Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

He reminds me a lot of Randy Goss. He may not have a lot of natural talent, but he's a real hard worker, and when he makes a change on his motorcycle, he knows what it's going to do. That will take him to a ripe old age in racing - like me." "The old man beat me," said Darling, who had been suffering flu-like symptoms all weekend. "I still don't feel right. I haven't eaten all day. After about four laps, I just couldn't breathe anymore. I felt tired." But it was Atherton who flat wore out the competition. Atherton appeared to be enjoying himself in the middle stages of the race, running low 39-second lap times around the big mile, all the while pulling wheelies off the small humps down the front straight before putting his head down and reeling off some high 38s. Atherton then slowed back down and took the checkered flag to win some seven seconds ahead of Camlin. "The more aggressive I rode, the faster I went," Atherton said. "Basically it was like an MX track. You had to ride it like one. "This was a great crowd," Atherton added. "They've always had a great crowd here. Now I can say I've won here, but I want to come back here. The guy I wanted to beat went home early.. I'm just going to have to wait for another time." Springsteen, Morehead and Darling were followed by Harley-Davidson of Sacramento's Joe Kopp, who held off Roeder H-D/Mike's H-D's Geo Roeder II and TCR's Will Davis in a race-long battle for sixth. Harley-Davidson of Missouri/ Burks Construction's Kenny Coolbeth was ninth, and Harley-Davidson of Dallas rider Willie McCoy barely held off Schmulbach Racing's Dan Stanley for 10th. (Right) Lonnie Pauley sped to another 600cc Expert main event win on his Corbin Racing entry to remain undefeated In 600cc competition on the mile this year. (Below) One to watch: Highly touted youngster Bryan Bigelow won his first race as a Pro-Am at San Jose. The 16year-bid finished over six seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. my first season back in three years. I just missed the box at Del Mar. I wanted to do well for my friends here. I live in San Mateo, which is 25 miles from here." "We were third by a wheel today," Damron said. "I thought I was going to be around fifth, but I got a good .holeshot. Pauley passed me, and I thought I could run with him, but he had a lot of power, and I weigh 200 pounds. Then nothing happened for a long time before Mark showed up me a wheel. It was just a friend racing a friend after that." 600Cc PRO-AM 883cc The Harley-Davidson 883cc class, the slowest on the mile, showcased the tightest race for the win as Bartels Harley-Davidson's Johnny Murphree pulled off a double-draft on the front straightaway just before the checkered flag to steal the win away from hometown favorite Gary Rogers on the San Jose H-D/Custom Chrome entry. Aztec Racing / Fresno Harley-Davidson rider Dan Stanley also was right there at the finish, as was Loral Lake Racing's Paul Bergstrom. Stanley just beat Bergstrom at the finish for third place. Bergstrom nailed the holeshot at the start of the 16-rider, 10-lap main, but Stanley took possession of the lead before the end of the first lap while Murphree and Wimer's/KK's Jess Roeder hung back in third and fourth ahead of Rogers. The five-rider field quickly pulled clear of the rest of the pack and continued to draft their way around the big oval, jockeying to place themselves in contention for the win. Murphree moved forward to battle with Stanley on only the second lap while Roeder and Bergstrom battled back and forth for the third spot, with Roeder drafting by Bergstrom on the back straight only to lose the position on the entrance to tum one. Rogers then moved forward with just a few raps to go and really gave the partisan crowd a reason to cheer as he picked off Bergstrom and Roeder in the turns to run third and start mixing it up with MUTphree and Stanley. Rogers gave it his best shot by diving under both riders to grab th~ lead off turn four on the last lap, with Stanley in second and Murphree third. But the Bartels rider would not be denied and he managed to smoke by both Rogers and Stanley to take one of the biggest wins of his young career. "I thought I had corner speed on Stanley for the whole race," Murphree said. "I figured I couid draft him off four, but then I looked back and saw that there were a whole bunch of guys racing with us. They put their two cents in at the end and made it interesting. "Coming off turn four I had to pull off the double-draft on Stanley and Rogers," he continued. "I couldn't believe the draft I got off those two bikes." Rogers was happy to finish second. "As rough as it was, the track really m.ade for some close