Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS . WMeB rothers World Four-Stroke MX ChampionshipsiAMA W estern National Four-StrokeMX S eries. Round 2: Glen Helen Raceway important start. When the group rounded the first comer at the start of the second Pro mota, it was aga in Young's factor y H u sabe rg st reakin g to th e fro nt followed bv Lew is, Ward, Walters and Myers in fifth place. By the end of the first lap, Smail had gotten by Lewis for fifth place and had his sights set on Young. Smail wa s riding like a man possessed, and everyone in attendance co u ld tell that Smai l wo uld soon be breathing down Young's neck. Whoever won this mota would most likely take the ove rall win for the da y. A win for Young meant he would be tied in the series points with Smail, and a win for Smail would give him a si x-point le ad in th e se r ies. Thin g s began to get very interesting. By lap four Smail had passed Fowler, who was h a vin g a good race a fte r a DNF in the first mota, and Walters to take control of third . And by lap seven Smail h ad deposed Myers to take second place. Now all Smail had to do was ge t ar ound You ng, w h o kn ew he was ba ck there and began rid ing the widest Husaberg in the sta te. Young pu t up a valiant effort to hold off the hard-charging Smai l, but his bike just w asn't w ide eno ugh . On la p 11, Sma il passed You ng down the backside of the huge sweeping uphill just before "A nim al Lea p." The race for firs t was ba sicall y ove r then, as Smail began to pu ll o u t a lar ge ma rgin between th e two. Young was tired but would easily By Cameron Coatney Photos By Kinn ey Jon es SAN BERNARDINO, CA, APR. 28 h e White Brothers World Four-Stroke MX Cha mpi onsh ips returned to Glen . Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, dou bling as round two of the AMA Western Na tional Four-Stroke MX Series. Nearly 250 en trants signed up for the po pu lar motocross event, wh ich also featured a challengi ng d ua l sport loop into the San Bern ard in o mou ntains tha t w as to be completed between the dual sport-class motos, The tr ack was n icely prepared and u tilized some sections th at will be used in the upcoming AMA National Motocross ro u nd th a t will be h eld a t Glen Helen on May 12. Saturday ' s p ra ct ice session was a true test am ent of th ings to come, wi th KTM' s Lance Smail flying around the circu it. At o ne point, how ever, Smail stalled his KTM 620 an d cou ldn't get it refired for about 15 minutes, which had some riders joking about stu ffing Smail in th e races an d m aking h im st all his bike to take him ou t of contention . Husa berg's M ike Yo u ng was tu rn in g in good lap times, along with CCM's Terry Fowler and Gordon Ward, ATK's Scott Myers, Husaberg's Micky Dymond, IMS H ond a 440-m ounted E.J Wrigh t a n d White Broth ers Honda rider Spu d Walters. When Sun d ay rolled around, the rid ers had a little bit more to cont end with th an just the usual track obs tacles . The wind had kicked up immensel y to abou t 30 mph ou t of the Cajon Pass and would d ry ou t the higher sections of the track as th e d a y progressed an d make for som e cre ative cornering an d jum p ing tech niques in th e crosswi nd sec tions . Creative measu res were also nee ded by tea ms a nd s p o ns o r s to k ee p their canopies grounded in these conditions. When th e gate dropped in th e first Open Pro mot o, it was Young eme rging from the carnage created by Dym ond's slide-out, foll owed by KTM-m ounted T (Above) Mike Young (273), Ji mmy l ewis (371), Gordon Ward (3), Spud Walter s (64), Dave Coupe (116), and Scott Myers (98) rail through the first corner in the Open Pro cl ass. Event ual winner, lance Smail (79) hugs the insi de line. (Right - lefl to right) Third-place fini sher Spud Walters, winne r lance Smail, and runner-up Mike Young ham it up on the pod ium with Tom and Dan White . Dave Coupe, Myers, and CCM ' s Billy Liles. . " I go t a grea t ju m p, " exp la in ed Dymond, "but I went in too deep, took a qu ick turn in the loose stuff, got sidew ays, and went dow n. I got a little excited a nd thou gh t I co u ld pull it off." Dymond pi ck ed h is bike o ff of th e grou n d a n d , after a few kicks, was charging toward the fron t of the pack. Young immediately began to pull out a h u ge lead over th e rest of the field, wh ile Smail w as w orkin g h is way up from a 10th-place starting position. "I got really squ irrelly ou t of the gate and backe d off a little into th e first tu m ," said Smail. " It took a while to get u p there. A couple of guys fell and it helped me out, and then I really started t o m ove." D rey D ir k s crashed a n d pulled off, while Billy Liles got sideways in th e bac k sec tion collec ting Wal ters along with him. M ove is not exactly the correct terminology for wh at Smail did next. He was flying, and was by far the fastest man on th e tr a ck. By th e six th la p h e w as a lrea dy up to se con d p la ce an d on ly abou t 10 seconds behind the hard-chargin g Young. Both rider s began to p u ll away and put about 30 seconds on the rest of the field . Newcomer to the series Myers was hangin g tou gh on his factory AT K in th ird , foll ow ed by Co upe, Ji mmy Lewi s, W righ t, a nd W a lte rs . Dym ond was mounting his own comeba ck and gain ing on th e g roup fa st. Wright would later drop back to 10th with a clogged airfilter. With less than four laps to go, Smail had moved to within stri king distance of You ng, at on ly three seco nds ba ck, and Dymond had moved p ast Myer ' s into third. Th en th e unthinkabl e happened in one of the back sections of the course - Smail w ash ed ou t in a corner a nd sta lle d th e big KTM. Lu ckily for Smail, his bike started after a few kicks and he was able to hold on to the second-place pos ition. Young too k the win goi ng a way, foll ow ed b y Sma il , Dymond, Myers and Walters. While the a ma teur classes ran in between the Pro motes, their mecha nics stay ed bu sy checking airfilters and oil lev e ls, and changing tires, or at least flipping a fresh edge around for the all- hold on for secon d because of the huge lead the tw o riders had put on the rest of the field during their little battl e. Waite r s h eld o n fo r th ird , foll owed b y Myers in fourth , and Fow ler in fifth . " It wa s hard to pa ss on th is tra ck," explaine d Smai l. "Mike (Young) tried to cut me off up the hill and lost drive as I passed him . I wo n the drag race do wn the hill and was happy to get aro und hi m . I kne w h e was tired so I ju s t charged on for the win." You ng was happy with hi s second place finish, which ne tted him second overall. "I go t a ragin ' sta rt again, but the

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