Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RARENACROSS Budweiser AM! AX National Series: Round 4 ; ....... Rick Ryan (27) and Friday night's winner Cli ff Palmer (32) dice in the l25cc Expert class at the Co w Palace Arenacross. Hawthorne rules the Cow Palace By Pam Lambert Results SAN FRANCISCO, CA, FEB. 7·9 exa n Den nis Hawthorne was the big winner at the Co w Palace Arenacross doubleheader. In two nights of raci ng, Hawthorne sco red back-t o-back wins in the 250cc Pro class , whi le Oklahom an Cli ff Palmer and Cali fornia n Rodn ey Smith scored the 125cc Pro cla ss wins on Friday a nd Saturday , respe ctiv ely. Together, th e San Francisco Internatio nal Mo tor cycle Sh ow and Mike Kid d -p ro rno ted races a tt rac ted an estima ted 60,000 enth us iasts over the weekend. A grand to tal of 68 pro rid ers turned out for the race, as well as mor e than 100 a ma teur racers. Heat races a nd semis were needed to trim down eac h Pro class to 15 riders fo r the main events . Depending o n the a mo unt of entries, so me classes ra n th ree heat races and two semis, or two hea ts a nd o ne semi. T 18 Frida y In the first 125cc heat race, Palmer pulled the holeshot a nd led all the wa y, foll ow ed across the fini sh line by Josh Boykin. After a mid pa ck start, Dean Matson began a charge that sa w him fini sh third and secure a spot in th e mai n. T exan Jason Edwards a nd 16· year -o ld R yvich iro Taka hama of Osaka, J apa n, rounded out the to p five. H ea t two saw H a t h o r n e sco re another wi re to wi re win, with fell o w Texan J ason La ngford second. Former G P MX co ntender Rodney Smi th was th ird , J eff Gl ass fourth and Canadian Ross Pederson held on for fifth , the last tra nsfer spot. . In the semi, Rick Ryan , who crashed in the first heat, grabbed the hol esho t a nd led for the first three la ps until he bobbled in th e whoop section. Pederso n the next lap. They fin ished in th at order: Palmer, Ped erson and Paladino. Anthony Whipple nailed dow n the last transfer spo t to set the 14-rider field for the main. As th e riders gated for the 125cc main, Ma tson grabbed the ear ly lead. Bu t Smith wasn 't afraid to m ix it up with him a nd soo n jammed a ro und th e ea r ly front-runner. Smith led th e r~mai~ing 19 la ps to score an irnpressrve W In. Ma tson was able to maintain second to the finish, and Palmer took third af ter having to fight his wa y to that spot. H awthorne and Edwa rds both reco vered from bad sta rts a nd cras hes to finish fourth a nd fifth , respectiv ely. Palmer led every lap of th e first 250cc heat race with Holl ey taking seco nd and Gl ass third in th e eig h t-la p even t. Heat two saw Hawthorne o nce aga in blast into the early lead , Ma tson passed Hawthorne on lap five. T he Texan recaptured the lead for a lap, but Matson retaliated and held on for the win . Langford was thi rd , Ped erson fourth and Sm ith fifth. It was a n easy wi n for Meaghor in the semi, as he led Sinobu T suru ta, Nelso n and Edwards across the finish lin e. The stage was set for the 250cc main and it was Matso n beating everyone to the first turn. Meagh or went down on the quad jump and was never a threat. Palmer a nd Smith coll ided o n the in field do uble and Smith fell , allo wing Hawtho rn e to slip by. Misfort une struck leader Ma tson when he and Palmer banged bars wit h two laps to go. Matson 's lu ck ran ou t, and he cra shed o n the front sid e of the infield doubl e. He jumped up quickly bu t walked off the tra ck, hi s weekend of raci ng o ver , At th e finish it wa s Ha wthorne taking the win ahead of Palmer, Sm it h, Pederso n an d La ngford. CN " Spud" Walters then took over th e lead a nd held o n for th e win. T revo r Meagh er also go t around Rya n and finished second. Ryan was third a nd Tony Flo res fin ished fourt h. Hawth orne grabbed th e hol eshot in the main a nd led for the first 19 of 20 laps