(Left) Ja ke Holden (20) beat Kurt Hawk
(26) In the 250Cc A maIn at the Cast le
Rock IT In Wash ington.
(Above) Sean Li ght (E4) won the 125cc A
TT main at the fIrst race of a t hree-race
Lab or Day weekend in Castle Rock,
Washing ton.
25+ A: 1. R"d'M "y Cmier
( K"rM); 2. Rul>,. G...IJ ,;un (H o n); J .
.'11
Rich.rd Robill.Y (J Ion ); 4. Jam" Drake (Kawl; 5. Keilh Bowe n
m
(Ie
Thf).
25.. B: t . Da~1I Rw J ".. (H nn ); 2. C ha d Brywn l H em) ; 3.
Dave Hom (Suz); 4. SteveMoon.> ( Han) ; S. KIMn Black (K;aw ).
25-+ C: I. kIT)' Com!>!; (Yam ); 2. J-1- o..h.n'TnI' (SoL); 3. k ff
H..ud ...n (Su z); 4. Cuby Sk.l~ (( Io n); 5. Jdf Rkh.:y OCiw),
30.. A: 1. Rodll('y Ca rriCl' (KTMl; 2. Richard Rob iNon (H o n);
3. Jam"'$ Drake (Kllw ).
JO.+B: I. Da vid FaniiI (laM ); 2. Chi>d Bty!iOft (H on) ; 3. StI!'VC
MOOf'l'{ Hon)
.
JO.+ C: 1. Jnry Comb:< CY"m); 2. Jef Rieh q (Ka w ); J. Te rry
f
Blake (K1"M) ; 4. 14ffit.3 Mllltol (K"rM); 5. Steve ]3COb:i{H on}.
'
m
35-1-: 1. !>avId J'arri s (KTM ); 2. I-Ia rry Wal ls (Hun); 3. 'terry
BWr.co (KTM); 4 . Alunen Akaydin (H on ).
4l.l+: 1_~" n Mo".... ( Ka w ); 2. C
"'"ClI' C..mpbrll (Ht",I; 3.1"'trn"!'
GIft>fl (Ka w); 4. l 1.1lT)' 6.lilt»' (Yam); 5. David VicnI ()(a w ).
Fisher flawless at
Castle Rock n
By Clay Light
,
......
....
ClJ
.g
.....
U
o
36
CASTLE ROCK. WA,AUG, 30
Oregon's Rex Fisher rod e an abso lutely fLtwless
race to win the Expert mai n event at the eigh th
roun d of the No rt hwest Dealers' Champion ship
Series during the Mount SI. }lelens Mot orcycle
Club~ sp on so rcd IT ilt the Cilst le Rock Fair gro u nds . The St.'al>On's ~nd-Iargest tu rnou t of
Expert rid ers we re on Mnd (the hugest bei ng
th e se as o n o pene r), in pre p arati o n fo r t he
u pcoming AMA Na tiona l Hot Shoe Series dou ble-h ead er.
Three heats\were ru n, an d Mickey Fay, Jeff
Ann en , Eric Rickma n, Beau A. Brown and Jaso n
Enderson scra mbled for po si tio ns in h~a t one,
which (as wou ld all three heats) wo u ld tran sfer
the top th n.-e to the final. Fay, Annen and Rickman finished one, two, three and went to the
main .
Fisher, Christian Vernon and roo kie Expe rt
Steve Arnd t finis hed. first thro ugh th ird, respectively, in the seco nd hea t. The third hea t, in
w hich five of th e ~ e v en r id ers he ld Na tional
num bers, placed. De l Schnitz er, Ryan An derson
an d J.P. Simonsen into th e m ain . Kop p , Troy
Rose and Ron Waters final izf'd the lineup, being
the top three from a lone semi.
Fishe r, the pol~ sitter, gra bbOO the lead at the
start of the 12-rider, 15-lap finill, leading Annen,
Verno n, Fay, Kop p and tht! rest of the fidd in to
the d ogl f>g. With each ta p, Fisher inc:r
eased his
leild over Annen, w ho in tu rn had a similar margin over seco nd-year Expert Vernon until a pileu p - triggcn.--d by Wilters, and thilt also scooped
up Anderson and Sc hni~r - brought t h~ action
to a halt.
The single-file restar t tig htened things up a
bit, as Fisher's once-la rge lead had now eva~
ra ted to a wheel's length . Ann en was on Fisher's
rea r w h~1, and the tw o riders rem ain ed that
way to the checkers. Third pl ace went to Vernon, who did il cred ibl e job ·of hold in g off th e
ad vances uf ve teran rid ers Simonsen, Fay and
Schnit7.er.
