Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS unci: Washougal Motocross Park MAXIMA WESTERN4-STR OKE NATIONAL M TOC O SSERIES O RS '. '. ! ~ (Left) Rich Taylor (30) grab bed the holeshot as the final moto of the 1997 AMA Western 4-Stroke National Motocross Series got under . way at Washougal Motocross Park . . (Above) Lance Smail (1) successfull y defended his National crown, putting together 1-1 moto scores to keep th e nu mber-one plat e on his factory KTM. By Don Schneider WASHOUGAL, WA, AUG. 17 TM Sportmoro r cy le . USA pil o t La nc e Sma il fin is h ed w ith yet ano the r perfect I-I moto tally and overall victory at the final round of the AM A/ M ax ima We st ern 4-Stro ke Natio nal Motocross series, which took place at the Wa5hou gal MX Park. . Husaberg USA-backed Sha un Kalos ca me in to the last race w ith hopes o f elim ina ting a five-poin t deficit for th e series title, and his work was cu t out for him. as he knew that o nly a I -I m o to tal lv ov er Sma il cou ld wr estle th e title away. It w as not to be, as Smail, who hails fro m Fed eral Way, Washi ngto n, used his hom e-state advantage to ga mer the championship. " I ju s t w asn' t on tod ay an d La nce w as," Kalos sa id, after ha ving a lessthan-perfect day, w ith 2-17 moto finishes. That performa nce ga ve him thi rd for the day, which was still enoug h to ga rner the runner ·up position in the series, ahead of Tea m IMS Honda rider Mik e Healey. The American Mot orcydist Associarionsan ction cd a no ther ep ic ba ttle in th e big-bore class, 40 MOT01 Chief AMA steward Ron Cranda ll tu rned the boa rd sideways, and AM A official John Welch d rop ped the ga te to start the "sound of th und er" as th e 33 ride rs d ropped thei r clutches, ATKI CrE Racin g Engi nes' Sco tt Myers g rab bed the ho leshot on his factory-bac ked 605. BBR' s Rich Taylo r had the ad va ntage going in to th e first tu rn, but he overshot it after he failed to ge t h is Husaberg slowed in time. Ta yl o r qui ckly ga thered it back up and carved in to second , w ith Healey, Smail, White Broth ers-backed Sp ud Walt ers and Prem ier Motorspo rt s-sponsored Ro be rt Naugh ton in tow . Kales, Steve Dr ew , Mikel Larson an d Mark Koehn rounded out the top 10 as they sped up the uphill. Smail wasted no time at all, thum ping h is way in to se co n d befo re th e famo us "Chuck Sun Jum p" ha lfway into lap one. Coming out or the trees, Smail was already in the lea d by five seconds, whil e Ta ylor sped pa st Myers in the whoops section for second. Soo n' after , th ey cr ossed th e g reenflag area, signaling a goo d start. Taylo r a n d Mye rs tr ied to lat ch o nto "Sn a ir Trai t " but seemed to lose gro un d earl y on. Kalos w as also on the move, displ acing Na ughton in the Co rkScrew Comer and then pressuring Walters in the tree sec tio n . Wa lt ers, who h a d won la s t year's even ts with a 2-2, felt Kalos pressuring him, and ges tu red him by. Waiter s im media tely p icked up o n Kalos' line s, a n d the d u o soon d ispla ce d Healey on lap two and pressed on . Lynn wood Ya ma ha I KTM 's Billy Binckley suffe red a poor start and was back in 17th, behind Carter Gurnee, Ben Shank, M ike H am ness, Grayson H art and Jason No rto n. But Binckley ma de a spirited charge to 11th halfw ay into lap hNo. (Below) No luck: Shaun Kalos (46) had a disappointing day. In cont ention for the title at Washougal, Kalos f ollowed upa second-p lace f ini sh in mota one with a crash and s ubseq uent 17th In moto two. He wou nd up sev ent h overall and seco nd In th e series final st and ings. . Drew , who came into the fina l round in seventh - one po int up on Bloomfield and two points up on Binckley - took a fall on lap two an d recovered in 15th . On th e same la p, Sco tt H ol as al s o washed ou t and tast ed th e Wash ou gal soil in a rig ht- ha nd knoll turn head ing past the pit-board area. Mos t of the dass thundered by before he could refire his Hond a. Kal os ja mmed p a s t M yers o n lap three, but had scant second s to try to dose the gap on Taylor. Kalos twis ted up the th rottle and began turning two seconds a lap faster, which gradually d osed the gap. It see med the newly acq ui red BBRof Taylor was fitting his forte, "Man, this is fun . I will probably do