Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:·":. AMAlDirt O R S of Troy.Fall.CI8S$ic MX serieS M TShirts1KTMlHonda . " .. O C OS " n Round 5: Muddy Creek Raceway o"slu dy reek I By Nate Rauba BLOUNIVILLE, lN, OCT. 22-23 t's been a very good year for Mike Brown. He won his first-ever 125cc supercross mainevent in the Silverdome earlier th is season and went on to finish fourth in th e Eastern Regional Supercross Series. He ended up 11th in the 125cc Nationals, a personal be st, and earned a team ride from Honda of Troy. Brown returned home to Muddy Creek Raceway in northeastern Tennessee for round five of the AMA Fall Classic Series and e xtended h is 250cc/Open clas s points lead by winning both motos. The victory was his third of the si x-round series and hi s sweep put him in prime position to lock up his fir s t major professional title. Brown 's Honda of Troy teammate, Todd DeHoop, runner-up in both outings, fell 34 points behind with one round of the series rema ining . "It will take a couple of DNFs for me to w in the championship," admitted DeHoop, the d ef ending Fall Classic Champion. "A Honda of Troy ·1-2 won't be bad, but I want to be first." "If all goes well in Florida, I'll be looking forwa rd to the AMA banquet in I Dillo~ainafuwwee~"~dBrown, who also won the 125cc Pro class. The Fall Classic event was billed as the Honda Top Gun Showdown, which is the traditional finale to the IS-round AMA Southeastern Regional MX Cham- pionship MegaSeries. The series started at Muddy Creek and vis ited four surrounding states and six different race facilities. The top 15 riders from each class were automatically seeded into Sunday's Top Gun Showdown singlemoto main event. Those not qualified for the showdown competed in Saturday's Fall Class amateur da y wi th the top 2S overall finishers going to the Showdown. . Weather became a facto r when rain began falling during the final moto on Saturday and continued through the night. It stopped a few hours before Sunda y's practice, making the track live up to its Muddy Creek name. The mud was a factor in the outcome of many races, a lt hou g h track conditions im p ro ve d with use and constant massaging by the Victory Sports Promotions track crew . Wh en the first 250/0pen Pro moto left the line early in the a ft e rnoo n, DeHoop shot to the front and qu ickl y put some distance on runner-up Brown and the rest of the field . DeHoop had an early advantage in that he had rid den " the track just a few races before wh en he won the 25+ A class. "Tha t definitely gave me an ad vantage," he said. "1 kn ew where all the lines were and how f as t I co u ld hit them." DeHoop stretched h is lead to as much as four Seconds, using a group of lapped riders to his advantage in the middle of the race. But once clear of the lappers, Brown used his local knowl- Honda of Troy's Mike Brown moved one step closer towards the Fall Classic title wtth a win at Muddy Creek Raceway. edge of the track to s lo w ly reel the leader back in. And on the last lap backmarkers worked to Brown's advantage. "One (lapper) held me up all the way down the hill, and sprayed my goggles with mud," said DeHoop. Brown set him up perfectly in a sweeping tum to take the lead and win. "I kept seeing him go outside there, so I got inside and held it on and slid in front of him." . "As soon as I went wide I knew it was the wrong mo ve, " said DeHoop, who was a few bike lengths behind at the finish . Jim Neese made few moves early in the race as he worked up to third, where he circulated well ahead of fourth-place finisher Kevin Walker. Jim Chester rod e nearly the entire race in fifth place. When the second mo to left the line just after 6:00 p.m., Brown grabbed the holeshot and literally rod e unchallenged into the su ns e t. Walker and DeHoop bumped in the firs t tum, and although DeHoop moved to second on the first lap , Brown had already built an insurmountable lead. Walker fell back into a battle for third w ith Chester and gave him the position when he crashed. Walker remounted fourth, but su ccumbed to a late-race charge by Barry Carsten. The 125cc Pro class featured a single eight-lap moto, and Neese gave Brown a fight for the lead during the firs t two laps. But once Brown got in front, he dis appeared an d w on rather easily. Neese also pulled away from the pack and was the runner-up despite a la terace fall. Rich ie Horton prevail ed in a battl e w it h Wa lker fo r fourth , and Cars ten rounded ou t the top five. After Amateur class stando uts Ricky Ca rm ichael and Brock Sella rd s tra ded Schoolboy division moto wins in Saturday' s qu alifyin g races, mu ch antici pation surrounded the st art of Sunday's Showdown . Th e tw o left the m uddy starting line together wit h Sellards ' 125 leading Carmichael o n h is mini. Carmi chae l st ayed with · Sell ard s throughout the first lap un til they hi t a so ft, u phil l turn. Sellards' bigger bike caug h t traction while Carmichael sp un in the mud, and each lap Sellards was able to gain a little more distance in the sectio n. At the finish, Sellards had about 10 seco nds on runner-up Carmichael. Thoma s Barron hung on to third, while Ryan Ha ines passed a fa lle n Robbi e Horton on the final lap to claim fourth. Ca r michael w as back a few r aces later in the Senior Mini class and moved from fourth to first on lap one. A bobble allowed Shae Ben tley to take th e lead , and lat er on the same lap Ca rm ichael fell ag a in. Bentl ey a lso fell once but ma intained a bi g lea d over N ich olas Wey to take the win. Carmichael recovered from his cras h to finish third. In the 125 cc C d iv ision, Charli e . Keplinger was in a class by himself as he ran away wi th first. Behind him was a . mad scramble as positions frequently changed among se ver al riders. In the end, Douglas N eighbors edged out Frank Boston and Nick Turrier for second. Brannon Ferguson was leadin g early in the 80cc D class Showdown when he crashed over a slippery jump. Lee Mullis inherited the lead but soon was pressured by Chris Mowery, who had fought his wa y pastTanner Jones. Mowery got by Mullis with a lap to go and stayed out front for the win. Jones also slipped by Mullis for runner-up honors. Local favo rite Ron Jones controlled the early laps of the 30+ A Showdown until two crashes in one lap knocked him back to fourt h. Ross Johnson inherited a huge lead and won, while Joel Baker held off Mark Guy for second. Jones lat er returned in Open Am ateur action and spent the earl y laps contesting first with Larry Sparks. After a brief battle Jones broke away with the lead and went on to w in. Sparks was second ahead of Timo thy Smith. a Muddy Creek Raceway Blountville, Tennessee Results: OCtober 22-23, 1994 ( Round 5 of 6) SUNDAY • 2SOIOPEN PRO, 1. Mike Brown (Hon) 1-1; 2. Tod d DeHoop (Han) 2-2; 3. Jim C heste r (Suz ) 5-3 ; 4. Jim Neese (!

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