Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; M OSS 16th CMC/Valvoline Golden State Nationals:Round I oroeR e Mark Easley (70) led Roy Snellinge n (IL), Scott McElroy (1) an d Ra y Sommo (behi nd Snelli ngen) in the 125cc Pro class. Healey, Snellingen slosh to Glen Helen wins By Donn Maeda SAN BERNARDINO, CA, DEG 28·29 aliforn ian Mike H ealey and Nor weg ian Roy Sne ll ing en scored th e prem ier 250 and 125cc P ro class w in s, respectivel y, a t th e o pe ni ng round of th e 16th Annua l CM C/ Val vo line Golden Stat e National s, held at Gl en Helen OHV Park. With each new season comes new machinery, spo nso rs, and for some entrants, new classes. For the past 16 years, th e Golden Sta te Nationals have marked th e beginning of th e new sea so n for tho usa n ds of a ma te ur motocrossers and offered pros a cha nce to warm up for the u pco mi ng Nation a l series. T radi tionall y the biggest race series in Cal ifornia, the " Grandaddy o f th em a ll" a tt racts racers from aroun d 'the world. Th is year, compe titors from as far away as Norway, J apan and Sweden journeyed to Ca lifornia with hopes of scoring their share of th e un p reced en ted $980,000 in manufacturer 's cont inge ncy awards. Beginner and Juniors class riders took to the track on Saturday and enjoyed a full day of racing on a dr y track, bu t Sunday 's racing saw Intermedi ate and Pro class com petitors slip and slide throu gh a sing le moto in th e rain. Despite the foul weather, nearl y 800 die -hard compe titors sho wed up to co mpete on the sam e track th at hosted the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix three months earlier. Healey, wh o spe n t th e last few seaso ns contesti ng the World Ch am pionship 250cc and l25cc MX Seri es aboard factor y KTMs, was at G len H el en to ride P ro Cir cu it- backed Suzukis as pa rt of hi s pre para tio n for the upcom ing 250cc GP seaso n. " I like the Go lden State Series," said H ealey, who will return to Europe in C 12 '92 as a memb er of th e Bieffe Suzu ki team . " It' ll give me a chance to get used to the Suzu kis." H ealey scored the win in the 250cc Pro class after battli ng thro ughout the mot o with ano ther new ly-acq u ired T eam Suzuki rider, Dam on Huffman . In the 125cc Pro class , a first turn endo dampened Healey's efforts, but the showy 23-year-old put on a charge that carr ied him to second by th e moto's end. Leading Heale y across the lin e and scori ng hi s first win in America was Sne lli ngen, the 1991 Norwegian and European 125cc National Cha mpion. Sn ellingen , wh o has fiel ded R&D Racing-backed Suzu kis fo r the past few years, journeyed to the States to warm up for the World Champ io nsh ip l25cc MX Series . " It's sn owing in Norway righ t now , so if I was at hom e, I would no t be riding" said Snellingen . " It will be good experience to race in America." Snellingen 's win came in extremely slippe ry conditions , as rai n began to fall shortly after Sunday's first 250cc Pro mo to. Bader Manneh blasted off the line in the 250cc Pro race, wi th Rodney Smith, Kerry Mull igan and Huffman onl y a heartbeat behind. H ealey gated 10th, but within the first few turns had scooted into fourt h. Huffman disp laced Mulligan in th e canyo n section of the tra ck on lap o ne , and a ' few seconds -later soared past Sm ith over a tricky step-up j ump. Heal ey passed Mulligan and Smith in sim ilar fashion on lap two, and set hi s sig h ts o n Huffm a n , who in turn looked for a way past Man neh . On lap three, Huffman used th e same step j u mp to soar pas t Manneh and into the lead , but Manneh str uck back in the following tu rn. H uffman for ced h is Cycle Engineering-backed Suzuki past Mann eh for good as the y entered the canyon sectio n o n lap three, as did H eal ey a few mom ents later. Larry Brooks and Scott Myers were next to find th eir way past Manneh, but were unable to close the distance between thems elves and th e two fro nt ru n ners. Huffman and He aley circled the track at a torrid pace, so me 20 seconds ahead of Brooks and Myers. Healey made his move on lap five, but Huffman struck back a few turns lat er and the two riders collided. " It was g rea t, I h av en ' t been slammed like that in a long ti me," said H eal ey. Healey and Huffman traded th e lead a few mor e times th roughout the moto, bu t it was Healey wh o gr eeted the checkered flag first aboa rd his Bieffe Suzuki /Pro Circu i t/Scott/Renthal ba cked RM . Huffman crossed the fini sh line close behind, well ah ead of Broo ks, Myers and Manneh . ' " I was ha ving fun , bu