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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127367
eMorOCROSS e GFI Winter MX Series South: Round 5 J ohn Blair (299) led Charles Vice (92B), Jeff J etton (124) and T y Kady (3T) G rant Gaspar (5) held off a chargi ng Nick Morgan (18N) to score the overall victo ry in th e 250cc Junior class. Double win for Drew at Perris By Tony Alessi PERRIS, CA, FEB. 3 teve Drew devastated the Int ermedia te ranks 'with overa ll wins in bo th the l25cc and 250cc divisio ns during ro und five of the G FI Nort h ' versus So uth Winter Series held at Perri s Ra ceway. , T he air was charged with a blanket of excitement since Sout hern Series cham p ions would be decided at th e concl usio n of the day of raci ng. In the ca se of the 250 cc In ter m ed ia te S 16 class, only one point separated po in tsleader Drew and Sea n Pagel. " I rea lly need a win, so I am go ing to give it everything," Pagel said before the start of the firs t 250cc Inter mediate m oto, "This is a great feeling. I am happy jus t to be leadi ng," said Kearny Mesa Yam aha-sponsor ed Drew. " I wa nt to get good starts and be consis tent ," The next port ion of th e series will have Sou th ern riders racing off ag ainst Northern ride rs for the State Champ ionship showdown. The first five in each class will go into the showdown with 25 po in ts. wh ile riders th a t finished six th through 10th will start with 20 points. All o thers will take 15 points. H uron Cycle Park wi ll be the site of round o ne, and Perri s is the fin al ro und. Points will be tall ied after bo th ro un ds to determi ne State Champions. When the 25 250cc In termediate class riders blasted through the first turn in moto o ne, Bill y Felts was first to eme rge. Felts has been up and down thro ugho ut the series but still remained th ird in the points ch ase. Felts immedia tely o pened a five-second lead while Drew was working o n Kell y Pickel for second. Pagel was ha vin g to work hard start ing back in 23rd position. At th e halfway point Drew closed to the back fender of Felts and applied pressure. At the same tim e Donald Upto n , who started sevent h , h ad moved by Pichel and J ake Trist for , th ird wh ile Pagel had moved inside th e top 10. Drew forced a mistak e o u t of Felts du rin g the clos ing lap s and went to the lead whe n Felts went off th e tra ck, Drew led for the next half a lap but clipped a tire and bobbled. Felt s quickly capitalized and wen t back into the lead . Felts blocked Drew to the checke red £lag with Don a ld Up ton a few seconds back in thi rd. Pagel fin ish ed seve nt h after ch a rg i n g through mo st of the pa ck. Pichel po wered to an instant lead in th e second moto while Felts was side lin ed with a wrist inj ury su ffered in a previous moto. Pichel he ld the pack at bay duringthe opening laps as Pagel was co m i n g u p from a midpack start. Page l soon charged into th ird while Pichel's lead diminished, In th e next two laps Pagel pushed past Steve Kotajarvi and Pi chel for th e lead. Drew turned up the wick on th e fina l laps and moved to second whi le Donald Upton passed Pichel for third. Drew's pair of seconds secured the overall win and the southern 250cc Intermediate class cha mpionship. Drew won yet ano ther battle in the 125cc Intermediate class, bu t it was Pagel who ' wo n the wa r an d th e sout hern title with a second overa ll finis h. _ Felts , Pagel and Drew ran in the to p three positions from sta rt to finis h in the first mota. Brian Deegan charged from ou t of the top IO ta finis h fourth in fro nt of Randy Dan ylo. Fel ts sho t to the lead of mo to two while Drew forced his way to second in front of Freddie Villagra and Ryan J oh nso n. Pagel suffered a poor start and rounded the first lap in 19th . Drew pounded at Felts as the two riders engaged in a private battle for the lead that ended on the final lap wh en Drew passe d Felts dow n the ba ck stra ight. Felts tried to dive insi de Drew in the following turn, but his front end washed o ut an d he was slam med to th e track. Felts stood up , shook hi s head and held his arm in pain . Drew went on to th e checkered £lag wh ile Freddi e Villagra finished second in front of Dennis Dahlin and Pagel, who capped off a cha rge from 19th to fourth in front of Ryan J ohnson. Ch uck Bagw ell 's perseveran ce paid off with the sou thern cham pionship in the 500cc Novice class after he raced with a frac tured ankle during the second moto. Bagw ell 's first moto went perfectly, scoring the first moto win over Richard Bunch and Louie Peick. However, whi le compet ing in th e 250cc Novice race later in th e da y, Bagwell was lau nched off th e track onto th e ground ' where he sus tained the fractured ankle. Bagwell , who needed to finish fifth overa ll to secu re the titl e in the 500cc Novice class, o pted to race the second mo to in hopes of scoring enoug h points to win th e series. Bunch ran away with the second mo to with Peick event ually mo ving to second after chargi ng from mid pack. Scott Ch urchill finished third o ver J ohn Bennett , whi le Bagw ell fin ished seventh wh ich gave him fou rth overall and the series championship. T y Kady scored overall win s in th e 80cc Int ermediate and 125cc Novi ce - di visio n two classes. In th e first 125cc Nov ice mo to Tony Ferr agamo took a runa way victory; Kady worked to second after passin g a very determined J erry J etton in the lat e stages of the race.