Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

LOCAL EVENTS Winner Rusty Rogers (57) leads Don Estep (14) and Will Davis (21) earl y in the Expert main at the Frederick Half Mile. Estep later crashed and Davis took second. another few rounds, with Stump finall y pulling down a second. Fisher, who made th e final as an alternate, rod e th e high lin e to a fourth-place fini sh . The Pro-Am win was nailed by Kyle Long after a program filled with spills. In heat race action, Dan Martin put the bike down, then tangled with Jack Bartram who bounced off the bike , holding onto just, the handlebars. Richard Deckling rounded curve and clipped Bartram's bike, sending th em both tumbling. The final went more smoothly with long stretching his lead and Martin working hi s way past Keith Vaness en for second until a mechanical failure cost him the race. Bartram then overtook Vanessen for the second-place slot. In th e com bined Open Amateur/Senior class, Rob Gessner literally ran away with teh win after some in itial pressure from Ronnie Rail. Rail broke and Eri c Thorla inched hi s way up to pass Strom McDowell for the second spot. The 250cc Amat eu r class sa w another victory for Gessner with a quarter-track lead o n Denny J effries. Richard Deckling and Shawn Thomas foll owed to fin ish third and fourth. whi ch was opened to th e -fastest five rid ers on Harley 750s only. Rodney Farris took that over Will Davi s and Don Estep in wha t turned out to be a previ ew of th e battle for second in the final. The 18 Experts were divided int o three heat s . with Rogers, Rodney Farris and Will Davis winning in that order. At the waving of th e green flag for the main, Rogers quickly Jumped into th e lead over Estep , Davis and Farm. On thesecond lap Davis slipped off th e groove and slipped back th ree spo ts. As th ey finished the third lap, Farris put his borrowed . Harley into second and started to pull away from Estep and Rob Majeski. Two laps later, Farris' machien started to spu tter, letting the battle for third ca tch him. Estep caugh t him at the beginning of the seventh lap, wi th Davis and Maj eski close behind. Then as th ey were heading down th e downhill back strai ght , a . puff of smo ke was seen co m ing fro m Estep 's mach in e. Estep said la ter. " It went o n o ne cylinder going int o three , and slowed up , wi th Will Davis hitting me since he ha d no wh ere to go." Estep wwent tumbling, but lu ckily o nly suffered " road rash." After th e race, Rogers said, " Ma ke sure to say thanks to Martha for a good sho w." Jeremy Lu cy took th e Pro-Am heat after Georgie Price had started way down and fought back to finish a close second. In th e final, Price made sure he wouldn't have to fight for the lead, as he put his D&:S Cycles/ Dorsey Builders/Shoei Wood-Rotax in front of Lucy, Kevin Varn es and Ken Mohler. With Price a few lengths in front, Varn es finally got by Lucy as his machine started to slow slightly, finally fading to fourth o n th e fi!th lap. Varnes gradually closed the gap on Pnce and spent th e last threee laps pr obing for an openmg or mistake that never came . After easily winning th e lone Junior heat, Jason Fletcher found h imself behind Mike Varnes at the star t of the Junior final. As the y came off the second turn o n the next lap, Fletcher put his Edmonds Racing/R&:I Manufacturing/Wilcox Racing/SpectrolFat CitylBell/Jim Tipping/K&:N/Bob 's Shop/ Grandparents/Parents-sponsored Rotax by Varnes and started to pull away from Varnes, Harold Hillard and Lew Woods. After two laps, the only battle was between Bill Bromley and David Miller for fifth th at took up every part of the track. Results EX: 1. Darrin Erichson (H.D); 2. Scan Slump (H ·D): 5. Troy Nom' (W·R); 4. Rex Fisher (W-R); 5. Dave Rayburn (H- D). PRO·AM: 1. Kyle Long (RIX): 2. Jack Bartram (Han): 8. Keith v an ecen (H ·D): ... R ichard Deck li n (RlX): 5. Jim Ike.. (W.R). OP EN AM·Sa: 1. Rob Casner (Kaw); 2. Eric Th orla (H· D); 3. Strom McDow ell (H · D); 4. Gl enn Reeb (Han) : 5. Ed ~lJ s(Hon ). 