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'1 couldn',! have done it without Tom
(Moen)," Smail said. "He worked all
night on my bike. Mike made a few bobbIes and r capitalized on it."
"The track got way choppier the
second mota," Young said. "The highspeed kickers made me go off the
track in a couple places. That's where
Lance was catching me. I guess I just
need a little bit more endurance. I saw
the two-lap board and I just put the
hammer down. The bike is handling
better and White Brothers is really
helping me a lot. Thanks to them I
was faster."
Behind third-place Kalas came Perolio, followed by Davis, Naughton,
Crumb - stuck in third gear for the
whole mota - Drey Dircks, Roth and
Gordon Ward.
tN
because he started using it too. I slowed
down a notch, because 1 didn't want to
throw it away in the first mota. J started
blowing some of the corners because of
my right arm was pumping up - 1
couldn't pull in the front brake. If I can
get control of the arm pump, I'll be able
to hang and give him a battle for the
win."
Walters cruised home in fourth followed by a lonely Davis. Behind Davis.
late-race shuffling found holeshot man
Myers in sixth followed by Binkley and
late-race charger Robert Naugton.
After such a good start, Myers had
certainly hoped for more but encountered shifting trouble.
"It feels great to pull the holeshot,"
Myers said. "I just made a decision to
start on the outside and it worked out
great. It pulled me a couple bike leI"\gths
on them early. Just after Young went by
me, my bike wouldn't shift. It went into
neutral, then wouldn't shift into third. I
couldn't figure out what was wrong. 1
thought I was losing a tranny or something. 1 kept having to leave it in second.
I couldn't relax, 1 was getting frustrated,
and it was making me tired and getting
me pumped up real bad."
As the second mota left the line, ZRacing's Brian Roth nailed the holeshot
just in front of Troy Kalin. Young followed with Myers, Walters, Abbott,
Healey, Kalas, Davis and Smail in tow,
though Kalas would go down in the
first turn and was left a full straightaway behind the pack and setting the
stage for his race-long charge to third.
Young quickly went to work and
blitzed through the whoops to take the
lead from Roth, while Healey flew
down into the valley into third and
began pushing now-second-place Roth.
Smail, Myers, Ray Crumb, Davis and
Walters were running close behind.
Roth made a mistake and was overtaken first by Healey on the outside,
then by a flying Smail on the inside as
he used his momentum to leap down
into the valley past the Husabergmounted :Roth, who was suddenly
third.
Up front, leader Young turned up the
wick and pulled a five-second lead over
Healey, who was now under pressure
from Smail. The KTM rider made quick
work of Healey, nailing a textbook outside-inside pass to set out after Young.
Healey was later sidelined by broken
headpipes and would be credited with
21st.
Myers had made it to fourth behind
Roth, while Walters trailed behind.
Myers then railed outside of Roth in a
tacky right-hander on lap four to take
over third and Walters began pressuring
Roth, able to make the pass by the
haIfway flags.
And while things were looking good
for Myers, the third-place rider soon
carne to a stop with mechanical trouble.
Kalas was on an impressive charge
through the field making his way past
Perolio and breathing down sixthplaced Davis' neck. Coming out of the
valley and back up to the right-hander,
Kalas got all the traction he needed to
make the pass on Davis, finally making
his way into third at the finish, though
well off the pace of Smail and Young.
The battle for the lead was heating
up with Young really on the pipe and
making excellent lap times. Smail, however, was riding like a man possessed
and running only some four seconds
back.
At the 21-rninute mark Young began
overshooting the berms and losing valuable time. As a result Smail was able to
reel him in and take the lead, quickly
Verde Valley Motorplex
Cottonwood, Arizona
Results: April 13, 1997 (Round 1 of 8)
MOTO 1: 1. Lance Smail (KTM); 2. Mike Young Jr.
(Hbg); 3. Shaun Kalas (Hbg); 4. Spud Walters (Han); 5.
Ty Davis (Kaw); 6. Scoll Myers (ATK); 7. Billy Binkley
(KTM); 8. Robert Naughton (KTM); 9. Brad Hagseth
(Han); 10. Oestry Abbott (KTM); 11. Mike Healy (Han);
12. Drey Dircks (Hon); 13. Brian Roth (Hbg)i 14. Shaun
Peralta (Han); 15. Scoll Stillmock (Han); 16. Danny Hart
(Hbg); 17. Steve D.ew (KTM); 18. Kevin Knox (KTM);
19. Troy Kalina (Suz); 20. Zoch McKinley (Hon); 21.
Gordon Wa,d (!