Matt Gomez won the 600cc Pro-Am class for
the seco nd consecutive n ig ht , beati ng Tod d
Hagmann and fello w Ca liforn ia n Jeff Gabhart
for the honors . Ga bhart lat er storm ed back to
w in the 250cc Pro-A m final. finis hing ah ead of
Gomez and Robert Rosie.
Yama ha rid er Eric Wt"issler w on t.he Open
Twi n A main in an un usual ra ce in which th e
en tire front row was sen t to the penalty area for
jum pin g the gun. This gave the seco nd- row rid~
ers th e ad van tag e: Yama ha rider Weissler and
Tri u mph~ mou n ted Tim Mit chell fini shed first
and seco nd , respectively. Mik e Harri tt , Dick
Sl us h~ r and Tod d Tracy, all co mi ng fro m th e
pen alty area, were third thro ugh fifth.
Res ults
so JR: 1. Eric Brown; 2. Roby Ha yrock; 3. }l'ff Still
SOSR: 1. Ch ri,. Cd...r ;"; 2. Tyler Sd w(f; 3. Mid_·J J.-. ru;o n.
h
60 A : 1. Andy Fa y (Ic.,w ); 2. Mark Stu d e ba ke r (Ka w); 3 .
Timmy Haycoc k (KiI w ).
110 A: I. C hris wene( HoI\); 2. 50:00h.f Vernon (H on ); 3. Nkk
'
ST·110.,.."""'T); 4. M" tt ('......1"7 (Hu n); S. T im Rid... l>1 Jr. (HUll),
1
110 OT)(; 1. Nick ~llns (Suz); 2. Mati Co rnu (Ho n); 3. Jerry
H.. n.......... (Ho n); 4. Ti m KiekctU ( Hon); 5. J "~'Dl'> Elbll {Ya m }.
125 A; 1. Chrill Waite (Hon); 2. Chris Meade ( Hon); 3. Jan.od
St . ("",,",,,,in (H u n); 4. 0 ..1 Pnw "l1 (K"w); S. Ch "rl.'"tIn ...... Ilwr (RbJ ; 2. Jeff A IUlC' (Rbr.I; J. Clllu na n Ver"
non (ATIO; 4. I.P . Simon.'ICIl(Hon); 5. M,ck,"y Fay (Rtx) .
Waite, Ligh~, Hawk crash
Castle Rock n
By Clay Li ght
CASTI.E ROCK, WA, AUG.29.
Honda CR pilot s Ch ris Waite, Senn Ligh t and
Kurt Hawk w~re th~ winn~rs of tht;' 80, 125 and
250cc A main event s, respectively, at the fir st
race of the three-race Labor Day weekend IT at .
the Castle Rock C1ub grounds.
Wai te , who h ad hi s hand s full with Nick
Sellers and Scooter Vernon in the 80cc DTX
class, rebounded from the loss by charging past
Sell~rs and Vernon in the 80ce A main to net a
win ahead of Sellers, Vernon, Califom inn Matt
Gomez Jr., an d Tim Ricketts Jr., who roundt"d
out tht> top five finishers.
Ligh t, who S<'ort"d his fourth d istrict wi n of
the sea~n in the l2Sec A main, was in th e right
place at the righ t time wh en class points leader
Jared St. Germain crasht>d co ming out of turn
four on the opening lap . U gh t gra bbed the lead
and never looked back, put ting K.., wa sa ki riders
Brad Smith an d De l Powell well behind hi m.
Smith scor~ st!OOlld, ahedd of Powell, wh o wit h
t h ird not ched his sea so n-be s t p erform ance,
ahea d of Cha rles Jones and Jac(lb Currey .
Ha wk 's 250cc A-ma in win came after a spirited cha rge through t raffic after t he Pres ton ,
Washington, rider initially started poorly. Hawk
first had to ov ertake Jake Ho lden, wh o enrlie r
ha d won t he 2S0cc DT X cl ass, b u t Matt
Schweitzer wou ld narrowly e:.xige a tirin g Hold en
for the win. Holden held on ror sl!COnd, ahead of
Schweit7:er and d istri ct champion Eric Beers .
Na tiona l number 49, Chris Fitzh ugh, posted
wha t was his best District 27 IT perfonnance of
the season af ter a win in th e 12-rider, I S-lap
Expe rt main event. Fitzhugh held off a mu lti·
tu de of advan ces from seve ral rid ers en ro ute to
th~ victory, the last be ing from J.P. S.imonse n
late in th e race. Fitzhugh held tough under all of
Simonst!n's adva nces to net the top p<1yoff ah ead
of Simo nse n, wh o had to overcome a third-row
start . TIUrd pla ce we nt to Del Schnitzer, w ho followed. Simonsen thro ug h traffic to also overtake
Tr oy Rose for the p osition. Rose ran seco nd
thro ughout most of the race and finished fourth,
ahead of Ron Waters and Eli Price.
