Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e AHRMA Vrntage Iron National MX Series: Round 8 Norm Bigelow (8) pulled the holeshot in the 125cc class, while Dalla s Nyblod (630) and the rest of th e class pursued. Dallas Nyblod, returning from a shoulder injury, won all three classes he entered. Nyblodtriples at Steve McQueen Memorial By Clay Light EUGENE, OR, JUNE 27 ash ington's Dallas Nyblod turned in wha t could possibly be regarded as the most imp ressive performances thus far in the series, w inning all three classes he entered at the Steve McQueen Memorial Race a t Eu gene Racew ay . Honda-mounted Nyblod won the 125cc, 250cc and +30 Expert classes, the only such accomplishment throughout the day's program. Wh ile th e first McQueen Memorial eight years ago only d rew eight riders, 248 entries were on hand for this year's running. Colorado was represented by a large contingent of riders, as were W 28 Oregon, Washington, California, Ida ho, Nevada, Ut ah and Montana. Canada was represented as well. Nyblod, who just recently was given approval to ride afte r s usta ini n g a shoulder inju ry a month ago, h ad th e 250cc Expert class as his first task, whi ch was no easy ch ore d ue to having to go up aga inst the likes of Doug Grant and sev e ra l local a ces, m os t n otably Jo e Casey. Casey grabbed th e holeshot in moto one, utili zin g his knowledge of the 1.2-mile course - dubbed The Freew ay due to its wide-ope n, hard-packed layout, which makes thi s particul ar track o ne o f th e favorites among v intage en thusiasts . Casey, though, would soo n los e his lead as bo th Grant and Nyblod were gunning for the local speeds ter. Nyblod d isp osed of Grant, but not w ithout a ba ttle " d a bit of unfortunate luck on an Gra n t's part. Grant had forgott en to tum his gas on and lost sev eral position s, but after a lap had moved back int o the top five until clipping a lapped ride r's hand lebars and se n d ing th e Ma ico r ider down. Being the true sportsma n tha t he is, Gra n t threw all chances at a w in away and went b a ck to chec k u p on th e downed rider and finished well behind the w inner Nyb lod, second-p lace finish er Ra nd y Lewis, Casey, Scott Russell and Jesse Buckley. Ny blod wasted little time in p lacing Ho n da / Brigh t th e Rai nie r Works /Precision Ma ch in e- sponsored Honda in to the lead in the secon d con test , never look ing back to wit ness the cl ima cti c ac tion r ag ing beh ind h im be tw een Mo n tes a rider Lewis , Case y, Rus sell , Buck ley a n d Hus ky r ide r Richard Lundgren, a battl e which went Lew is' way after he fended off Casey. Task nu mber tw o for Nyblod came in the 125cc Expert action, which featured m uch the sa me scenario; not much of a cha lle nge for Nyblod. He open ed -up leads througho u t both motos. The on ly time he wasn' t in the lead was momentarily in the first moto, when Ca lifornian No rm Bigelow go t the hol eshot and led the pack fo r a p ortion of the open ing lap. Nyblod roos ted away to the checkered flag for a mote-one win ahead -of Bigelow, who had hi s hands fu ll with Scott Davis. Beh ind the expert trio was a b a ttl e fo r the top spot in th e Intermediate class, which went the wa y of BillClem . N yblod ag ain did his disappearing act in moto two to finalize what would be his second ove rall win. Bigelow and Davis' battle went from start to fini sh, where Dav is edged out Bigelow 's Honda by a wheel for second overa ll. Clem aga in fended off Ric Russell for a win in the Intermediate portion, ah ead of several Expe rt riders; Jesse Buck ley, Mi ke Owens an d Utah's Rob ert Borg followed . Cheney -moun ted Steve Monger was Nyb lod 's closest' competition througho u t the d a y ' s ra cing. Monger gave Nyblod fits during th e early sta ges of the seco nd +30 Expert moto, but other than that, all other attempts