Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127852
get off the corn ers. But it was my best d a y at Peo ri a , that's for su re." we got beat. I felt rea l good and cou ld go anywhere on the race track. In my opinion, [ wa s fas ter than him almost everywhere, but I needed more on th e fron t stra ight. But I a in' t com p la ining. We'll get 'em next yea r." Defending even t ch a m p io n A ndy Tresser came ho m e thir d aboard his Aupperle Construction /Harry H offman /BSM Motorsports Wood-Rotax , arguably an adequate and respectable defense of the title. The Ca lifornian did what he could, running at the front from the start and for a time hold ing a sizable lead ove r the advancing Kopp and Parke r. Bu t when th ey d id fin ally co me, there was little fight left in"Tresser, who adm itted that the hea t a nd humidity sapped more o ut .ofhim than he had ho ped it wou ld . Stilt w ith Parker and Kopp go n e, T r e sser h ad more than enoug h of an ad vantage on the rest of th e field to cruise the remaini ng 17 laps to the finish and land on the pod ium for the second straight yea r. "I'm not bummed," Tresser said . "I was making too ma ny mistakes early in o ne an d tw o, a nd I thou ght tha t if I could ga ther 'em back up, th en 1 cou ld attack. But the heat go t to m e. We ju st nee d to train har der next yea r. [ still love comi ng here." Fourth we n t to the hardest- w orking ma n on the track, Total Con trol Racing's Kevin Atherton. The 26-year-old Mich iga nder had a long day, to be su re, cras hing in his heat race, and then s tarting fro m the penalty line in his sem i a fter s w itching mo torcycl es . A therton wa s forced to come from outsid e of the third row in the main ev ent, and w as a mere 13th after the opening lap . Fro m there, he seemed to be turning a mo ng th e fastest laps on the race track as he cu t through the pack like a wedge, picki ng up the fo u rth position ju s t as Co rbin Racin g /R&R' s Ric h King d ro pped off the pace with igni tion problems on lap 17. Athert on then put it on cruise for the rest of the race . Like former factory teammate Parker, A therton was disappointed with his resu lt. "I was really mad , because i had . crashed e ar lier, but that m istake might've been good after all, because all day long th e (production ) ATK didn't have a good motor, and the Wood bike did;' Atherton said . "At the last minute, we made the decision to use the Wood bike, so I could pas s 'em on the straight. [ just got held up ba ck there. I ca n do better than fourth at Peoria, but hey , I did two 'one-ha nders' off the jump." S ta n le y pu ll ed th rou gh to a respectable fifth, having done little more th a n ge t pa ssed all race. Th anks to a qu ick start, ho w ever, the Wash ingtonian , who has now appare ntly fou nd a new home in the Gardner Racing stable for the rem aind er of the year, didn't get passed much, as solid ridi ng kept him near the fro nt for the dura tion of the 25lapper. . "I'm happy: ' Stanl ey said . "I faded a little bit, but not too bad . I just could n' t (Left) Andy Tresser rode a slroog (Above) Kevin Alherton came up from a 13th place start tc finish a 1- 8 0 0 . FA S T HOG / Moroney' s Ha rleyDav idson's Dav ey Cam lin fin is hed a s u rp ris ing s i x th, a he a d o f Te am Undo / Dona hue HD' s Bre tt Landes, TCR' s Will Davis, Ha rt Racin g' s Rex Fish er, and Deeley Harley-Davi d son' s Stev e Beatt ie. Lyn ch Ra cing /Beale PeterbiIt' s Pau l Lynch wa s 11th, with Ga rd ner Raci ng /Wal ter s Bros. HarleyDavidson' s Dan Butl er fini s hi ng 12th over Mayfield Brokerage' s Steve Mayfield, H-D Central/Frontier H-D /Fred's Speed & Sport rid er Dale [enn em an, and former AMA 600cc National Champion Mickey Fay. Bartels' Harley-Davidson's Johnny M urphree, King, and Eogines . O nly' s John Hl eb o III ro und ed ou t the field. With the series eclipsing the halfway mark, a nd the th ree-race "he ll week" underway, Davis still holds a solid 22point advantage ov er Parker , 207- 185. Atherton ga ined points on the leader but lost gro und on Parker; Atherton is thi rd wi th 166. King is fourth with 143, and Cantlin now has sole occupation of fifth place wi th 117. race and was reward ed with a spot on the podium. hard-earned fourth. (Below) Series po ints leader W ill Davis (21) battles her e with Bre tt Landes (41) and Steve Beatlie. Davis ended up eighth . HEATS Fisher grabbed the holeshot in the first of the four 1O-lap heats, followed by Je ff Ann en , A th erton and T'resse r. Atherton moved around Annen to grab second a nd se t off in pursuit of Fish er, while Tresser made his way to th ird . The top three then bega n to move away from the field , with Tresser pr essuring Atherton for second as the pair skidded into turn one on lap six. The pair tangled, an d Atherto n suddenly lost control and threw his ATK into the bales off tu rn two . He wa s up q uickly, and wa lked away as the race continued . Tresser then blasted by Fisher going into turn one two laps later and went on to take a convincing win , as Fish er held on for second. "I d idn't get the best of starts, an d I do wa nt to apo logize to Kevin (Atherton ) and his team, because I kn~w they