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/127712
MOTOCROSS CMCNelvet Touch Golden State Nationals (Southern Series) By Scott Hoffman ADELM1D. CA, J 8 AN. ith torrential rains wreaking havoc on most of Southern California, the neighboring high desert motocross track of Sunrise Valley Raceway was somehow spared from the deluge and hosted the opening round of CMC's Velvet To uch Gold en State Nationals where Craig Decker was the spo iler in the 12Sec Pro class and Bader Manne h took th e w in in the 250cc Pro class. Oose to 900 racers inva ded the newly designed course, and with a full sched ule of qualifying and main even t races, spectators and racers alike were treated to a day of excitement. W I Round 1: Sunrise Valley Raceway ~e[Ker, Manneh hi~h an~ ~r~ 125cc PRO After the field was narrowed down, 35 12Sec Pros ga ted for the first moto. FMF Racin g' s Mich ael Brand es p u lled the holesh ot, with the field of racers scrapping for position. When the field settled into posi tion, Bran des, Decker and Pro Circuit's David Pingree occu pied th e top three posit ions . Brandes looked strong during the opening lap, but a mistake let Decker move into the lead . "I endoed; my feet were coming off the pegs, " Brand es sa id . "I th ough t I wa s going to crash." . Brandes quickly regro uped, but Decker had assu med the lead and was on the move. " I knew I had to get Brand es early on, and then I just rode a steady pace," Decker said. By the halfway point, Decker, Brandes and Pingree put some distance on fourthand fifth-place riders Dustin "Nelson and Mike Chamberlain. With the laps winding down, ' Pingree started to reel in Brandes, bu t the re was no time to make a move. When the checkere d flag flew, the order stayed the same. Decker, Brand es and Pingree finished 1-2-3, respective ly. In the second rnoto, forme r Dayton a Supercross wi nner, Rick Ryan, snatched the earl y lead as Pingree, Decker a nd Chris Wheeler trailed close ly. Ryan held the top spot for the op ening la ps until Deck er motor ed past both Pingr ee and Ryan for the lead . Pingree tried to pursue Decker but was not able to stav in contention for th e lea d . The ne w SplitFire / Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider was clearly frustr ated . " I tried everything to make a pass for the lead spots," Pingree said . "But I'm riding a stock bike, and I was being pulled on the straight." With Decker out front, the race for the lead was basically decided. Ryan held off Pingree to cross the finis h in secon d as Wheeler and Kawasaki Team Green 's Ty Davi s finishe d in th e fou r th and fift h spo ts, respectively. Decker's clean sweep gave him the overallwin. (Above) Defending Golden State Champion Michae l Brandes (1), 250cc winner Bader Manneh (4) and Craig Decker (27) battle for the lead at the start of the 250cc Pro mota . own race and set a pace that only Decker could match; but Decker could not overcome Manneh's advantage by the finish . Manneh took the moto win, as well as the overall victory, via a 2-1 score. Decker had to settle for second. AMATEUR In the 80cc (12-16) class, Billy Payne . wa s the big winner as he beat the class favori te, Scott Conley, and Jimm y Varis. Molo one saw Varis take the wire-to-wire wi n as Payn e, Travi s Riley and Co nley 250ce PRO 22 Competition wa s jus t as fierce in the d ay ' s 250cc Pro cla ss . After a re s ta rt caused by a sta rting ga te malfunction , Manneh, Decker and Brand es leaped into the top three spo ts. With in three laps, Brandes had squeezed to the front of the freight train of ride rs, but wi th the top three jockeying for the lead , Brand es was th e firs t to fall v ictim to th e pressure. Brandes had both Manneh and Decker breathing down his neck when he stalled his bike and relinquished the lead. Brandes fell back to fourth place behind Jaimy Scevens as Manneh and Decker battled for the lead . With only one lap rem aining. Decker refused to give in to Mann eh. But as the two riders approached the tu nnel for the final time, Manneh made a sligh t mistake and left the door open for Decker to move in and make the pass. When the race was over, Deck er had scor ed the win, with Manneh and Scevens crossin g in second and third . Manneh was determined not to ma ke the same mistake again when the second moto left the gate. He roos ted into the lead early as Decker, Corey Keeney and Brandes ga ve chase. Bra ndes took ove r the third spo t during the opening lap, but that was as far as he progressed. Decker did his best to make it back-to-back moto wins, bu t Manneh was unstoppable. As the laps wore on, Manneh rode his (Above) Manneh (4) and Decker (27) battled intense ly for the 250cc title, trading mota wins. Manneh's 2ยท1 score clinched the class victory. (Right) Decker made up for his second-place finish in the 250cc class by running away with the 125cc class overall victory.