t I figured that I had better pass hi m for good before we took each o ther out," said Hea ley. " Damon reminds me of myself when I first turned pro. I was in the same pos itio n; I was 16 and had j ust sig ned with Suzu ki. I raced the Go lden State Series agains t guys like Mark Barnett and J ohnn y O 'M ara . I rem ember running int o Barnett and havin g h im. look over at me and laugh ." " It was neat to dice with H ealey," said l 6-year -old Huffman . " He was the fastest 80 rid er wh en I rode 60s, and I used to look up to him. I passed him when he left th e inside lin e open, but then I left it open a few lap s later and he got me back. I figured that I'd settle for seco nd and wait for moto two, but I guess there's not gonn a be on e." Rai n began to pour from th e sky sho rt ly after, and it was announ ced that the races would be called after o ne rnoto . Mark Easley had the quickest clutch hand a t the sta rt of the l25cc Pro race, and slid through the first turn ahead of Snell ingen, Sco tt McElroy and Ra y Somrno. Healey found himself o n the gro und as the pack roa red o n to the track. " So meone started to slide out in fro nt of me and I hit him ," explained Hea ley. " It straightened him ou t, but I went over the bar s." Snell in gen wasted little time and blasted in to the lead befor e the co mpl etion of lap o ne. Easley took an off track excursio n in a slip pery sectio n of the track and allowed T y Davis, Myers and Butch Smith to scoot by, but o nce back onto th e track , held a firm grip o n fifth. Meanwh ile, H eal ey meth odicall y pi cked o ff riders in h is quest for the leaders, an d by lap five had clos ed to sixth. H eal ey mo tor ed into fifth o n lap six wh en Eas ley's bike suc ked wat er. " It just q u it," said a disappointed Eas ley. " T he wa ter in some of the turns came up to the seal." H ealey cont inued to for ge towards th e front of the pa ck, as riders co ntinued to stuggle in the wet co nditio ns. Davis lost control in th e mud and dropped off the pace, as did Butch Smith. Sn ellingen, however, rode as if the track was dry and cont inued to lead the field by a comfortable margin. " I am us ed to ridi ng i n , th ese - co nditions," said Sn ell ingen . "The rain doesn 't reall y bo ther me. " Two laps fro m the finish, Healey sp lashed past Myers and into second in the canyon sectio n of th e track, bu t -ran o ut of tim e before he cou ld mount a serious charge for the lead. . Sne llingen scored the win aboard hi s R&D Raci n g/ AXO -ba cked Suzuki, well ah ead of H ealey, Myers, Rodney Smi th and Sommo. " Once I took the lead I had no big problems," said Snell ing en . "I kep t my goggles o n the who le race and didn 't hav e any bike tro uble. When i t started to rain I tho ugh t, 'O h no , not agai n ,' because it rained so mu ch in Euro pe this year , but I g uess it worked ou t in my favor. " " I didn 't expect to catch up that far," said Healey. " It wasn ' t that muddy, I'm used to a Jot wor se. Th is was just a lot of wat er." Rex Staten blasted off the line in the 500cc Pro moto with Gr eg Zitt erkopf, ,Rich Tay lor and J effrey Pestana in tow. On lap three, Zitter kopf tractored past Stat en and into the lead, whi le Pestana looked for a wa y aro un d Taylo r. Pestan a sailed past Taylor on th e step jump and set hi s sights on Staten . Mean whi le, Kawa sak i T eam Green / O 'Nea l/Smith-sponsored Zitterk opf man aged to o pen up a small lead an d settle into a comforta ble pace. " O nce I passed Staten, I just tried to ride smooth , especially since it was sta rt ing to get slick," said Ziu erkopf. Rad n' Bad/Rip Rock-backed teammates Pestan a 'a nd Taylor improved th eir po sitions wh en Staten began to slow wi th vision p roblems. P est an a o nl y enj o yed running second for a few la ps, how ever, as he dropped off the pace wit h a flat fro n t tire. T aylo r inh er ited second, well ah ead of Dan Berg , who had motored thro ugh the pa ck aft er a mediocre start. Zitterkopf sco red the win with a comforta ble lead, whi le Taylor, Berg , Sta ten and Drey Dirks rounded o ut the top five. " My arms pumped up really bad," said Taylor. T his is the hardest I'v e ridden since th e last 500cc Nationa l." Staten returned in the Vet Pro class and stole the holesho t ahead of Gary Se m ics , Br ian Myer scoug h , Ro n Turner and Pete Murray. Murray rod e like a madman in the mud and forced h is way into third before the comp letion of lap o ne, then sail ed past Semics for seco nd over the canyon doubl e jump.

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