racing," Rogers said. "Nobody could break away. I wanted to lead it because I never really led it across the start finish line, but I was making all my time in the corners. It was cool to get second in front of the hometown crowd. San Jose HarleyDavidson was here today - they're my main sponsor on the 883. It was nice to do something for them." ''I'm: pretty happy," Stanley said of his third place run. "I made a mistake when Rogers was in front of me. He started to spin off the corner, and I thought I would dive under him and drag race him to the finish line. Then I remembered that you can't drag race an 883, so I tucked in behind him. I should have dropped under him and drag raced him to the finish line." 600cc EX Corbin Racing's Lonnie Pauley has gotten into the habit of making his 600cc competition look rather sick in 1996 - if only they had such an excuse. Pauley did it again at San Jose as he took his Billy Fagundes-prepared Wood-Rotax to another convincing win in the 600cc Expert main event. Pauley failed only to lead the 12man, 10-lap race off the line, but he was quickly in control by the time- the field hit the back straight, and it was all but over from there as the 25-year-old Salinas, Californian continued to put the long shadows of daylight between himself and second-placed Rob Damron on the Ron Wood/San Jose Yamaha Rotax. By the time the race was over, Pauley had built up a 5.68-second advantage on his nearest competitor. "I think the only place they had an advantage on me was in the first tum," Pauley said. "Once I got out front and got my momentum up, my bike ran great. It was scary coming off the fourth corner. Sometimes the bike would get sideways and then go into a tankslapper down the front straight. I almost crashed in practice twice. But we set it up a lot different in for the main, and it didn't wobble near as much. My Team Corbin machine pulled me through again." As things turned out, Pauley's closest competitor was Shepherd Construction/Hart Racing's Mark Corsetti, who caught Damron near the end of the race and then traded the second spot back and forth with him before beating Damron by a wheel at the finish line. ''I'm a little under horsepowered, because this is the same motor I've been on since 1987," Corsetti said. "This was Highly touted newcomer Bryan Bigelow piloted his Marine Transport Rotax to a similar runaway in the 600cc Pro-Am ranks. The 16-year-old Michigander conceded the start to Rancho Motorcycle Recycling's Bob Grant, but quickly snuck by to take the point on the entrance to turn three. From there, Bigelow continued to turn up the wick, taking the checkered flag with a 6.6-second advantage over Dale Jones on the North Pier Dental Rotax.. Priestley Racing's Jeremy Thompson wound up third. "I just turned 16 three weeks ago," Bigelow said. "This is my first ride as a Pro-Am. We kind of got away from them at the beginning there. That was the plan, We didn't want to have to race anybody. You had to ride the track. You couldn't really race on it. I just had to stay consistent and keep a level head." eN Santa Clara County Fairgrounds San JOM, Cal"omla Results: OCtober 20,1996 (Round 11 of 11) 750 EX (15 laps; 18 riden): 1. Kevin Atherton (1-1-0): 2. Dave Camlin (H-D); 3. Jay Springsteen (H·D); 4. Steve Morehead (H-D); 5. Chance Darling (H-D); 6. Joe Kopp (H-D); 7. Ceo Roeder 11 (H·D); 8. Will Davis (H-D); 9. Kenny Coolbeth (H-D); 10. Willie McCoy (H-D); 11. Dan Stanley (H·D); 12. Mike Vames (H-D); 13. Mike Hacker (H-D); 14. Steve Beattie (H·D); 15. Paul Lynch (H-D); 16. Don Howard (H-D); 17. Brett Landes (H-D); 18. Jon CornweU (H-D). Time: 9 min., 55.49 sec. 883 (to laps; 16 riders): 1. Johnny Murphree; 2. Gary Rogers; 3. Dan Stanley; 4. Paul Bergstrom; 5. less Roeder; 6. Scott Stump; 7. Mike Hacker; 8. Joe Winston III; 9. Eddie Dixon; 10. Chance Darling; 11. Ruben Malaguarnero; 12. John Carcia; 13. A.J. Herrera; 14. Ryan Brown; 15. Jim Rosa; 16. Billy Martin. Time: 7 min., 8.50 sec. 600 EX (10 Japs; 12 riders): 1. Lonnie Pauley (W-R); 2. Mark Co...tti (W·R); 3. Rob Damron (W-R); 4. Jesse Sanchez (W-R); 5. Johnny Murphree (Hbg); 6. Steve Mayfield (W-R); 7. Jaime Aguilar (W-R); 8. Steve Johnson (ATK); 9. Don Hart (Rt.); 10. John Hlebo II! (Rtx); 11. Steve Smith Jr. (Rtx); 12. Robert Seay (Rtx). Time: 6 min., 54..87 8«. 600 PR()..AM bpt; 12 ridel'l): 1. Bryan Bigelow (Rtx); 2. Dale Jones (Rtx); 3. Jeremy Thompson (W-R); 4. no Bob Grant (Rtx); 5. Dante 0' Ambruoso (Rtx); 6. Jeff Gabhart (W-R); 7. Beau Brown (W-R); 8. Steven Arndt (W-R); 9. Sidney Payne (Yam); 10. Larry Andres (Rtx~ 11. Ron Kimmel (Rtx~ 12. Joshua Currey (W-R). Time: 7 min., 6.90 sec. \0 0\ 0\ t""""I a (1) ·liJ E o 19

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