Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

with impacted boulders. The dry and slick ground didn't help matters any, either. "It (the ridge trail) was a challenge," Langley said. "It was chewed up from an earlier enduro, but there was no real bottlenecks." Upon reaching the top, riders cruised down Redondo Ridge (last year's "killer'" section) with no problems. At the bottom, they crossed Holcomb ~reek and looped back through Fawnskin to Big Bear, where they joined up with the easy way and went up and over the back side of Big Bear to Santa Ana River Valley. From there it was an easy shot back to the pits. Those who rode the entire 145-mile trail completed the ride in approximately eight hours. According to Langley, the Cycle News Dual Sport Jamboree has turned into one of, if not the largest single-day, dual. sporting event in the United States, definitely in California. , "It's jvst a nice, scenic area, with great trails," Langley said. "We thought about starting the ride in a different area, but we don't want to mess with a good thing." This year's event also raised $900, via a raffle, for the Ride For Kids program. (Right) Mike Young Jr. won round three of the Eastern 4Stroke Motocross series rn Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. (Below) Mark Musselman led for a time In round three of the Eastern 4-Stroke Motocross series. Eastern 4-Stroke Motocross Series, Round 3 momentarily lost control for Sellards to go by. Bowen tried to recover as he pulled beside Sellards, but Sellards got on the gas and pulled away for second with Bowen in third. Carsten made a last-minute effort to pass Povolny, but Povolny hung on to fourth. Young enough Daniel Boone National Forest London, Kentucky Results: September 29, 1996 125 PRO SUPPORT: 1. Nicholas Wey; 2. Barry Carsten; 3. Charles Dunaway; 4. Mike Brown; '5. Brock Sellards. 4-STROKE NATIONAL, 1. Mike Young 1'.; 2, Keith Bowen; 3. Joel Dengler; 4. Mark Musselman; 5. Rodney Carrier. 250/0PEN: 1. Mike Brown; 2. Brode SeUard.s; 3. James Povolny; 4. Kevin Walker; 5. Keith Bowen. Eastem 4-stroke MX Series point.standings: 4-STRqKE NATIONAL, 1. Mike Young j" (144); 2. Keith Bowen (124); 3. Gene Naumec (98); (. Michael By Susan S. Willian LONDON, KY, SEPT. 29 'chael Young from California brought a note of humility to the aniel Boone National Forest. "I am not a good rider at all in the mud," the 26-year-old said. "I am disgusting. I have only ridden mud once in Europe. There is no mud in California." However, the other participants in the Eastern 4-Stroke Series were the ones who were humbled as Young won the race in his first outing on the 1.5mile course and held on to his lead in the series. Husaberg America-sponsored Young was first off the starting gate and around the 180-degree first turn as he was chased by Todd DeHoop and Keith Bowen. As Bowen closed in on DeHoop, Young quickly pulled away from the field. DeHoop slid down in the mud, giving second place to Bowen, and dropped to fifth. Bowen, covered with mud, opened his throttle and began to whittle down Young's five-second lead. Young hit the face of a jUJIlP and almost stalled, giving Bowen a chance to catch up. The pair rode within three seconds of each other ahead of the others. DeHoop, now in fourth, tried to get past Gene Naumec. Bowen went down an uphill, relieving some of the pressure on Young. DeHoop and Naumec went by as Bowen restarted in fourth. "I got crossed in some deep ruts," said KTM-sponsored Bowen. "It took me a while to get back under way because I had to pick my bike up ar:>-d put it into neutral. 1 also had to take a lOOK at my hand." Young appeared to be adapting to the course conditions. "I liked the track as long as you stay in the ruts," he said. "They were deep, kind of one line, making it difficult to pass." Naumec took a quick look back through the supercross section to see who was charging behind him. DeHoop carefully picked his line as he 'began to H Richa,ds (77); 5. Larry Cessn., (76), gain on Naumec. Bowen pulled beside DeHoop, but De Hoop cut him off. Bowen retried the move but let off the gas as the three scrambled for positions. Suddenly, Bowen began to lose power and drop back. "The filter cage broke, clogging the airbox to