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EVENTS
HIlMA/Speed &Sport National Vintage Motocross Series: Round11
(Left)Grayson Hart catches air
on the way t o on e of three
cl ass wins at tile AHRMA
National MX round In Eugene ,
Oregon.
(Below) Joe Case y (3K) leads
Hart, Dallas Nyblod and the
rest of the Over 30 class.
Casey finished second overa ll .
By Cla y ligh t
EUGENE, OR:JUNE22
58
ra yson Hart' s thre e-cla ss win
tally was the icing on hi s 33rd
birthday cake a t the com pletion
of the 11th rou nd of the American Historic Racin g Motorcycle As soci a tion
Na tional Vinta ge Motocross Series, held
at the Euge ne Motocross track.
Hart 's birt hdav celebra tion escalated
throu ghout th e day as th e Hillsboro,
Oregon, rider finalized his three-dass
s w ee p o f th e 125, 250cc and Over 30
Expert classes, repeatin g hi s feat first
accomplish ed a t last yea r' s event, an
AHRMA West Regional MX.
Riders in attendance for the event which also doubled as the 12th annual
Steve McQueen Memorial - came from
seve n western states: California, Washington, Oregon, Id a ho, Nevada, Utah
and Montana, as well as British Colu mbia and Alberta, Canada. All on hand
got a taste of normal track and weather
conditions for this time of year in the
Northwest, both dry and muddy (in the
firs t and second mot os, respectively).
Th u ndershowers mad e a quagmi re of
th e 2-mile track, but di dn't d ouse the
riders' ent husiasm.
While Ha rt got hi s cake and ate it
too, it wasn' t without several inspiring
come-from-behind rides aboard a pair of
1974 Hond a CR Elsino res. Such was the
case in the first 250cc rnoto, which, like
. in ma ny of the races, ra n combined with
interm ed iate riders to sho rten the day' s
program . On many occasions, Oregon's
joe Casey has been a thorn in Hart 's side
- both locally an d at the bigger events and was again tod ay. Casey collected
the holeshot hon ors in the first mo to of
the day, the 250cc Expe rt / Intermediate
dash. Although it took Hart less tha n a
lap to get arou nd Casey, Casey did log a
spirited performan ce that netted him a
second-place finis h behind Hart, after
holding off the rider that had for so
many years enjoyed the success that
Hart is now maintaining, Washington's
Dallas Nyblod.
Nyblod put his 1974 YZ250 out front
in th e sec on d moto but, like Ca sey,
Nyb lo d co u ld n ' t h old off Hart's
onslaught for much more than a lap. By
midmoto, Hart was long gone, placing a
huge deficit on the rest of the field of
riders, who in this moto were treated to
some slippery conditions than ks to a
huge amount of precipitation.
Hart, tho ugh, forged on through the
slop to net the first of his three wins of
the d ay . Nyb lo d h eld off Casey's
advances to finish the day seco nd overall with his 3 -2 placin gs.
CZ-mou n ted, C harlie Richard son ,
who made th e trek fro m Vista , Ca lifornia, was not far off the Expe rts' torrid pa ce, thu s en a b li ng him to take
hom e first-place hon ors in the Intermedi ate portion with a I-I sweep . Second
overall wen t the way of jon Morgan, a
Seattle rider w ho used 2-3 consistency to
beat local Honda rid er Brian Swish er (35), Ossa -mo u nted Rick Ball's 7-2 rid es,
an d fifth overall finisher je rrv Winkelbau er (5-4).
•
A bo u t the o n ly tim e Hart too k a
holeshot wa s in the first combined Over
3O/ Over 40 Exper t-class mot o. Casey,
w ho lo omed i n Hart' s s had o w once
aga in - and would all day - ran seco nd ,
ahead of Canadian Chris Castles, Rickman rider Charlie Brown, and Morgan,
lea d er of th e ad joined Intermediate
class . While Hart quickly left all comers
behind, Nyblod found himself buried
mid pack, but by lap two had picked off
Ca stles and then Brown to close in on
Casey.
Nyblod , though. would get no further ,
as Casey fought off his advances to grab
second to Hart. Following the trio of Over
30 Experts was Brown, the Over 40 Expert
winne r, and California n Robert Poole.
