Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~. M OloeROSS 23rd Annual Mammoth Mountain Motocross e ~~~ J ohnny O':\lara (9) leads the start of the 250cc Expert final. J eff Matiasevieh (92) was th e win ner; O 'Mara finished third. Aaron Wenstrup (60) and Willie Miller had a close ba ttle in the 250cc Junior final. :\tiller got by for th e win while Wen strup slip ped back and fini shed fourth. Jim Spo tts carded a perfect score to win th e l25cc Junior class title. O'Mar acashes in at Mammoth Motocross several riders raced more than just one day. there were no double-class winners, Wh ile the Expert class riders were rewarded with cash from the $25,000 purse, Amateu r class competitors battled for one of the coveted Mammoth trophies and a share of $10,000 in conti ngencies, With so man y entries most classes were sp lit into divisions, Amate urs had to ride two quali fying rno tos in ord er 10 ga in a tra nsfer posi tio n 10 the class main event , wi th the mo to scores co mbined with th e fin al fin ishing posit ion , whic h counted for double points, to determine the overa ll winner. Expert cla ss riders tran sferred to the 35-mi n u te p lu s o ne-lap fin al if they pl aced h igh eno ug h in the first qualifying moto, Those who fini shed o u t o f th e tran sfer posit ions h ad th e o ppo rt un ity to ride a no ther qua lifier as a last cha nce to mak e th e main, O 'Ma ra 's closest sho t at a win was in Friday's Open Expert final. At the start, O 'Mara grabbed the holesho t . headed up the long , wh ooped-out uphill , and held the lead for two laps, T hen, Kawasa ki T eam Gr een riders Jeremy McGrat h and T allon Vohland go t by and moved away from O 'Mara as thev battled for the lead, Their battl e ended' around the halCway point wh en Vohland went down whil e chasi ng McGra th, By N a te Rauba Photos by Ken Fa ught and Rauba MAM ~IOT H L~K ES, CA,JUNE 28-JULY I ltho ugh Johnny O'Mara was shut ou t of a win in the three featu red Expert classes, he still walked awa y fro m th e 23rd An n ua l Mamm o th Mountain Motocross with the biggest chu n k of cash fo r bein g the most . cons isten t rider in the three finals. O'Mara earned $7650 of the $25,000 Expert class pu rse, the majority of it co ming from th e $5000 bonus for postin g the lowest overall score in the thr ee races, Whil e Dou g Dubach , J eff Matiasevich and T all on Vohland did th e winning in their respecti ve Open, 250 a nd 125cc Expert classes, O 'M a ra A 16 combi ned 2-3-3 fini shes 10 wrap up the overall cha m pionshi p, And O 'Mara did it despite a painful hand that was stitched up du e 10 a moun tain bike accident, "] love to race here and had to borrow two bikes and use my pra ctice bike, whi ch has the equ ivalent of 40 races on it," said O'Mara, " I' m proud of what I did, " Nearl y 1400 Expe rt and Amat eu r entrants compe ted in four days of racing on the Mammoth course, wh ich winds th rough toweri ng pine trees and scrub brush in the Sierra Nevada Moun tains on U.S, For est Service lan ds, Alt ho ug h " I came out of a com er, the front end popped out of the groove and I went down, " said Vohla nd, who resumed the race in fifth before dropping back 10 fini sh seventh, " Picking it up just drain ed all my energy." Wh ile the two Kawasaki riders had been dicing up front , Du bach had wor ked his way up 10 second after getting off to a poo r start. Dubach moved in o n McGr ath and passed him on lap 10 of the 16-lap race. i\kGrath held off the adva nces of O 'Mara for an other lap before dro pping off the pa ce. " I got tired. It's my first time on a 500," said McGrath, who normall y com petes on 125 and 250cc machinery. " I go t a good start and ju st hoped th at Dou g (Dubach) wouldn't chase me down, " O 'Mara closed in o n Duba ch late in the race, and took the lead on the last lap when Dubach mi ssed a sh ift exiting a tum near the fini sh, But Dubach passed him back in the final tum before the fini sh lin e, " I slid o ut of the berm and had 10 let off," explained O'Mara. " I knew there were two lines in tha t com er, and I took the oppo site one he did," said Dubach , " Fort unately, it work ed ou t." McG rath finis hed th ird , well ahead of T y Davis, who had cha rged from behind and battled by Ryan Hugh es for fourth place. Rodn ey Smith was sixth ahead of Voh land, Saturday featured the 125cc Expert class, and Ka wasaki T eam Green/Race T ech-support ed Derek Natvig surprised everyone by tak ing the holeshot and holding off teammate Vohlan d in a heated battl e for two laps , Once Vohland go t by he was go ne, whi le Natvig faded back to eig ht h and even gave O 'Mara a tough time at o ne po int. " I was using everything I had," said an exha usted Na tvig, who was riding his second pro race, " Once I started getting tired I couldn' t hit the berm s right. I felt con fident after my qualifi er a nd wasn't scared of who carne up behind me," Steve Lamson moved in to second on lap four and spent the rest of the race tryi ng 10 catch Voh land. Lamso n could never close the gap as Vohland main-, rained a five-second lead to the finish. ' " I tried 10 break away, but Steve (La mso n) was strong, " said Vo hlarid.. " ] knew he and O 'Mara would come, but I j ust held a steady pace to the end. Pau l T hede had my bik e ru nni ng stro ng." , O'Mara spent nearly half the race in fifth, but once he got around Natvig he q uickly closed in o n Smi th and took third on lap 10. That was as far as he'd get, wh ile Davis moved into fifth behind Smi th at the halfway po int and the top five stayed the same to the fin ish , Sixth place was still up in the air as Dubach , who could never make up for a po or sta rt , ba tt led with Budd y Ant unez, Dub ach passed Ant unez late in the race, bu t Antunez stayed with him and pulled alongs ide o n the last lap as they ente red a tight, off-camber tum aro und a lar ge tree not far from the fini sh line, Bo th riders went for the same lin e with Ant unez ending up o n the ground, Dubach took sixth whil e McGrath a n d Natvi g go t a ro u nd Antunez. "I was inside. We were side by side and he pani cked and gave it extra thrott le," explained Dubach, " We both had too much speed to make the tum, There was nowhere for me 10 go inside becau se of the tree, so I was goi ng 10 sho w him I had the line." Antunez had no comment on the incident, When the 250cc Expert final left the starti ng line as the sun began to drop

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