Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ; MOTOCROSS 15th Annual MX Grand National Championship Florida's Ricky Carmichael (167) won four out of the five classes he en tered at Ponca Ci ty. H e topped the Jr. Cycle and 80cc Stock and l\.fodified (9-11) classes. Jason Edwards (112) and Sh awn Morga (156) finish ed 1-2 in th e 250cc Mo dified Intermediate class. Tomm y Clowers won the 125 and 250cc Sto ck classes. 20 McGrath , Wentzel, Dan J an neu e and Ryan Carl isle. Swi nk passed Gonzalez o n the first lap and quickly esta blished a comfortable lead . The Kawasaki rider, in fact, was so far o ut in front by the midway po int that he had time to slow down - and pull off o ne of his saturated gloves without worrying about being passed. After a midpack start , Hughes bega n wo rking h is way up through the pa ck unti l h e reach ed Smith, who was defending sixth place. The two riders engaged in a brutal dogfight that saw both riders cras h into each other in on e of the deepest mudholes in the track. H ughes got his mo torcycle fu nn ing first and managed to salva ge a sevent h in th e mota , while Smith dropped back 10 l lth. Up front across the fin ish line it was Swi nk way o u t in fro nt followed by Gonzal ez, McGra th , Wentzel and J anneue. McGra th 's co ns istent 1-3 fin ishes was good enough for th e overa ll class win. All of the 125 and 250cc Stock and Modified Intermediate classes req uired a th ird run-off ma lO, and some of the top riders goi ng int o the run-offs were Tom my Cl o wers, J a son Edwards, Shawn Morga, Mike Atkins, Derek Natvig , Dan a Wiggi ns and Dan Ulven . Heading into the l25cc Stock Intermediate run-off Na tvig, Clowers and Atkins a ll carrie d the low-p oint of o ne afte r wi n n i ng th ei r res p ective divisions. It was Michael Brandes, who went in to the run -off with an eig h t, stea ling the holesh ot and lead ing for three laps befor e Clowers, who had a fourth place start, passed him . Once ou t in fro n t Clowers too k comma nd and o pened u p an untou chab le lead. .wh ile Bran des dropped back o ne more position wh en Nat vig nipped hi m a sho rt tim e later. Clow ers eas ily took th e wi n o ver Natv ig, Brandes, Michael Merl o and Strip ling Smith. . Clowers, again, won in the 250cc Stoc k Intermediate class, bu t Edwards ga ve h im a run for hi s money. Edwards began the mota aro und fifth , worked hi s way into second and slowly reeledin Clo wers. With j ust a few la ps remai ni ng , Edwards was pounding o n Clowe rs' bac k door. On the last lap. Edwards was pressing hard but came up short when he cras hed trying 10 make a bid for the lead. Clowers too k the win with Edwards recoveri ng seco nd . Ta king thir d was Haydon R ichards, who started th e mota in fourth. U lven finished fo u rt h just ah ead of Morga. Clowers' bid for a sweep in the 125/ 250cc division came to an abrupt end in the first turn of the 125cc Modified run-off. Clowers and his Kawasaki cartwheeled o ff the track, injuri ng his ribs . He was unable to finis h the mo ta nor start the 250cc Mod ified run-off that was to be held a few races lat er. Meanwhile, Bran don Smith and hi s Yamaha were found lead in g the way over Sean Pagel , Bart McAlister and jaso n Owe ns. H owever, back in sixth place was Natvig, wh o was wo rkin g his way up through the pack, as was Edwards bac k in ninth. Natvig took control o f the lead O il the third lap and was soon enjo ying a com forta ble lead , but a ll the tear was Edwards. By th e six th lap , Edwards had taken over seco nd bu t found too much rea l estate bet ween him self and the lea der , N at vig , to se rious ly . threaten. Brandes clim bed the