Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127284
eMOTOCROSS AHRMA Vintage Motocross Series: Final round ~ ,.....; eo .... Cl,) ,.0 o ..... u o Kelly Owen (2X) sprays the rest of the Vet Expert pack with mud after grabbing the ho lesho t at the start of a moto, James Gle nn was all smiles when he ' won the Sportsman 250cc Expert class. Patterson cleans up at Unadilla mudfest By Matt Benson Photos by John Valdez and Terry Pratt "T NEW BERLIN, NY, ocr. 13 hi s is my kind of ra cing," Lloyd Patterson said after co llectin g the second of two trophies - a first and a seco nd overall - he earned at the American His toric Racing Motorcycle Association' s last Nat io nal motocross round of th e year. While everyone was thrilled to be riding th e famo us Unadilla Valley Sports Center c~urse, few actually admitted th ey en joyed th e raci ng ' conditions. After weeks of rain, a h urricane-induced weather pa ttern deluged the track the ni gh t before the vintage MX and again on the morning of th e event. Cond itions weren't as bad as the ยท 1987 Motocross des Nations event at Una dilla, but th e deep mud severely taxed the pre-1975 machines and their rid ers. The single set. of three-lap motos were two too man y go-rounds forsome, An entry list of nearl y 300 made th is the largest AHRMA Vin tage Motocross of 1990, wi th ride rs comi ng from as far as California and T exas. And ' there were a handful of notabl e rid ers on hand - two-time 500cc Motocross World Cha mp ion and new AHRMA Execu tive Director J eff Smi th, form er Supercross and 500cc Nation al Champion J im "The Jammer " Weinert , Jim Meenan and Pat Moro ney, a former local Una dill a motocross hero who's now an AHRMA Nation al Roadracing Cha mp ion . Wi tli his boom ing CCM wellsu i ted to th e muddy conditions, Patterson's day go t off 10 an excellen t start in th e second of two Vet Amateur class qualifiers after Chuck Davis rode to a convincing win in the first qualifier. Patterson quickly turned a J I second-p lace start into an imposing lead. T he Spo rtsman 500cc Amateur event also saw the Connecticut rid er start second behi nd Maico-mounted J eff Keel and then take over the lead on the second lap. Fro m th at point on Pa tterson was flyin g, displayi ng a smooth style in th e muck. Patterson 's last event of the day, the Vet Amat eur final, was his closest race, tho ugh it was secon d place he was battlin g for. Starting off in second behin d Andy Hughson 's Maico, Patterso n soon relinquished that posi tio n 10 Keel and th en lost some gro und . But on th e third lap Patterson fou nd a bit of reserve as he closed in on and fina lly passed Keel in the lower por tion of the course. T he order at th e flag was Hughson , Patterson, J eff Bensch and Keel. Some of the closest racin g was in the Sportsman 250cc Amate ur class, where Husky-moun ted Chuck Davis waged a mote-lon g battle for the lead with Norm Smith and his Yam ah a. On lap two Davis man aged a severa lsecond lead over Smi th, wh ile a seriou s tussle for thi rd was go ing on farth er back between Suzuk i T M rider Chris Knu th and Richard Field on a Cl . On the final lap, Smi th closed up on Davis and began pr essuring him , bu t a lapped rider got between th e pair and allowed Davis to open a small lead. T ry as he might, Smith wasn 't abl e to make up th e distance before th e checkered flag. Another close win, by a margin of a mere 15 feet, went to Tom Marsh in the Vet Expert class. Marsh just managed to keep his Husqvarna ahead of CZ rid er Dan Field throughout the entire moto. After gra bbin g th e holeshot and rocketing off to a lead that extended for ha lf the