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off the minor mishap, he was able to again gain
a small lead on Sellards all the way to the finish.
Sellards finished seconds back, with Joe OehJof
jumping past Strunk to take the third spot.
The second moto saw the surprise KTM of
Rodney Carrier with the holeshot as Gas Gasmounted Mark Mussellman ran second, and
Oehlof held third. Oehlof quickly dispatched the
two lead riders to take the point, dragging the
poor-starting Steel along in seco.nd. Sellards suffered a bad start and then fell after the tunnel
jump, but this fired up Sellards, who quickly
remounted and nailed the gas. By the second
lap, Steel overtook Oehlof to take the numberone spot. and soon had acquired a nice lead on
second place. Sellards, who recently moved to
the A dass after winning the 250 B Amateur
Nationals, was januriing around the challenging
Troy circuit, and by lap four had passed Mussellman for fifth. He then chased down Strunk
and Lenny Baker to claim third. As the checkered flag flew, Steel took the win and the overall, followed by Oehlof in second and the hardcharging Sellards in third.
. Results
In the first moto, Wade Gronlund led the
field into turn one with Charles Satcher, Roger
Creamer, Danny Hanson and Torri following.
Creamer and Hanson had trouble on one of the
muddy uphills as Torn and Steve Bass slipped
by. Meanwhile, Gronlund was slicing his way
through the mud to open up a huge lead. Ou lap
three, both Satcher and Torn fell, letting Scoll
Reese move into the second position. Satcher
then dropped out of the race as Tom remounted
and chased after Reese, who crashed on a downhill handing Torri the runner-up spot. Gronlund
stayed on two wheels to take the opening moto
win over Torri, Hanson and Creamer.
Satcher kicked things off in moto two with
Tom Gronland, Hanson and Creamer eating his
roost. Gronlund· made short work of Torri and
pressured Batcher for the lead on the opening
drcuit. Satcher's lead lasted for three laps before
Tom sailed by both Gronlund and Satche( on
the front section. Torri left the field behind on
his HSKS-backed machine to score the win
ahead of Gronlund, Hanson, Creamer and
Batcher.
Results
• 2SO A: I. Josh St~1 (Hon); 2. Joe Oe.hIof (Hon); 3. Brock Seuards (Kaw); 4. I..e11ny Baker (Suz); S. Brad Strunk (Sw:).
P /W: 1. Ricky Renner; 2. Ion Camp; 3. Robby Renner.
60: 1. Brad Bernier; 2. Dustin Lynn; 3. Bam:tt Smith.
80 (7-11): 1. Dan Truman.
8Q (12·13): Ll.B. Ballard; 2. RY'fn Davis.
80 (14-15): I. Carlo Beard.
S/MlNI: 1. J.B. BaUard; 2. Andrei Boloni.
15-24: 1. Ronnie Renner; 2. Jason Thomas; 3. Vince DeuvaU.
125-250 BEG: 1. Anthony TorTi; 2. Wade Gronlund; 3. Danny
HanSQn; 4. Roger Creamer; 5. Ste.ve Bass.
80 BEG: 1. Mike Vancura; 2. Jesse Young; 3. Robert Croci.
125 C: 1. Cory Willey; 2. Jim Prevatte; 3. JOOy Meyer; 4. Mike
Redner; S. Robert Wright.
125 B: 1. Jason Thomas; 2. Ronnie Renner; 3. Kyle Myers; 4.
Wayne Schaefer.
125 A: 1. Jason Dodds; 2. Joe OIl,Cosln.
250 C: 1.]immy Kersey.
250 B: 1. Brett Bohannon.
250 A: I. Anthony Pocorobba; 2. Jason OocIds.
OPEN B/C: 1. Mark Bazinet; 2. Rudy Savve.lia.
25+: I. Willis Brock; 2. Wade Cronlund; 3. Jimmy Keney; 4.
Toea Dixon.
'30+: 1. Steve Dye; 2. Mark BaZinet; 3. Brian Whitt:omb; 4. Leo
Jones; 5. Mike Menefee.