cause the carburetor not to get any air," Bowen explained later. Young claimed the victory wi th a 30second lead over his competitors. Naumec crossed the finish line in second, followed by DeRoop with Bowen holding on for fourth. Bowen led in moto two, blocking the moves of second-place Young. DeHoop crashed, pulled off the track and did not finish. Bowen carefully maneuvered around every obstacle. Halfway through the 20-minute moto, Young began to slow as he started looking down. "I have really bad knee problems," he explained later. "While 1 was chasing Bowen, I couldn't see the ruts very well and 1 twisted my knee and it popped out of the socket. I had to ride a few laps to get back in the flow again." As Young slowed, Bowen pulled away to ride comfortably out front. Meanwhile, Naumec went down in third as his brake locked, causing him' to crash and retire from the race. Young picked up his pace somewhat only to slow again. "I decided to push hard, Bowen had gotten so far ahead of me," he said. "Then, four laps later, I felt my shock go out." By the final lap of the moto, Bowen had sealed the win. Young coasted around the rutted terrain, maintaining his second spot for the overall win. FMF-supported Jim Povolny timed the gate to perfection as he fired off the starting line to take charge of the first moto of the 250cc Pro class, followed by Barry Carsten, Mike Brown and David Culton. Bowen was having difficulties at the rear of the pack. . Throughout lap one, riders scrambled for position as Povolny pulled away from the pack. ·Brown blew by Carsten on a downhill drop-away and began to dose on Povolny. Midway through the moto, Brown was inches away from Povolny, keeping the leader on his toes. On the final tum before the checkered flag, Brown sneaked by Povolny on the outside to take the lead. Povolny tried to recover as the pair drag-raced to the finish with Brown eking out the win by half a bike length. Honda of Troy-backed Brown did not pat himself on the back for the win. "I wasn't riding too good," he said. "It was so muddy. I felt like I got a pretty good start, but 1 just wasn't riding like myself." In the second round of 250cc Pro racing, a second-turn pileup slowed some riders. Brown quickly moved into the lead as he skyrocketed his machine over the jumps. Brown rode comfortably with a 20-second lead to win the moto and the overall. The action was for second place as Povolny was being chased by Brock Sellards and Bowen. Sellards went down, allowing Bowen to move up one spot. Povolny almost looped out his machine but recovered as Bowen continually applied pressure. Bowen had a lucky break as Povolny bobbled over a rut to let Bowen take the inside for second. Sellards recovered and moved up to fourth, cut underneath Povolny in a tum to take third and pursued Bowen for the number-two spot. Bowen Upcoming Rounds: Round 4 - Englishtown, New Jersy. October 6 Round 5 - Casey, Illinois, October 13 Missouri Hare Scrambles Series, Round 12 aose call By Frank Lelvan PARKHILI.S, MO, SEPT. 22 n what will go down as one of the closest finishes in the history of the infamous Flat River Grand Prix, Steve Leivan outdueled archrival Leigh Letellier with a last-lap pass no more than 50 yards from the finish of the 100-mile race. After battling tooth and nail throughout the entire event, the riders raced into view of the finish line while approaching two lapped riders. As one of the lappers struggled to keep control, he darted across the deep sand and into the paths of the leaders, bouncing off Letellier and then Leivan. Although neither of the front-runners went down, Letellier lost momentum and Leivan was able to rail around the outside and aim for the checkered flag, claiming his second win at the prestigious event. The 14th annual event was laid out in the St. Joe State Park and featured a wide variety of trails including fast fire roads, loose sand sections, virgin trails and twisting single-track. With Leivan, Letellier and Ken Yount in contention for the Missouri Hare Scrambles Championship, a good performance at this event would be crucial. / Chris Caplinger got the jump. on the I \0 0\ 0\ ...... \O~ ...... l-< Cl.I .g ..... U o 47

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