Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

in the class in the first two rounds would receive an all-expense-paid trip to Mexico for round three. This lured other top-name riders such as Canadian National Champion Jean-Sebastian Roy, Team SplitFire's David Pingree, and Team Xtreme's Jimmy Button. Two unusual things happened at the start of the 2S0cc Pro main: McGrath didn't get the holeshot, and Lewis did. McGrath had control of the lead by the third lap. Pingree followed McGrath past Lewis into second. Lewis glanced behind him and saw Lawrence and Willoh right behind him. As Lewis braked to adjust his speed for a small tabletop jump, Lawrence kept it pegged, launching himself and landing on the back side of a small jump following the tabletop. Lewis looked stunned but exited the following turn ahead of Lawrence. On the next lap Lawrence misjudged the jump and took a soil sample. Before he could restart, Buddy Antunez and Swink sw'ooped past and into fourth and fifth. Up front, McGrath had things well under control, showing his mastery of the staggered whoop section by timing the midsection of whoops and pegging it to sail over the last four. Pingree had a firm grip on second. The 12Scc specialist looked strong and confident on his SplitFire KX250. As the laps wound down, McGrath, Pingree, Lewis and Antunez had things under control. The battle for fifth was sti! I raging between Swink and Lawrence. Both riders would launch off the tabletop, landing on the back side of the following jump. Swink, however, ended up getting behind a lapper on this jump and had to brake. Lawrence passed to secure fifth. On the white-flag lap, McGrath acknowledged the crowd over every jump before getting Sideways at the checkers. Pingree took second. "I got a good start and basically followed McGrath past Lewis," the runnerup said. "After that I figured I'd better ride my own race and not worry that it's McGrath in front of me." At the start of the 12Scc Pro main, Ryan Clark pulled the holeshot ahead of Willoh and Cory Keeney and immediately grabbed a three-second lead. Willoh had his hands full in second as Keeney tried cu tting inside on every turn. Willoh let Keeney know he wasn't about to be block-passed as he held the throttle wide open through each turn instead of hitting the brakes. Keeney's strategy eventually backfired as he lost momentum through the turns, letting Willoh escape. By the halfway mark, Willoh was right on Clark's tail and shOWing the cheering crowd how to execute the perfect block pass. Keeney tried to follow Willoh past Clark but bumped bars with Clark, putting both riders on the ground. Keeney recovered quickly and was able to work his way back to third by moto's end. Clark wasn't as fortunate, but would still salvage a sixth overall. The downed riders opened the door for Jason McCormick, who slipped into second. Willoh had the crowd cheering on the last lap as he styled over the jumps and got sideways for the crowd at the tabletop finish. International SupercroBS Salt Lake City, utah Results: September 28, 1996 (Round 2 of 4) 125 PRO: L Jeff Wilioh (Hon); 2. Jason McCormick (Hon); 3. Brad Woolsey (Kaw); 4. Tony Amaradio (Hon); 5. Cory Keeney (Yam). 250 PRO: 1. Jeremy McCrath (Hon); 2. David Pingree (Kaw); 3. Kyle Lewis; 4. Buddy Antunez; 5. Phil Lawrence (Kaw). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Guadalajara, Mexico, October 12 Round 4 - Monterrey, Mexico, October 19 - (Laft) Jeremy McGrath made a guest appearance In the International Supercross Series and stole the show by topping the 250cc Pro class In Salt Lake City, Utah. (Below) David Pingree won his 250cc Pro qualifying heat In Salt Lake City and finished second in the main event. 4-Stroke National Series, Final Round Young gun By Steve and Deb Middlesworth Photos by Steve Middlesworth BLOUNTVILLE, TN, OCT. 20 usaberg's Mike Young Jr. rolled into Muddy Creek beaming with confidence that the 14 points separating him from KTM's Keith Bowen would be enough to nail down the championship in the East Coast 4-Stroke National Series. ''I'm just going to go out there and try to get good starts, ride smart and be consistent, not try to take any big chances but still ride like I can," Young said. Consistency was Young's forte as he finished 2-2 on the day, netting the' championship in the 4-Stroke division along with the overall honors in the Honda Top Gun Showdown. Honda of Troy's Mike Brown captured the Honda Top Gun honors in the 2S0cc class and attained the championship in the AMA Fall Classic Series. Over 1,300 riders participated in the two-day, America Honda-sponsored event, which also included the finales of the United States Mega Series and the AMA Fall Classic Series. Victory Sports did an excellen t job of preparing and maintaining the track throughout the day as well as ensuring the smooth running of the program events. Young grabbed the lead early in the first 4-Stroke Top Gun moto, but went down halfway through the first lap, allowing Bowen and his teammate, Lance Smail, the West Coast 4-Stroke Champion, to get by before he could get remounted. Todd DeHoop was running in the fourth position with the White Brothers' Spud Walters in fifth. Bowen and Smail swapped the lead back and forth several times as they aggressively battled for the top spot up front. Young was a couple of seconds back while Walters moved ahead of DeHoop for fourth. H Late in the race, Smail overjumped a double and landed in the face of the third jump, bending his right toe back on the footpeg, resulting in his dropping way off the pace. Now everyone from Young on back picked up a position as Smail gingerly rode around, eventually pulling off with a suspected broken toe and an 18th-place finish. Young stayed close to Bowen for the duration of the moto but never got within striking distance. Walters followed the leaders in third while CCM America's Billy Liles and Jeremy Shoning filled out the top five. "I didn't know what happened to Lance (Smail)," Bowen said. "I looked around and I didn't see him anymore." "I started to reel Keith (Bowen) in and thought maybe I could put a pass on him but just decided to ride smart and take the second," Young said. Young built on his good-start philosophy by getting the holeshot in moto two with the injured Smail in second. Brown, who had developed clutch problems early in the first moto, was running a strong third with Cycle Conn's Chris Rhoten and Cycle Shed's Larry Gessner comprising the early top-five leaders. Bowen was involved in a first-turn pileup and was close to the very end of the entry list. Young was slowed up getting by lappers, allowing Smail to close on the leader and beat him to an inside line into a turn and grab the lead. Brown maintained the three- or four-second margin behind the leaders as the trio had now pretty much separated from the rest of the pack. The running order remained the same throughout the rest of the race with Walters coming in a distant fourth and Bowen working his way back up to fifth. "It's a great feeling, I tell you," Young said of winning the title. "We worked so hard this year and this championship really means a lot to us." After the first moto, Smail was going to call it a day but had second thoughts about a DNS. "I just got the fever," he said. "Everyone was starting their bikes and heading to the line and I wanted to go, so I taped my foot up and went for it. In the first 2S0cc Top Gun moto, Bromley's Barry Carsten emerged out of turn one with the lead with the Suzuki 1I I-< Q) "S ~ o z 35

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