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/127290
.... V ..0 E V u V Q For winning the Bronze Bike Award, Jeff Dement (center) was given a new Scon mountain bike. Forti (left) prepares to present the Golden Goggles Award to Lusk, Ricky Carmichael (67) wa s unstoppable, collecting the championship in th e 85cc (7- 11) division. Carmichael topped th e TT, SX , MX and GP competition. $175, 000 i n co nt i nge ncies from H o nda, Yam ah a , Kaw a saki a n d Suzuki, and .a $8700 Pro-Am p urse . Event sponso rs Dunlop T ires, SCOll USA, G ear Racewea r, Po werm ist Racing Products, Barr s Com pe tit ion, Vi ra I wea r , Bo yesen En g in eeri n g , Honda-Suzuki Marine, Wiseeo, PJI , M oto Video , Renthal , TXIO, Tsuba ki Cha in, Pro Action Su spe nsion and Ch a rio t T railers awarded cases o f merchandise and hundreds of certificates to the 1400 trophy winners. . Factory tech nical su p port trucks ma n ned by Kawasak i's Eric Poston and J eff Chambers and Suzuki's J im Dan forth hel ped hundreds of riders keep it o n the track for the week 's competi tio n. Perfor man ce spec ia lists Bobby Barrs, Wood y Kyle, George Quay and Dean Dickin son were a lso on hand to share their kn owl edge as well. Team Green Kawasaki's assista nt manag er J ose Gonzal es ex p la ined, " \Vewant to see everyo ne have fun here at the Ol ympics. All who attend and ride this un ique event are win ners. " Suzuki 's Jim Danforth comme nte d, "We hav e only been here for two years. T his week is reall y som ething. The Ioiids and their dads do a gr eat job o n the motorcycles and we are glad to be here to help them out." WoridSports' J erry West sai d, " We have made a lot of cha nges in this year's program to make the event bett er a nd more fun . We extended it to six da ys to insure more track tim e and less schedule pressure. More non-racing family events were planned, including b in go , radio-contro lled ca r raci ng, volleyball, basketball, softba ll, horseshoes and even a chi li 'and desert cooko ff." T he Thanksgi vin g Feast has beco me an honor ed tradition at the Ol ym p ics. T h is year 30 turkeys, eigh t hams and all the trirnmim gs stretched for over 100 feet. T ip Tipton, assisted by Bevo Forti, Geor ge Quay and J erry West, roasted and carved th e birds. T he hi ghlight of the Thanksgi ving festi vities was a " meet the riders/ celebr it ies" sessio n moderated by Gear Racewear's john Ayers. Warm , su nny Florida days and cool evenings prevai led throug h all six days and set a perfect cli ma te for raci ng . TT The specia l TT and Sta dium MX trac ks have a new loo k this year, wit h th eir own sta rt ga te al on g the back pi t fence. Trackm an Dave Brown kept th e lim estone and cla y ci rcu it in top shape th rough out the co m petitio n. J ohnny Marl ey's Yamaha Y·Zinger topped the Pee Wee final a head o f T yson Hadsell , J eff Gibson and SCOll Perry, and it would be Marl ey wh o was undefeated through th e fin al event: The Pj IlH i-Point/ Scoll/Tsubakil Shoei-backed rider said, "This is m y first TT. It was fun ." Acti on in th e 65cc (7- 11) class featured a closely-match ed q uartet of Mark Burkhart, Robbie Horton, josh SCOll and Kenny Jones. Horton topped the Stock class and Burkhart took the Modified class honors. Ri cky Carmichael climbed aboard his Team G reen/Barrs/Pjl /MX Fo xl Dunlo p Ren thal-backed Ka wasak i and bega n a win streak in the 85cc (7-11) class tha t ha d man y comparing the ti ny redhea d with jeff Ward in his . youth. In the 85cc (12-13) class, Greg Rand , Kevin Windham, Robbie Reynard a nd Robbie Skaggs battled fiercely th rough all four events , with Rand and Reynard sha ring the TT wins. T he 85cc (14-15) class belonged to J eff Dement as the SuzukilT&D /J T I An swer/Maxima/lnovat ions-backed rid er romped easi ly towins in all four events . R&D's Dean Dicken son elaborated, " J eff rides his heart ou t every tim e. l owe it to him to be here to su pport him ." In the 125cc Stock Expert fin al , jason Young's DG /Dunlop /Scoll l AXO /Dutchs RV Honda held Kevin Walker, Scoti Sheak and Ryan Hughes at bay for the first win. Young said. "I go t tak en down in my heat and had to q uali fy in the consi." H ughes mad e a ben efi t o f the 125cc Expert Mod ified class and then the 250cc Expert Stock fin al . h is Chad Watts' tuned Kaw asaki leading a ll the way. Kevin Walker took hi s turn in th e 250cc Modified final , passin g J ay Mann with a la p to go for the win. Stadium MX T he more so p histica ted Stadium Mot ocross circui t tested riders' skill s with gatorbacks, tabletops, double and triple ju m ps inte rco nnec ted with sho rt straights and a sam p ler of tight turns. J ohnn y Marl ey ma intained hi s Pee Wee win strea k, but said. " I was thi rd at the start and Jeff Gibson made me work for the win. I got him o n a jump." Mark Burkhart had his da y in the 7