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/127858
EVENTS
Billy Payne
dominated the
Intermedi ate
ranks at the
open ing round of
the CMC TransCal MX series at
Glen Helen
Raceway In
Californ ia,
winning the 125
and 250Cc
classes.
By Tony Aless i
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT..7
ill y Pa yne powered h is Te am
Green /Pro Circu it /Team Thousa n d Oaks Kaw asakis to th e
overall wins in both the 125 and
250cc Intermediate d ivisions during the
CMC SunStar Sprockets Trans-Cal
Motocross Series opener he ld at Glen
Hele n Raceway.
Payne joined nearly 500 other racers
who were in attendance to be a part of
what has become a Califo rnia tradition.
Th e first Trans-Cal series s tarted 16
yea rs ago a t the inf am ou s Saddleback
Park a nd drew so m e goo d talent, as
Broc Glover and David Bailey battled
for the 250cc Pro honors, and rookies
Ron Lechien and Troy Blake tried to
show Jim Gibson the fast way around
the race track in the 125cc Pro di vision .
"This yea r American Suzuki has provided us wi th a new 125 and 250 to give
away, along with 12 GT bicycles for the
overall class winners: ' said CMC ra ce
coord ina tor Sandra Peters.
"We even ha ve the Fox chopper here
th is yea r, givi ng helicopter rid es above
the race track," sai d Mark Peters. "He
will go mell ow if you want, but he will
go off if you tell him to.·
Pa yne sho w ed hi s true sp ee d a nd
po tential in the first 125cc Intermediate
moto by not only winning his division.
which happened to be division two, but
by almost winning division one - which
s tarted a wave before his! The top 10
riders from each d ivision during the
first moto would transfer to di vision
one, or the contingency-paying division.
for thei r second moto of competition.
Ju st ho w fas t is Payne, any wa y?
Payne answered th at ques ti on in th e
opening moto by pulling the holesh ot in
d ivision tw o and s uccessfully passing
his wa y to second pla ce in division one,
o nly a few feet beh ind class-winner
Andrew Labrad or.
With the stage set, th e all-im portant
second moto looked to be shaping up as
a battle between 19 of th e best 125cc
intermediates and Billy Payne. With the
pressure on, Payne did not disappoint:
He put the familiar number 95 out front
at the start and wasted little tim e in easily ou tdi stancing the field en route to a
hands-down, runaw ay victory over
South African M ichel Const antinou,
Larry Turner, Labrador and ris ing star
Michael Collier.
Mini champ Ch ris Gosse laar made
the jum p from the m inicycle ran ks to the
125cc class and found the go ing to be
more bumpy than he expected after he
fou nd himse lf being bo u nced aro u nd
like a human tennis ball by some of the
class re gu lars. Gosselaar fini shed 10th
ove rall after posting a 5-11 sho wing.
Payne fo u nd the 250 cc class a b it
more challenging, with the likes of Constantinou stepping up to the plate. "He
says he can beat me," Payn e said. - I am
just here to r ide m y o wn race and to
race the track, "
Pa yne an d Constantinou did h av e
two all- o u t battles during both 250«
Intermediate m otos, but in the en d ,
Pa yne's cool demeanor and commitment to performance paid off with both
mota wins.
"He tried too hard," Payne said after
th e seco nd m o to. " H e is fast, but h e
made too many m istakes."
Like the b ig bikes, th e m in i ra nks
were stocked full of rising ta lent, fro m
the Pee Wees to the 80s. KTM Pee Wee
racers topped the charts in the SOcc (4-6)
an d (7-8) classes. Ky le Smit h, a 10month veteran of the Pee Wee ranks,
took his first-ever Trans-Cal victory in
the SOcc (4-6) class.
·We have bee n on th e fast track the
last 10 mo nths," said Mike Smith, Kyle's
d ad . "We have been to Tex as, Vegas,
Pon ca City an d Loretta Lynn's in our
fi rs t ye a r of racing. Kyle has s u r e
learn ed a lot."
Sm ith r o d e wi th a m at u r ity w e ll
beyon d his 10 m onths o f rac ing and
we nt on to a do ub le-mo to vict ory over
Du stin Pipes and Ronnie Goodwin.
Team Ac tio n racer Cole Seel y and
KTM suppor t race r Br yc e Te r z ia n
'faced off in the ol der (7-9) divisio n,
with Terzian co mi ng o u t the wi n ner
by way of a do u bl e - mo to vic tory.
Seely r od e h ard in b oth m o t os but
seem ed a bit off. "Cole' s been rid in g
hi s KX60 a lot" and he is ru sty on th e
Pee Wee," said h is fa ther, Jeff Seely .