2500 AM: 1. Rob ~11tt (K4Iw): 2. Dmni. Jdlrin (Hon); 5. Richard Deckling (Han ); 4. Sha wn Thomas (Ya m ). 50: I. 1l C. Knodel (MOl); 2. JnM' j efner (Yam ). Houston doubles at Cal-Expo Speedway By Bill Spencer SACRAMENTO, CA, JUNE 29 It was the second straight week of doubleheader wins. but this time it was Fox Racing USA's John Houston, Jr. who was at the front of both the Handicap and Scratch mains. The " Coca ·Cola kid" elbowed his way past " Bad Boy" Bob Hicks for the Scratch show, and then bided his time getting by Mark Squadrito and Mark Day to win the coveted double in front of Paul Orlandi in a good Handicap scrap. Creed Lehr survived som e crashing in winning the Division Two honors for Stewart's Office Supply over Stacy Ledou and Industrial Freight's Ron Clevenger, back from the surgery table while Campbell topped the Divis ion Three crash-fest over Rich Mignano and 63-year-old Tom Castagnola. Resul ts HOCP: 1. Jo hn Hou ston , .Ir.: 2. Pau l Orlandi; 5. Mark Day ; 4. Jex LtDuc; 5. Darttll BUlb.,. . SCRATCH: 1. John HOUlton Jr .; 2. Bob Hieh : 5. Paul Or landi : 4. Jex Led uc. 0.2: 1. Crttd uht; 2. Stlcy Ledou; 3. Ron Bartow . D-5: 1. Rick Campbell ; 2. Ri ch Mignano; 5. T om Castagnol a . Rogers rolls to Fritchie Classic Half Mile win By Le n Breech FREDERICK, MD, JULY 4 Rusty Rogers was almost as hot as the weather at th e 68th running of the Barbara Fritchie Cla ssic Hall mile at th e Fred erick Fa irgrounds. Whil e the tem pera ture was hovering aro und triple digits, 100, Rogers ba d his J o h nn y Goad / FIG Ra ci n g/ Ski p Eak en/ Bro a drock Tow ing / ING E Sp ortswearspo nsored H onda hit a tripl e a lso as he set fast time of 27.091, took ht s hea t easily a nd disappea red from the field in the final. The on ly thi ng Rogers didn't win was the Smitty's Memoria l Cha llenge Dash For Cash, Results PRO-A.\{: 1. CMrgir Price (W-R ); 2. Kmn VanK'S (R tx ); 5. Km Mohln (Rtx); f'nnis Stepanenko (law): 4. Mike Boyle (Ja w). JR: 1. Ran d y [vans; 2. Chris Werner : .5. Heath Hammonds: 4. Aa ron M alt~n. McMillen tops New Jersey State Raceway Park Motocross . By Rosan n e Lukaitis ENGLISHTOWN, N JUNE 16·1 7 J, Kurt McMill en kept th e spectators in awe as he per formed in a spectacu lar manner a t th e 5,h Annual Suzu ki New Jersey State MX Cha m pio nshi ps a t Ra ceway Park . T aking an ear ly lead m th e first 125cc Exp ert moto was Carlo Coen followed closely by J err y Seip a nd Barry Carsten. Po iti on s changed quickl y as th ey di ced back a nd forth. Half way through the mo to Car sten slipped int o th e lead , th en held o n for the win. McMill en work ed his way lip through the pack a nd moved into th ird behind Coen. Sho rtly a fter McMillen passed Coen an d . settled int o second and stayed th ere until he crossed th e finish lin e. Brian Carroll then pow ered h is Suzuki int o third, making the fini shing order Carsten, McMi llen, Ca rro ll , Coe n a nd David Ant onucci. When th e gate dropped for th e start of the second rnoto , Jerry Seip grabbed the ho leshot wit h Jim Mci lvaine close behind. In third was Coe n , fo llowed