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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127535
~ M OSS GFI California Winter MX Series North:Round 5 orDeR e Rick R yan (27) grabbed die holes hot in the 250cc Pro class. Dean Ma tson (0) and Trevor Meagher (42) follow. Ryan,Vohland scoebigat P,A,L. r By Tom P ri chard Photos by Brian Merchanct an d Mark H awkins SANTA CLARA,CA, FEB. 2 yson Vohland flew in fro m the previo us n ight's Camel Su percross a t th e Seattle Kingdome just in tim e to make th e start of his first mot o a t the Pol ice Athleti c League (P.A.L.) MX facil ity, and took home the lion 's share of th e da y's 250cc Pro payback. Vohland wasn 't the only sta r of th e da y, as Ri ck Ryan , riding for only th e second time in two months, scored th e overall win in the 125cc Pro class via I- I mo to finishes. On a tra ck more like a long outdoor superc ross, most riders foun d the numerous ma n-made obstacles very challenging, and more than one top pro found himself o n the grou nd throughout the da y. The 125cc Pros were th e first to tackle the demanding course, and as the riders rounded the first tum Ryan grabbed th e holeshot, with Trevor Meagher close behind in second. In the first tum several rid ers were involved in a huge pileup, including seri es points leader All an Dyck. Dyck managed to get up and get goi ng, again , but wa s badly scraped and bruised. " I went into th e comer and got sq ueezed in ," said Dyck. " And the next th in g I knew I was o n the gro und." For the Canadian champion , Dyck, this would not be his best day , managing to finish eigh th overa ll in the l25 cc class. For Ryan however, things just kept ge tti ng better in the first moto, After nailing the holeshot, Rya n , the Honda rider from San Jose, just motored away. By th e third lap Rya n had built up a substantial lead over Vohland, who had passed Meagher o n lap two. Vohland started to wick it up, but then sudden ly began to slow drastically. O n la p five Vohland's Yamaha came to a complete stop, a nd it too k several seconds to get it goi ng again. " When I passed Meagher for second we tangled, and apparently my foot got under the tank and turned the gas off," said Voh land. "When it finally ran out of gas , it took me a long time to restart it because I didn't know that the gas was off." T 18 Once Vohland go t underw ay there was no way he could ca tch Ryan, who had opened up a five-second lead over th e n ew second -p lace r ider Dean Ma tso n. Ma tson gated in six th place and passed one rid er a lap for the fir st fo ur laps until he finall y worked around Meagh er for second. T wo laps later J eff Pestana also passed Meagher for third. oo n after, Pestana and Matson began a hea ted battle a nd soon pulled a way from the rest of the pack, whi le Ryan still cruised out in fron t Matson was abl e to protect his li nes a nd kept his position to the ch eckered flag behind Ryan , who took the win by seven seconds. Third went to Pestana, with Meagher finishing fourth a nd Yama ha rid er Tony Flores working up to fifth . Severa l riders hit the gate on the start of the second rnoto ca using the gate to jam, forcing a restart O n th e resta rt it was Vohland wh o jumped o ut in fro nt, foll ow ed by Mats on and Ryan, respectiv ely. On the first lap Ryan flew ar o und Mats on for second and immediately started pushing Vo hla nd for the lead. Just befo re the end of th e same la p , Voh la nd tossed it away on the uphill , givi ng Ryan the lead. Vohland soo n pulled o ut realizin g he had no cha nce of catching the lead ers. R yan and Ma tso n were soon in volved in a battle over the lead. Their d uel carried them away from the rest of the pa ck. Third place was Kawasa ki rider Danny Nelson , wh o was bein g pushed by Pestana a nd J on Nelson. On lap three Matson went down. He was up quickly and back under way in fifth , while Ryan sol oed o ut in front. Pestana dogged the new second place rider Dan Nelson for three laps before making a pass. Once in to seco nd Pestana opened it u p and tr ied to catch th e leader, Ryan. Ryan 's lead , howev er, had grown to over 10 seconds by this time, and he cruised around the last few laps for the victory. Pestana took seco nd and Nelson third by less than a bike length over Matson , wh o had passed Nelson on the last lap. When the 250cc Pros left - the ga te for their firs t m o to Vohland was leading the way out of the first tum. H e was