Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS CHAPARRAL AMA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK (Above) KawasakI's Jeff Emlg took ho"!e over $7,500 cash for his 250cc Pro and Pro Shootout wins. (Right) Josh Tarantino surprised many by snagging the holeshot in the 125cc Pro race over Michael Brandes (33), Craig Decker (20), Eric Schnell (40), Cory Keeney (53), Scott Sheak (29) and the rest of the field. By Matt Freeman Photos by Kinney Jones and Cameron Coatney SAN'BERNARDINO, CA, DEC. 29 t may not have been a National, but it was the next besnhing. Several top 125 and 250cc pros shooting it out on a specially prepped supercross track at Glen Helen Raceway. The Pro Challenge Shootout that staged the 125s and 250s on the track at the same time was held in conjunction with the Chaparral AMA Amateur Championship Week. However, when the gate dropped and Kawasaki's Jeff Ernig motoed his way to the 250cc Pro and Pro Challenge wins, there was nothing amateur about it. The newly crowned National MX champ ended 1996 with a bang by annihilating the competition in the 250cc race and giving everyone at Glen Helen a lesson on working their way through the pack during the Pro Challenge. . The format for ChaparraYs Invitational Pro Challenge was creative and made for some good, tight racing. The 250cc Pro heat consisted of 26 riders turiUng in 12 laps. The 125cc Pro heat used the same format as the 250s, only the starting gate had no vacancies for the 125s. Forty 125s lined the gate in hopes of making it to main event. The top 10 finishers in each race advanced to the 20-rider Pro Challenge. Sound fair? Not to the race organizers who decided to give the 125s a head start for the Pro Challenge. The handicap start was based on the difference between the 250 and 125cc race times. "Getting the holeshot will be the big ticket today," Emig said. "It's real important to get a good start here. It's a good track but it's nard to pass." 'I Ironically, Emi~'s start for the Pro Challenge was anything but good. Luckily, he went to plan B, passing riders left and right catching up to the leaders. At one point Emig dropped his bike in a rutted turn lmt got up quickly enough, only surrendering one position. After the small spill, Emig shifted gears and charged into the lead, making it look all too easy. Second in the Pro Challenge went to David Pingree who turned a 10th-place finish in the 125cc heat into a bid for the overall win in the main event. The SplitFire/ Pro .Circuit/Kawasaki rider got the holeshot in the Pro Challenge and never gave up the lead until Ernig passed him on lap 14 of the 20-1ap main. Third went to Pingree's 125cc teammate Craig Decker, who. came dangerously close to passing Pingree in the early going. Decker turned in a solid performance on the day finishing second in the 125cc heat. The Pro Challenge fourth-place finisher was Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes, who just missed a podium finish by a few seconds behind Decker. Hughes' secondplace finish in the 250cc heat made him one of the race favorites for overalling the main event, bu t starting nearly a minute behind the 125s was a great disadvantage, even for Ernig. Rounding out the top five was YZ250mounted Mike Br6wn. Brown ran a strong third in the 250cc heat and at one point led the chase of 250s in the Pro Challenge as they hunted down the 125s. Although amateur racing took place all day at Glen Helen, the pros were treated to their own personal track that only uSed half of the amateur circuit. A supercross-style section was created especially for the pros and planted right in front of the grandstands. Between the open pits and the high flying triple jump in front of the bleachers, race fans had plenty to see. 250cc When the gate qropped for the 250cc Pro heat, it was no surprise tllat Emig had pulled the holeshot. On his rear tire were Brown, Japanese Motocross Champion Jeff Matiasevich, Lance Smail, Jimmy Button, Phil Lawrence, Hughes and Buddy Antunez. The lead group stayed bunched up right behind Ernig until halfway throughthe first lap. Lawrence was the first one to fall off the pace when he fell off his bike in a lo~g stretch of stadium whoops. After crashing on the first lap, the Chaparral/Yamaha-backed Lawrence retired' to the pits. Hughes rocketed past KTM's Smail and Chaparral Yamaha-sponsored Button. The multi-rider pass put Hughes in fourth, right behind Matiasevich: The two KX riders battled for a lap, but the whoops got the best of "Chicken" when Hughes passed him in a tum following the giant obstacles. Hughes was not the only rider on the move m'aking his way up from a bad start. Suzuki-mounted Shaun Perolio was well out of the lead group at the first turn, but by the third lap he had caught Antunez, who was in seventh. Antunez, who had planned on riding the 250cc 'and the 125cc heats, felt Perolio's pressure, but held steady, riding carefully and capitalizing on other riders' mistakes. "I got a mediocre start," said Antunez, who rode a stock CR250. "On the first lap, "] reached up to grab a tear-qff and I· grabbed all of them off. Other than that I felt okay. 1 just sat back and waited for everyone to get tired." It was not long before that happened. . Smail, Matiasevich and Button all would give way, awarding Antunez fourth place. Perolio followed clsely behind all the way to the finish. Button's strong start fizzled out about halfway through the heat when he developed arm pump. "We had our stiffest supercross suspension on the bike:' Button explained. "I just got pumped up real bad because the bike was all over the place." Nevertheless, he held on for a nint!]place finish, qualifying him for the Pro Challenge. Up front, Emig had built up a 10-second lead over second-place Brown, who was succumbing to Hughes' attack from midpack. Brown and Hughes raced one another very tightly for two laps before Hughes was able to make his move. Once he did pass Brown, he ran off and left him and' even gained some ground on Emig. "1 got a good jump off the line, but then I got"pushed out, so 1 dropped back and then I hit one of those track signs:' Hughes said. After I got into second, I made some time on Jeff (Emig) when he got stuck behind lappers." Hughes made about one second per lap on Emig and even appeared to be riding much faster in certain sections, but was still too far back to make it count. At the finish, he was seven seconds behind Ernig and a good 10 seconds in front pf Brown Ernig t~ok the checkered flag just as easily as he had taken the holeshot at the start. Hughes sped across the line in second, folJowed by a steady-riding Brown. Anttinez's careful tactics put him in fourth with his shadow Perolio in fifth.. U

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