Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Superfas t New Yorker Paul Ca rpenter wo n four of the six 250cc BStock and Modified motos but could only muster one title. The Kawasaki-mounted Carpen ter was on top of the Stock category when it was all over, with a 1-1-3 score ahead of New Mexico's Keith Johnson (2-3-1) and Okla homa's Jacob Martin (32-2). But in the Modified class, the Suzuki-mounted Martin ha d the best week, go ing 2-1-2 to top Carpenter's 1-4-1. Colorado' s Travis Ril ey wa s thirdfastest wit h a 3-2-6 score for the week. The biggest story of the week may have been the 125cc Schoolboy (12-15) showdown between rising eastern sta r Travi s Pastrana, a Suz uk i rider from Maryland, and western rival Billy Payne of Team Green, from California. After 1800-C0llect/Cernic's /Fox /FMF/Pro Art Works-backed Pas trana pu t away the 125cc Stock class wit h a three-mote blitz to b ecome, at ' 13 years of a g e, th e yo ungest w inner ever in the class , it w as time to do battle with Pay ne, Georgia's Tra vis Walker, and Califo rnia's Bryan MeGavran in the Mod class. (New Mexico' s Iva n Tedesco and Kentucky' s Ben Riddle were second and third overall in the Stock grou p). But in the ve ry firs t moto , Walker and Mc:Gavran wer e eltmina ted for the week after a scary crash sent both to the hospital. Neither rider was seriou sly injured, but their depa rtur e left the entire spotlight for Pastrana and Payne. "I think that Billy definit ely got more creative than he was back in Vegas (in the spring), and he was pretty mu ch the most competition I had out there aft er Walker and McCavran were out ," Pastrana said . "I knew it was going tobe him or me." Still, a first-mot e mist a ke left Pastr ana a ll the way ba ck in fou rth, and then, on his way to a convindng secondmoto win, he hit a tree with his foot and was badl y bruised . Pa yn e rod e in beh ind him for second , meaning th at Pastrana needed a win for himself and a thi rd-place finish by Payne in the last moto to get another title. Pastrana got a bad star t and came from mid pack to catch Payne for the lead with a couple of laps to go. Then things got interesting. Pastrana seemed to slow the pace down in the hopes tha t somebody would catch Payne and come between them. It was a strategic mo ve on Pastrana's part .. and by the end of the race the top four spots had seriously tightened up. "I go t the hol es ho t, a n d I kn ew I d idn 't have to beat Pas trana, and sinc e he wasn't up there I th ou gh t I would ju s t tr y to w in th e mo to ," Pay ne explained. "He caug ht me and I got a little nerv ous and fell d own , so I though t I would just let him win the race. 1let him go bu t he wai ted for me the whole race taking my lines, roosti ng me, cutting acros s the track an d brake-checki ng me doing whatever he could to take me out. Toward the end of the race , he slowed us down so much that the gu y in third caught us ." "I was reall y just trying to hold my position on the last lap: Pastrana said . "I thought Billy would d rop back a little bit, but I gu ess he sa w the third-place guy (Ben Riddle) and cam e back up. " "Ridd le actually passed me but then he fell down, so I got ba ck by him," Payne co n ti nued . "O n the la st lap, Travis had another good lead , but he went in the back and waited fo r me again, so I just went by him again, but in the last corner we hit and I went down." "Billy passed me on the next-to-last corner and I really wanted to get back by, so I mad e a 'move to the inside and we bo th wen t for the same line and he (Over 30) class. Florid a's Earl May was seco nd with a 2-2-4 score, while seve ntime Loretta Lynn's win ner Kevin Foley was thi rd with a 6-5-2 sco re . Illinois' Andy Stacy and Kent ucky's Rodney Carrier were next. Finishing sixth overall was Hond a-mounted Hand, who lost wh at looked like a sure win in the first moto to a flat rear tire and ended u p going 13-3-3. "I was a little bit disappointed that I lost to Kevin, but at the same time I had fun," said the amicable Whitley w ho, like Walker, .rides a Yamaha. '1 guess [ kind of made u p for it by winning the Vet class. I had a couple of bad sta rts there, but I mad e it up through the pack each time. It wasn' t easy , either, because there a re so me fast guys ou t there. As far as the ot he r class goes, lappers go t me in the firs t tw o mot os, but Kevin - deserved the wi n beca use he beat me ha nd s down in the last mo to. He rod e excellent." The upset o f the w ee k ma y h a ve .co rne in the Se n ior (Over 40) cl ass, w he re long time Ind iana am ateur hero La rry Witmer knocked off pere n nia l favorite Fre d Ve r tucci. The Suz uki mounted Witme r, w ho helped annou nce races between his own motes, reeled off a pair of wins in the last two motos after a Vertucci win in the opener. "I really trained and worked ha rd to accomplish my goal, which was to win this title," said Witmer, who was making his first Amateur Nationa l appea ra n ce since 1981. " I go t all thre e holeshots w ith my Eric Go rr-tuned cylind er, and the rest was a case of just (Above) Justin Buckelew asserted his superiority in the 85cc Modified and Stock but one moto, a moto classes , winning in which he st ill fi nIshed second. (Right) Brock sellards was happy to be able to ride alter be ing sick before the event . With his two wins - t25 and 250cc A Modified· the 19-year-old leaves Loretta Lynn's with a total of five career titles. all wen t down," responded Past rana aft er taking th e exciting win, ahead of Kawasaki rid e rs Riddle and Josh Woods. Payne got back up for fou rth too Iow a score to keep Pas trana from th e cha m pionsh ip. But Team G ree n called foul on Pastran a - not for the lasttu rn incid ent, but ra ther for w hat they perceived as Pastrana's late-race blockin g man euvers. A prot est sig ne d b y Payn e was handed in, w hich arg ue d that Pastrana's tactics were unf air and unsafe. The AMA refe ree a t th e event rul ed in Payn e 's fa v or , tho ugh an appeal was immed iately placed by Pastra na and Suzuki. The AMA should ru le on the race"somenme before the end of September. The recent feud between Vet Amateu r h eroes Kevin Walker and Billy Whitley leaned Wa lker's wa y this year when the popular Tennessee resident got his second Junior (Over 25) title in three years with a perfect score. "I know that the last three years it' s been eit her me o r him , so ] gu ess you could say I knew what to expect," Walker sa id o f his riv al. "We've 'bee n real close the las t tw o years, and we ea ch won one comin g into this year. Unfortunatel y, he got taken down twice and had a bad start in the oth er, so we still didn't get to see who was fastest, but I did get the win." Third overall behind Walker and Whitley (2-2-2) was Ohio's David Hand, who ran third all three times. Whitley rebou nded from his Junior loss to win all three motos of the Vet A

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