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GM OrOCROSSCMC/NGK Golden State Nationals: Round I ~ Steve Lamson (10) grabbed the holeshot in both 125cc Pro motos and stayed ahead to the finish line. Here he fights off Richard Saxton (9) and Dustin Evans (40). Lamson, Surratt cash in at Glen Helen By Donn Maeda SAN BERNARDINO, CA, DEC. 29ยท30 . teve La m..:;on. and . Willi e Surratt wer e the hi g WIn ne rs a t th e openi n g ro u nd o f th e l5th Annual CMC Golden StateNationals, held at Don Brown's Glen Hel en OHV Park. Lamson was the winner in the l25cc Pro class, wh ile Surratt cleaned up in the 250 and 500cc Pro events. The Golden State Nationals opener has tradi tionally marked the beginning ofthe new season in California , and the series offers riders a chance to test new machinery and get a feel for the 'upcoming season 's competition. For amateurs, the series is looked upon as one of th e year's premier events since they can gain considerable expo sure with the right results. For th e professionals, the GSN is a good chance to warm up for the grueling season ahead, and is a good place to earn a sizeable chunk of contingency pay. This year's series offers an unprecedented $900,000 in manufacturers ' contingency awards. Nearly 1000 entrants were on hand for the two-day opening round. Lamson took command of the first . I25cc Pro mota early and never looked back. Team Honda's Jeremy McGrath pressured Lamson throughout the mota, but was never able to find an opening. Mike Young took control of third place after a brief battle with Jimmy Gaddis then closed on the two front-runners in the later stages of th e mota. He was unable to advance any further as Lamson took the mota win just ahead of McGrath. "That was 'a close one, " sai d Lam son, "Jeremy was right th ere the whole tim e, and left no roo m for mistakes!" Lamson timed the gate perfectly in the second mota with Richard Saxton, Young and Dustin Evans breathing down his jersey. Missing from the S 8 lineup was McGra th , wh o was injured in th e first 250cc Pro mot o, Young ap plied pr essure to Sax ton, knowing tha t Lamson would be hard to catch if allowed to pull awa y. Young snaked under Saxton in th e far section of the track and set after Lamson , who had already pulled out to a sma ll lead. Young rode h is boo ts o ff, but Lamson rode a flawless race and never ga ve Young th e chance to better hi s position . Rodney Smith work ed into the fourth spot and pr essured Saxton, but ran out of time before he could advance. Lamson took the mota and overall, and Smith claimed third overall with his 5-4 mota fini shes. " Since McGrath got hurt in the first 250 mota, 1 figured 1 had it wrapped up," said Lamson. "All 1 wanted to do was get a good start, and 1 didl " " Stevie's riding really good," . said Young, " I tried as hard as 1 could to catch him, but 1 guess this week I'll have to settle for second." Gaddis was quickest off the line in the opening 250cc Pro mota with Lamson, McGrath and Young in hot pursuit. Gaddis dropped to fifth on the first lap, behind Surratt 's Team Giunta Honda/Pro Circuit-backed CR . Up front, McGrath took control of the first and began to establish a commanding lead. On lap three, Lamson lost control of h is Honda and went down. 'Young wasn't ab le to avoid him and was forced to use Lamson for traction. Surratt took ad van tage of Young's bobble and closed in on th e Suzuki rid er. Surratt then hounded Young until he found his way past in a tricky wh oop section. Once into second, Surratt turned up th e wick in an effort to catch McGrath. McGrath saved Surratt the trouble of playing ca tch -up wh en he lost control of h is bike at the top of a steep drop-off and went down. Surratt and Young were abl e to avoid McGrath and hi s downed H onda, but Gaddis, Chris You ng and T ommy Clowers all fell victims to a huge p ileup. McGrath wal ked away shaken up but, otherwise uninjured and dropped from the day' s competition. Once in front , Surratt established a comma nding lead over Young and Derek Natvig, who had sliced through the field. KTM's Mike Healey ran towards the front of the pack, but dropped ou t of the race with a broken shock linkage. Surratt took a conv incing win ahead of Young and Natvig. "T hat went well ," remarked Surratt, " I went from fourth to second in one lap, so 1 wasn 't really worried about McGra th . 1 was definitely catching him before he fell." Surratt grabbed the holeshot in mota two with Lamson and young snapping at his boots. Surratt and Lamson began to establish an immediate lead over Young, who was com fortably ah ead of Kelly Andris. Lamson hounded Surratt, never giving th e form er 125cc Western Regional Supercross champ a second to relax . Two laps from the finish , Lamson pulled alongside Surratt as they approached the drop-off and made a pass as the duo leaped to the track below. Surratt fought back and retook the lead with a very aggressive move in the following set of jumps an d went on to the checkered flag first, with Lamson, Young and Andris following. "I got out front and tried to ride my own race," said Surratt, " bu t on the last lap 1 made a couple of mistakes and Lamson got past. 1 knew 1 still had the overa ll, but 1 wanted to win all four motos!" Surrat rip ped out of the gate in the first 500cc Pro mota with Healy, Bill y Frank an d Chris Young close behind. Surrat opened up a sizeable lead over th e rest of the pack whi le Healy rode , safely in second . Frank fought off the charges of Young and held third to the finish. Behind the front running trio, Da!1 Berg muscled his way up through th e field , displacing Brian Manley, Young and Staten to finish fourth. " I expected Healey to give me a hard er tim e than that, but who knows, maybe he was playing," said Surratt. ''I' m not feeling well toda y," sai d Healey. " Will ie got out front really early, and 1 just let him play. " Juan Benavidez stole the start of th e secon d 500cc Pro mota with Frank, Healey and Staten shadowing him. Healey wasted no time and took th e lead on the first lap, hut at the sam e time Surrat began to slice towards the front. At the beginning of lap three, Healey still maintained a hea lthy lead over Frank, who had his hands full with Surratt. Frank then went down in the far sectio n of the track, leaving Surratt with a clear tra ck between himself and leader Healey. Lap by lap, Surratt ate awa y Healey's lead and made the pass for the lead three laps from the finish. Meanwhile, Berg worked through traffic and into fourth behind Staten. Surratt was uncontested at the finish as Healey took second ah ead of Staten. . " Healey would go really fast for a coup le of laps, then calm down," explai ned Surratt, "so 1 think he just hasn 't had enough time on his bikes . I'm sure he' ll be a factor in the later rounds." With $3000 in Honda contingency awards up for grabs, the Vet Pro class field was filled wi th Honda 'CRs, mounted by many names from the past. Ron Turner blasted out of the gate in the first mota with Carl Gazafy, Gary Semics and Pete Murray clawing at his rear fender. On lap two, Turner continued to lead with Jim Ellis a nd former l25cc and 500cc National Champion Broc Glove r in tow. G lover sailed past Ellis in a section of double jumps an d set his sights on Turner. While Glover shadowed Turner's every move, Rex Staten charged through the pac k after a dismal start. Staten passed Ellis on lap four of the nine-lap moto and began to reel in the front-ru nners. Glover overtook Turner in the back section of the track and quickly p ulled out a com manding lead and Staten began to pressure T u rn er. Staten worked his .way into second on lap seven, and little by little bega n to eat away at Glover's lead , bu t Glover took the mota win, just ahead of Staten who was followed across the finish line by Turner and Semics. " T h a t went prett y 'Well, " said Glover, " especiall y since this is a borrowed bike. This morning was the first time I've ridden it. This is also