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.M T C O S··
OO R S
,
C V
MC elvetouch G
Olden S N
tate ationals
By John Silva
S
ACRAMENTO, CA, FEB. 26
MFI Te am Green I Dunlop-spon sored Michael Brandes topped four
consecutive mot os to win the 125ee
and 250cc Pro divisi on s, w he n round
four of the CMC / Vel vetouch Golden
St ate National s vi sited Sacrament o
Raceway .
Th e event was the las t stop of the
series before the big two-day showdown
to be held at Sunrise Valley Racewa y in
Adelanto, California, on March 4-5.
Th e firs t 250cc Pr o race s tarte d o ff
w ith Rick Ryan g ra bb ing the holesh ot
and Brandes second .
"Ryan go t the holeshot, but [ passed
him and then ju st kinda pu lled away,"
said Brandes. "I tried to stay abo ut four
or five seconds ahead of him. "
Behind Brandes, Spud Walters was
chargin g, bu t on lap th ree Walters disappeared from radar. He was out of the
moto wit h an unfortunate DNF.
Te am Su zuki O ff -Road 's Rodn ey
Smith w as making a much-appreciated
annu al appearanc e at the Golden State
Nati onals, althou gh he go t off to a difficult start in moto one. Showing the skills
learned w hile ea rn ing his se veral off road Na tiona l titles, Smi th moved into
fou r th by m idra ce . Next, Smith a n d
Dean Matson di ced for tw o laps before
Smith secured thi rd, a position which he
held until the checkered flag.
Up front, Brandes took the w in, wi th
Ryan seco nd .
In the second 250cc Pro mo to, Brand es h ol eshot and lead a ll eig h t laps .
Brandes' roommate, Sp ud Walt ers, had
a much better go in the moto, moving
past Rusty Holland and Scott Myers to .
e ve n tua lly trail o n ly Brand es on th e
white-flag lap. Walters poured it on and
cl o s ed in rap id ly on Brandes, who
a p p ea re d unconcerned . Brandes unleash ed his reserve to persever e at the
end, scorin g the mot o and overall win.
"Sp ud puts in a lo t of go od perfor mances; on a good d a y h e' s h ard to
beat," said Brandes . "At this track here
he rid es really good, as he p roved by
closing in on me on the last lap. "
Excitement was also provided by the
250cc Beginner cla ss, as David Ch ick,
Kev in Larson, Lou Lopez and the other
hopefuls continued their battle for series
points. Larson enjoyed a sligh t point
lead going into Sacramento, but Lopez
hole shot w ith Chick giv ing chase, followed by Larson, Susan Smi th and Phil
Su gundo. A big sh ake-u p occu rred on
lap two , as Larson crashed, d ropping all
the way back to 12th.
"I go t tan gled up with another rider
and went d own pretty har d," said larso n.
Whil e Larson was go ing down, Chick
was preparing to move up.
"The leader bobbled a bit, and [ got
him," said Chick. "After that, [ was able
to keep him behind me. [ wasn't trying
to se t the world on fir e ou t there, just
keep the lead."
With Chi ck ou t fro nt an d Larso n on
. the grou nd, th e point ba ttle suddenly
b urst wide open. Chick roo sted to the
win, fo ll o w e d b y Lope z and. And y
Strode. Larson got back int o the chase,
a n d p icked up a co upl e of p la ce s to
eventually finish eighth.
F
"Larson has beat me all th rou gh the
- series, but [ cou ld take him by 15 points
in the cha m pionshi p series with a wi n
tod ay," Chi ck sai d . "We all got the same
track, so it' s gonna be close. In fact; It'll
probably go all the wa y to the final s."
10 moto two, Larson go t the ho lesho t
and was shado wed by Chi ck an d Lopez.
Chick saw a qu ick opening while rounding the secon d turn, an d put a cle an
pass on Lar son to take the lead. After
that, Larson chased Chick to no avail for
the remainder of the five-lap rnoto, and
Chick nailed down the overall victory .
