Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M orDeROSS 16th CMC/Valvoline Golden State Nationals:Ronnd 3 e T allon Vohland (26) and Mike Healey (I L) lead th e 250cc Pros. Mom en ts later, Vohland and Healey colli ded. Doug Pa rsons (78), J o n Raymond (9) and Glenn Bran son (88) race through turn o ne in 80cc J unior action. McGrath, Metzger m rtoSunr . oto isewins By Paul Kell en ADELANTO,CA. JAN 11·12 eremy McGra th and Mike Metzger scored the 125cc Pro and Inter mediate class wins, respectively, at round three of th e CMC Golden Sta te Nati on als , held at Sunr ise Cycle Par k. During th e two days of racing, over 600 Amateur and Profession al riders sho wed up to do battle on th e jumpfilled course. Cycle Engineering's Dam on Huffma n grabbed the ho leshot in th e first l25cc Pro mota, with Tony Graves, Eddi e Hi cks, Scott Myers and Greg Tierheirner in tow. By lap two, however, Myers had motored into second with Mik e H ealey close behind. Healey wasted little time, and o n lap two b lasted past. Myers a n d set a fter H uffman. H ealey reeled in the leader and made a mid-air ass over the fro nt tabletop J 12 j ump, but Huffman struck back wit h a block pass o n the next lap. " I saw an o pening, so I took it," sa id 16-year-old Hu ffman. " My front brake started to fade," exp la in ed H ea ley. " So I co ul d n' t charge like I wanted to. " Meanwhil e, Peak /Pro C irc u it backed McGra th began to co me alive after a slow start and moved into fifth on lap six. " I saw som eone jump th e ga te and thought there would be a restart," said McGrath. "By the time I realized that there wouldn 't be one, it was too late." McGrat h hit th e aft erburners, and soo n found himself in th ird, behind Healey and Huffman. T ime ra n .ou t for McGra th tho ugh , as Huffman sco red th e mota win with Heal ey second. T ony Graves sto le the ho leshot in rnoto two. with McG rat h , Huffman , . Rodney Smi th and Tallo n Voh land in ho t pursuit. Befor e th e completion of lap one, McGrath , Huffman and Smi th freig ht -trai ned their way past Graves . Voh land jumped past Huffman on lap th ree, but was surprised to find hi mself stuffed back into th ird a few turns later. Voh land rep assed Huffma n o n the next lap , this tim e for good. Once into second, Vohland began to close the dist ance between himself and McGrath. By lap six , Vohland had closed to the rear of McGrath and rode . the edges of the track looking for a way around. " I kept ru nni ng into lappers that wou ld slo w me down," said McGrath. " I would pull him, then get stuck behi nd a lapper and he'd catch up. " On the last lap, Vohland cli pped a slower rider and went down. McGrath cruised to the moto win, while Vohland recovered in time to finis h second ahead of Huffman and John Van de Berk. McGra th's 3-1 scores edged Huffman's 1-3 for the overall win, while Vohland earned third overall. Terry Parsons was the fastest o ut of the gate in the first 125cc In termediate mo ta , bu t enjoyed thepoinr posi tio n for o nly a lap before the race was redflagged. J ason Reed endoed over a double jump on the firs t lap an d took nearl y a third of th e pac k wi th him , bringing ou t the red flag. The second start saw Metzger smo ke out of the gate abo ard his American Suzuki/Bill's Pi pes/Joe Schmoe Grap hics / Carbo n Wurks/O 'N eaIlShoei/ . Rip Rock/ VP /WOR-backed RM I25 and never look back. Beh ind Metzger, J oe DePatto, Parsons, David Pin gree and J eff Brownl ee argued over the r u n ner- up positio n . Pin gree do ve under DePatto in a tigh t turn and assumed second, bu t cou ld n' t gain grou nd on Metzger . Metzger crossed th e finish line with a four-s econd lead, a h ea d o f Pingree, Pa rso n s an d Brown lee. " Once I go t o ut front, I ju st cruised," said Metzger. " I felt really smooth." Tim Staufenbei l grabbed a huge holesh ot in the seco nd rnoto , and proceeded to lead the field for th e first la p and a ha lf. DePatto assumed the lead in the far sectio n of th e track, whi le Metzger looked to do the same. St au fenbeil slam me d th e door o n Metzger, but was un abl e to foil an o ther passing attem p t a few turns lat er. Pingree was next to displace Staufenbeil, as he bounced past in th e wh oops. Metzger pressured DePatto in to making a mi stake, and scooted into the front po sition. Once into th e lead , Metzger bl azed away wi th ano ther co m fo rtab le lead. Pingree b lock pas sed DePatto on the last lap to secure second a n d seco n d o vera ll, while DeP atto and Sta ufenbeil followed. Staufenbei l was later penalized a lap for jum p ing the ga te. "No p robl ems ," sa id Metzger. "Ever ythin g ju st see me d to cl ic k today." The 500cc Pros saw 20 riders roar do wn th e sta rt stra ig ht. Eu ro Cyclebacked Carlo Hu lsen came ou t of the first turn with the lead, with Rex Stat en , Steve Drew. Rich T aylor . Greg Zitterk opf a n d J eff Pest an a close behind. T aylor disp laced Drew an d began push in g St at en for seco n d. Zitt erko pf locked bars with Pesta na and went dow n at the fin ish double which dropped him two positions. Hulsen cont inued to pull away from th e pack and soo n ha d a four-second cus hion. T aylor tri ed to find a way arou nd Staten, and rode the extre me edges of the track. At o ne point, he sen t spec tators running a n d tires flying. Taylor lost his front wh eel in a turn, tweakin g hi s wris t in th e fall and retired for the day. This left Staten comfortably in second. leaving on ly the following po siti ons to be determined. Dan Berg had worked his way up from a poor start and pushed Zitterkopf for th ird. Berg was all over Zitt erkopf, ru bbing tir es wi th him in almost every corne r. Hulsen cruised to the first mota win wi th Sta ten finishing second. Zitt erkopf survived several situations that left his legs flail ing behind h is bik e to hold off Berg for third, while Drey Dircks made a late mo ta pass to round out the top five. Moto two a ga i n fo u nd Hu lsen leading the pack around the track. Sta te n gated fourth, beh ind T im T elford an d Drew. Staten m ov ed

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