Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and one in Sou th Carolina, so I felt pretty comfort abl e riding fas t in the woods," said the 24-year-old Johnson. "Kawasaki told me to come down an d try this race an d maybe we could w ork so m ething out based on how I did and how I liked this kind of racing. "Th e pace was really w ei rd at firs t because L.R. (Larry Roeseler ) and Ty told me that the first lap or so would be like a big motocross and then things would settle down," said Johnson. "It turned out to be just the oppos ite for me. I got up there behind Andrews and Plessin ger and they just weren't going that fast. Bu t once I passed Andrews for th e lead he w ent right after me, so I know those guys were only going as fast as they wanted to, arid they were going much faster toward the end." While Johnson led a bevy of off-road stars up front, Davis was making his wa y back toward the lead position. At one point he hooked up with Cooper, but their battle was voluntarily caIled off by Cooper. "I stayed with Ty for abo ut a tenth of mile before I just let him go," said Cooper, wh o will be competing in most of the ·GNCC Series this year. "He was goi ng too fast and takin g chances , ch ances I d idn't want to take with him. What can I say? He's really on a shredde r righ t now and riding wi th a lot of confidence." By th e fifth of eigh t laps Da vis had rejoined the lead fight. With Johnson still leadin g everyone, th e quartet of Summers, Andrews, Da v is and Srrrlth all made pit stops after the fifth lap to refuel for wh at was shap ing up to be an epic sp rin t to the fini sh. Un fortu na tely for Johnson, he was not go ing to be part of. the battle. " I banged m y rear brake rot or an d lost the rear brake," said Johnson, who's Cinderella ride ended after blowing past a tum and slam ming into some rocks. "I ju st couldn' t s top at the corner and I went into the trees and rocks. I didn't really get hurt but it shook me up a little. Then I started thinking I just wanted to get back to the pi ts as soon as possible, get the thing fixed and salvage a top-five finish . Then I crashed three more times and that was pretty much it." Will Johnson be the next motocrosser tu rned off-reader, ala Andrews, Smith, Davis and Cooper? "It's sure starting to look like it. A privateer just can 't make a lot of money on the pro motocross circuit an ymore an d this looks like a good, fun wa y to mak e a livin g ridi ng motorcycles." As the race en tere d the last two laps and the check ered flag fell on the amateur and senior classes - Senior A (40+) winner Tom Webb was the su rprise overall amateur winner - the lead battle saw two m ore pa rticipa nts back o u t. Andrews and Smith were the next to lose touch with leaders, each having lost a little bit of wind on the ho t, rough track. "T hose o ther gu ys were m y only motivation to keep go ing at one point," said Andrews, who narrowly lost the '94 GNCC title to Plessinger. "At abou t the two-hour mark I just hi t the wall. I didn't feel comfortable go ing .any faster than I was and I was still ahead of Rodney. The way I see it, finishing right behind Scott is the most important thing early in the se r ies, es pecia ll y si nce Plessinge r dropped out. I' m happ y wi th th ird today." "Jus t abo u t everybody who is anybod y was here tod ay," said fourth overall Smith of the fierce Ocala competition. "1rus is probably the best field that we'll see all year. There wasn' t a lot of room for mistakes. I made a couple but I felt like I was right there all day long." At th e two-lap mark, Summers Pro-Am m o to crosser Jo el Dengler topped the 200cc A class on a Suzu ki RMl25 , while GNCC regular Brian Keegan was the lead er of the 250cc A class at the checkered flag. KTM-mo unted Kevin Lorden was the Oren A winner an d Tim Shephard - now the captain of the hu ge Sport Cycle Racing Yam ah a team - was the d ay's cha m p ion in the Vet A (30+) class. ATV s u perstar Barry Hawk [r., winner of Monday's qua dcycle run, ran in the to p 15 overall on his way to the Four-Stroke A class victo ry. Emmitt Cox upset the ever-com pe titive Har ry Green lee in the 19-ri der-stron g Su per Senio r (50+) class. C~ (Above) Fred Andrews (2), here leadi ng Keith Johnson (551) and Rodney Smith (3 12), fin ished third. (Right) Former Team KTM motocrosser Keith Johnson, now riding a Team Green-backed Kawasaki, led much of t he race until bra ke problems relegated him to the back of the pac k. (Below) Five-time Nationa l Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins also suffered brake problems. Here, Hawkins anx iously walts for his motorcycle to be fixed . He st ill ended up eighth over all . entered the motocross track jus t ahead of Davis and