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/127674
Stroke and Open classes did battle on Frida y. Saturday' s prog ram consisted of 125-class races, while the 250s finished off the weekend on Sunday. About a mile long, the famous Mammoth Mountain MX co urse winds through the trees of the Sherwin Creek area of the High Sierras. The natural terra in track routes racers up, down and around the mo untains, and gets plenty rough, despite it's loamy conditions. Classes that had an ample number of entrants were d ivided into divisions, and a supercross-style qualifying format was ru n to determine who would compete, and who would spectate, come time for th e main eve nt. Cla sses th at had only enough racers to make up ' a single division com pe ted in two m otos, with the overall winner being the most-consistent racer. THURSDAY Less than 30 racers showed up to contest the Vet Pro class, so a two-m ote format was' implemented for the fastest of the 30-and-over crowd . Factory KTM rid er Greg Zitterkopf piloted an LC4 604 four s tro ke to a conv incing win over Kawasaki Team Green's Rex Staten and BSY Yamaha 's Dubach. Zitterkopf m o tored in to th e lea d early on and opened up a commanding lead that he held to the finish. Though many spectators felt that "Zit" enjoyed a hu ge power ad va n tage ov er Sta te n's KX500 and Dubach's ·YZ250, he was quick to commen t otherwise. "I think I was giving a lot up on the u phill - the two-strokes were definitely gai ning on me there," sa id Zitterkopf. "But I was pretty fast in the other sections of the course . I could really hook up wh ile the other guys were spinning." Staten raced home second, a dis tance behind, while Dubach gathered thi rd place points after working up from a soso start. Moto two spelled d isaster fo r Zitterkopf, as he cras hed ha rd in the firs t turn and suffered a separated sh oulder. Staten was glad to take over at the head of the pack, but this time Dubach started much better and would hun t the old man of motocross d own. After gating about fourth, Dubach ripped thro ugh the back sections of the course and man aged to close the gap on Staten within a few laps. Once into the lead, Dubach held full control of the point position and rode home the moto and overall winner. Staten was second, while Yamaha 's Jim Holley came home thir d. It was Willy Musgrave's consis tent 4-4 scores, though, tha t earned third overall. "I told myself at the beginning of the ye ar that I wasn 't going to do everi National; that's w hy I skipped Southwick. I want to have fun, and it's humid and humid back there, so I came to Marnmoth.t' .said Dubach. Rod Richard son was unbeatable in the Vet Intermediate class. The Yamaha pilot easily topped his heat race, then went on to a solid win in the main event. Chasing Richardson home were Favio Gonzalez, John Langhammer and a quartet of racin g b ro thers. Rob Engel was fo urth, aheadof Jo hn Za h rt, Tom Engel and Kenny Zahrt. The Vet Junior class saw a b a t tle between its two heat-race winners, with Brand Johnson and Danny Castro arguing over the top spot. Johnson came ou t on top of the battle that counted, leading Castro when the checkered flag flew. Jim O 'Nea l came home third aboard his O' Neal USA-backed Honda. FRIDAY Like in the Vet Pro class, a small - for Mammoth - field turned out to do ba ttle (Above) Many regard the Mammoth MX course to be the most beautllu lln the Nation. (Left) Pete Roles (46) led eventual winner Andy Anaya (112) and Daniel Bush (73) early In the 250cc Jun ior main. (Below) Jason Partridge (73) held 011 the heated attacks 01 Dustin Nelson (80) to score the 250cc Intermed iate class win. in th e Open Pro class. Th is year, th e Sound of Thunder Four-Stroke Seri es was held in conjunction with the regular Open Pro race , and the thumper pilots hoped to open some eyes by wh ipping some two-stroke butt. It was no t to be, however, as the twostrokes ru led. Davis, a former SOT Series champion, opted to compete aboard a Kawasaki KX500 and soundly trounced the competition with a two-moto sweep. Davis took control of the lead on the first lap of the opening moto and ran away to score a commanding win. Pro Circuit's Buddy Antunez shadowed Davis in the early stages, but eventually dropped to a distant fourth. Lechien motored into second before the halfway point, bu t was unable to gain any ground on the leader. Mike He aley was arguably the fastes t rider on the track, and charged into third and onto Lechie n's rear fender !iy the time the checkers came out. Healey, however, was protested and later disqualified for competing aboard a 250ccmachine. "I thou g ht it was a big bore," sai d Healey of the Yamaha he raced . "My sponsors gave it to me to race, and told me it was legal. I don't understand th e protest - I was completely out-powered. I guess I can' t win for losing. lride my ass off on a slower machine and get disqualified for it." . Honda R&D rider Rich Taylor inherited third after Healey's demise. Davis again took control in the second moto, and though he was kept honest by Lechien, basically had a clean and easy moto, Lechien managed to close in during the final few lap s, but was nev er a serious threat to Davis. Antunez was thir d a nd third ove ra ll, while Taylor rounded out the top four aboard his Eric Crippa-tuned Honda. "Ronni e kept me honest, but I guess I had a .pretty easy time," said Davis. "I had a good time,~ . Terry Fow ler w as th e to p-finishing SOT rider, nabbing eighth overall aboard a Husa berg. Da vis also smoked the Four-Stroke Open class aboard a Kawasaki KLX600R, besting Husaberg rider Jed Green by a siza ble margin in bo th mot os. Michael Protzman was third overall aboard a Honda XR600. Making a notable return to racing in the Open In termediate class was Mike Dunlap, a former professiona l racer who was in a coma only 11 months ago. "I crashed at a race in Japan and was in a coma for two wee ks. I broke my femur, back and shoulder, and when I woke up I swore I'd never race again," said Dunlap. "But you know how it goes: you start riding and then you think, 'Hey, I can raceagain.'" Dunlap came home the overa ll winner by virtue of 2-1 moto finishes. Kawasakimounted Eddie Davis trounced the first race, edging Dunlap and ATK-mounted Pat Foster, but a series of crashes and offtrack excursions kept him from repeating his win in the second go-ro un d. Dunlap capitalized on the crashes of his competitors and took over the lead in moto two aboard his Pro Circuit/Sinisalo/Powerbar /N-Style-backed Yamaha WRSOO, and raced home the moto and overall winner. . Davis recovered for second, while Foster nabbed third overall aboard his big fourstroke . Cycle News contributor Scott Hoffman raced away to a resounding win aboa rd his Spike Racing-backed Honda in the Open Junior class after avoiding a nasty first-turn crash that claimed several competitors. Marc Tucker was second; Darren Rivers was third. As usual, Kawasak i' s Ricky Carmichael was the cream of the crop in the mini clas ses. Th e personable little - - - - - - - - Continued on page 34 25