35+; 1. Brian Whitcomb; 2. Idf Clair, 3. Joe Steidl.
40+: t. Joe Steidl; 2. Ron Irwin; 3. Tom Fogg.
Wood gets revenge at
Barona Oaks Motocross
By Tony Alessi
Merlino makes magic at
Prairie City Road Race
By Ken callahan
Photo by Rose Rush
30
SACRAMENTO, CA, AUG. rJ
Dan Merlino overcame everything from leg
injuries tq bee stings for a wire-ta-wire win in
the Novice Stock race at the seventh round of
the NCMRRA Championship Series at Prairie
City Raceway in Sacramento.
A twenty-bike field packed the grid in one of
the biggest Novice Stock events of the 1995 season. At the drop of the flag, the hard-charging
Novices poured into the turn-one horseshoe with
Merlino in the lead by a wheel, closely pursued
by Clifford Glass, Sirichandhra ·Sanith, Deon
Perry, Miles McGowan and Michael Hannas.
Merlino served notice that he was not interested
in anything but the lead when Glass showed him'
a wheel in th-e stadium chicane. Merlino's
response was to leave the throttle screwed-on
through sweeping turn four and up the hill to
turn five where he snapped his Merlino's Orange
Freeze-sponsored Yamaha over to full tilt,
stretching out a three-bike lead on his competition. Behind Merlino there was a major scrap as
Sanith slipped by Glass and Perry put the move
on McGowan. Brian Lewis was on a mission,
working his way up through the pack to join the
six-pack of riders making up the lead group.
Glass and Sanith were in wheel-lo-wheel combat
around the snaking mile-long road 'Course. Glass
turned up the heat on Sanith and by lap five of
the ten-lap final, the group reshuffled itself into
Merlino, Glass, Perry, Hannas, McGowan, and
Lewis. Lewis contihued his charge, and, by the
next lap, displaced McGowan and was looking
to do the same to Hannas. Ahead of them, Perry
moved up to challenge Glass as the two hammered at each other, trading second back and
forth while Sanith recovered from an off"tra,ck
excursion that took him out of the running.
Out in front, Merlino was protecting his big
lead by not backing off the pace when he felt a
. sharp pain in his shoulder. Thinking at first that
he had a simple pincbed nerve, he tried to move
his shoulder around in his leathers for relief
only to discover that something was moving
around between his T-shirt and leathers and
stinging him at the same time. Merlino remembered that he once had an allergic reaction to a
bee sting, but was determined to take the checkered flag. Behind Merlino, the rest of the top six
. were trading places more often than majorleague free agents. Perry put a pass on Glass,
relegating him to third, while Lewis forged his
way to fourth. Hannas held off McGowan's bid
for fifth, keeping it for himself. Up front, Merlino took the checkered flag and promptly sought
the ambulance crew to get checked out for his
bee sting. After gelling the okay from .the medical staff, Merlino was off to enjoy the victory
(Top) Dee Wood (157) bested Krlsty Sheeley
(45). 250cc Pro Champ CorIna Chinen (20),
and the rest of the 125cC Pro field at the
Barone oaks Raceway. (Above) Dan Merlino
(30) overcame CIIIford GIlJsa (partl8lly
. hidden), Sanlth SIrIchlIndhra (77) and an
angry bee for the Novice Stock win at
Round 7 of the NCURRA Championship
5erIes at Prairie City Raceway.
podium, but kept an eye open to, avoid
kamikaze bees.
Results
STK: I. Tim Rush (Yam); 2. Ken Takeda (Yam); 3. Sothiri'l
Pheng (Yam); 4. Ted Durham (Yam,);,S. Art Martinez·(Yam).
S/SPRT: 1. Bruce Vtzig (Yam); 2. Ken Takeda (Yam); 3.
Shawn ReiUy (Yam); 4. Ted Durham (Yam); S. Art Martinez (Yam).
S/SK: I. Bruce Vtzig (Yam); 2. Ken Takeda (Yam); 3. David
George (Yam); 4. Tim Rush (Yam).
80 GP: 1. Jerry Douglas (Yam); 2. Tim Rush