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/127367
GM OTOCROSS NGK/CMC Golden State Nationals South: Round 5 ~ =-----= . Mike Healey (1) led Ryan Hughes (37)" early in the first 250cc Pro moto, but dropped back to fourth at the finish. Hughes won both 250cc motos, Hughes, Healey bestat BaronaOaks By Donn Maeda RAMONA, CA, FEB. 3 ocal favorite Ryan Hughes made easy work of both the 125cc and 250cc Pro cla sses at Barona Oaks Ra ceway, overcoming a pa ir of fir st lap crashes to sweep every moto in whi ch he competed. Mik e Healey motored h is factory KTM to a pair of convincing rnoto wins in th e 500cc Pro class to take top honors at the Golden State Nationals round. Erik Kehoe took the early lead in the opening 125cc Pro moto, with Tommy Clowers, Mike Young and Hughes in tow . Hughes wasted no tim e, and quickl y mounted a charge towards the front. The 17-year-old used a tricky j ump section co mprised of a pair of tabletops and a double jump to overtake his compe titors. Hughes made a lar ge double o u t of the two tabl etops and soared over th e head s of both Young and Clow ers. Hugh es th en set after Kehoe, and at th e halfw ay po int of th e eight-lap rnoto took over th e lead as they navigated the same j u mp sectio n. Once o u t fro nt, H ughes pulled out to an insurm ountabl e lead and cruised to the finis h. Kehoe held o nto seco n d place, well a head of Clowers and Young. " I felt good out there ," said H ughes. " T ha t set of jump s seemed to work rea lly wel l." Kehoe stormed out of the gate in the second moto with Clowers, Young and Eddie Hicks in hot ' pusuit. As Kehoe began to establish a lead, Hughes co llided with Pete Murray in the whoop section and went down. After remounting near the back o f the pack, Hughes mounted a charge th at carried him into fourth place by lap three of th e eight-lap moto. H ug hes stuffed his way pas t You ng and Clowers as they navigated the double jum p section. Hughes then began to reel in Kehoe, bu t the H onda rider would not be passed easily. H ughes looked to use the same jump to take the lead, but this moto Kehoe made th e sam e leap. H ugh es finally fo und h is way past in . a banked turn, and pulled out to a sma ll lead by the moto's end. Kehoe finis hed a safe second, well ahead of Young and Clo wers, who suffered a blown head gaske t. " I got a littl e squirrely in the whoops and wen t down," said H ugh es." Once L 24 I got up I felt confident that I would catch up though. " Team Green's Larry Brooks led th e way in the opening 250cc Pro moto, but shadowing him wer e Healey, Hughes and Kehoe. Hughes lost control in an off-camber turn and went down, but quickly remounted and set after Kehoe. Hughes took over third place wh en Kehoe went a little wide in a fast sweeper, then worked past Healey in the whoop section and set his sights on Brooks. Hughes hounded Brooks ; and found hi s way past in the doubl e-jump section. Meanwhile, Kehoe s to r m ed past H ealey a n d mounted a charge tha t brought him wi thin in ches of Brooks at the finish line. Hughes greeted the checkered flag ahead of Brooks, Kehoe and Healey. " Brooks wa s riding good," sai d Hugh es. " I was abl e to get by h im in the jump section, th ou gh." " I go t a great start," said Brooks. " I felt good o u t front, bu t I'm feeling kinda sick today, and I made a coup le mistakes that cost me." Hugh es worked into the lead posi tio n early in th e second rnoto and pulled ou t to a comma nding lead over Kehoe, who had displaced Healey near the halfway point . Healey appeared content in third place, well ahead of Brooks, who finished fourth after su ffering a mediocre start. "Everythi ng went really well today ," said Hugh es. "I've ridden here quite a bit , a nd I knew wh er e I'd be stro nger. " Healey grabbed the ho leshot in the firs t 500cc Pro moto, with Billy Frank, Ryan Carlisle and Mark Bank s snapping at h is rear fender. Healey immediately bega n to estab lish a commanding lead, whi le Frank fought off the charges of Car lisle. For all intents and purposes, the race was over , as Hea ley took a convincing win over Frank and Carlis le. . "That was fun ," said Healey. " With Will ie (Surratt) hiding up no rth; I don 't seem to have mu ch competition in this class ." ' 'I'm feeling better each week," said Fra nk. " It's been hard coming back to raci ng after so much time away , but I'm getting my speed back." Fra nk stor med out of the gate in . ' Mike Williams (72) led Philip Worster (12) and Jim Langston (63) in the 250cc Junior class. Langston got by to finish fourth overall. rnoto two ahea d of H ealey, Carlisle and Dan Berg. Frank led the way for the first two laps, but swapped as he navi gated a large double jump and went down hard. Healey just missed the downed rider and