Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS AMAIWESTERN FOUR·STROKE SOUND OF THUNDER NATIONAL MX SERIES Round 6: Grand Junction MX big wet muddy spot and I wash ed out and stalled it." Sm ai l then spen t th e nex t few laps trying to ge t his bike refired, whi ch he did aft er pushing the bike back into the mechan ic' s area . Th ings went from bad to worse for Sma il. Two laps later, Smail was out of the moto for good. "I was wicki ng it up really hard a nd m a king up position s when a rad iator hose vibrated off, and then I lost all th e fluid," Smail said . Hi ghland , who had climbed up to third, found himself running in second, while Healey was making a run through the pack to third after displacing Walters. Kalos was long since gone as Highland fought to keep second . How ev er , he w o u ld lo se that battle after overjumpi ng the finish-line jump and getting out of sh ape. Th is was all that Healey needed to scoot past the Husaberg rider and tak e seco nd . "I was fee ling really s tro ng in th at moto ," Highland said. " I m ad e o ne sma ll bobble after overju mp ing the finish area, and Healey was right the re. I'm By Don Schneider GRAND JUNCTION, CO, jUtY6 earn Nex t Mot o' s Shau n Kalos r ode h is Ru ss Fletcher-tuned H usaberg FC501 to th e ov erall w in a t round si x of th e AMA West ern Four -Stroke Sound of Thunder N ati onal Mo tocross Series, he ld in Gran d Junction. IMS's Mike Healey and Prem ier Mo tors ports' Robert Naughton joined Kalos atop the pod ium for their first time this season. By wi nning and taking full ad vantage of Lance Sma il's first-mote misforrunes, Kalos moves into the series points lead, albei t by o ne poin t, and becom es (Above) Shaun Kalos (46) w on both motes at the Grand Junction round of the Western National Fou r- Stroke Series and moved Into the se ries points lead. (Right) MikeHealey (202). here leading Shawn Highland, went 2-2 lor second cverau for his best fin ish of the season. one of only two rid er s in 14 ra ces and 28 motes - since the series' incepti on last 34 year - to net an o verall with perfect 1-1 m o to talli es . Kal e s joi ns d efend in g cha mp KTM's Sma il as the series' on ly 1-1 performers. With just two ro u nds remaining in the series, Kalos leads Smail 270 to 269 in the poi nts chase, so this series could . once again, be decided in the last moto. Pointswi se, Ty Da vis sits a di stant third with a 194-point accu mulation . Da vis was a no-show at this ro und b u t still enjoys a m od est seven- poin t cu s hion o ver Healey for third, w hile Pre mier Moto rspo rts' Rob ert Na ughto n holds down fifth wi th 158. The bran d -new track layout was put togeth er by p romot er Stacy Cook just th ree weeks p rior to the race . He had experienced a blockade for permits at his original site a nd had to relocate to thi s new location. The remote deser t area he e nded up with chu rned up a dust bo wl of immense propo rti on s. Fifteen bikes lined up for th e star! of the first mote, and the riders knew that ge tting a good jump was of high importance beca use of the d us t, Wh en the gat e d ropped, it was Kalos and his Husaberg getting that all-importa nt holesh ot. " I a m u sed to th e d e sert, co mi ng from Arizona, " Kalos sa id. "I normally clic k it into second gear for the starts. But it was so hard-p acked that I experimented with first (gear). Man, it really got me the jump I needed. The n I was ha p p y as the bike smoothly went th rough the gears and put me into the lead ." Smail settled into second, followed by Steve D rew, Billy Binckley and Shawn Highland in the thi rd - through fifth-place positions, respectively, while Naug hton squeezed insid e of Scott Myers for sixth. Spud Walters came up and tried to fit between Drew and Binckley, as Healey, Dustin Bloomfield a n d Destr y Abbott moved in on th e actio n as well. Trouble se t in ea rly for ATK's Scott Myers. Aft er ha vin g climbed his way into fifth by the seco nd lap , his ma chine started smoking while he was trying to keep Highland at bay. But befo re the lap was ove r, Myers pulled into the pits. "At the start, we were all bang ing pretty hard," Myers said. "Someo ne ran into my front disc bra ke a nd bent it. Then I was tryi ng" to ca tch H ighland when a rock came up and bro ke off the oiI-eooler line. I completely lost all the oil and she gave up." Meanwhile, up front, Kalos continued to lead, but Smail was right there. "Man, I could feel Smail there as he was pushing me real har d by laps two and three," Kalos said. Su ddenly, Ka los n o longer h ea r d Smail's KTM. "I was going to make a pass in a turn as Sha un went to the inside," Sma il sa id . "I we nt to the m iddle and there wa s a stoked to have th e opportunity to show eve ryone my po tential." "Shawn was rid in g a g reat ra r e," Healey said. '" co u ld n ' t m a ke very m uch time on him, but I kn ew this was his rookie season and he had to make some sort of mistake. I was glad 1 was close enough to capitalize on it." Kalos floated his Husaberg across the finish line wit h 15 seconds to spare over runner-up Healey, while High la nd finished a close third. Then came Walters, Naughton, Drew and Abbo tt. Scott Stillmock and Binckley mu nded ou t the top lO. In the second moto, Kalos again shot his big H usaberg into the lead , follow ed by Myers, Heale y , Abbo tt, Walters, Drew, Na ugh ton, Sma il and Highland. Walters wa s on the move until com-

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