ladd er to third, with Atkinson and Owens rounding ou t th e top five. Nat vigs perfect I- I combina tio n gave him the class cha mpio nshi p. The fina l mota of th e week was th e 250cc Modified Interm ediat e rn oto , which was highl ighted by an Ed wards ru naway. After pa ssin g Morga o n the second lap, Edwards kicked into hi gh gear a nd roos ted away from the pack. He easily won the mo ta and captured th e class champions hip . Mor ga held o n 10 an un contested second, wh ile Nat vig fini sh ed third. Roun ding out the to p five were Brandon Sm ith and Shaw n Cisco. Dan Ulven , who had a four go ing into the run -off, did not ride after crash ing in the 125cc Stock Interm ediat e run-off moto when he tan gled with ano ther rider. Greg Rand was undeni abl y the fastest rid er in the Super Mini (12-18) class. Ran d charged to do ub le mo to victories, easily topping second overa ll finish er Danny Nelson (3-5) and th irdpl ace finis her Brian Deegan (2-6). Robbie Reynard was the rid er to beat in th e second of two motos held in th e 80cc Mod ified Intermediat e (12+) class. Reynar d and h is Kawasaki won th e first mo to over Kevin Windham, Mike Atkin son, Rich ie H ort on and J ason Kell ogg . However, it wasn 't go ing to be Reynard's day, as Windham cam e back to win the second mo ta and tak e th e class cha m p io n sh ip . R eyn a rd could do no better than sixth in the second mo to for third overal l. Snea king in for seco nd overa ll with a 3-2 was Atkinson. Windham , however, wasn 't through yet. In the Stock class, Windham used a 1-2 combina tion to secure h is second overall class cha m p io ns h ip o f th e wee k. Reyn ard im proved h is class fin ish by one for second overall, wh ile Atkinso n settled for third. The winn inges t rider at Ponca City was Ricky Carmichael who collected four wins and o ne second. Carm ich ael won both the Junior Cycle Mod ified and Stock (9-11) classes and both th e 80cc Stock and Modified (9-11)'classes. The on ly rider ab le to stop the Carmi chael freig ht tra in was Cory Bauder in th e 105cc (9-11) divi sion . Carmicha el sett led for second there, whi le Robbie H ort on fini shed th ird. In the popular Pee Wee races it was J ohnny Marley wh o domin ated. Marley to pped both 'the 3D-ri der stro ng Pee Wee Stock and Modified classes. In the Stock class run-off Marl ey jumped o ut to a sizable lead on ly to _ have it cu t do wn by Randall Will iams. Wi lli am s cha llenged Marl ey in every turn for a coup le of laps before Marley tu rned o n the afterburne rs near th e end of the race and slig htly pu lled away. Back in th ird and fourt h Mau Walker and J ustin Buckelew battled for positions until Walk er too k con tro l an d broke free of Buckelew by a few bike length s. In the two-mo ta Mod ified division, -Marley took the wi n even th ough he didn 't win a mo to. Buckelew won the firs t mota bu t bro ke do wn in the second moto , which was wo n by Aaro n Lindsey, wh o fin ished a di sappointing 10th in the first mota . A con sistent 23 tally ga ve Marley the class win . In the J unior Cycle Stock (6-8)-class 26 Kawasaki rid ers a nd one Honda ,rider lined the start ing gat e for two mo tos. When the d us t had cleared, it was the lone Honda, pilo ted by Bubba Ellis , taking the overa ll win. Mati Walker a nd Ell is traded 1-2 mota scores with Ellis win n in g the all-i m porta nt tie-breaking second mota. Third wen t 10 Justin Buckelew. C~ Results P/ W ST K: Jo hnny Ma rley (Ya m); 2. Mati Walke r ( Ya m) : 3. Randall Wi lli ams (Ya m ); 4. Jus tin Buckelew (Yam ); 5. Mau Boo ne (Ya m). P/ W MO D: I. J o hnny Ma rl

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