Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; MOTOCROSS GNC International MX Finals e Hawthorne,Huffman on top at Lake Whitne y By Donn Maeda LAKE W HITNEY .TX. MAR. 8·10 awas:Jki Team Green rid ers Dennis H awthorne and Damon Huffman were undoubtedly the top guns at the 15th running of the Grand Natio na l Champi onship Interna tiona l MX Fin als at Lake Whitney Cycle Ran ch. as the two racers ruled the premier Expert and Intermediate classes. respectively. Local favorit e H aw thorne, fro m Flower Mound, T exas, was unstoppable as he swept all four motos in th e 125 and 250cc Expert classes. Huffman . fro m Saugus, California, captu red overall wins in the 125 and 250cc Stock and 250cc Modified Intermediate classes, and the 250cc-Open class. The southern Californian also finis hed second in the 125cc Modified Intermedi at e class. Huffm an won eigh t out of th e 10 motos in wh ich he co mpeted , h is on ly overall defeat 'coming in th e 125cc Modified Intermediate class where Team Green rid er Danny Ulven scored the win. T he La ke Whitney race is the first of fou r major am ateur events that . highligh t th e 1991 race seaso n , th e ot hers are th e NMA World Mini Gran Pr ix (held in April) and Ponca Cit y G ran d Nation al Championsh i p s (Aug us t), and the AMA Amateur Nati onal Championships at Loretta Lynn 's Dud e Ranch (August). Each of the fou r events showcase th e nation 's top ama teur ta lent, and for the racers, these even ts mean valuable exposure to po tentia l sponsors and factory race team ma nagers. Man y of today 's Nationa l MX and Supercross Champi on s and factory racers have left their mark at these events . One tho usa n d a n d six ty -e igh t en tra n ts tra vel ed from ac ross th e nation to compete in the 37 classes run ov er the three-da y weekend. The Beginner classes ran on Friday, while the rest of th e compe titors raced on Sat u rday and Sunday. First motos were run Saturday , and the concluding races took pl ace Sunday. In larger classes, competitors were spli t into two divisio ns on Sat urday th at adva nced th e top 15 fin ishers from each division to Su nday's second rnoto. Riders that did not q ua lify thr ou gh their first rnoto compe ted in a conso la tion race where they were give n ano ther chance to transfer into th e second moto. In classes th at were not as crowded, a regu lar two-m ote format was used. On Sa tu rday, To m m y Clowers gra bbed the holeshot in the first 125cc Expe rt moto, but Hawthorne wasted little time movin g past Clowers for the lead on the first lap. Once ou t front, the Shoei /ScottlAnswer/ J oJo's/ LCS/ Kawasaki Ci ty-backed Hawthorne was u~to uch ab le as he ran away for an easy K Damon Huffman (30)and Michael Brandes (70) finished 1-2 in three Intermediate classes. Tommy Clowers (178) led winner Dennis Hawthorne (1) in the I25cc Expert class. W in . 16 While Hawth orne set the pace out in front, Ryan Ca rlisle gave Clowers a run for his mon ey, pas sing him on th e second la p. However, Carlisle cou ldn' t handl e the torrid pace and th e p ressur e from behind and even tually faded back to fourth place behind Hawth orne, Clowers and Ray Crumb by rnoto 's end. Kaylom Young was fastest ou t of th e ga te in the second moto on Sunday, with Ezra Lusk and Hawthorne in tow. As the pack emerged from the trees to begin lap two, Hawthorne had slipped by Young and already established a commanding lead : Soon after, Lusk crashed and dropped out of contention, while Carlisle displaced Young and looked to have second place secu red. But a late -rnoto charge by Crumb, which saw him earlier pass Young, dropped Carlisle to third by the end of th e moto, making the top order Hawthorne, Crumb, Carlisle and Young. Hawthorne gave the rest of the field. a good look at the back of his jersey in the opening 250cc Expert moto, while Jason Edwards and Carlisle diced for second and third. As Hawthorne pulled away from th e field, Car lisle made numerous attempts to pass Edwards. H owever, tim e ran out for Carlisle as th e checkered flag flew, forcing him to settle for th ird p lace behind Hawthorn and Edwards . Crumb finished third. Hawthorne continued hi s winning ways as he ripped off the line in the second moto ahead of Edwards, Dave Shade and Carlisle. As he had done in previ ous rnotos, Hawthorne railed around the track and established an immediate lead. Carlisle storm ed past Shade and set his sights on Edwards, but he dropped ou t of th e race on lap four with ca r b u re tio n problems. Meanwhile, Hawthorne continued to extend his lead and greeted the checkered flag ahead of Edwards, Clowers and Shade. . Huffman began his string of victories in th e l25cc Stock Intermediate class, as he won both motos he com peted in . Michael Brandes won the seco n d d ivision 's first moto , but couldn ' t match the speed of Cycle Engineering/ An swer/Oakley/Dunlop/ Acerbis/Eric Shimp/FMF/ CT i Shoei /Dirt Squirt/Designs in Motion/ N Style-sponsored Huffman in the co m bi n ed rnoto. Brandes finish ed second ahead of Brian Carlson. Brandes settled for second place behind Huffman in similar fashion in the 250cc Stock and Modified Intermediat e classes, as he won both of his divisi on rnotos on ly to be defeated by Huffman in th e finals. " Everyth in g went smoothly, but in the first 250cc Modified moto I got hit in the first turn and had to ride the whole moto with my rea r brake locked up, " said Huffman. "I had a good line befor e the whoops that I used to pass everybody ." Huffman was the ta lk of the pits when he scored the 250cc Stock Intermediate class win, posting a I minute, 57.54 seconds lap tim e along the way. That was nearly a second faster than Expert Hawthorne's best lap tim e of 1:58.78. " I' m surprised," said Huffman. "I felt reall y fast ou t there, but I' m not read y to turn pro yet." "If I'm out front, there 's no reason for me to go any faster than I have to, " said Hawthorne. " All I have to do is go fast enough to win. " U1ven put an end to Huffman's win streak in the I25cc Modified Interrne-

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