track, Field should have scored the Sportsman 250cc Expert win . Unfortunately, hi s CZ's chain came off at the top of Gr avit y Cavity on the last lap and he lost the lead to J ames Glenn. Glenn, to that point, was involved in a serious dice with a pair of Jims - Meenan and Wein ert. Glenn and Meenan had both work ed their way past the second-p lace Weinert , but then Meenan's bike stopped dead on the second lap, a llowing The Jammer to regai n th ird. At the flag it was Gl enn first over Field and Weinert. Sportsman 500cc Expert action saw Californ ian Rick Doughty grab the holeshot with his Yamaha. That lead lasted a bout a lap , when Husk ymounted Mike Moore go t past Dou ghty and proceeded to build a big lead. Dou gh ty then gave way to a fastmovin g train made up of Brad Venditt i, Richard Heins and Meenan. Nearing the flag, Meenan was challenging Hein s for second, but he lost gro und. Across the line it was Moore by a large margin, foll owed by Suzukimounted Heins , CZ riders Venditti and Meenan, and Dou ghty. On a course that was tou gh on 125"s, Bob Hays J r. screamed his Honda Elsinore to a wire -to-wire win in the Sportsman 125cc Expert class. Behind him, tho ugh, things were less decisive. Greg Bastek gated second and then steadi ly fell off th e pace: Hondamounted Doughty and Bernie Kohler Jr. on a Suzuki eventually moved into the two-three spots. Other convincing wins went to Matchless rider Pat Moroney in the oJ' Premier 500cc Expert even t, ' Husqvarna-m ounted Bob Thompson in th e .O ld Timers Expe rt s class, Californian T erry Pratt, who rode a CZ, in the Old Timers Amateur class and Honda rid er Todd Jones in Vet Novice competition. If AHRMA awarded a high-mileage '. trophy for the season, it would go to Georgia motocrosser/roadracer/trials rider Beno Rodi, who said Unadilla was his 88th vin tage race of 1990. Rodi won the Premi er Open T wins Expert class on h is 750 Norton P II. 01 Results VET NOV : I. Todd Jo nes (Hon); 2. John Stack us (Pen ); 3. Gr eg Grzeskowi k (H us). VET AM: I. Andy Hughson (Mai); 2. Lloyd Patterson (CC M); 3. J ell Bensch; 4. J eff Keel (Mai); 5. Chuck Davis (H us). VET EX: I. Tom Marsh (H us); 2. Dan Field (CZl; 3. James Gl enn (CZ); 4. Mike Rob in son (SUI); 5. Brad Venditti (CZ). OT AM: I. T erry Pra tt (CZ); 2. Tom T wandowski (CZ); 3. Robert Capistra nt (Mai); 4. Bob Ha ys 5,. (Oss); 5. Richazd PlSa (Mon). OT EX: I. Bob Thompson (H us); 2. Mike Eiland (Mai); 3. Jim Bales (Bul ); 4. J eff Sm ith (C-A). SPRTSMN 125 AM: I. Marshall Kalterbach (Ho n); 2. Cazl Mab rey (Hon); 3. Cazlos Escudero (Bul); 4. Ri chazd Merhar (H us); 5. Pet er Wenig (Kaw) SPTSMN 125 EX: I. Bob Hays Jr. (Hon); 2. Ri ck Dou ghty (H on ); 3. Bern ie Koh ler Jr . (SUI); 4. Steve Kincaid (C-A); 5. Lee Schmidt (H od). SPTSMN 250 NOV: I. Tom Berry (Bul). I SPTSMN 250 AM: I. Chuck Davis (H us); 2. Norm Smith (Yam); 3. Ch ris Knuth (SUI); 4. Randy Halterman (Ma i); 5. Richard Field (CZ). SPTSMN 250 EX: I. J am es Glenn (CZ); 2. Dan Field (CZ); 3. Jim Weinert (CZ); 4. George Fanelli (Ho n ); 5. Jack Weaver (CZ). SPTSMN 500 NOV: I. Chris Pan ackia (Mai). SPTSMN 500 AM: I. Lloyd Patterson (CCM); 2. Jell Keel (Mai); 3. Phil Bettini (SUI) ; 4. Rober t , Benn ett (H on) ; 5. Mike H anoe (CZ). SPTSMN 500 EX: I. Mike Moon: (H us); 2. Ricbazd Heins (Sm); 3. Brad Vendetti (CZ); 4. Jim Meenan (CZ); 5. Rick Doughty (Yazn). ) j PREM UW 2 AM: I. Ed Tucker (Bul); 2. ,Tod d Newell (a ss); s, Peter Bray (Tri); 4. Ken Santoro (BSA). . PREM UW 2 EX: I. Richard Heins. , I PREM 500 AM: I. David Demarest (BSA). PREM 500 EX: I. Pal Moroney (Mat) . OPEN TW AM: I. Mike Sntith (Nor). OPEN TW EX: I. Beno Rodi (No r).