Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eM OTOCROSS e GIl Winter MX Series South: Round 4 Greg Zitterkopf (32) won th e Open Pro class over Willy Musgrave at LACR. William Van T asseel (48) and Mike H eth (25) du eled in th e 500cc Novice class at Sandhill Ranch. Heth ended th e da y with a th ird overall finish. David Wood (17) and Irv Achziger (86) raced handlebar-to-handlebar in th e Vet Pro class at Sandhill Ranch. Alex Jorgensen was the winner, Wood finis hed second. in the 125 and 250cc Pro poi nt sta ndi ngs. Nineteen -year-old T odd won both 250cc Pro mOlDS, with older brother jon third behind run ner-up Pat Gomm, wh ile Danny Paladino topped th e 125cc Pro sho w on hi s Oakley Sp ort Yam a ha. j on Nelson finished second in the 125cc Pro bout ahead of class po in ts leader j oe Bru ce, Gomm and Todd Nelson. The Vet Pro cla ss featured ano ther th riller sho w wi th Alex j orgen sen ta ki ng win s in both motos , as th ere was a tremendou s second-rnoto battle that saw p lenty of posi tion cha nges amo ngst Clayton Blood, Dave Wood and Irv Achziger. With one round rem aining in the series, Blood lead s j orgen sen by 10 poi nts, 82-72, with Achziger o ne po int behi nd in third. Both Wood and Achziger accepted AMA Distri ct 36 awards the pre vious eveni ng and were in great sha pe for raci ng, toda y, as Wood chase d home j orgen sen with Achziger third over Blood a nd Mike Newman . In th e second rnoto, jorgen sen cou ldn't shake the trio until the last few laps, as Achziger put on the pressure as soo n as the ga te dropped. Rounding th e first turn , Achziger tried to take the lead from the IO-time Grand National winner, jorgen sen, but to no avail and eventually got passed by both Blood and Wood. However, on the last lap Achzig er execu ted a daring double j ump to pass both riders and move into th e second place position. Bu t it wasn 't over yet, In th e process of that las t set of doubles, Wood had brushed by Blood, who, in retaliation, set ou t to rep ass in a tricky off-camber turn that had both Blood and Wood retake thei r former positions and leave Ach ziger in fourth. Blood took a hardfou ght seco n d ov er Wood with jim Dallara ro unding ou t th e top five by gelli ng aro und Newm an in the last moto. Todd Nelson won both 250cc Pro mOlDS, but it wasn 't quite as easy as it so u nds, as ver y windy and dr y weather made for slippery conditions du rin g the lengthy races. Class points lead er. Mike Menning cont in ued to get the hol eshot s but still stru gg led toward the end of the mOlDS. Non etheless. he enjoys a 15-point edge on Gomm in the poi nt sta ndings with Rav Crumb third over Pat Ben net and the' Nelse n brothers. Palad ino combined a 1-2 punch for the 125cc Pro win . Points leader j oe Bruce pos itioned himself well with a pair of thirds to finish behind j on Nelson in the overall column. Nelson won the second moto handily. Gomm followed Pa ladi no ho me in the first moto and was challengi ng up front in the second moto when Todd Nelson fell in a tricky section. This caused problems for Go mm , as Bruce roosted by bot h riders and into second. Gomm finish fourt h in fro nt of Nelson. Division one of the l25cc Novice class feature was a mixed bag of tricks, as Mall Vulk won the opener bu t was sixth in the second round for third overa ll. jake Windham capt ured 'the overall with a 3- 1 count, wh ile Donova n Placen cia finis hed second with a pair of twos. Rand y Ri chi e and Shaw n Par ke finis hed fourth and fift h overa ll, respec tively. Ch ris Kawasaki had a simi lar win scenario in the second division, ta llying 3-1 rnoto fini shes for the overall win , as did Brett Klinger for second. Brett Whitmore finished third with a wild 1-5 over Troy Cardiel and john Blair. R ich Th orwa ld sen brav ed two classes, topping th e Old Tim'er Experts, aga in, and taking third in the Open Intermediate class with a 2-3 tall y behind winner Bret Hamilton and runner-up Randy Gavron. Dean Brown took second in the 0 .1'. Expert with Steve Mach ado third. jason Bowden topped the 60cc Beginners with a pair of aces over Dyland Epperson, while Randy Norman was the big tim e winner in the Pee Wees over Robert Harold and j ason Wait e. T im Phillis won the 25-29 Interm ediat e class over Dieter Klau sing in a see-saw battle with Scott McCla y third over Dave Montgom ery and Manny Ornellas. Tyler Hummel roo sted on the 125cc Interm ediate cl a ss, winn ing both rnotos, and he was also doing rather well in the first 250cc moto, until h e ba il ed out o f co ntent io n . H e returned to win th e second 250cc moto for fifth overall, while Tim Phill is won with a 1-3 over runner-up Eric Shofstall. Brett Hamilt on borrow ed a 250 that seized in the first round, but took a second beh ind H ummel in the second moto, Shad Eche ilberger combined a 2-6 for third with Mike Hodges fourth over Hummel. Of Results 125PRO: I. Danny Pal adino (Yam); 2. J on Nelson (SUl); 3. j oe Bruce (Yam); 4. Pa t Go mm (Han ); 5. Todd Nelson (Sw). 2!;0 PR O : 1. Todd Nelson (Sw ); 2. Pat Go mm (Ha n); 3. J on N (Sw); 5. Larry Baker (Han). OT !NT: I. Ru ss Sears (Ya m); 2. Leroy Smith (Han) ; 3. Bob Rivenbark (Ha n); 4. Don Bru mld d (H on); 5. 1.

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