Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e GFI Winter MX Series North: Round 3 Pat Bennett (1) leads Rick Ryan (27) and Trevor Meagher (45) through tum one in the 250cc Pro class. Jon Nelson (7) and Ryan (27) battled throughout both 250cc Pro motos, Matson, Dyck find gold at Hollister Hills By Tom Prichard HOLUSTER, CA, JAN. 19 a lifo rn ia n Dean Matson and Can adi an Allan Dyck cla imed the overall victories in the 250 and I25cc Pro classes, respectively in round three of the GFI Cal ifornia Winter MX Series North at Hollister Hills. Mats on took two relatively easy 250cc Pro moto victories, while Dyck used a first and a fourth-place finish to score the win in th e 125cc Pro class. Counting the manufacturers contingencies, both riders took home the lion's share of th e 10,360 paid to the Pro classes for the day. With the temperature in th e 60s an d the sun shining brightly, the 501 riders who turned out were treated to a beautiful day for racing. The track, which had been prepared to perfection by the Hollister Hills crew C 24 becam e extrem el y ro ugh a n d demanding as the da y wore on , and rider skill and physical conditionin g became a big factor in the o u tco me of mo st races. . The first event of the day was the 125cc Pro class first moto, with 21 riders lining up on th e starting ga te. When the gate fell it was so ut hern California Craig Canoy with th e h oleshot, followed b y Ca n adian Yamaha rider Dyck in seco nd an d Joe Bruce in third. Caught in th e gate off the start was Mat son, wh o got underway in last pl ace. Metson cu t through the pack, and by th e end of the moto was able to move all the way up to eighth place. When the riders came around to finish the first lap, Canoy had opened up a five-length lead over Dyck. Bruce had problems and started dropping . back rapidly, turning third place over to Jon Nelson. J eff Pestana charged up to fourth and local rider Trevor Meagh er also passed Bruce to assume fifth . . Dyck pic ked up the pace on the down hill section and closed to within one b ik e length . of Canoy, while Nelson and Pestana were having a tremendous battle over third. Soon the top four riders were separated by less th an two seconds as the y completed lap two. Over a big tabl etop jump, Pestana flew around Nelson to move in to third and then three turns later pas sed Dyck going up a steep hill into the trees. Pestana then hounded Canoy for a lap before making his move in a fast, sweeping tum. Going to the outside and th en squaring the turn, Pestana was abl e to make a block pas s on Canoy and take the lead . Canoy, lost his concentration and was also passed by . Dyck , wh o then set hi s sights on Pestana. Just past the halfway point Pestana fell on the far side of the track and turned the lead over to Dyck. " My front end got caught in a deep rut and I fell over," said Pestana. "My bik e was still running and I hurried back on it just as Allan got by." Dyck and Pestana battled over the lead with about a lO-second gap over third-place Nelson, who had passed Canoy. Pestana was hammering Dyck for the lead , but the Canadian blocked every pass att empt by the Suzuki rider. When th e checkered flag came out the fin ishing order was Dyck in first, Pestana second, Nelson third, Canoy fourth, Chris Neal fifth and Meagher sixth. The start of moto two saw Danny Paladino jet into the lead followed by Rick Ryan and Matson. Dyck got a poor start and came out in ninth. By the end of the first lap, Dyck had moved up int o seventh and two laps later was in fifth . Paladino held the lead for one lap before being passed by Matson and Ryan after laying it down coming down a hill. Once into the lead , Matson motored away from everyone. Ryan was abl e to hold onto second for three laps before Paladino got ar ound him. Pestana ga ted terribly and was forced to fight hi s way through traffic, and on lap four he went down on the front straigh taway and was able to only finish 10th. The signal was given to Dyck to take it easy as the overall win was his since none of the three riders in front of him had finished inside the top five in the first moto. The Can- adian motored around the track and took the checkers in fourth for the overall. The moto win went to Matson, second to Paladino and third to Ryan. Rounding out the top five was Craig Canoy. By the time the 250cc Pros left the line for the start of their first moto the tra ck had become extremely rough and rutted, just the way most of the riders hoped it would be. First into turn one was Pat Benne tt followed by Pa t Gomm and Dyck. Matson put his Honda in fourth place and four turns later forced his way around Dyck for third. On lap two, in a very fast downhill sweeper; Bennett went to the inside but Gomm railed the berm on the outside to pass the Yamaha rider for the lead. Less than half a lap later, Bennett found himself looking at the rear fenders of Matson and Nelson, who were battling for second and moving up on the leader Gomm. It took Matson only one lap to take the lead, passing Gomm with a textbook block pass. Also moving up was Ryan, who went down in tum one and by lap three was all the way up into fourth. Bennett soon dropped back to seventh where he would eventually . finish the race. . " I got really, really tired , probably because I holes hot it and got as nervous as 1 could possibly be," said Bennett, Out front, Matson tried his best to shake free of Gomm and Ryan but couldn't open a substantial gap. By the time the white flag came out the top three were separated by less than 10 . bike lengths. Matson found a little extra energy on the final lap and held on for th e win . Following the Honda rider across the finish line in second was Ryan, Gomm, Dyck and Terry Fowl er. "My arms pumped up a little bit towards the end and they started catching up to me a little bit," said Matson. "I should be all right for the next moto." When the gate fell for the start of moto two, Matson rounded the first turn with the holeshot. Behind Matson was Meagher and Gomm. Maston quickly pulled away from the rest of the riders who were bunched together in a battle over second. Meagher held off the charges of first Gomm then Pestana, 'who had crashed on the second lap of moto one and retired . Pestana hammered Meagher until lap five when he was finally ab le to get around for second. The leader Matson was gone by this time and at one time he enjoyed a 12 second lead. The top five riders remained in the same positions for the final laps, and when the checkered flag finally came out Matson took the win with a five-second margin over Pestana. Third went to Meagher, Gomm finished fourth and Fowler rounded out the top five. In the first 25-29 Novice class moio Anthony Alves got the ' holeshot followed by Geoffry Woods and John Ensign. By the halfway point Ens ign had taken the lead and Alves dropped to fourth . Ensign rode on to the win followed by Woods, Ted Pippin and Alves. In moto twoit was Woods all the way as he led from start to finish. Very close behind him were Alves and Ensign. The three riders staged a . tremendous battle for the entire moto and were never separated by more than five seconds. On the last lap Ensign faltered and was passed by both Alves and Ron Hampshire. When the checkered flag came out the moto and overall win went to Woods with second and second overall to Alves. Ensign's fourth place rnoto fin ish was good enough to give.him third overall.

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