Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GMOTOCROSS 1991 AMA/Honda Amateur National Motocross Championship_s--,----- e minicycle champion had ga ted third Iii th e first 25-minute I25cc A Modified rnoto, but jammed his leg in the second Sixteen-year-old Timmy Ferry showed the competition his backside in th e l25cc Stock and Mod ified A classes. Tommy Clowers (38) scored the overall win in the 250cc Modi fied A class. J ason Edwards (15) finished sixth overall. Ferry scores at Loretta Lynn's By Da vey Coombs HURRICANEMILLS, TN, AUG. 13·17 ix teen -yea r-o ld T immy Ferry captured the fo urth and fifth AMA Ama teur Na tional tit les of hi s career by winning the 125cc A Stock a n d Modifi ed classes a t th e 10th An nu al AMA H o n da Am a teu r Nationa l Champi on ships. T eam Green /Boyesen/Barr's Jrs/Fox / Dunlo p/ Bell -backed Ferry led a T eam Green parade of Expert class winners at Lor etta Lynn 's Ran ch . Missouri's Ben Heibel to p ped the 250cc A Stock class wh ile California's Tommy Clowers swept th e 250cc A Modi fied cla ss and Floridi an Gene Naumec's wi n in the Open A cla ss rounded o ut the S 18 _ Team Green sweep of the five A class champ io nships. O ther do uble class winners in the 27-divis io n field included Suzu ki 's risi ng star J eff Dement (125cc B Stock and Modified), Kawasaki 's Gr eg Ran d (125cc Schoolboy Stock and Mod ified ), a nd T exas cha m pion J oey Moore (125cc C Stock and Modified). Rid ers are o nly a llowed to compete in two classes at the AMA/ H on da Ama teur Na tio nals. Some of the class winners, who competed with Yoko hama tires won trip s to the T okyo Supercross in J apan, co mp li me n ts o f th e Ka yo Corporation a nd Yo kohama Tires. Over 1200 riders and their fam ili es attended the Lo retta Lynn 's race after emerging fro m an area and Regional level qualifying field of approxima tely 6000 compe titors. Once in T en nessee, they were greeted by wh a t many felt to be the ro ug hes t Lor ett a Lynn's track yet. The MX Sports organizers and L L Ran ch personne l h ad brought in truckload af ter truck load of sawd ust , crea ti ng a whoop- filled mile long ci rcu i t with the fa stest lap time s measuring two minu tes 15 seconds . Th e design of the co urse has not cha nge d mu ch in th e pa st 10 year s, as the pa rk hosts just o ne motocross race a year. The ro ug h track played right in to th e hands of Florid a 's Ferry. Go in g int o' the race, many fig ured Ferr y to p lay second fiddle to Geo rgia pheno m Ezra Lusk. Ho wever. Lusk o nly managed to make it two turns into the first mo to before breaking hi s left leg in a freak accident. T he fou r-time AMA left-handed corner. Lusk did not crash, but th e impact of h is stiff leg against the ground snapped his leg. He rolled 0[£ the track and fell near the banners. Ferry ma de his mov e right away, and engaged early leaders Steve H erman a nd J oel Albrech t, both compe ting aboa rd Yamah as. Ferry too k Albrech t near the finis h line tow er and then tri p le-j umped past Herm an th rough a long collec tio n of stadi u m wh oops. Ferry the n stayed awa y from the ha rdcharging Herman all th e way to the finis h line. In moto two , Ferry allowed Jason Edw ards to get away, a nd coas td ho me second as Edwards regist ered some of the fastest lap times of the week late in the moto. Herman cras hed out at the half way poi nt, whi le Scott Sheak co uld o nly manage an elevent h, thus leaving Ferr y alone at the front going into Friday's final moto, Ho wever, Ferry crashed in the first turn and started aga in dead last as Edwards edged his way into the ear ly top five. With a shot a t th e Na tio na l titl e, Edwards ma de the mistake of engaging in a po inting and sho u ting ma tch with Albrecht. By wastin g a lap du eling with Albrecht, Ed wards missed hi s window of o pport uni ty to close in on front-runners Clowers, Herman and Brian Roth, and fin ished fou rth. Ferry su ffered another fall further back, but sti ll managed to pass 33 riders to p lace a frant ic sevent h , an d cli nch the class title by a poin t. J eff Curry placed third in th e division. " I had a little confro n tation with J oe l Albrecht that cost me a lot of time," said Edwards. " But I do n't blame him. He wants to win j ust as bad as me. I guess I blew my own cha nces jacking around wi th h im." After the race, Ferry was asked wha t hi s chances m ig ht have been aga inst Lusk . "I felt like I was ridin g better tha n hi m in practice," said Ferry. " I rea lly do well at th is tra ck and it suits my style. Ezra would hav e been real tough and I am sure we would hav e been battling all week. I think I wou ld have still don e well. " Ferry also had the edge o n everyo ne in the 125cc A Sto ck class, and reeled 0 [£ a pair of moto wins befor e coas ting home second in the titl e-clinching finale. Ferr y's effo rts marked on ly the seco nd time in Loretta Lynn 's hi sto ry tha t a rider has wo n two titl es, two years in a row . T exan Dan ny Sto rbeck won, did likewise in 1982 and 1983. Chasing Ferry all week long in the l 25cc A Stock class, was Hayden Richards. Richards fina ll y got a wh eel up on Ferry in the fina l rn oto and scored second overa ll for h is effor ts. . Maryland's Bill y Sch lag was thi rd in th e class . Wh ile Ferry starred in the A classes, JT Ra ci ng/Dun lo p /R&D/Ma xim asupported Dement was th e man to watch in the B ranks. The Suzu ki-ri der reeled 0 [£ five of six mo to wins to clinch a pair of, title in Stock and Modified rac ing. In the Modi fied class, the T exan swept to tri p le wins ahead of Ca liforn ians Dam on Hu ffman and Sp ud Walters. In the Stock class, Dement appeared to be on his way to ano ther ro mp, but a start cras h in race two made things more i nteresting. Dement cl i m bed from 40th to third over the cou rse of eig ht laps to fini sh behind Brian Deegan and Marlo Pa int er. T he last moto was also Dement's, and he iced an other titl e wit h hi s fifth and final moto win . " I had a rea l good tim e racing here th is week bu t I'm ready to move on,"

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