Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

closing the gap at a rate of two seconds per lap. On the final lap, Clark caught bo th McMullen and Bowy er. Clark tri ed to stuff his Suzu ki inside Bowye r just like he ha d in the firs t moto, but th is time Bowye r w as wise to him. " I came into the whoops a little slow er," said Bow yer. "Then I hugged the tires and jumped the double." McMu llen scored th e moto win, but Bowyer's pair of runner-up finishes was good enough for the overall win. Clark fin ished third in th e moto and second overall. "I think I could hav e gotten Andy, but it was real sli ck ou t there," Clark said. "Too much throttle, and you could lose your back end." Bowyer came back to finish second overall in the 125cc Modified intermediate class, second in the 250cc Stock and third in the 250 Modifier Intermediate classes. The start of the first 12SecOpen NonPro Through 16 class saw a major pile up which claimed th e likes of Shaun Perolio, Dean Van Riper, Ryan Clark an d Tra vis Preston. Pres ton seem ed to get th e worst of th e crash, an d was completely tan gled inside of Perolio's machine. "Travis is my friend," sa id Pe rotio. "His hands and arms were caught in my linkage and ga s was pouring all over him. Once I saw th is, I sai d forget th e race a n d I just tr ied to hel p him get (Lett) Andy Bowyer's (77) consistent 2·2 scores netted the Grand National championship In the 125cc Stock Intermed iate division . Bowyer finished In the top three in all four of the 125 and 250cc Stock and Intermed iate classes . (Below ) Shaun Perollo (64) leads Mat Batema n (182) In the 250cc Stock Intermed lata class. Perollo had a disappolntlng day In the class , but cleaned house In the 125cc Non·Pro (0-16) class with 1·1 mota scores. loose." The race was red-fl agged an d all riders returned to the start line, including Preston. "Man I felt like I was p laying twister," he said. The restart belo nged to Charley Bogard, as he cleanly put his Suz uki into the lead. Perolio got away third, but was qu ick to move in behind Bogard. "I heard if you pressure Charley, he makes mistakes, " sa id Perolio. "So I tried pulling in the clutch and revving it loud." The strategy se e m e d to work. "I think it freaked him out, he got all tense and crashed." Perolio said. Bogard go t up s low ly and to ok a long time to restart. "I slid sid eways and high -sided," Bogard said. "It took forever to restart." Bogard rem ounted outside the top 20 and began to repass rid ers almost at will uritil he re-entered the top 10. Meanwhile, Perolio opened a huge lead while Dean Van Riper and Washing ton 's Co ry Baud er began to pressure secon d-pl aced Clark. "After cras hing a t the start, my d ad only had e nough t im e to ti e a rag around my broken clutch lever," Clark said. "After the re-start it broke again and I had no clutch at all , it w as real hard in tight turns and the whoop sections." With Clark floundering, Van Riper and Bauder both blitzed him in the rockers. "I think I landed on him," Van Ripe r said. "My w rist got smashed pre tty hard by Van Ripe r, so I backed off after that," Clark said . , The battle for second came d own to the wire, as Baud er knocked on the door rig ht up to the checkered flag. "It looked like Van Rip er was tiring out some," said Baud er. "He was blocking m e in a lmost eve ry tu rn, and a t times, I wan te d to take out hi s front wheel. But he was on a green bike like me, so I didn't." Bauder fi nished the race t hird , behind Van Riper an d winner, Perolio. Crossing the line not to fa r behind th e lead ers wa s Bogard, w ho charged ba ck to sixth behind Oregon ' s Johnny Williams. "I know I ha ve the speed to win, I just made a big mista ke," Bogard said. "Next rnot o, I know I can get the holeshot and win the race." Leath holeshot the second moto, but wa s pa ssed by Johnson and Perolio on the first lap. "Caleb was relaxing too much in the back sec tion," Perolio said . "I passed him under the tunnel, then I came out under Johnson a few turns later for the lead ." On ce into the 'lead, Perolio opened a lO-secon d advant age which he ma intain ed for the mo to and overall win. Leath rode strong all moto long and

• Cover