Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pion sh ip s, headed division one out of the ga te, towing Brad Simpson. T his pair swapped th e lead back and forth on lap one, bu t on the second lap while Simpson was busy figuring out how to repass Moo re for the lead, Piedmont Hon da 's Wayne Ellen surprised him and took over the second spot, During the third lap of th e four-lap dash, Simpson set up and di spatched first Eller, then Moore , in the woods sectio n of Muddy Creek , putting his Team Green Kawasaki at the head of the pa ck for th e win. Division two win ner Jason Gilleland marched through the pack fro m a sixth-place sta rt to score th e wi n. Talladega , Alab am a 's Danny Haynes followed Gill eland's example up through the field , but ran ou t of time and had to settl e for third behind Gilleland and Davis Babb. On Sunday, Texan Jeff Dement, double 125cc B class winner at Loretta Lynn's, battled with early leader Lee Walston and Kenny Kizzar for the 125cc A qualifier win. Ohio's Brad Strunk finished fourth , followed by Team Green-backed Jason Edwards, the 125cc A runner-up a t Loretta Lynn's to Timmy Ferry. Kizzar blazed to the head of the pack . and the 250cc A qualifier win, followed by Jeff Glass, Walston , Joshua Steel and Bill y Schlag. Brown leaped to the front of the 125cc A main moto, bu t J im Neese slipped h is Kawasaki inside a t the top of the stairsteps and momentari ly grabbed th e lead. Brown answered with 11 j u mp pass coming down the stairs and wen t ahead for good, followed by Neese, Chad Lough, Kizzar and Bill y Cox. Riding with an injured elbow, Cox soon slowed and yielded his fifth-place spo t to Edwards, then was pa ssed by Gl ass. Halfway through the sixth lap, Edwards moved inside on the tower sweeper to pass Kizzar, drifting up to swap frame paint. Both riders stayed uprigh t, and despite a determined effort by Kizzar, Edwards fin ished in fourth, leaving fifth for 'Kizzar, The win ner was Bro wn , Iollowed by Neese and Lou gh. "I raced here in 1987," said Demen t, who along with fellow T exan Joey Moore decided to visit Muddy Creek on the way home from competing in the Kawasaki Race of Champions in New Jersey. "It's a lot different now , bu t I like the cha nges. I think I'd have done better if I hadn't gon e down in the first turn, but tha t's the way it goes sometimes. " Between A mains, the American AIIStars Jumpin g Compe tition was held at the specta to r tabl etop . Bro wn graciously opted to sit out that dance and give someo ne else a chance to collect th e money. "If someth ing happened and I got hurt, it wouldn't sit very well with the Peak people," said Brown. Lough has evidently been studying Brown 's jumps. After his initial offering of a corkscrew, Chad's second launch was a copy of Brown's pancake maneuver, to the delight of the crowd. Lough was awarded $150 for first place. Brown owned the final 250cc A moto. He let Neese get a sniff of his exhaust on the first lap before hammering down to ensure that he stayed out front. On the last lap, Brown had enough room to do his pancake move , adding a thumbs-up for good measure. Brown's double win made up for last year's Top Gun Showd own defeat at the hands of Erik Kehoe, and his $1200 paycheck for th e afternoon 's fun was the gloss on the helmet. .The cliff-hanger race of the da y was between Neese and Lo u gh. Aft er lo-< (I,) ..0 8 (I,) ;> Wayne Eller (31), Joey Moore (44) and James Humphrey (48) lead the rest of the 125cc C class through the first turn. ' Brown pulled away from N eese , Lough crept up behind the Kawasaki jockey to watch his lines. After a couple lap s, Lough began challenging Neese coming down the stairstep jumps. For three laps in a row , Lough challenged in the same spot, but on lap six roared past Neese going up a hill. Neese an swered with a pass later th e same lap in the woods, triggering a series of pos ition swaps that cul mi na ted in a ban zai jump pass on the finish line tabl etop which put Neese in second once again. Glass pulled up to join the party, and a lthough Lough challenged Neese continually, at the finish the order remained the same. Neese was the ru nner-up to Brown , while Lough fini shed third over Glass and Edwards. "T here are sup po rt vans here from Suzuki and Kawasaki . Too bad I rid e a Ya m a ha, " sa id a disappo inted Dam yn Swanepoel after push ing h is YZ80 back to th e p its. It suffered an exp loded shock in the Senior Mini main wh ile he was runn in g fifth, en d in g th e fo rm er South Afr ican National 50cc cha mp 's race. Louisiana 's Kevin Windham claimed th e Senior Min i victory, foll o wed . by Robbie Skaggs , Matt Maximoff, Shawn Schul tz and Danny Haynes. Swanepoel go t ano ther chance in the Schoolboy class , mou nt ed this time on a J im my H umphrey-tu ned YZ125, and bo und ed out of the ga te on the heels of Brad Strunk . Swanepool held down secon d for ha lf th e five-lap race, reluctan tly yie ldi ng in th e woods sectio n to Windham , who had worked h is way up th rough the pac k from a fifth -p lace start. Richar d Ibison also stung Swan epoel on th e last lap. Ada m Merrick had no trouble winning the 250cc B class as he jumped ou t of th e ga te firs t and allowed no one to pass him . Qual ifier winner Mitchell J on es battl ed wi th Curtis Urps for the entire five laps, han ging onto second at the fin ish by a bike length. Brad Simpson got th e ju mp on the 125cc main and maintained th e lead to the checkered, flag. Reagan Boon e, . James Smallwood and Joey Moore followed in the first cI uster , then cam e MegaSeries 125cc C points leader Leslie Belcher, division two winner Jason Gilleland and Wayne Eller in the second bunch. Except for Simpson, the positions changed with each lap, and late in the race, Hodock hit the wrong rut, sending him to the showers. The final order was Simpson over Moore, Belcher, Eller and Boon e. Simpson also pr evailed in th e 250cc C class, which saw three separate pileups happen at th e start within seconds. Only one rider, Jason Wolfe of Ch icago, Ill inois, failed to comp lete th e race, where Jason Rankin was th e runner-up to Simpson and Ch ris Kile finished third.. o Z Brad Strunk earned the Schoolboy class title by leading the main hom start to finish. Wolfe , a union ..painter by trade, suffer ed a bruised foot in the mishap, plus bent bars on his Honda. Also, on the way to Muddy. Creek, the water pump on his pickup failed. " We were lucky to make it here," Wolfe said. " T h ings haven't gone exactly according to plan, but since we knew we were stuck here, we figured we may as well enjoy the weekend." Wolfe and his buddy worked on th e water pump off and on both da ys, arid by Sunday evening had it almost read y to go , just in time to drive 12 hours, to be at work on Monday morning. Despi te . the weekend's mishaps, the two were anxious to return to Muddy Creek for n ext year's T op Gun Showdown. "We're just C-c1ass ri ders, a n d probabl y that's all we'll ever be," exp lained Wolfe. " Bu t we've heard and read so much abou t Muddy Creek, we just had to come and check it out. It 's everythi ng we'd hoped, and we'll save up our penn ies to come back." al Results 50: I. Mark Bergen (Yam); 2. Chad H am p ton (Ya m ); !. J oey Granes (Ya m ); 4. J ason Bault (Yam ): 5. Zach Rutledge (Yam). . 