Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127658
, , DIRT:.TRACK :'>'.," ': .. . ' .:::' : : <" : ; ' . :A ASoutheast AmaleurlYouth D TrackCham ions i s: M irt h Municipal Stadium mpson picksupa sixer Recil Ha rt a n d Bria n Thomas - w ere third and fourth, resp ectively. The Expert and 883 classes saw many riders tryi ng to get as m uch p re-national track time as possible. Roger Durkee was the big gu n on Sunday, winning the ma in over Bill Hofmeis ter and Sha wn C lark . Monday ' s race wa s a ll Joe Kopp' s, as he lined up on th e groove and then led the race all the wa y. Closing near the end were Kevin Varnes and Georgie Price. Minnesota 's Bill Hofmeister wo n the first 883 m ain ove r Recil Hart and Eugene Copeland. On Mo nday, Hart wa s a g ai n secon d a s Ge org ie P rice worked his way around him for the win. Georgie celeb ra ted as only he can, by do ing a wheelsta nd down the back straight on his Sportster. tN (Left) Jeremy Thompson (1N), here leading Roger Hayden , won six different classes over the two days of racing. (Below) Joe Kopp easily won Monday's Expert race, leading from start to finish. (Bottom) Paul Lynch rode to class victories three times. Over 500 entries did battle on the Daytona track. : By Dave Hoenig DA¥rONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 6-7 he 5th Annua l American Motorcycle Institute-sponsored Southeast Amateur / You th Cha m pions hi ps converged on Dayton a's Municipal Stad ium for tw o d ays of non-stop action, and the big winner was 13-yea r-old Jerem y Thom pson, w ho ro de h is Pri estly Racing / Appli ed Busi ness Sy stems / Wh it e Bros ./ Wiseco/ Motio n Prof Maier /Boy esen-sp onsored 85cc Suzuki and 125cc Ho nda to six class w ins . Sun day's action, swelled by the add ition of the AHRMA Vin tage Nati onals, saw the. Dav e McC a rth y Promotions crew handle over 300 en tries, wi th 26 classes that requi red 53 hea ts, 11 semis and 26 mains. Th e las t ma in w as run around 11:30 p.m. The vin tage nationals bring ou t the spec tators tha t are norm ally a bs e nt a t a m a te u r ra ces, and all agreed that they go t the ir five dollars' w orth. Monday ' s activities were no t qu ite as hectic, wi th "o nly" a little ove r · 200 en tries . Tha t day of racing was completed well before 10:00 p.m. This yea r, the track held up remarkably w ell. The typica l rutting problem w as n ot apparen t, as a wi de - thou gh sometimes slippery - groove kep t every on e on the ir toes. Even with the wid e groo ve, passing was dif ficult on the outside of the flat, quarter-mile oval. Tho m pson, from Elba, Ne w York, domina ted th e sma ll-bo re cla sses, his only loss coming a t th e hands of Tom Sketh way, who top p ed h im Sunday in the 125cc class. Jeffrey Rand olph, 14, b rought h is 500cc Harl ey and 250cc Yamaha d own from Brown City, Mich igan, and wen t undefea ted both days, ta kin g convincing wins in th e 500cc A an d the Op en DTX classes. Paul Lyn ch to p ped the Open main bo th nigh ts. He struggled to a fifth p lace in Sunday 's 250cc A race, but came back Monday to win ov er Perry Phillips and Sunday's winner Brian Bigelow. Roger Hayd en upheld his family's T w inning Dayton a trad ition by capturing three titl es. The 10-year-old swep t the 65cc 'races and split w ins with Mik e Mas he wske in the 85cc (7-11) division, Hayden also took two second places to Thompson in the 85cc DTX category, As ha s been the trend the last few years, the Senior classes are the fas tes t growing . There we re over 60 entries in the competitive Senior 30+ and Senior 40+ classes , The two days of racing prod uced fou r d ifferent wi nners, The 30+ vic tors wer e Mark Davidson and John H ildebran d. Bill Sn yd er a nd To m m y Sisson sp lit the 40+ class wins, From a specta tor's poin t of view, th e Senior. classes also provide some of th e be st racing. Sunday's 30+ group had six rid ers negotiating the slick quarter mile in sea rch of a win . New Eng land 's Hildebra nd was able to hold off his competition consisting of Ken McConnell, Jack Touchette, Jimmy Myrick, Cu rt Snelling and Claude Racine. The 40+ class saw a four-ri der duel , wi th Tenn es s ee 's Tom my Sis son co min g out on top of Ma r k Fr oelich, Bill Snyder and Skip Wertz. B-clas s ra ces w e re hel d for ri ders w it h le ss ex p e rie n ce on the 250 and 500cc machine s. Sha w n Mobley made the trip from New York worthwhile as he swep t both d ays in the 250cc B classes . Doug Parker and Jason Fuller split the ru nner-up positions. Californian A.J. Herrera won the Sunday 500cc B main over Florida's Kenny Parke r, who came back Monday w ith a win over Darre n Bedord. Three classes for Pro a nd Pro-Am ride rs were also held . The 600cc Pro- Am d ivision avera ged over 30 riders eac h d a y. Penns y lvan ia ' s Todd Wi nse tt, who' s had ma ny wins at Day tona as an ama teur rid er, picked up where he left off by winning the Sunday race ov er a trio of New Yorke rs - Chris Ha rt, Brian N ew man and Bill Wh eaton. Monday was for Ill inois rid ers, as th ree racers from that state finished in the top four. Paul Mo rga n won and Chris Hart once again took second. Morgan's neighbors -