p ursued by local Pat Gom m and Rya n. On lap two C omm made a series of mi stakes, dr opping ba ck to seventh, all owing Ryan to move into second. Behind Ryan was Pestana, Pa t Bennett and Matson, in that order. Voh land opened ยท up a sizeable lead over the rest of the field. At th e halfway point Matson managed to get around Bennett and Pestana after an intense three-lap battle. Matson soon took off after the leaders with Ben nett in fourth but eventually lost to uch wi th the top three rid ers. As the laps wound down Vohland started to relax the pace after having built up a co mfortable lead over Rya n. Ma tson 's charge took him close to Rya n on the final laps. Rya n and Ma tson circled the course separated by less than two bike lengths for the last three laps, with Ryan barely managing to ha ng o n to second at the ch eckered flag . Voh la nd scored the win with Rya n second, Matson third, Bennett fourth and Larry Wosick endi ng up fifth . The second moto saw Yamaha rider T ony Flores grab the ear ly lead followed by Ryan a nd Bennet t T revor Meagher went down in th e first tum, caus ing severa l rid ers to ge t tangled in a traffic ja m. One of the rid ers inv olved was first -mo to winner Vohland. Vohland regro uped quickly a nd ca me around the first lap in seventh pl ace. For the first four laps Flores and Ryan staged a tremendous battle for the lead, wi th bo th riders banging bars in every tu m . Bennett stayed less than five bike lengths behind the leaders, hoping for a mi stake by the front-run ners . While Flores a nd Ryan were battling over the lead, Vohland was rapid ly working h is way through the pack. By lap five Vohland had managed to pass Bennett for third, and less th an three turns lat er Ma tson also passed the Yamaha rider. On the next lap Ryan managed to jam around Flores for th e lead in th e hairpin after the fin ish li ne. Now there were five riders battling over th e lead all separated by less than 10 bike lengths. Ryan's lead, however, Vohland (V27) leads winner Ryan (27) in the 125cc Pro class. lasted less than a la p , as Voh land passed both Flores a nd Rya n in the fast back section sweeper. Also passing Flores was Matson , dropping the fonner leader to fourth. On th e nex t lap, Matson dov e around Ryan com ing into the uphill turn to move into second. By this time Vohland had opened up a 10 bike length lead over the rest of th e riders. Once around Ryan, Ma tson set hi s sights on the leader, slowly chipping away at Vohland' s lead. It looked a s th ough Vohland would hold on for the win when th e white flag came ou t Voh land's lead was down to three bike lengths with half a lap to go wh en he laid it down in a slow left-hand tum. Matson shot by for the lead . " I heard someone coming and I thought it was Rya n ," said Vohland. " I started thinking about the overall a nd I j ust lost concentration and my front wheel slid out." Voh land was up in a flas h a nd in purs uit of Matson. Ryan closed in bu t was no t a ble to overtake second place Voh land. The checkered flag came out a nd the moto wi n went to Ma tson. . Second was good enough to g ive Vohland the o vera ll wi n. Third went to Ryan with Flores a nd Ben nett fill ing ou t th e top five, respectively. The 125cc Intermediates put o n one of the best shows of the da y, with Yamaha rider Brett Hamilton scoring the overall win. th ough his win did not come easily, as he had to fig ht Kawasaki rider Stan Finney in both m otos, Finney gated perfectly in the first moto, H amilton followed in second with Honda rider Aaron Cantrell and Kawasaki pilot Mark Klauser close behind. The top four riders staged a heated battle for th e lead th e entire moto, with Hamilton fin ally getting around Finney on lap four. Cantrell and Finney then traded places on the next lap. A split exhaust pipe soon slowed Cantrell 's charge a nd Finney was back into second. The checkered flag waved for Hamilton by 10 bike lengths over Finney, with thi rd going to Klauser a nd fourt h to Cantrell. J ake Wi nd ha m was fifth. The second I25cc Interm ed ia te mo to was by far the best race of the da y, with Finney and Hamilton battling for the lead in every turn. Finney too k the lead off the star t, followed by Hamilton. As the two top riders immediately started to pull away fro m th e rest of the field, their ba ttle intensified. The lead would ch a nge three or fou r times a lap . Finney wo uld block-pass Ha m ilton in a turn only