Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GS UPERCROSAmateur National Championship Sup_ercr Sen'es_: S _o_ss_ _ R_O_UD_d14 _ _ e Overall winner Sean Rundle (28) leads Matt Engstler (32), Randy Rit chi e (185) and Charl es Gonzales (141) in the first division of the I25cc Novice class. Donald Upton (632) and Randy Danylo battled in the 125cc Intermediate class. Mercier rolls ones in the Silver Bowl By Tony Alessi LAS VEGAS, NV, MAY 6 illy J oe Mercier scored a fourrno to sweep of the 125 and 250cc : Intermediate classes at the amateur supercross held inside the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl. T he event was the 14th ro un d o f th e AMA Amateur Nation al Cha m pi ons hip Series and ro und four of the GFI Amateu r Supercross Series. Double"the nu mber of entries from the previo us year's event here proved that the ser ies is steadi ly gaini ng popu larity. The Si lver Bo wl trac k was different th a n previous events in respect to the rocker areas which were bui lt three and four feet high in some areas. The rest of the track contained the same challeng ing obstacles in the B 26 previous n igh t's Camel Supercross Series event. T he first moto of the 125cc Intermedi ate class proved to be a LOug h matchup between AXO, Pro Circu itbacked Mercier and Tim Sta ufe nbei l. "T immy was pressu ring hard from behind the ent ire moto," Mercier said. " 1 go t a wheel inside Bill y J oe a few times, but he was ridi ng good, it seemed like we were j ust practicing," Staufenbeil added . Mercier too k the first mota win a few feet in front of Staufenbeil wh ile Donald UpLOn worked through the pac k to finis h th ird. Mercier grabbed the lead in the second moto and ins tantly left the field far behind. Mercier' s fluid riding style gave h im the spee d LO pa ss all th e 125cc P ro s exce p t winn er Darrin H oeft by th e motos en d. Whil e Mercier was up racing with the Pro fi ders, Sta ufenbeil was battling with bo th J oe T'ut tob en e a n d Dustin Monger. Stau fenbeil ap p lied heav y pressure resultin g in the dem ise of both T u tto bene a nd Monger as th ey crashed o u t of can ten tion by th e ha lfway mark. Ran d y Dan ylo and Donald Upton sta rted near last and together wor ked through the pack to eventually engage in a ba ttle for thi rd . "I passed hi m with the hel p of my . helmet co mmu nica tion sys tem," Dany lo said. "I knew exact ly where he was go ing LO go." T hough Dan ylo held th ird for a wh ile, it would be UpLOn with th e last word as he slammed hi s ma chine into Dan ylo and knoc ked him off his bike in the process. " My mechanic told me he wa s trying to ma ke a move o n the inside," said Danylo. " I moved o ver but he bezerked it to the inside where we.hit th e bowl turn and h is rear wheel slammed my front whee l and I went flying off th e bike." U pto n went on to fin ish third be hi n d St aufenbeil a n d winner Mercier. T he 250cc Interm ediate races again were a Mercier/ Staufenbeil exhibitio n, Jack T rist put in a pair of determined rides fini sh in g third in both moLOS despite riding with' an injured knee th at he hurt earl ier in the day. Mercier's back-to-back moto win s served notice to the Interm ediate class tha t Mercier is the rider LO beat. Staufenbeil rode LO a pai r of second place finishes and didn't ma ke a mistak e in either mot o bu t was slightl y off the pa ce set by Mercier. Mercier's wi n strea k came to a halt at the hands of Bryan Curtis in the 500cc Interm edi at e class. Curti s opened a big lead in the first rna to wh en Brett Hamilton and Mercier co llided on the start. . " Ham ilto n mi ss-shifted, we banged bars, tang led and go t a ll knotted up," "said Mercier. " By the ti me we go t goi ng Curtis was way ahea d." Mercier, however, never called it quits and successfu lly reeled in Curtis, almost making the pass for the lead on the fina l lap. " l- rnade som e mistakes on the last lap and Mercier was right on me bu t I held him off to win," Curtis said . Curtis and Mercier ran first and second early in the second mota until Mercier ga m bled trying to dive inside Curtis before a tabletop jump. Curtis was wise to Mercier and cu t underneath him , for cing Mercier off the track and to th e gr ound. It took Mercier a while to pick up and restart his bigbore H onda a n d by the ·ti me h e restarted Curtis and H amilton were long gone and o ut of reach. Hamilton caug ht and pa ssed Curtis late in the mota bu t Curt is still won th e overall with his second-p lace ' fin ish . Mercier cha rged in third bu t never came close to the leaders. Curtis was back for more with a double-mote romp of the 25-29 Intermediat e cla ss. Only Danylo on a l25cc machine was close in the second moto. With win s in both 500cc Intermediate and 25-29 Intermedia te Curtis is now th e current series points leader in both classes with one round rem aining in the GFI Series at LA. Coliseum. Greg Perolio con tinued his dorn inance of the Vet classes by scoring win s in both the 35+ Vet Intermediate and 30+ Vet Novi ce classes. Perolio fought hi s way past a very determined Jim Peters in the first 30+ Novice rnoto and fended off a hard charging Tommy Brackens in the second mota to score the victory. Perolio's only challenger in the 35+ Intermediate class was Rick Johnson. Perolio rode smooth and eventually pulled out to a comfortable lead during both mOlOS while J ohnson ended up fini shing seco nd in fro nt of Ga ry Doggert and Randy Van Dyke. T od d Gould was th e fastest of the 25-29 No vice rid ers, but he couldn' t stay up and the win went to Ph il Wurster. Gould and Wurster had a .great battle in. the first rnoto with Gould mak ing his move LO the lead through a sharp set of rockers . Gould maintained the lead up to 30 feet before the checkered flag wh en he fell. " It was a stupid mistake," Gould said. "I was jumpin g the last three rockers befor e th e finish tum every lap , but thi s tim e I didn 't and I washed out. " Wurster passed Gould and scored the moto win . Wurster took a runa~ay victory in

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