the series next yea r," said a pleased Taylo r. Walters was shadowing Myer s like a wild man as they railed the track wi thin feet of one another. Walters got the pass he wan ted so much going th ro ugh the ch icane at th e bot tom of the moun tain on lap seven. Their battl e pushed the m ever further from the Healey-Nau gh ton quarrel back eight seconds by lap six. H ea ley b ar ed do wn and u sed h is Worl d SODec-c1ass stamina and pressed on . He finally caug ht up to Myers with fou r lap s to go and passed him in the trees, and then Myer s ba red down and got th e posit ion back the very next lap in the same tree area . "I knew t need ed to go 5-5 today to move into 10th overall in th e se ries , so I w as n't goi ng to le t H ealey get th at posi tion," stated Myers. Kalos finally got his opportunity and moved past Taylor after the halfway signal, but Tay lor reta liated and the figh t was on throughout the rem ainder of the mot o: th e tw o exch an ged the position five times, w ith Ka lo s p rev a ili ng at moto's end. "I could hove p arked him se ver al tim es," Kalos said, "but I don 't like that kind of racin g. I mi gh t have taken u s b o th o ut, a nd I needed to wi n th ese motos, and I won 't sacri fice crashi ng to do it. I want to thank God for kee p ing me safe this series, and I hope to go out and win the second m oto." U p fr ont, th oug h , Sma il was absolutely gone. . "I cou ld see the m batt ling once in a wh ile, w hen th e tr ack crossed," Smail said . "I jus t kept my pace and m ade sure I d idn 't overrev it o r stall. I knew they we re in a hea ted battle, and I just cruised. " Bloomfield, w ho s tar ted d ead -last after cras hing in the first tu m , w as cer- . tainly on a mi ssion . He had pi cked off over half the class by the finish. He finish ed a respecta ble 13th, just ahead of Hart and Beal Baron at the finish . "I knew I needed every spo t I cou ld trying to find Binckley and Drew, since we are so dose in points," Bloomfield sa id. " I sa w D rew off th e si de o f the ' wh oop s and was st oked . 1 ne ver saw Binckley, though, so I will have to get a better start and beat th em both in moto two." _At th e checke rs, winner Sm ail gave mechani c Tom Moen a big thumbs-up. "Th is gives me some breathin g room in moto two," Smail sa id : "The pressu re is off a little now, but it's not over until the last lap of next m ot o , I ha ve eight point s on Kalos now ." Kalos crossed th e line some 10 sec o nds ah ead o f Taylo r. Wa lte r s took four th , wi th Myers, Healey, Naug ht on, Bin ckl ey. Gu rn ee and Sha nk ro und ing out th e top 10. " I ca u g h t th is rock i n m y m outh going up the uphill on lap tw o, behind W alte rs, " H eal ey said wi th a lau gh. "Every tim e I sp it it out, it wou ld hit the front of my helmet and come rig ht back in . I trie d to bit e it, swallow it, bu t I could n' t. I had a tou gh time breathing." " I jus t cou ld n' t ge t my rhythm go ing to p a ss H e al ey, " Na ug h to n sa id. "I . sho ul d have passed hi m several different times, so I need to think about what . to do in moto two." MOT0 2 Tayl or go t the m ot e-two holeshot, but th is tim e Smail ha d it goi ng an d bu mped Taylor as they round ed the first tum. Naugh ton stepped it up a notch in th ird , foll o wed closely by Myer s and Kalos. Healey ha d Walt ers in close qu arters as they ca me o ff th e d ownh ill launch, Larso n wa s followed by Bloom' field; Gu m ee and the Terry's Cycle Center-backed Hamness ea rly on . Ka los was the first to m ake a mo ve up front. He outjumped Myer s over the Ch uck Sun Jump for fourth and, on the ne xt stra igh taway, p asse d N a ug hton over the Hillsbo ro Humps for th ird , still o nly h alfw ay into lap one . Sma il also charged into th e trees in pursu it of Taytor. On ce again, Smail emerge d as the leader, ove r Taylor. . Then, havoc broke loo se on lap two for Kale s. "J u s t after th at s h a r p rig h t-ha nd kn oll turn head ing toward s the up hill, my fro nt end w as wa shing out a little," Ka los sa id . " I g ra b bed a ha n dfu l o f throttle an d the rear end came around so quickly, it p itched me off. It took too lon g to start it, and by th en they were tong gone." I

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