Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

emmw~~~~_m_~_&_~_~R _OO_~_l e· ' < Joe Haman (64) grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 250cc Novice Division One class main. Chip Rotan (152) won the race. David Pi ngree (23) topped T im Staufenbei l (17) in the 250cc Intermediate class. Pingree also won the l 25cc Intermediate division. Blakley brilliant at AnaheimAmateurSX By Tony Alessi "T ANAHEIM, CA, JAN. 26 18 hat was the best $55 I ever spent!" said Mark Bla kley after winning the 25-29 Novice divison two at the opening ' round of the GFI! AMAlMTEG Amateur Supercross Series, held a t Ana. heim Stadium. "I sold my Yamaha ITI75 last week to come up with the money to race today," added Blakl ey. " It was th e funnest track I have ever ridden, and it always brings out a io t of riders." Blakley, along with nearly 600 other .riders raced on a track which featu red the same basic la yout that the pros raced on the n ight before. Many of th e obstacles were rounded ou t-for safety. "We sm oothed out th e double and triple jump landing ramps, so th ey weren 't so peaked," said Goat Breker, race promot er. "This track is safer than the o nes I used to race on in the early '80s, but th is track requires more riding skills." In moto one, Tonrod Rodr iq uez led the charge of 25-29 Novi ce di vision two rid ers in the fast left-ha nd first turn. Rodriquez rode strong for two laps before Daniel Bush and Darren Elliott motor ed past. Ben Barnhart and cr Falk were fiercely battling for fourth , and closed to the rear tire of Rodriquez, wh o a ppeared to be tiring. T he racing was clos e on the final lap, but the top five riders maintained their positions. Bu sh won the moto, foll owed by Elliott and Rodriq uez. The top 50% of the first and second divisi ons would compete against o ne ano ther in the second moto for factory contingency, while the second half wo u ld 'co m pete for trophies in the second di vision. Blakl ey missed the div ision one cut _ off by one spot after finishing in 12th positi on. "I ate a hay ba le on the firs t lap ," sai d Blakley. "When I got up, I remembered the rule to re-enter the track wh ere I left it and ended up last." Blakley had the pole position in moto two, since his 12th place finish was eq u a l to first in the second division. When the gate dropped , Doug Rahders nailed the holeshot ahead of Mike Carr, Mike Short and Blakley." "Rahders is a buddy of mine and I really wanted to catch him so I could di ce with him," said Blakley. Blakl ey got his wish when Ra hders bobbled and dropped to th ird, directl y in front of Blakley. The two riders di ced for over a lap before Blakley made his move. Once into third, Blakley ap p lied the pressure to second pl ace Short , who responded to th e pressu re by promptly go ing over the bars in a section of chop py ro ckers . Blakl ey was now in second, and within st ri kin g d istance of Carr. Blakley wasted li ttl e tim e, and cut under Carr on the next lap to assure th e lead. Once out fro nt, Blakl ey cru ised to th e moto and overall win, followed by Carr and good fri end Rahders. Sixteen-year -old Damon Huffman dominated Pro racing by scoring wins in th e 250 and l25c c Pro classes. Michele Monti came all the way from Gree ce a nd scored in a stunning firs t rnoto victory in the 125cc Pro class.' Chris Young held onto second for much of th e first rnoto, but Huffman surprised him with a late race pass for seco nd. Mike Healey gated poorly and followed Dona ld Up to for the first half of the moto, before moving into fourth behind Young, Huffman and winner Monti. Huffman led the earl y lap s of the second moto while under heavy attack from Healey. Huffman tried to ride a mistake-free moto, but Healey had other ideas, and forced th e teenager to falt er and picked up the lead . From there on, Healey controlled the mot o for . the eventual win. Huffman fin ished solidly in second, followed by Young. Huffman's pair of runner-up finishes were good enough for first place cash. " T h e tra ck is a lot easier than it was last night," said Huffman, who ran second in the 125cc main event before dropping ou t with mechanical prob"Iem s. " Bu t it 's still fun." Bader Manneh won the first 250cc Pro moto with a wire-to-wire victory. Huffman rod e in Manneh 's shadow throughout the race , but was unable to find a suitable spot to pass and eventually settled for second. Young rode a good race in third and held off a late-race charge by Healey, who appeared to be fighting an ill -handling machine. Young , Healey and Huffman engaged in a three-way battle for the lead for half of the second mot o. Huffman seemed to be willing to ride more on the edge than in prior races, and forced his way past Healey and Young by the fifth lap . Fro m there on, Huffman cruised to a convincing moto and ov erall victory, whi le Young finished second and Manneh third after displacing Healey on the final laps of the race. David Pingree won three out of four motos en route to victories in both the 125 and 250cc Interm edia te classes . Jason McCormick was on fire in the first l25 cc Intermediate moto, and burned up the track to wi n the first moto. T y Kady rode in second for nearly half th e moto, bu t could not endure th e pressure coming from Pingree. Kady eventually surrendered

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