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 Florida W interAMAMotocrossSeries By Mike and Anne Adair Roy Snellinger (882) and Jim Chester (97) lead the 125cc Pro division earl y in the moto. Chester grabbed the ove rall win. Keith Johnson (55) and Ron TIchenor (111) fight fo r the leal! in the 250Cc Pro class, which Johnson won. 24 R u d2: Florid on aMotorsp omplex ortC OCALA, FL, jM,r. i-8 ith four Pro class races having been run thus far in the florid a Winter AM A MX Series, four se parate rid ers have garner ed o verall w ins. The seco nd stop on the circuit took place at the Florida Motorsports Complex , which also hosts a GNCC rac e and a Vintage Iro n AHRMA Na tio nal. At this event, Keith johnson and Jim Ch ester were the fastest rid ers, takin g the 250 and 125cc wi ns, respectively. Ka wasaki Team Green's Jo h nso n delivered a one-two punch, finishing second in th e tiddler di vision. Th e former factory KTM rider sha re d 250 cc moto wins w ith Suzuki o f j a pa n 's Ron Tich en or, and was challe nged by Tony Amaradio, Chester, Brian Swink, Mike Treadwell, Brian McElroy and Dag Boyeson in a very competiti ve contest. Suzuki-mounted Chester was ecst atic after his final moto, thou gh perhaps a bit confused. "I' ve never won a Winter Am overall," he sa id. "Where do I go? What do I d o?" Ch ester kn ew w he re to go on th e tra ck, ho w ever , w restling th e o verall from Roy Snellinge r an d challengers Mik e Brown, Barry Ca rs te n, Johnson, , Robbie Skaggs an d Brian Manley. . Brown led the ea rly stages of the first 12See moto, before crashing and slow ing du e to a flat front tire. Skaggs took over th e lead, but Chester push ed him' hard an d finally go t by after the leade r caught his foot und er a peg on a jump. Carsten also go t by, and took over the lead with a little help from his friends . "I was after Chester and saw a wall of yellow flag s ahead, " sa id Carsten. " I caught him, he picked inside a lapper and I we nt outside for the pas s and win." "The lappers were trying to kill m e," said a frustrated Cheste r. In the restarted second rnoto, Norwegian Snellinger roosted the field out of the ga te and never faltered, leading every lap to the checkered flag. "Before last week I wa s in N orw ay and all I cou ld d o was cross country sk iing," he sa id . "My arms hav e been pumping up bad ly, but being out fron t in this rnoto, they did not pump so bad ." "Snellinge r was rid ing well," said runner-up Chester . Both Swi nk and Ron Tiche no r dropped ou t of th e first 250cc m ot o. "1 overjum ped a tum, land ed in a 'dozer rut and went over the bars," said Tichenor, who wa s ge tting in some "practice:' during Japan's off-season. "1 was a lap down before 1knew it." "My rear brake ped al failed, and I had no brake," said Swink, w ho was gaining on the lead ers at the lime. "1 rea lly wanted to catch Johnson. 011. well." Brian McElroy had led the moto ea rly on, but Johnson and Amaradio bo th go t by and raced for the lead . johnson pulled away and took the win ove r Kevin Crine. McElroy agai n pulled the hol eshot in moto two, bu t Amaradio passed him on la p tw o and led for four laps. Tiche nor pulled by and built u p a good lead befo re takin g the flag. " I've bee n on vacatio n," sa id Tichen or . "I go back (to Japa n) in March to defend my cha m pionship. It's reall y fun seei ng so many friends at the Winter Am ." johnson, who ended seco nd ahea d of Cr ine, said, "Cri ne was rid ing hard and I was tired . I finally go t by him whe n he crashed ." Treadwell, who earned second overall said, " I was cons istent today . I did a '(john) Dowd y' today - second o vera ll with a 5-3 finish ." Mike Andrews and Earl May battled in bo th 30+ A an d Vet Pro mote s, with