou nt ed toward th e showdown titl e, bu t riders wh o fini shed in the top 10 from each class in each region came into the showdown with a 25-point J 24 bo nus, the same number of points awarded for a mo to victory. Alt ho ugh Albrecht, south region cha mpion in both the 125 and 250cc Intermediate classes, was one of those . ri ders with the 25-point bon us, he' s no t assured of th e overa ll state ti tle which will be decided March 3-4 a t Sandhill Ran ch in Brent wood. GFI's points system is based on the AMA's 25-2220-18-16-15... 1 point system, so any of the top finis hers are still within reach. In the first 125cc In termediate rnoto, Kawasaki Team Green 's Albrecht disappeared and left th e rest of the pack to battle for second. T yler Hummel too k up the chase wh en Dan Ulven went down just aft er the start, but Hummel crashed hard on lap two. Ul ven and Sean Pagel wor ked their Hughes' adva ntage and near the end Keh oe closed the gap to a couple of bike lengths, but Hughes remained in control at the checkered flag . Kehoe controlled the start of mo to two with Hughes close behind, and the two left th e rest of the field far beh ind. Kehoe maintained a small advantage to the white flag, then Hughes moved in for the kill. Hughes couldn 't take advantage of a bobble by Kehoe, and when H ughes pushed Kehoe once, again he h it Kehoe 's P ro Circuit! AXO-b acked Honda and went do wn . Kehoe cruised to th e overall win and H ughes recovered in second. Micky Dymond led the first 250cc Pro charge wit h H ug hes im mediately, attacking. Dymo nd remained smooth and relaxed, but his conservative style wa s no ma tch for Hug h es' hyper a ttack. Hu ghes pull ed away from Dymond for the win, Dymond fin ished second over Will y Mu sgr ave and J oe Waddington. . "I'm not in as good of physical sha pe as a few of the ot her riders," Dymond said. " My sho ulder still isn' t comp letely heal ed and I ten sed up. It's been six weeks since I' ve ridden , th at's when I inj ured my shou lder. T oday is for , riding and to try to get back in sha pe." Dymond grabbed the hol eshot at the start of the second moto and o pened a lead o n the first lap. Brian Em ig and Hu gh es b attl ed for sec o n d until Hughes got by, bu t he was 15 seconds behind Dymon d. Hugh es charged and closed in on Dymond near the halfway po int, then attempted to pass , bu t Dymond moved over and for ced Hugh es to the o utside in a turn. Two turns later H ughes slid undernea th and pulled away. Dymond too k: second an d Waddington fin ished th ird. The first di visio n ofthe I 25cc Novice class produced some wild racing. In the first moto J im my Mechem and Gr eg Allen battled for first early in the five-lap mo to whi le Ryan Johnson and Ryan Pau ls disputed th ird. Mechem fell back in the pa ck and Johnson moved up to first with Pau ls pushing fro m beh ind. Pau ls go t by o n lap four and pu lled away to the win , wh ile Alle n passed Joh nson on the last lap but fell. J o hnson then had to hol d off Den ni s Dahl in to finis h second . Mo to two featured a race-long battle for the lead invo lving several riders. J ohnson too k control from Mecham near the halfway po int with Pau ls, Shawn Mcintosh , Allen and Dah lin close behind: On lap four J ohnson fell in a tig ht corner and crea ted a bottleneck, but Allen was back far enough to get around the mess and went from fifth to first. Paul s got away second bu t could n 't close th e gap before th e finish. Mci ntosh was a close th ird and Dahl in too k fourth. J ohnson dro pped to last. Donn Sarian stormed to the front of the first Vet Intermedi ate mot o, bu t Doug Goodman an d Mark Olso n qu ickl y passed Sa rian and moved away. Brian Kurth q ui ckl y moved up and swep t past Sarian . Kurth reeled in Goodman and Olson on the last lap and pa ssed bot h riders to take th e win . " I hit my face o n the handle ba rs rea lly hard, it loosened so me teeth and sliced my chi n," sai d Kurth. " I th in k hurtin g myself mad e me want to pas s tho se guys." In th e second mo to 125cc rider Randy Skinner grabbed th e ho leshot and went un cha lle nged to the win. Goodman cras hed hard on the first lap while Sarian a n d Da ve Simmons batt led until Sarian faded . Ku rth started poorly and moved up to fourth by the final lap , passed third p lace Steve Donovan and then almost got by

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