at thwarting Nyblod's tripl e w in w o u ld b e for naugh t. The +30 class was mo st likely the most com petitive class of the day, as racing in a ll three cla ssifications w as highly furious . Nyblod won both motos to cap of a six-for-six win tally, beating the likes of Mon ger, Case y, Scott Russell, Lundgren and past class w inner Jon Derhammer in moto one, and M ai co rider Marty Luka s z ew s ki , Lund gren , Russ ell , Derh ammer and Bigelow in the second . " 1 had a grea t tim e, " said N yblod after climbin g off his Honda at the completion. "The track was great, the bikes worked nicely and 1 couldn't be more pleased ." For G ra nt , th ough, th e d ay wa sn 't going to be one of his most mem orabl e since ma kin g h is com eback a little over a year ago . It started off on a so ur note for the Vintage Iro n / RPM/JT Racin gsp onso red rider as hi s 370 AJS d idn 't w a n t to r un p rop erl y. Grant d id , thou gh, mana g e to p ick u p a s ing le moto w in in the +40 Expert class' first moto, after d isposin g of pesky Montesa rid er Lew is, local rid er Bill Row and CZ rid er Da le Dem aris, the former desert number-on e rider, who finished fourth. Grant gated quickest in th e secon d moto while Demaris, Rowand Lewis were gunning for the lead, a spot Grant was reluctant abou t giving up despite a sou ring ig ni tio n. Demaris made Gr ant work for his number-on e spo t, and was right there to take it away when Grant's AJS began to blubb er . Dem aris took the w in "on th e Northw est Ma ico /CZbacked CZ, beating Lew is, Ken Gerard, Robert Poole and Grant, who salvag ed a fifth. Lew is earned the overall win. Ma ny classes wer e so full tha t they had to b e sp lit into tw o di v is ions in order to fit the facility's ga te; th is. wa s the case in +30 In te r med iate ac tion . ' Monty Price, rid ing a Can -Am, was the w inner in the first divis ion, beati ng the li kes of CZ rider Dean Bidd le a nd Utah's Don Gib bs. Wash ington 's Keith We bs ter topped the fi rs t moto o f di v is ion tw o a nd ba cked it u p with a m ote-two second place, for an overall win ahead of 125cc mounted Bill Clem and Kenny Brynn . W a sh in gton ' s Bu ck Murp hy was looking fo r a b ig w in in th e 500cc Sp ortsman Expert cla ss, and "hardly stayed ou t all night. " The former Team Can- Am , Pen to n a n d Rokon rider is _infamo us for hos tin g 'w ild pa rties the night before th e race. Mu rphy looked well on h is way to vic to ry in th e first moto, but a wire sho rted out his hop es of a Na tional w in, allowi ng a hard-ridin g Dem aris to p ick up a w in in Murphy' S demise. Row, BSA rider M ik e Atkins, Murphy and Allen Wen zel filled the top five at mote's end. Murphy, tho ugh, did get it all toge the r to co m e b ack and trounce the com petition in the second moto, not a n easy ta sk as Dem aris hounded Murphy from s tart to fini sh. Murphy's w in wa sn 't enough for an overall, as Demaris ' 1-2 pIacings gave the Bend, Oregon rider the overall win, not a bad accomplis hment after not having ridd en a vin tage bike since his bike wasn 't vin tage. " Other racing came in th e Prem ier classes, such as the Premier Lightweight Two d ivision, which was won by Husky rider Mike Owens, who beat first-moto winn er Rob Poole in a mote-two shootout for the Expert win. Ossa rid er Casey Callinsk y took the Intermediate class with the same tally, fending off Rod Henniger, while Jamie Jenn y, riding a 1970 Montesa Cappra, finished third ahead of O ssa rid er Jo h n Gulliford , G reeves- m o u n te d Bill Samsta g a n d Maury Adams. Oregon's Ch arles Standeford.gave the locals something to cheer about after taking two cla sses , the +50 and 250c c Intermediate categories, both wins comin g with 1-1 sweeps . He piloted his Maico to wins in the +50 c1a~s, edging

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