Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.MOTOCROSS Showdciwn GFI Winter MX Series North/South F rounds: Perris Raceway inal • , , (Left) Jeff MatJasevlch (1, left) grabs the holeshot ove r Doug Dubach (1, right) and the rest of the 250cc Pro class during the GFI Winter Series Showdown at Perr is Raceway, MatJasevich won t he class, Duba ch claimed the 125cc Pro win and series title. By Tony Alessi PERRIS, CA, MAR. 23-24 ll-Iapan National MX Champion Jeff Matia se vich a n d Te am O 'Ne al' s Dou g Dubach gave Sou the rn Californi a an oth er GFI Winter Series Showdown victory by topping both the 250 and 125cc Pro class at Perris Raceway. The event was the final round of the GFI Winter Series that pitted many of the series' top Southern Californi a rid er ag a ins t th e series top racer s from northern California. Dubach ' s vi ctory in the 125cc di vision gave him enough points to wrap up the class cham pionship, while Matiasevich was just there to prove a point and earn some contingency cash. Donald Upton, who finished third on the day, took home the 250cc-c1ass championship. The one, long 250cc Pro feature saw Matiasevich take the lead from the getgo. Matiasevich rode conservatively and maintained a modest pace throughout the race and, somew h at surprisingly, did not perform any outrageous moves or clickers o ve r the jump, so me th in g Matiasevich is fam ous for. Arguably the fastest rider in the race was Honda of Troy rising star Ca sey Lytle, bu t this would not be his d ay. "I got ou t of shape in the back" resulting in a bi g crash, he said . Lytle's step-off at w arp spee d wo uld sen d his Hond a flying spe ctacu larly th at wo u ld drop him out the top five. Dubach moved to second, but closing fas t w as hard-ch a r gin g Upton wh o see me d to b e up to the task a t hand . Up ton pu shed Dub a ch and toge th er caugh t the cru ising Matia sevich. Inthe end, though, Matiasevich kept his cool and crossed the line for the victo r y, inches ahead o f Dub ach a n d Upton. Northern Cali fornia's Dean Mat son rode fast in fou rth, while Spu d Walters, Lytle, Rick Ryan, one of th e North 's most succes sfu l riders in the series , Ray ~ 8 sensation Dannv Ca rl son, w ho w as unab le to compe te in the event du e to injuries. "I did some serious da mage to my kne e in Texas," Carlson said. "It' s go ing to be ope rate d on nex t we ek. It could be between tw o and five weeks before I race aga in." Buckelew swep t every m oto on his Yamah a to score the class championship in both the Super Mini and 80cc Expert divisions. . Dan iel Blair brought grea t prid e to the north by p ostin g a d oubl e-m ot o sweep of the 80cc Intermedi at e di vi sions . Blair was as fas t or fast er th an m any of the Experts and sim ply chased d own and p assed so uthe rn regi onal cha mp Chri s Rogers in each moto. In the end Blair was the only Northern Californian to win a championship title. (Right) Ju sti n Buc kelew showed the co mpelilion his back side en route to sweeping the 80cc Expert and Super Mini divisions to claim championships in each . (Below) Co le Seely (22) and Warren Davis (5) waged war in the 50cc (4-6) class. Seely won on the day, but Davis took hom e the series crown. Cru mb, Ca rey Ha rt and Mario Pai nter rounded ou t the top 10. The I25cc Pro division saw three different lead ers durin g the cour se of the rac e. Th e fir st to take the reigns was Matson, w ho controll ed the first five laps . M a tson gave u p th e poin t to " Movie Sta r" Mi ke Me tz g er, who mot ored arou nd Matson after st arting off the moto just outside the top 10. Met zg er entertained th e spectators with a full line of ae ri al acrob ati cs, including nac-nacs, can-cans and heel clickers . In the end, though, the air show may ha ve lost Metzger th e race, as Dubach came chasing down on the lead er after takin g control of second place. With just two laps to go, Dubach knocked on Metzge r's back door and Met zger did not have an answer. Dub ach promptly shot past Metzger an d went on to tak e th e win . The Minicycle racing was intense as usu al with Justin Buckelew - as expected - topping the rostrum in the 80cc Expert and Super Mini divisions. Buckelew got a break with the absence of Hond a mini Rog ers settled for se con d for thi rd after a bobble opened the door for Levi Re id, who gladl y a ccept ed seco n d , whil e Devin Seeger and Michael Sleeter rounded out the top five, respectively. Kelly Tedder had a good day in the 60cc Novice division and fin ished off the series on a positive note by winning . bothmotos. Ted der pulled th e hol eshot in both races the n rode with precision and confidence en route to the championship. Zac Wray was the runner-up in the firs t m oto, but problems in the second moto left h im a disappointing fourth ove rall behi nd the "Iceman" Steve Hernan d ez, fro m th e north, and Fres no 's Daniel Sani. Th e 50cc (4- to 6-year-o ld) division sa w Cole Seel ey smoke away for th e fir st -moto w in, whi le series p oint s lead er Warren Davis secured the second spot in front of Jonathan McCarthy. The second moto looked like it would be another Seeley run aw ay, but two falls left him beh ind Warren Davis for most of th e r a ce - but not all of it. See ley turned it u p an d passed Davis with two turns to go and posted the moto win . In th e en d, tho ugh, w he n all th e p oin ts were tallied, Davis came out on top and was declared class champion. Kawasaki of Riverside 's Billy Clifton was cro wned king of the Novice class

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