Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ MOTOCROSSGFI California WinterMX Series South:Round3 m Bobby Navarro (9), Mar k Blak ley (7) and La wren ce Lewis (60) funn el th ro ugh tum one in the 125cc Novice class . Donny Schmit (II) and Bader Manneh (18) battled over the 250cc P ro class win. Vet Pros Ron Turner (45), Michael Preston (0) an d Randy Rodriguez (55) bang bars. Schmit cashes in at Carlsbad By Tony Alessi CARLSBAD, CA, JAN 12 o n n y Schm it p owered h is Ch esterfie ld-backed Yamahas to overall victories in both the 250 an d 125cc Pro classes at round three of the GFI Cal ifornia Winter Series, held at th e i nfa mo u s Carlsbad Racewa y. The 1990 125cc World Champion earned a total of $6680 for his efforts , with more than $6000 of that amount from Yamaha's con tingency program. " We have a real good contingency D 16 program for 1992 to help up-andcomi ng pro riders," said Wendy Chick of Yamaha Motor Corporation. "The Yamaha contingency program also hel ps ama teur riders finance th eir racing effort, whereas in the past only select individual support was offered. The in creased contingency will better serve all Yamaha riders." Ideal track conditions prevail ed wh en the first 250cc Pro class moto blasted off the starting line. Bader Manneh gra bbed the holeshot wh ile Mark Eas ley, Brian Manley and Mike Chamberlai n filed in behind. Schmit was well off the pa ce and runnin g ninth after the first lap was comp leted, as he was bo ttled up behind a cluster of riders which in cluded J eff Fin e, Tony Amaradio and Itali an Massirniliano Gazzarta. Out front , Man neh rode smooth ly and slipped away from a battle for second between Man ley, Easley and Chamberlain. Man ley dro pped Easley to thi rd at th e start of th e th ird lap , then Chamberlain bega n to press ure Eas ley. Chamberlain passed Easley thro ug h the mechanic's turn, but went a little wide in the following turn , whi ch allowed Easley to squirt back into th ird. Eas ley then quickened his pace and pulled away from Chamberlai n and ree led in Manley. Easley pulled up nex t to Ma nley on three occasi ons before he suddenly came to a stop. " The spark plug broke in half, I have never seen anything like th is befor e," Easley said. Easle y watched from the side of the tra ck as Schmi t charged through the pa ck. H e cut under Chamberlain for third, the n out-smarted Manley for second in a technical rutted area of the course 10 take control of second. Schmit reeled in Manneh in the closing moments of the rac e, but lapped riders slowed his charge and allo wed Manneh to slip away for the moto win. Schmit was second in front of Race Tech-supported Manley. At the start of moto two , Chamberlain cha rged to the first turn in front of ch rnit , Mann eh and Manl ey . Ch amberlain was flying aboard his JT R acing-backed Yamaha, and held Schmit off for nearly three laps before Schmit forged ahead for good. A few turns later Mann eh slipped by Chamberlain for second, but Schmit had already opened a five -seco n d advantage. Schmi t main tain ed a smooth, steady pace for the remainder of the race to score the moto and ove rall wi n s. Manneh finished second ahead of J oe Wadd in gton and Cha mber lai n. Man ley enco untered problems o n the th ird lap and failed to fini sh. Schmit was back later in the day to top the 125cc Pro class. After finishing th ird in the opening moto beh ind Manley and winner Chamberlain, Schmit raced with a vengeance in the second moto. Schmit passed race-long lead er Tony Amaradio two laps from th e fini sh to take over the lead. Manley passed Amaradio for second when Amaradio became trapped beh in d lapped riders on th e final lap . Schmi scored the rno to and overall wins while Manley pos ted a pair of runner up finishes for second pl ace moner Chamberl ain ro u nded o u t th e to th ree. Bryan Fry topped the 25-29 Beginn class with two perfect moto fin ishes. Whi le Fry was cru isi n g out Iron durin g th e opening m oto , Bruc Harcrow and Mike Steinhoff ha d fierce bat tle for secon d. " I was trying too hard to pass him," Steinho ff said abo ut his ba ttle wit Harcrow . " I would take stupid lin and lose gro und, then I would rid e ov my head to mak e it back. I go t smar and foll owed his lines." Steinhoff foll owed Har crow for th next four laps befor e mak in g a mess} pass on the fina l lap. Steinhoff moved to wit h in a few seconds of th e leader Fry bu t time ra o u t when the checkered flag waved. Fry won the moto foll owed bySteinhol and Harcrow. Steinhoff motored to th e secon moto holeshot foll owed by Harcro w and Fry. Steinhoff was riding a bit on the wild side wh en suddenly he almos sto p ped o n the uphill. "I mi s-shifted, then I clicked it int too high a gear and bogged down. Before I knew it Harcrow and Fry ble w by me," Steinhoff said. Har cro w held the lead for two tu befor e Fry carved a new line under th H onda rider to assume th e lead. On o ut front, Fry cruised to th e win whil Steinho ff and Harcrow battled fiercely 10 the finish. Stei nhoff passed Harcrow late in th moto but cras hed into a chain- link fence at th e bo ttom of the downhill, han d ing seco nd back 10 H arcrow, which he mai ntained to the fini sh. Steinhoff un tangled himself from the fence and char ged back to finish third. a few bike lengths behind Harcrow and overa ll winner Fry. A lar ge turnout of I25cc Novice class riders required two divisions. However, manufacturer 's con ti ngency awards are offered for o nly a single di vision . T herefore, riders who fin ished in the to p 50% of each division in mo to one wo u ld qua lify for a " co n tin gen cy class" seco nd rnoto, whi le slower riders competed in a " trophy only" second mo to, Riders were scored in each clas s in their second rnoto on ly to determine the class winners. Mar k' Allen was one of the riders who was forced to ride the trophy division after a cracked spark plug wire sto pped his charge in the first 125cc Novice division one moto. Allen had charged from 18th 10 sixth p lace when the problem stopped his progress. Mike Battista rode a flaw less moto to pos t the division one win over Lawrence Lewis and David H icks. Fritz Schlegel topped Mike Litzell in the second division of I 25cc Novices . Allen, along with all the riders who didn 't fin ish in the top 50% of their division in the first moto, took off for the secon d mo to in a wave behind the riders co m pe ti ng for co n ti n ge nc y money. David Schmit led th e trop hy class through the firs t turn followed by J eff David and T roy Arch er. Allen had problems at the start wh en he slammed into the gate and was forced to charge through the field from near last place. By the third lap, Allen ha d made his way through the pack and was running third behind David and leader Schmit At the halfway mark, David and Allen were racing close for second when Allen made a fearless pass on the fastest part of the downhill to take over second. During the remaining laps Allen dogged Schmit relentlessly and

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