by Ed BaD and Ca rsten. The or racer s kept d icing ba ck a n d fourth C pos itio ns a nd th e to p five settled into Coe n, Carsten, Seip, McMi llen and BaD. Over Spa ce Mountain, McMill en jumped past Seip for third. Soon a fter McMill en also sailed by Cars ten o ver the doubles th en set after lead er Coe n, TIl e the real acti on started when McMillen oen for th e lead. At on e began ' pressurin g C point, McMillen passed Coen , but Coen quickl y retal iat ed. However , McMill en kept addi ng more pressur e until Coen gave in and McMilJen took over the number one position for goo d. At the fin ish it was McMill en, Coen, Ca rsten, Brian Carro ll a nd Anto nucci . Results Grasso brothers top Salem SX Collins cruises to Costa Mesa Speedwaywin By Peggy Adamic By Scott Dalo isio SALEM, OR JUNE 23 . The Grasso brothers, Chris a nd J ohn, each grabbed class victories at Western Reserve MC Club's Saturday night supercross event in Salem . Chris took the combined 125/25Occ Expen clas s win with his younger brother J ohn taking the 125cc C class win. , Pete Maurice holeshot th e Expert class heat race with Chris Gra sso and J ohn Mavar trailing. Maurice kept his Su zuki out front as Grasso moved in to cha llenge Maurice for th e lead . Mavar held th ird with Ja son Bal as cam p ing o n his rear wh eel. Grasso rou ted hi s KTM int o the lead with two laps rem aininJ::' Ma ur ice held seco nd wit h Balas motori ng hIS Penton-backed Honda ahead of Mavar. Chuck Nicholson rounded o ut the top five. In the fina l, Maurice again too k th e lead off the line with Chris Gra sso, Balas a nd Tim Conti behind. Grasso took the lead from Maurice o n th e first lap, and th e two front~ COSTA MESA, CA, JULY 6 Phil Collins continued his come back by winning hi s second Scratch main in 24 hours during the Coors Racing Program at Costa Mesa Speedway. . Bobby Schwartz was not the first to react when the tapes went up in the main. Howevrr, he was the first rida to arrive in tum one in the all Weslake main even t. Mike Faria had a problem in tum one and went stra ight. That pu t him far off the pace as · th e field slid through th e first bend. T h irty-year-old Collins decid ed to test the waters at the end of th e o peni ng lap. He tried to ride aro und Sch wartz. Hi s form er Briti sh League teamma te held him at bay, bu t not for lon g. As th ey came off th e seocnd turn o n lap two, Coll in s took h is Weslake to the dirt near the wall. His rear tire hooked up a nd he burst ahead of the two-tim e Nationa l Champion for th e lead. MIN I (10- 11): 1. Do n Opdyke (Kaw); 2. J ohn Sch nc=idl'r (Ha n); 3. J osh Dc=muth (Kaw). MI:'\l1(12 · 13): I. Neil Woen ('r (SUl): 2. New ton Swa rt z (Suz); .5. Ro nald Fa issr (Ho n) . MI:'\l1 (14·15 ): 1. Caner G urnee [Kaw]: 2. Wa ynf' Scon (Hon); 3. Bill y Dd .a nro (Han ). 125 NO V A:. I. Da vid Tilg h man (Suz): 2. Er ic Rc=ill y (S uz)j 3. Sha wn Uli ko w!loki (Han ). 125 NO V B: I. Don Diallo (Kaw); 2. C h rir. Rf'O (lU.w); j . T o m H on .lik (Kaw ). 125 NOV C: I. K.c=ilh Troccoli (Kawl; 2. John Oaamlxr:ro (H a n ); 3. J ames McCurry (Hon) . 125 AM: 1. Da "c= Thierry (Su.z);2. Dan Sh«=a (SUl) ; 5. J alil Lyn ch (H o n). 125 EX: I. Kurt Mc Millen (H o n ); 2. Barry Cantrn (SUi }: 3. Ca rlo Cae n (Su.z). 250 NO V A: I. Brian Murray (Su z); 2. Ri ch ROJ; "!o (S uz); M 3&Ol~~l~;/~fii!; Zuromski (Hll n ): 2 c=il hMdntosh . .K (Ha n ); 3. Robert MduloO (H a n ). 250 AM: I. Da"l: Thierry (Su z); 2. Ja lil L ynch (Hon) ; 5. Rich Rikc (S UI ). 250 EX; I. D

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