until Pa lm er, the series points leader in both the 125 and 25Occ classes, sn uck by for the win. .Edwa rds ba tt led the en tire race wit h Smith, eventually edgi ng him ou t for the third- place money. Spud Walters rounded ou t the top five. T he first 250cc heat race sa w ni ne riders pull u p to th e gate. J,!so n La ng ford, the 1991 Arenacross Champion, scored a wire-to-wire wi n, with Pederson a nd Palmer second a nd th ird, respectively. Heat two was a lso a nine-rider event, wi th Hawthorn e again reading th e rubber ba nd perfectl y. But thi s time Ryan passed him on the third la p a nd held o n for th e win. Hawt horn e too k second with Edwards th ird. The third heat had II ride rs o n the lin e a nd when the checkered flag was waved, it was Matson the winner a hea d of Smith a nd Walters. The first of two semis saw T odd Nelso n p ull the holeshot a nd lead for four laps. Meagher a nd G lass even tu ally slipped wi th Meagher scoring the win. Gl ass was the runner-up a nd Nelso n th ird. Ten rider s showed up to battle in the second semi. Pa tr ick Gomm took the early lead bu t dro pped to third as Jim H oll ey recovered from a bad sta rt to take the wi n. Danny Newon moved up from sixth to second at th e finish. Hawthorne took the lead a t the start of the 20-lap 250cc main event , a nd led a ll the way to score the win. Wh ile Ha wtho rn e was sai ling o u t front, Langford found h im self on the ground after he tangled wi th a no ther rider. Edwar ds held second for 12 laps, o nly to stall his bik e in a corner a nd let _Pederson slip by. Edwards had . enoug h of a lead on Pal mer, who had moved into fourth off a six th p lace sta rt, to hold third aft er restarting hi s engine. As the leaders enco un tered heavy traffic on la p 13, Pederson was happi ly cruising in second until he tangled wi th a lapped rid er before the infield dou ble, a nd Pal mer, wh o had gotten by Edwards, slipped by on th e inside to take over second o n th e last lap. Pederson ended up third, Ma tson fourth and Edwards fifth . Saturday Saturday night 's actio n began with Langford j um pi ng to the lead in the first 125cc heat race with Ma tson in to w. Matson pow ered by La ngford to secure the top tra nsfer spot. La ngfor d sta yed in seco nd, while Walters, Smi th and Pederson battled for the third tra nsfer po sition. Pederso n went down and Sm ith won th e battle for third, Walters held o n for fourth , while Taka hama slipped in for th e last transfer in fifth. Both Pederson a nd Pal mer had to ri de the sem i. Heat two saw Hawthorne hol eshot on ly to have Ed war ds ta ke advantage of a mis take a nd mo to r by for the win . Hawthorne sal vaged second. Meagh or , Rya n a nd G lass freigh t-tra in ed a ro und the track to fill o ut the first 10 riders in the main . Onl y o ne sem i wa s needed a nd Danny Paladin o grabbed the hol esho t in that race a nd led Pederson and Palmer ar ound for th ree laps. Pal mer th en slipped b y Pa ladi n o as d id FllIDAY' 125: I. Cliff Palm" (Suz); 2. Dennis Hawth o rn e {Ka w) : 5. j ason Edwards (Ka w) : -I. ROOn<')' Smith (Suz); 5. Bria n w ah ers (Kaw). 250: 1. Denn is H awth o rn e (Ka w) ; 2. Cliff Pa lmer (Suz); 3. Ross Pederson (Suz); 4. Dean Mat son (Hen ): 5. J aso n Edwa rd s U;'X ). Ml: I . J im m y Nelson (Ya m) ; 2. Erik Sieg ler (Ya m) ; 3. Robert Morello (Ya m ); 4. Anthony Ho user (Suz); 5. Stephen Hernandez (Yam). SATURD AY 125: I . ROOn. y Smi th (S ua): 2. Dean Ma uon (H on); 3. Cliff Pa lmer (S U ); 4. Dennis Hawthorne (Ka w) : I 5. J ason Edw ards ( Ka w) . 250: I. Dennis Hawthorne (Ka w) : 2. eliH Pa lmer (S UI ): 3. Rod n ey Sm ith (SUl ); 1. Ross Peder son (Suz): 5. J ason La n gfo rd (Ya m ). 1 56: I. J immy Nelson (Ya m ); 2. Eri k Si.gkr (Yam ); 3. Gabriel Tjejo (Yam) : 4. Step hen Hern an dez(Yam ); 5. Ro hal Mor ell o (Ya m). 50 MO D: I. M;k

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