Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMorDeROSS m GFI California Winter MX Series South:R 4 ound Il Runner-up Erik Helma (11), David Hopfe (50) and winner Tim Beatty (2) lead the 80cc Beginner class into tum one. Vet Novice winner Darren Elliot (178) leads 25-29 Novice runner-up Ron Sharp (lJ8). Mike Chamberlain (92) chased Kyle Lewis (71) in the 250cc Pro class. Lewis lethal at Los Angeles County Raceway By Tony Alessi PALMDALE, CA, JAN 19 . Oleen Yamaha rider Kyle Lewis po sted a Iour-moto sweep of the 125cc and 250cc Pro classes and collec ted $6700 in con ti ngency and purse money at Los Angeles County Ra ceway. " It look s to be the start of a good season, " said Lewis, who also won th e Ultracross main event in Anaheim Stadium the previous night. "1 took off all of last month to heal from old injuries and to rest up after last season . It was the right move, because I feel stronger and more motivated than in past years." Mike Dunlap was the early leader during the first 250cc Pro race and was followed around the sandy, high-desert track by Tim Telford, Lewis, Tony Sulek and T yson Voh land. Dunlap held the lead during the opening laps of the race , but Lewis was on the move and by the start of the third lap dropped Telford to third and began N 22 to ap p ly the pressure to Dunl ap . Lewis dogged Dunlap th en executed a perfect block pass to assume the lead. " I could hear someone coming and had a feelin g it was Lewis," Dunlap said. " I saw his front fende r in a bunch of turns. " Once into the lead, Lewis turned the fastest lap time of th e day an d pulled away a t a rate of three seconds a lap. Vohland was also carvi ng h is way toward the front despite missing practice. "I just got in from Houston this morning after last night's supercross, ' said Voh land. " We drov e from the airport to this track, and my dad had the bikes ready but we were late for practice." By the halfway mark, Vohland had moved into third behind Dunlap while T elford was dropped to fifth by hardcharging Tony Amaradio. Vohl and made th e pa ss for second but was quite . a distance behind Lew is. On the final lap , Dunlap made a mistake that allowed both Amaradio and T elford the chance to squirt by. " I mis-s h ifted down a stra ight and two guys blew right by," Dunlap said. " It' s a little depressing to dr op from th ird to fifth in the last two laps of a race. " Lewis won th e moto, foll owed by Vohl and , Amaradio, T elford and Dunlap. Sulek pulled th e second-moto ho lesho t but his lead only lasted for two turns before Lewis and Mike Chamberlain passed him . Lewis tried to open a lead, but when he turned around Mik e Chamberlain was glued to his back fender. " None of my lines from the first mo to were working," Lewis said, "the track was dry and it took me a lap or two to change lines. Before I knew it Chamberlain was right on me." Chamberlain remained in second for two laps until a high-speed crash knocked him ou t of contention. J oe Waddington moved into second followed closely by Lowell Thomson and Vohland. The three riders remained close the rest of the race, but finished in the same order. Lewis took the moto followed at a distance by Waddington, Thomson and Vohland. Lewis had his work cut out in the first 125cc Pro race as he started 14th . While Lewis was working throug h the pack, Amaradio and Chamberlain battled for the lead and Donald Upton and Tim Telford diced for third. At the start of the second lap, Chamberla in pu lled to the side of the trac k with a derailed chain. Chamberlai n tr ied to resume after the problem , but a bent rear wh eel caused the cha in to dismount on two more occasions before he pushed hi s bike back to the pits. By the third lap Lewis had charged from 14th to third. In the next two laps, Lewis made short work of both Telford and Amaradio to assume the lead then pulled away for the moto win. Mark Easley started 17th and also made his way to the front of the pack and during th e final three laps was at the tail end of a battle for second between Arnaradio, Telford and Erick Hilton. At the checkered flag, Amaradio held the position in front of T elford. At the start of moto two , Easle y shot out of th e start i ng gate with the holeshot followed by Lewis, Amaradio and Chamberlain. Lewis let it all hang ou t on th e opening lap and made a swift pas s o n Easley to take over th e lead. Lewis opened a four bike length lead over Easley while Chamberlain moved to third after pas sing Amaradio. Lewis pulled away for an easy win while Chamberlain passed Easley la te in the race for second. Easley's th irdplace finish gave him second overall an d nearl y $2300 in cash and Yama ha contingency. . Chris Lance con tinued hi s dominan ce of the 25-29 Intermediate class by scoring a wire-to-wire victory in the first moto over Keven Fringer. Chris Radzinski and Larry Lawrence battled throughout the race with Radzin ski making a clever pass two lap s from the finish to secure third over Lawrence and Eddie Davis. Fringer jumped out front at the start of th e second moto and stayed there for half the race while Lance followed in his shadow. Lance made his move on Fringer through a rough section of the course to take over the lead . O ne lap later, Lawrence caught Lance with two laps to go then dogged him for the remaining lap. Lawrence cut under Lance in the tum before the final straight to set up a drag race to the checkered flag . It was a photo finish with Lawrence getting the win by a tire length. Lance shook his head and sett led for seco nd, which was still good enough for the overall win since Lawrence finished fourth in th e first rnoto. Fringer dropped off the pa ce late in the moto but finished third, well ahead of Jeff Scott and Radzinski. Gut Arnone and Mik e Steinhoft fought tooth and nail throughout the first 25-29 Beginner moto, Steinhoft led the early laps but had problems in the rockers. " I got a little wild and sta lled my bike," Steinhoft said . Arnone passed him and rode the remainder of the moto under constant pressure from Steinhoft, but ma naged to stay in control and take the checkered flag first . Steinhoft finished second ' a nd moved into the series . points lead since series points leader Brian 'Fry was disqualified because (it was determined that) he was a

• Cover