Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127785
.M T C O S. OO R S . . AMA Western 4-Stroke National Championship MX Series' Round 4: Glen Helen Raceway (Left) KTM's Mike Young recorded his second 4-Stroke National MX victory In as many weeks at Glen Helen. He went 3-2. (Right) Spud Walte rs took runner-up honors on a Honda XR400. (Below) KTMmounted Brian Manley led from start to finish In the first moto but could not repeat tha t performance In the second moto, where he finished seventh. (Below right) CCM's Billy Liles, here being stalked by second-moto winner Lance Small , went 46 for sixth ove rall. By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones SAN BERJ\lARDINO, CA, MAY 13 he fo urth ro u n d of the AMA West ern 4-Stroke National MX Series th u n d e red int o sun ny Sou thern California's Glen Helen Racewa y and provided plen ty of enter tai nment for the hu ge crowd that came out for the fourth round of the Nationa! MX Series, as we ll as th e fou r-st roke race. Fo r th e se co nd week in a row, Hu s. aberg's Mike 'Youn g walked aw ay with the overall victory despite not winning a mot a . Youn g, fresh off his victo ry the pr evious week at the Hangtown National, combin ed 3-2 mota finish es to grab the overall win and maintain his lead in the se ries poin t sta ndings ove r KT?>4's Lance Sma il. Sm a il, w ho h as p ro ve n to be the fastest guy on the fou r-stroke circuit but also the mo st inconsisten t, had an upand -d own day at Glen Helen. Smail fell early in the first mota and ha d to spend the entire 20-minute-plus-tw o-lap mota making up for his blunder. He climbed through the pack to finish an impressive seventh but lost any real chance he had of nabb ing the overall win for the day. Smail came from behind to win the second mota, but his lopsided 7-1 ta lly held him back to third on the da y. Fin ishin g sa nd wi che d between Young and Smail was H onda XR400mounted Spud Walters. Lik e You ng, Walter s put together two solid perf ormances, putting up a 2-3 in th e da y' s results colu mn. Brian Man ley, wh o always seems to disappear from the racing only to suddenly reappear and pick up where he left off - up front - won th e first mota with relative ease. But he had help along the way with Smail crashing, and series 7 r egul ar Micky Dym on d a lso go ing down then pulling out of the race with a sticking thr ottle. Still, Manley rode well, m aintaini ng hi s di st an ce on Wal te rs throughout the long and hot moto. Manle y, r id in g a n FMF KTM, grabbed the holeshot in the second moto but .would slip back to sixth before it was all over, laying claim to four th overalL Manley' s day didn't go by without a little bit of controversy, as he was asked by an AMA official between mot os to tuck in h is jersey before his race . H is loose-fitting SMP riding appar el evi dently did not im pr ess AMA officials who thought that his riding gear wen t outside th e boundary of th e AM A' s "d ress code" and, more im po rta ntly, was a hazard to the other riders. Manley reluc ta n tly complied in th e seco n d m ot o , 12Scc N at io nal MX en tra n t Tommy Clowe rs, wh o has been wearin g the bagg y LBZ riding a ll season, was reported ly as ke d to co m p ly as well, though he d id not have to wor ry about it too mu ch since he did not qu alify for the day's two -stroke Na tional program. Fifth ove ra ll on the day went to CCM's top-placing rider, Terry Fowler, w ho fi n is hed fifth bo th tim es o ut. Fowl er ' s teammate, former GP racer Billy Liles grabbed sixth. His bes t performance came in th e first moto when he finished fourth, then followed that up with sixth. Seventh overall went to KTM rider Jimm y Lewis with a pair of eigh ths, while Gary Dircks edged ou t fellow Husaberg rid er Micky Dymond for ninth. Smai l's bid for the overall went out th e w indow ju st a few turns in to the first rnoto. While running about fifth, Smail laid his bike over in a turn, and hi s KTM came to rest flat on it s si de with the bike's wh eels higher than the rest of the bike. "I jus t coned," he said. "I have nobody to blame bu t myself." By th e tim e Sm ail g ot the bik e u prigh t, th e pack had all ready th un dered by, and to ma ke matters worse, he couldn't get his bi g thumper started . When it did finally come to life, all that Sma il co u ld d o now wa s salva ge as many points as he could. He had to be content with seventh-place points. Meanwhil e, Manley, his s h ir t-tail