Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Me Trans-Cal MX Nationals Oregon: Round 2 Highland, Leach soar to Eugene wins By Clay Light EUGENE, OR, SEPT. 19 ha w n Hi ghland and Rob y Leach were two of some of the da y's top finishers at Eugene Motocross Park for round two of the Oregon segment of th e Continental Motorspo rt Club's Trans-Cal Nationals. Hi ghland, rid in g in wha t wa s only hi s th ird rac e as a pro, wa llop ed th e 12Scc cla ss, giv in g the co m peti tio n a vi e w tha t th ey'll most likely see fo r quite some tim e at Eug ene . H ighland took ad van tage of perfect wea ther and a picture-per fect track to land his second 12Scc Pro win in as many weeks. The first 12Scc Pro moto, which ran com bined w ith the 2S0cc Int ermediate class, sa w H igh la nd p us h his C ycle Trax/Cycle Co unt ry- bac ked Suz uki to th e head of th e pack, while seasone d veterans Danny Moore, Gary Beyer, Jeff Bailey and Kenny Olsen p ushed the upan d-eoming teenager . The new kid on the block wouldn't give up his position up front , and by the mid way point, he had built up a subs tan tial lea d . Moore rode a s teady second, ho ld in g off th e challenges set forth by Beyer, wh o has long been regarded as O regon's to p 12Sec Pro rider, while Olsen and Bailey loomed in the distance. Behind the top five Pros was Rya n Leach, who was gai ning ground on several of his class rivals after gating in the seco nd wave, riding flawlessly ahead of Honda riders Jason Math ews and Vy-Lam Ngu yen. U p front , H ighl and ' s high -fly ing antics earned him the ad miration of the galle ry o f s p ec ta to rs th a t li ned the straightaway d oubl es. Highlan d carded the moto wi n by a 12-second ma rgin , w hi le Mo ore net ted se cond a hea d of Beyer and Intermediate Leach. Moto two wa s mu ch more exciting for the first several laps, as Highland initially led, but Beye r took the lead away by outbraking Highland going into the second tum. But when the dust cleared, Highland had ou tg u nned the veteran and se t out in sail of his second moto win, earning him the ove rall victory and everyone's admirat ion, as well. Moore, also Suzuki-mounted , used 2-2 pla cing for second with Beyer (3-3) , Olsen (4-4) a nd Bailey (5-5) filling the top five in the Pro ranks. Leach got around Mathews early in the seco nd moto to s wee p the 250c c Intermediate class, ed ging Mathews' 2-2 moto fi nishes . Ngu yen we n t 3-3 for thi rd ahead o f Rob e r t Breau x a n d Brandon White. Ryan Leach, however, got his chance at red emption and mad e it worth h is whi le by beating Highland in the Before the Hill (BTH) class. H ighland won the first moto convincingly but ga ted poorly in the second moto. He carne from last to second in that moto but could climb no further, as time ran out for the southern Oregon speedster. [e ssy Williams finished third ahead of Jon Kauffman and Harwood. Roby Leach put on a good show for the crowd en-route to the 250cc Pro class win. But his double moto wins weren't as easy as it seemed for the AXO/Renthal/Phase 2/Cycle Countrysupported rider, no thanks to Olsen, ' w h o made Leach work hard for his share of the 150% Pro payback. Olsen led the first half of moto one, but Leach made a charge and caught S him in the whoops and went on to score a narrow win over Olsen, w hile Bailey and Moore trailed in third and fourth, respectively. As in the 12Sec Pro class, the 250cc Pro division shared the track wi th the Intermedia te riders. Wh e n it was all over, Ryan Terlecki - competing in what was onl y h is fir s t few ri des in the Intermedi ate cla ss - sco red the win. Terlecki topped Wi lliams and Bra d Brunkal for the w in. Olsen and Leach's duel resumed in the second contest as soon as the ga te dropped. For the first three laps the two racers were ne ver more tha n a wheel apart. Olsen dropped back a bit until the la st lap when he cl o sed to w ithin a wh eel of a stunned Leach, who just d id narrowl y hold Olsen back. "My bra kes were gone," said Leach . " I rod e half th e m ot o witho u t a n y bra kes, it was tough ." Several other top-notch perfo rmances were recorded during the course of the d ay, one of which by Yamaha rider Seott Williams, who single-handid ly. grabbed top honors in wh at was the day 's largest class - the 250cc Juni or division. Co rey Te nna n t a nd visiting Aus tralian Jaso n Love, who briefly led moto one, finished second and third, resp ectively. Hond a-mounted Sea n Richard son won two classes: the 80cc Intermedi ate class and the 125cc Ju nior d ivision . He was one of only two riders on the day to win more than one class. The other rider was Ryan Lea ch in the 250cc Intermediat e and BTH classes . Suz uk i rider Dus ty Lenaburg totally ra vaged th e co m pe ti tion in the Min i Open (lOSec) class. He bested the field in both motos and was even cleari ng the d ouble jumps in the same manor as the pro s - a p re tty a m azing fea t fo r a dim inu tive 13- year-o ld . Secon d to Len aburg was Su zuki rid er [ add H orban, whil e Kaw asak i rid er J.J. Spe nce r snap ped a Su z u ki sweep by slip ping into third . In small-wheel action, Lenny Hill won the Wee Pee Wee class ahead of Randi H olb rook , who m ad e m orn a nd d ad proud with 2-2 placings and added to the woes of several of the guys she d usted en-route to such an accomplishm ent. The 60cc class had Der ek Walkoski winning the 9-11 class, followed by 6-8 class winner Randy Pekarek , Clayton Kayser, Jared Werline and Sean Light. Ryan Barnes rode an impressive race on a Yamaha 50 to finish among the 60cc front-runners for the 50cc Mod ified class w~ ~ Res ults S&. Lenny Hill (Yam); 2 Rand i Holbrook (Yam); 3. Sky tar williams (Yam); 4. COOy Kasper (ya m); S. Zarn Sunk/er (Han). 60 (9-1t): 1. De rek Walkosk i (J(a w ); 2. Rob e rt Childere (Yam). 60 (6-8) : I . Randy Pekarek (!Caw ); 2 CL>yton Kayser (Kaw); 3. Ja red Werline (l

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