Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'said Dement, wh o pl ans on turning pro in time for th e final 125cc Outdoor Nationals in Sep temb er an d October. Kawasaki Team Green /Cycle Engineerin g/ Enzo Ra cing/ Answer/Shoeibacked Hu££man redeemed himself for th e loss to Dement by running away with three moto wins in the 250cc B Mod ified class. J oshua Steel put up the best fig ht , but co uld onl y ma nage runner-up honors all three times out. Ca lifornia 's Bill y J oe Mercier raced his H o nda to third overa ll. Steel returned to battle with ano ther H u££man in the 250cc B Stock class , Oregon 's Ryan Hu££man. T he two performed a terrific first race battle wi th Steel coming out on top. The last two motos saw Hu££man fade from the picture as Brian Behr man n ' chased Steel past the checkered flag both times out. T hor/ Tea m Green / Pro -Circ uit backed T ommy Clow ers posted three sol id rides in the 250cc A Mod ified class to record th e class title. T he hi ghl ight of his races ca me in a second moto du el with Ed wards, wh ere th e two rode virtually side-by-side for the better part o f three laps. Ed wards did not hav e the numbers to make the top five in this clas s, leaving Pro-Am star Gene Naumec seco nd o vera ll a nd Sheak , third. The 250cc A Stock run fea tured a surprise winner in th e form of Ben Heibel. Going into the final heat , H eibel, who qualified for the Loretta Lynn's race as an alternat e, sho wed a second and a sixth, close eno ugh to leaders Jim Neese and Bill y Schlag to have a shot at the title. Hayden R ichards su ££ered a huge endo in the second moto and cou ld only muster a 35th after runn ing away with the first moto win, and Oregon 's Dan Ulven's seco nd moto second co u ld not cover for his first moto 15th. As the riders set ou t for the final race , a downpour fell o n the ranch to make things interesting. Cory Keeney surged into the lead and immediately pointed his Kawasak i towards the checkered £lag. Neese went down at the start, and was out of the title picture before th e halfway po int. That left Hei bel to duel with California's Ryan Carlisle's 3-8 in two motos, for th e overall. Carlisle was running second o n the last lap with Heibel fifth, a spo t that would hav e' given Carlisle the win. But five turns from the fin ish , Carlisle dropped his machine and allowed Kevin Foley, Richards and Heibel to move by, the latter with the National title in hand. Keeney 's 9-5-1 meant second overall, 'w h i le Yamaha-m ounted Anthony Amaradio posted a 6-3-6 for th ird overall. The Open A class belonged to Gene Naumec. For th e seco nd year in a row , Naumec coasted to the win aboard a Kawasaki KX500, winning all three motos, Craig No ack was second overa ll with a 3-2-2 sho wing, while KTM 's Mark Musselman pi loted a 300c c machine to a 5-3-3 third overa ll. Musselman's e££o rts also earned him the Yokohama Most Impressive E££ort award and a trip to Japan. Roby Leach piloted a Honda to the Open B/C class win with a three-heat sweep, sim ilar to that of Nau mec. George Wolter posted a 2-3-3 for second, with Kelly Pichel going 3-5-4 for third. T he two heavy favorites in minicycle competitio n were California's Craig Decker and Oklahoma's Robbie Reynard. Each rider was favor ed to win a pair of classes in his respec tive age group at Loretta Lynn's, but instead found misfortune waiting for them. Kawasaki's Decker started strong in the 85cc ( 14-15) Stock and Modifie d classes, reeling orr five moto wins over th e course of the first four da ys of Greg Rand (77) led Tommy Pugh (23), Pat Slate (10) and T om my Collier (26) off the line in the 125cc Modified (12-15) class. racing. During that time, Suzukiback ed Mike Metzger and T eam Gr een rider Casey J ohnson put up th e bulk of the com pe titio n, though neither co u ld make a dent in Decker 's armor. In the final 85cc Stock rnoto, T eam Green /Fairfi eld Kawasak i-b a ck ed Johnson was involved in a bizarre accident j ust pa st the halfway point .in the rnoto. A rid er was injured on th e far side o f th e track o n the fifth lap of the race. A course marshal crossed th e infield on a quad a s Johnson chase d Dekcer around th e tra ck. T he mar shal did not see J ohnson and the two collided o n th e track. Johnson was shaken up in the cras h and visi ted the hospital after the race. O££icials ruled that because the event was already past the halfway point, Johnson should be awarded a second place finish even through he did not com p lete the race. The rider wh o did cross the finish line second, Ca na da 's Doug DeH aan , was a 42-3 in the previou s motos and would not figure in the o verall tally. Thusly Decker wo n hi s first class with a I-I -I , foll ow ed by Johnso n's 6-2-2 and Metzger 's 2:5- . 4. J ohnson returned to the track for the final Modified rnoto and ran a respectabl e third. Now 'it was Decker 's tu rn for bad luck , as an early cras h d ropped him ou t of th e top 30. Wh ile Metzger cr uised at the front ah ead of Matt Max im o££, Decker could only claw back up to sixth, assuring Metzger the title with a 2-2 tally. Decker was second o vera ll, whil e J ohnson scored a 3-33 third o verall. Kaw a sak i/PJ I /S cott/Fox -b ack ed ' Reynard also won five of six mo tos in 85cc (12-13)Stock and Modified racin g, but misfortune kep t him from a pair of tit les. While leading the second Modif ied m oto, R eyn ard 's cha i n sn apped . " A rock got caught in th e sp roc ket and busted the chai n," sai d Reynard. "I had it won." Reyn a rd 's b reak a llowe d Kevin Windham to jump into the top spot for the moto and event uall y clinch the titl e with a 2-1-2 tally. Robb ie Skaggs was second, with a 3-2-3 sh owing, while Richi e Horton was third wi th a 4-5-4 record. Reynard would end up 13th o vera ll with a 1-42-1. There was no sto pp ing Reynard in the Stock class as the Kawasaki rider Ricky Carmichael (3) won the 85Cc Stock (7-11) class. Chris Cons idine (II) was fourth . Former P ro mo tocrosser Derek Natvig (left) sp un the wrenches for Mercedes Gonza lez (right), who won her fifth straig ht Women's National Championship. 19

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