Poole charged throu gh traffic to close in
on Brown for the nu mber-two spot, followed by Castles, Craig Farnsworth and
CZ rider David Aleckson,
Casey le d a mudd y second moto :
Hart and Nyblod we re hot on his rear
wheel, bu t the firs t to get arou nd Casey
was Hart and his po ten t Honda . Neith er mu d nor rain nor Casey no r
Nyblod cou ld stop Hart in this mot o,
either Hart 's seco nd ove ra ll win came
as easily as the first one did. Casey collected second and seco nd overall, ahead
of Nyblod (3-3).
CZ ride r Neil Giertsen won both of
the co m bined Over 30 Intermed ia te
motos, relegating Morgan to the runnerup position (a spo t in which the Yama ha
rider w ould e ve n tuall y fi n is h three
times on the day) ah ead of John Ulver,
Ulver finished second in the first moto,
but a fi rs t-tu rn cra s h re s u lt ed in a
fou r th- p lac e fini sh, for th ird overa ll
ahead of Tyler Muttersbach and fellow
California n Christian Ot ero.
Poole scored the Over 40 Expert win
ab oard his 1971 BSA 500 a fter ge lli ng
arou nd Brown late on th e fina l lap .
Brown, recovering from a severe hand
w ound , nelled second over a ll (1 -2)
ahead of Castles.
Ha rt's co m memora tio n of his .33rd
birth day was complete after he hand ily
won bo th of the 125cc Expert motos .
Whil e w in ni ng by a large margin in
>
both con tests, Ha rt d id have to overco me a poor six th- p lace s tar t in th e
muddy second moto.
Perhaps the best non -Northwest performa nce in the class came from Steve
Parker. Parker dispelled the theory that
"Ca lifornians can't ride in the mud" by
grabbing a lead in the seco nd moto and
running up front until Hart picked him
off. This set up one of the da y's best battles between Parker and Casey until the
two tangled, and Casey went on to nab
second behind Hart. Third went to Steve
Gibson , who, with superb 4-3 showings ,
took hom e third, ahead of a pumped-up
Parker.
"Yeah, I was going for it," said Parker. "He (Casey) mad e a good move, and
I tried to take it back and we tan gl ed .
You have to ride aggressively against
these Oregonians."
Honda-mounted jeff Pug h, who ran
up fron t wi th the Expe rt riders, scored
the Intermediate wi n after domina ting
th e fir st moto, then fendi ng off C urt
Reichin for the e n ti r e second m o to .
Third went to Oregon's Steve Kauffman
and his 3-3 placings.
j ohn LeFevre us ed pair of 196 7
Husqvarnas to add his name to a small
list of two-class winners. Lefevre fought
off Pool e , who wo n th e first Classi c
250cc Exper t m ot o, to win the overall.
Canadian Tommy Mcfar land and Neva da's jim Keeton each won Intermediate
mo tes, but McFarland was the overa ll
Mnner.
(~
a
Eugene MX
Egene, Oregon
Results: June 22, 1997
s r T S M N SOO EX: 1. Ron Fi~h (Ya m) ; 2. Chrili
Cndo (BSA); 3.
Famsworth (.\W).
SPTSM N SOO INT: 1. David AI«bon (CZ> ; 2. Jon
Morga n (Yam) ; 3. Tyler Mu tt rrsbach (cz); 4. Henry
Nelson ,"us); S. Neil Ciertsen (CZ).
SPTSMN 500 NOV: 1. Larry Beaty (Yam); 2. John
N_ly (H us).; 3. G uy H IU g O (CZ); 4. Stev e Mel.ean
,"us); S. D.tvid Sta rr (Y~.
SI"TSMN 250 EX: 1. Gra)"lOl'l HArt CHon); 2. DaILu
Nyb kxJ (Yam); 3. Jor Ca.wy (Hon].
SPTSMN 150 tNT: 1. Charlir RichardllOR (CZ) ; 2.
Jon Morsan (Yam); 3. Brian Swish er (Han); 4. Rick Ball
(Oss); 5. JerryWinkelbaucr (H on ).
S P TS MN 2S0 NOV: 1. I.W . Ca rv er (H on) ; 2.
Luanne Swisher (Hon); 3. Chris Poi tras (Han).
ems
SFTSM N 125 EX: I. C rayson Hart (H a n ); 2. Joe
Casey (H on); 3. Steve C ibson (Han) ; 4. Steve Pa rker
ilionl; S. Robert Bo