125 BEG (0 ·2 ): 1. Howa rd Buhlcrt (H on); 2. Co
Mathio:;on (Hon); 3. Dennis j ame (Hon); 4. Jeff Berring er
s
(Suz); 5. [);on Bell (5uz~
125 J R: 1. Brett Ra cin e (Ka w) ; 2. Jeff N ort hrup
(Kaw); 3. Jam es Totten (H on); 4. Ludvik Meznar (Ya m);
5. Cody Killam (Han).
125 INT : Jason Jenkins (Ho n); 2. Ca rl Bake r (Ka w);
3 . Robe rt Sim pson (Ka w); 4. Donavan Mi tchell (Yam); 5.
J Bath (Han).
esse
250 INT: 1. Casey Mu sick (Ho n ); 2. Shawn Parks
(H on); 3. Do navan Mitchell (Yam ); 4. Jesse Ba th (H on);
5. J.R. Maso n (Ho n ).
250 JR : 1. Ph illip Wo rste r (Yam ); 2. Kevin Roach
(H o n); 3. Scott Morris (Ka w ); 4. Je rem y Cad e (Suz) : 5.
How ard Min tz (Hon ).
UT H: 1. Sha w n Pa rks (Ho n) ; 2. Stev e n Richa rds
(Yam); 3. Philli p Wors ter (Yam ); 4. MikeHodges (Yam );
5. Don Men denhall (Su z) .
VET JR: 1. Jim Dallara (1--100 ); 2.T~rry H uffer (yam );
3. Robert Stone (Ka w) ; 4. Susan Sm ith (Ka w); 5. Glen
Brickley (Suz ).
VET BEG : 1. Phillip Scott (Ho n); 2. Da nn y Evans
. (Yam); 3. Kevin Decker (Hon~ 4. Bob Mit chell (Han); 5.
Dan Spencer [Kaw].
O IT M STR: 1. Bo b H e rshe y (Hon) ; 2. Egb ert
Hansen (Suz ); 3. Jim Lamkin (Hon).
orr JIe J. Leroy 5m ;th (Suz).
VET INT: 1. Stev e Richa rd s (Yam ); 2. Tom Berry
(Ya m); 3. Jeff Johnson (Yam ).
VET MSTR: I. Ron A ll e n (Yam ); 2. Mike
O'Shaug hnessy (Hon); 3. Mike Joh nson (Suz) .
250 BEG : 1. Dav id Chi ck (Ka w ). 2. And y Strode
(Suz ); 3. Lou Lopez (Kaw); 4. Kevi n Larson (H a n ); 5.
Phil Segundo (H o n).
Upcoming Rounds:
Final Round - Adelanto, California , M
arch 4-5
(Left) M
ichae l
Brandes romped to
the 125 and 250cc
Pro class wins
during the final
round of the
CMClVelvetouch
Golden State
Nationa ls (Northern
Series) at
Sacramento
Raceway.
(Bottom) David
Chick (34c) and
Kevin Larson (S"
battled furiously for
top honors in the
250cc Beginner
class. Chick
prevailed with 1-1
moto scores.
Taking third at the checkered flag over
Lopez was hot Kawa sa ki-p ilot Susan
Smi th .
In the Up-The-Hill (25+) class, Shawn
Parks completely dominated the competition, leading every lap o f both UTH
motos. The two ri ders chasing Parks,
Steve Richa rds and Philip Worster, wer e
models of consis tency, placing se cond
and third in each moto and the overall ,
I~
res pectively.
Sacramento Raceway
Sacramento, California
Resu lts: February 26, 1995 (Round 4 of 4)
250 PRO: 1. Micha el Bran des (Ka w); 2. Rick Rya n
3. Rus ty Holland (5uz~ 4. ScoI1 MY' ''' (Yam); 5.
(Yam~
Rodney Smith (suz ~
125 PRQ L Micha el Braodes (Kaw); 2. Rodney Smith
3. Dean Matson (!