almost held the former 125cc West Regional SX Champion off until the end. However, lap ped traffic right in front of th e grandstands gave Davi s a chance to make his move on the Honda pilot. But Summers gave it righ t back, and the two ran into each oth er, in the last corner in front of the barrels, before go ing in to the scoring area side by side. Davis broke back into the woods first a n d Summers w ould n e v er hold the lead again . "We were both going in the sa me d ir ection so I thi nk that Ty wo uld agree tha t there was n othing wrong with ma king contact," said Summer s of the fantas tic battl e. "That was jus t good racing . I ma de a mistake by sliding ou t after that and I lost tou ch wi th him . That was my last mistake an d it cost me my last chance at w inni ng the race." " I was th inking that I just needed to get the lead and ge t ou t of sight," said Davi s of his last successful sprint. "Out of sigh t, out of mind. That way Summers would maybe gi ve up toward the end. That's what I thought but the guy never di d . Tha t was a race, all right ." With his right shirt sleeve ripped off, a battered but happy Davis took the checke re d flag for the first cross country national win of his career. ' Su mmers finishe d 20 seconds back while And rews drifted in more th a n three minutes la ter. Smith crossed the line a lonely fourth, while Cooper was forced to hold offthe ever-charging Nor- A orida Motorsports Complex Ocala, Florida Results: March 7, 1995 Olk 1. Ty Davis (Kaw ); 2. Scott Swnmers (Ho n ); 3. Fred And rews (Yam); 4. Rodney Smi th (Suz ); 5. G uy Coo per (Suz ); 6. Tom Norton (Yam); 7. Stev e Ha tch (Suz); 8. Larry Rcesclcr (Kaw); 9. Rand y Hawkins (Suz); to . Ic Jo Keller (Ha n); 11. Tom Ca rson (l Ion) ; 12. Sco tt Phelps (Yam); 13. Barry Hawk j r, (Suz); 14. Tim Shep hard (Yarn); 15. Brian Keegan (Yarn); 16. Joe l De ngler (Suz); 17. Joe l Sm e ts (Hsbg) ; 18. Bobb y Moriarty (Yam) ; 19. Daryl Conner (Yam); 20. Fran Halli gan (Han). PRO AA:. 0 / A. Davis; 1. Summers; 2. Andrews; 3. Smith; 4. Cooper; 5. Norton. 200 k 1. Joel Den gler (Suz); 2. Jason Haines (Ka w u 3. Jim Ia rrett (Ya m ); 4. Sh a w n Be lvill e (Ya m ); 5. John Bennett (Yam). 250 A: 1. Brian Keeg a n (Yam) ; 2. Bobby Mori a rty (Yarn ); 3. Daryl Co nner {Yarn~ 4. Fran Ha lligan (Hon~ 5. Todd Morain (Yarn ). OPEN A: 1. Ke v in Lord e n (KTM ); 2. Michae l A med ee (Ka w ); 3. C harlie Wi llia ms (KTM ); 4. G re g Holden (KlM); 5. Jeff Wingard (ATK ). 4-STRK k 1. Barry Ha wk (Suz~ 2. Rodney Judson (Hon~ 3. Curt Wilcox (Hon); 4. Pat Post (Hon ~ 5. Michael Harker (H en), VET A: 1. Tim Shephard (Yam); 2. Stev e Mar ti n (Han ); 3. Philip Ca rlin (Han); 4 . Jef f Murgel (Yam ); 5. David Santi (Yam). S R k 1. Tom Webb (Suz); 2. Paul Michels (ATK~ 3. Mickey Donnan (KIM); 4. Jerry Randall (Hus); 5. Scott Wolf~(Yarn ). ton for fifth-place honors. Hatch, anothe~ flu victi m, finished seven th, while Roese ie r d irected hi s Kawasaki to eight h. Rounding out the top 10 were Hawkins and Keller . Belgian motocrosser Smets clocked in 13th place in the Pro class, while teammate Eriksson pl aced 21st. The hardlu cked but hard- charging Johnson was 16th in the Pro cla ss , while Ohio motocrosser Rand finished 17th in h is first-ever woods racing National. Eickel, co m peti ng on a wide-handlebarred , handguardless RMI25 ju st like Rand's, was 20th in the class. S1SR k 1. Emm ett Cox. Jr. (Suz ~ 2. Harry Green lee (Yam); 3. U oyd w idc me (Hon ); 4. John Clles (Yam); 5. r Donald Tb rasber (Suz ). 200 B: 1. Kenny M iller (Suz); 2. Michael Winslow (Hon~ 3. Jeffrey Dod gen (Kaw ); 4. JOO<"ph Manor (Yarn); 5. Kevin Gna pp (Yarn). 250 8: 1. Ch ris Hicks (Kaw); 2. Ma rk Paha ntsh (Kaw ); 3. Cr aig Cieslik (Hon ~ 4. Sonny Sm ith (Hon~ 5. Kenneth Jones (Han). OPEN B; \. W . Rob in McClai n m (KIM); 2. Billy Gene Cha pman (Han); 3 . Micha el S. Lorch.. (KTM); 4. -n Elm ar Kruza (lCTM) : 5. Ne al E. Singleton (KTM). . 4-STRK B: 1. Rick y Tow ery (Han); 2. Brad Wade (Suz); 3. Thomas A. Eva ns, Jr. (Han ); 4. Stev e Stiller (Hon); 5. Micha el Grimm (Han). VET B: 1. Fred Bashor (Suz) ; 2. Mich ael Suddeth (Yarn); 3. Vince Sucevich (Hon) ; 4. SIeve Coo ke {Yam~ 5. Mark Salapow (Yam ). S R B: 1. Richa rd May (Yam); 2. Woody Bramlett (Kaw);3. Dean Butler (Yam); 4. Fran k Erbe(Yam); 5. John Rader (Yam). 1251200C 1. Ralph Martin (Hon); 2. Vina..,,' Deledd a (Yarn) ; 3. Gerald Gresham (Kawb 4. Scott Weld on (Hon); 5. Jeff Kirk land (Yarn ). 25OI OPEN C 1. Jef f Stocss (Hon); 2. Sha wn Rogers (Bon); 3. Trevo r Vines (Hon); 4. Dean Omme (Suz); 5. ra Terry Long (Yarn) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Hickory, NC, March 26 Round 3 - Hurrican Mills, TN, April 9

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