Terzian and Seely to pped Myles Nail,
Billy Balles tero and David Medina for
the day's top spots.
Sean H ambl in had h is u ps an d
downs in the mini classes. Hamblin had
th e h igh s of a two-moto sweep o f the
80cc (14 -16) d ivi s ion o ve r th e FMFbacked Honda of Daniel Blair and Team
Yama ha 's Jona th an Sh imp. H am bli n
th en felt the lows of a crash-riddled
Supermini class, where he posted a disappointin g 8-3 for sixth overall, behind
Mi ke Blose, Chris Tocco, Ross Ga rcia,
Sh imp a n d r u n aw ay wi n ne r Mike
Youn g.
Ross Garcia, Dylan Lord and Mi ke
Blose were head-and-sh oulders better
than the res t of the field of the SOcc (1213) riders as the y simply stole the show
and ra ced amon g themselves for top
h o n o r s . In the end, Garcia s hi ned
bri gh ter and to ok his R&D Racing
Yamaha to a pair of moto victori es ove r
h ard-ch arging Team Green m ini ac e
Dylan Lord.
Jake Elkins used a pair of runner-up
finishes to score th e 125cc Novice victory. Vet racer Gary Del legatte was the
fi rs t- mo to w inner a fte r Sim i Valle y
Ka wasaki-backe d Sco tl Mumford
w as hed ou t and fell , while Mid Cities
Honda rid er Jeff Eid e pulled out all the
stops for a solid third.
Mumfo r d ca me ba ck w ith a
vengeance in the second m oto and posted a runaway victory desp ite bei ng hit
by rocks thro wn fro m so me unkn own
o rigin. Elkins once again finishe d sec ond and successfully sewed up the overall victory with 2-2 finishes over Mumford's 5-1 and Dellegatte's 1-6.
,
Yam aha had th eir bases covered in
the 125« Pro ranks, with th e Noleen YZ
of Jeff Willoh stealing th e show in the
class. Willoh used a sm ooth, error-free
rid ing sty le to pull away for a pair of
m oto wins over Tra vi s Pr eston a n d
Honda of Troy's Casey Lytle.
Whil e Willoh had an easy time in the
125cc Pr o cla ss, Spud Walters, on hi s
Ma rk Moore-tuned FMF Su zu ki, had to
put his nose to th e grindsto ne to ea rn
th e 250cc Pro victo ry . Ton y Amaradio
won the first moto after passing Lytle
early on, and then crashed when he
cased a double jump. Amaradio went on
for th e eventual win, w hile W a lt ers
charged fro m o u tsi de th e top five to
secu re second at the finish.
The second moto sa w Walters come
back wi th both barrels loaded and blasted away for the moto and overall victory over Preston and Lytle.
Career Novice race r Jerry Jetton came
out on top of the Vet Novice class after
two heated battles with Pat Monohan.
Jetton. who is competing in his seventh
season as a Novice, fi nished second
behind Monohan in th e first m oto, bu t
retu rned to take the overall by winning
the seco nd moto. Robert Field raced for
the first time since breaking his leg and
posted a solid third, despite feeling a bit
out of sha pe and somew hat so re from
his injury.
Joe Root continue d to show his abil ity to im prov e after a convincing victory
in the Over 40 Amateur class. Root, wh o
w a s la s t yea r's T r a ns-Ca l O ver 40
No vice cham pion, used good starts and
con sistent ridi ng to earn the class win in th e Over 40 Amateur class . Root topped
Steve William s and Ski p Cristy to win '
the class, and gav e credit to Jim O' Neal
for his support th roughout last year. ",
Glen Helen Raceway
San Bernardino, Californ ia
Results : September 7,1 997
SO (4-6): 1. Kyl e Smllh (KT M); 2. Dustin PipE'S
(KTM); 3. Ronnie G oodw in (Act ); 4 . Chance s.-t'1y
(Yam ); S. Andrew Iovino (lA"m ).
SO(7"): 1. BI')'C'l" Terzian (KTM ); 2. ColrSrely (A d);
3. Mvlrll Nail (A d); ... Bitlv Bal~ro (KTM ); S. Da,;d
Mitdtn...(Ad).
•
60 (0-8): ). Edward Htrrtng (K.1
w); 2. leff Alessi
3. Co~ Swly ()(.aw l; 4. Rhett Urseeh (Kaw ); 5.
Kyle Berpntz (Kaw).
60 (9.11): ). Mih A IP5'loi ( K.. w ); 2. Paul Purry
{KIIw); 3. Drt-nni5 Jorwn (K