Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS AAfA AMATEUR DAY (Left) Bill Johnson (321) leads the way in the Junior Vet Novice class at Glen Helen Raceway. He's being chased by Frankie Castro (25), Jim Hart (13) and eventual race winner Ron West (1). (Above) Justin Buckelew was the class of the 80cc Expert ranks, going 2-1 in securing the overall win. By Robert Van Damme SAN BERNARDINO, CA, MAY 9-10 ustin Buckelew made the trek from New Mexico and came away with a come-from-behind win in the 80cc Expert class at the Chaparralsponsored Amateur MX Day at Glen Helen Raceway. Some 600 riders over two days descended at Glen Helen to tackle part of the track that would be used for the AMA 125/250cc National Motocross Series. The ani y part of the course that the amateurs did not get to ride on was the new downhill section called "Mount St. Helen." Even without that section, the course was over two and a half minutes long per lap, with sand sections, multiple elevation c11anges and sweeping bowl turns. Karl Scanlan and his crew paid attention to keeping the dust down and grading sections to ensure multiple lines so that racers would have a chance to strut their stuff. Buckelew took the holeshot followed by Mike Young, R.J. Thompson and Sean Hamblin. Young would take over the top spot at the completion of lap two as Buckelew went down. "I came through a section they had just watered and I didn't keep my head and 1 kind of went too hot and slid out," Buckelew said. He was able to keep the motor running with the clutch and remounted,to stay in second. Thompson would make a couple of mistakes, allowing Hamblin catch up and pass for third. Chris Gosselaar, comirlg down from the jump past the start straight, would slam hard into the soft berm and bounce past Thompson: Hamblin stumbled and fell back on the third lap, moving Gosselaar and Thompson to third and fourth, respectively. Buckelew, after going as far down as five seconds to Young, worked his way back up - only to run out of laps. "I got a little overexcited and made a few mistakes and Young was riding well," Buckelew said. Young took the win with Buckelew, Gosselaar, Daniel Blair and Thompson rounding out the top five. Gosselaar got the jump in the second mota and led into the first turn. When the pack settled down and came back into view, Gosselaar was giving chase along with Young, Buckelew, Thompson, Levi Reid and Hamblin. Buckelew passed Young going to the outside of the left-hander that led to a triple and Buckelew would clear it while Young, going from the inside, could only double. "I got about a fifth-place start and got behind Young by the end of the first lap, then I got around him," Buckelew said. "Then Gosselaar and I started to put in some hard laps and pulled away from Young." The leaders were forcing each other's hand, making mistakes along the way. First Buckelew passed Gosselaar going up the north section, only to lose it when he came up short on the downhill double. This mistake dropped Buckelew back about three seconds, but he used the triple to make up time. Buckelew was closing in when it was Gosselaar's turn to come up short on the downhill double, allowing Buckelew to set him up on the inside on th.e next corner after the tabletop jump. "There were some braking bumps and on our 80s it was a pretty good clip to make it over and you had to catch a gear right on the face, or at least I did, and I had trouble catching that gear that time when Gosselaar went by," Buc.kelew said. The orth County Yamaha/R&D Racing/Fastline Brakes-sponsored Buckelew held on for the win, followed by Gosselaar, Young, Reid and Blair. Ron West, sponsored by Westworks Auto Body, took top honors in the Junior Vet Novice division after bouncing back from a fall in the first mota. Robert Werschey jumped out of the gate first and held on down the straightaway going into the tight right-hand V-turn that leads to a tabletop jump. As they came ba.ck into view coming out of "Bud's Creek," Werschey held the lead over West, who was already applying pressure. West went to the inside just past the finish line and outdrove Werschey to the next tum. Sitting in the third was Mike Altenhofel, followed by a hard-charging Dan Cunningham and David Rinkrnan. West went down in a rut trying to negotiate the tabletop / tum jump, giving the lead back to Werschey. West remounted in sixth with Altenhofel moving up to second. Werschey had an II-second lead going into the "Cooper Jump" while Cunningham was showing his front wheel to Altenhofel. The pressure would prove to be too much for Altenhofel and he soon relinquished the spot to Cunningham. West, meanwhile, moved by Brad Pietro for fifth. And he wasn't stopping there. He would march onward, getting Rinkrnan in front of the bleachers and then by former Jet Ski racer Mark Bessine. AI tenhofel then stalled his motor and was slowed long enough to let West move into third. Bessine also got by Rinkrnan for fifth as they came by the finish line. Meanwhile, arm pump would start to playa roll in the outcome of Werschey's race. "Ever since I moved up. from my 125 to this 250 Yamaha, it has been tiring me out more," Werschey said. The lead was six seconds as the leaders went into the canyon with the big bowl V-turn. When they came back toward the sand pit by the tower, Cunningham was right behind Werschey. Werschey, though, would continue to hold the lead as they came by the finish line to see the white flag. Cunningham, however, was moving from inside to outside, corner to corner, trying to force Werschey into a mistake. And it worked as the fatigue in Werschey's arms eventually forced him wide and almost into a hay bale. That let Cunningham go by as Werschey was forced to shut off. To make matters worse for Werschey, West also got by and started to close in on Cunningham. As they came toward the finish line to take the checkered flag, West dived to the inside on the final turp. and jumped past Cunningham for the win. "There was the small jump to the inside on the final corner that was not being used," West said. "Everyone went to the outside most of the time, and I think he (Cunningham) thought he had the race won. So he went to the popular outside line and I took the inside line and jumped'past him by about a foot." Third went to Werschey, followed by Altenhofel, Bessine and Rinkrnan. Werschey was, once again, in front when the second moto started - this time with West, Cunningham and Bill Johnson right behind. The top three would quickly pull away from the pack while West searched for a way around Wer7 schey. First he tried the outside through the whoops, but had no luck. Then he went up the inside on the start straightaway, but there was still no room as Werschey cut back to the inside. The pass finaJly came when West got a better drive up the north section leading into Bud's Creek. Werschey then had his hands full trying to hold off Cunningham through the whoops, and he ended up going too fast and overshot the berm, letting Cunningham by for second. Then there was a battle for third between Werschey, Bessine and Altenhofel as the trio circulated within three bike lengths of each other. Bessine tried to pass Werschey at the same spot where Werschey had overshot the previous lap and they came out of the comer side-by-side. Werschey, who was on the outside, went down. "I was tired and we touched, but it wasn't intentional, just racing," said a smiling Werschey. West would take the win and the overall, followed by Cunningham, Bessine and Altenhofel. Josh' Cavanaugh took top honors in the 250cc Novice class. It was Turbo Reif with the early lead over Akira Sunada and Jeremy Santoro. Reif, however, would go down after the first lap while trying to hold off Sunada. Then Sunada held the lead for a lap before he, too, had problems - stalling the motor just after the finish line. Santoro then took over the lead with Cavanaugh right behind as they started the final lap. Cavanaugh used an inside move after the double jump and passed Santoro for the lead, taking the victory with Santoro second and Reif third. In the second moto, Santoro grabbed

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