60: I. Mar k Burkhart ( Ka w): 2. J osh Sco tt (Kaw); 3. Joshua Su mmey (Kaw): 4. J elf Gi bso n (Kaw): 5. Max G lass (Kaw). JR MINI: I. Jon Boruff (Sur): 2. Mark Burkhan (H o n); 3. Pa ul J ustus ( Ka w ); ' 4. Jaso n VanHorn (H a n); 5. J ason Welshan {Kaw). SR MINI: I. Kevin Windham (Sur); 2. Robbie Skaggs (Ka w ); 3. Matt Maxi moff (Suz); 4. Shaw n Sch ulu (Kaw); 5. Dan ny Haynes (Kaw). SCHBY: I. Brad Strunk (Sur); 2. Kevin Windham (Kaw); 3. Richard Ibison (Kaw); 4. Damyn Swan epoe l (Ya m); 5. Patrick Hi zel (Sur). t25 A: I. Mike Brown (H a n ); 2. J im Neese (Kaw); '3. Chad Lou gh (Sur ); 4. J ason Edwards (Kaw]: 5. Kenny Kizzar {Su a), 125 B: l. J ohn Brunck (H a n ); 2. Adam Merrick (Suz); .3. Chad Pill (Hon ); 4. Todd Hu ffstetler (Ka w): 5. R ich ard Ibi son ( Ka w) . 125 C: I. Brad Simpso n (Kaw); 2. J oey Moore (Sue ): 3. Lesli e Belcher (H a n); 4. Wayne Eller {H e n); 5. Rea gan Boon e (H a n). 125 D : I. Ryan Duff (Ha n); 2. Mike Lindsey (Han); .3 J ason Holbrook (Ha n); 4. Travis T a ylo r (Ho n); . 5. Mark Brunck (Han ). 125 NO N-CURR: I. Bobby Rh oa ds (Han ); 2. J eff Rice (H a n); 3. Mike Arrington (Kaw); 4. J ell Wilson (Kaw); 5. Joseph H opson (Yam). 250 A: I. MIke Brown (H a n ); 2. J im Neese (Kaw); 3. Cha d Lo ug h (Sw); 4. J elf G tass (Han); 5. Jason Edwar ds {Ka w) . 250 B: I. Adam Merri ck (Suz); 2. Mitchell Jon es (Kaw); 3. Curtis U rps (Kaw); 4. Ma rk Guy (Yam}; 5. Ray Mitchell (H a n). . 250 C: I I. Brad Simpson (Kaw); 2. J ason Rankin (Yam) ; 3. Chris Kile (Suz); 4. Gr eg Pillma n (Suz); 5. Steve Ratliff (H e n). 250 NON-CURR : I. Dewayne Fend er (Yam) ; 2. T im Julian (Kaw); 3. Mark Payne (H a n); 4. Ra ben Cromwell (Kaw); 5. Danny Eller (Kaw). OPEN AM: I. Tim Smith (H a n ); 2. Chris Shortridge (Kaw); 3. Ra y Boruff (H a n}; 4. David Farri s (KT M); 5. Mike Howard (Yam ). ENDR: I. Mike How ard (Yam); 2. Kirk Ha yes (Sur ); 3. Chad Mullins (Yam); 4. Mark Thompson (Sur); 5. Richar d Shipley (Suz). 4-STRK: I. Kirk H ayes (Sw); 2. Rich ar d Shi pley (Sw ); 3. Jeff Lang (Sur); 4. George Gall ow ay (Han); 5. Robb y Dyer (Sur). U/L AM: I. Nathan Ram sey (Sur); 2. Cunis Urps (Kaw); 3. Todd Huffstetler (Kaw); 4. Mike Keller (H a n); 5. Steven Lewis (Yam). 25+ A: I. T om my Mar tin (H a n); 2. Bill y Adkins (Han); 3. Keny J on es (Sur); 4. Mark Gu y (Yam); 5. David Eller (Han). 25+ B: l. Randy R ichardson ( Ka w ); 2. Dou g Mohr (Kaw); 3. Dan Duckett (Han); 4. Bobby Gilbert (Ka w ): 5. Gene Hod~e (Sur) . 30+ A: I. T im Smi th (KT M); 2. Mar k Guy (Yam); 3. Robb y Neeley (Kaw); 4, Steve Lewis (Yam); 5. Kerry Jones (Sur ). 30+ B: I. Cary Morri s (Han ); 2. Allen L unsford (H a n) ; 3. J ohn Gra m (H a n); 4. Rand y Robrts (Kaw); 5. Brian Graham (H o n ). 30+ C: I. Chris Rash (Kaw); 2..Erd il Loo ney (Ha n); 3. Danny Ledford (Han ); 4. Rick Cooper (Kaw); 5. Butch Heatherly (Kaw). 40+ (S/ SR): I. Steve Lew is (Yam); 2. Geoll Gingrich (Han ); 3. J oh nn y Gibson (Ya m); 4. Terrell . Welborn (Sur); 5. Jack Phillips (Sw ). 19

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