inherited the lead. Carlisle scooted into second place ahead of Berg. Frank remounted a bit shaken, but quickly worked hi s way back to the front of the pack. Frank bounced past Berg in the whoop section, but ran out of time before he cou ld ch allenge Carlisle. H ealey took an easy win, followed by Carlisle, Frank, and Banks, who nipped Berg on the penultim ate lap. " It looked lik e it was gonna be a good race, but Frank musr 've thought he was a bird," said H ealey with a smile. " T oo bad he did that big nose di ve, he must've been looking for worms or somet hi ng ." "I th ink I set th e record for the most air over th at jump," joked Frank. " I didn 't expect to land that hard, and I just lost it. " Pete Mu rray had the q uickest clu tch hand among the Vet Pros,leading Brae G lover, Gary Semics an d Tim Lunde onto th e trac k. G lover for ced his Pro Circu it /Tho r / P o w e rb a r -b a ck ed Ho nd a past Murray in a set of tight turns and proceeded to p ull away to a unco nt ested win . Mu rr ay held a strong second thro ugh o ut the rnoto, well ahead of Semi cs. "Did yo u see tha t pass?'" asked G lover wit h a smile. " I thoug h t it was a pretty good one, but I didn't mean to bump h im like that. " "Glover ripped me off pretty bad," laughed Murray. " Once he got by me, I wasn't really worried about ho lding do wn second ." Murray grabbed another holesho t in mo to two , a head of Glover, R on Turner, and Semics. G lover snuck underneath Murray as they entered a fast comer and pulled ou t to another com ma nd ing lead . Murray rode to a lonely second , whi le T urner held off the advances of Semics to finis h third. " I had a better line through the whoops," said Glover. "I was able to take the ins ide lin e in the foll owing turn." "I thoug h t I was goi ng good and all of a sudden he passed me," sai d Mu rra y. "S nea ky guyl" Chris Ridgeway scored the overall win in the 500cc Intermediate class with 1-2 rnoto finishes. Ridgeway smo ked off the line in the opening moto and rode to an uncontested win over Brett Bierek and Ray McIntosh. Ridgeway grabbed another holeshot in the second rnoto, but seemed to tire in th e closing laps and allowed McIntosh to scoot by. McIntosh earned seco nd overall with his second moto win . jimmy Varis roosted to the overall win in th e 60cc 0-8 class , by dominating both motos with ease. Scott Conley followed Vari s across the line in moto one, just ahead of Monte Montague, but went down in moto two and dropped to seventh. Montague chased ' Varis across the line in moto two, followed by justin Scullen an d jason Larkin. Steve Stewart left the 125cc j u nior cla ss behind, as he danced his Suzuki across the fin ish line well ahead of the pack in both motos. Erik Lindstrom and Corey Holcomb traded positions in both motos, with Lindstrom coming out on top for second overall. Damon Huffman continued h is winning streak in the 250cc Intermediat e class. Huffman worked to the front of the pack ear ly in both motos an d cruised without cha llenge to both mo to victo ries. Ti mmy Staufenbeil blast ed to a solid second place over Rob Drew in the first moto, but su ffered a poor sta rt in th e second ·ro und. Ridgewa y barel y held off a hardcha rgi ng Drew in the second moto, but still finis hed th ird behind Drew in th e overall tally. Robert Fortier and Gary Doggett traded mo to wins in the Old T imer Master class , bu t it was Fortier wh o wo n the second and deciding moto, jim O'Neal rode to a pair of distant th ird-place finis hes. Cl'f Results P/W ST K: I. Daniel Bla ir (Ya m); 2. J o na th a n Shimp (Ya m): 3. j o h n Hopkin, (Yam): 4. Michael Blose (Yam ); 5. Brandon Whitt (Ya m). P/W MOD : l. Daniel Blair (Yam); 2. jona than Shimp (Yam ): 3. Bryan Jarami llo (hj). 60 9· 11: I. J im m y Van s (Ka w ): 2. Mont e Mon tagu e (Ka w ): 3. justin Scu llen (Ka w]; 4. Scott Co nley (Kaw ): 5. j a>on Larkin (Ka w). . 60 ().8: l. Daniel Blair (Ka w ); 2. Chris McNan (Ka w) ; 3. Toby Gorgen sen (Kaw ); 4. Jo nathan Shimp (Ka w ): 5. john Hopkins (Ka w) . 80 9- 11: I . J oshua T arantino (Suz); 2. Jim my Vans (Suz); 3. Steve Wisdom (Kaw ); 4. Terrana Mala n {Ka w) : 5. Scou Co n ley (Kaw ). 80 BEG : I. J im~ y Varis (SUI); 2. Jimmy O 'NeaJ {Hon]: 3. j oshua Tarantino (Sw ): 4. Casey Lytle (H en ): 5. Tim Tilton (SUI). 80 JR: I. Paul Ito (Su,): 2. Andy Harrington (Kaw): 3. Lyle Da nu ser (Kaw) : 4. j o n Ra ymo nd (Suz}; 5. Ja son Howard (Ka w). Il6 INT : I. jason Partridge (K.w): 2. Tyler Kin g (Suz): S. Ted Campbell (Ho n ); 4. Scou j c bnson (Suz): 5. Rya n Clark (Suz). 80 EX: I. David P ingree (SUI ); 2. Steve He ngeveld (Ka w ): 3. T erry Parsons (H on ). 125 BEG: I. Sha ne Scarpiello (5uz): 2. Danny Tavares ( Kaw ); 3. Chris Allen (Suz); 4. Jason Cauldlield (Suz): 5. Ricky Fernandez (Suz).