Jeff Gabhart, one of the ga llery of Californians on han d , won the 250cc Pro-Am main eve nt,
w here he beat Matt Schweitzer and Matt Go me z
Sr ., w ho had ea rlier wo n the 600cc Pro-Am
final.
Results
c..rrid
50 JR: 1. Eric Ilro wn; 2. R" by Il a yu-.;-k; J. Jef Still; 4.
f
Kanen; 5. Jo rdan Sl Germain.
50 SR: 1. Cl,"~ C elo nc; 2. Jan'" Goml'Z; 3. Chant..1Still .
60 A: 1. Timmy H aycoc k (KIlw); 2. Ma rk SNd.. bah'l' ( J(a w); 3.
C"hri~ (",·I" ri ,· ( K.. w); 4,R n"l\l..m 5d m illl "!" (K4 w).
SO A: 1. Chris Waitt" (H on) ; 2. Nic k Sd k l'3 (Suz); 3. Scooter
VC'n\Oft (Hem); 4. Matt Gamez (Hon); S. T,m R>eItcttD (!ion).
80 DTX: I. N ick ~11 .. 1'5 (Suz.); 2. Scoc ter Ve rnon (H o n ); 3.
ChriJ, Wait.. (H un) ; 4 , Jt"I"T)' Hansen (Hnn); 5. Tim Rick.·!bt (H" n).
125 A: 1. SNn Ughl (l Ion); 2. Brad Smith ()(aw); J . Del
ell (Ka w ); 4. Charlcsltmt'3 (Ya m ); 5. IM'Q Cu m.')' O-Imt.-z (Yam); 4. Todd Ha~lTUonn (Suz).
PRO- AM l\OO: 1. M"tt Com t'7 (ll;tx); 2. T"dd H agmann (Rtll; ;
)
3. J.....h Cu-"'~ (Rill.);4. l'e-le Met ... 1f (Rt::d .
EX; I. Chri s Fitzhugh (Rtx) ; 2. J.P. Si mo nliCn (Hon); 3. IJcI
SChnl lzcr (Rbr.); 4. Troy Row (Rtx); S. Rtm Watc!'5 (Rtx ).
row-
Fortner fastest at
Variety Riders Hillclimb
By Bud Northru p
n..
OITAWA, AUG. 31
"Fast" Andy Fortner conti nued. to live up to his
nicknam~ as h~ claimed h is third straight fast
time in District 17 Hillclimb at the Variety Ride rs rac e ju st wes t of O ttawa, Ill in ois. Kevin
Tilson and Lloy d Haas also had good days, as
each picked up two class wins on the 13o-foot
hill .
Fo rtner 's wi n and Fas t Time came in the
lar gtc>St class, th~ 500cc class, where he posted a
come-from-behind w in. His first-round rid e of
3.769 seco nds p laced him in ni nt h po siti on a t
intermission , but he unleashed a pictu re-perfect
3.100-second ru n in the seco nd round , flying his
CR500 high over the- top to takt> the- win and set
the fast time. His time wasn't closel y cha llenged
in the SOOce class , as Bill Paid er came the closes t
wit h a 3.245-scco nd time on hi s Honda . Lloyd
Ha as cl ai m t"cl th ir d in 3. 287 se conds o n his
C R5{K).
Kevin Tilso n took his first wi n on his hotrunning Triumph twin in the 750cc class . Haas
set the time to bea t in th e first round w ith a
3.68S-second ru n on his Kawasaki t ri ple, followed by TiI~n wit h a 3.705-second ru n. But in
second~round action, Tilson blew the res t of the
class away with a blaZing 3.361·second bla st
hig h over the hill to take th e wi n. H aas cha l ~
lenged hard on his trip le, card ing a good 3.427
sc:''CQnds , an d Kaleb No rt hru p was close be hind
him w ith a 3.462-s econd tim e o n his brother
Jason's H-2-powered Ho ndasaki.
T ilson's second wi n ca me in th e Open 4S t~ok f' Exhibition class , w he re he put his Triumph over the top in 3.296 seco nds for the win,
bes ti ng Ka le b Nor th r up on h is Tr iumph .
No rt hru p 's 3.402-sccond ru n was just enough to
edge Eric Sieh, w ho ca rd ed a 3.403-seco nd run
on his BSA.
Haa s pi cked up his two win s in Exhibition
action. l-lis first came in the Open 2-Stro ke class,
w he re h e ro d e a CR SOO borro w ed from hi s
cousin Luke Haas to a 3.161se cond w inning time, ju s t
edging An dy Fortner's 3.180~
se co n d r u n on his CR 500 .
Kaleb Northrup took third in
3.283 second s.
The sec-ond win for Haa s
came in the one-ru n shoot out
class for the top 1(J riders of
th e day, called the " Kin g of
the Hill." Kaleb Northrup set
the time to bea t earl y on wi th
a goo d 3. 208-second time but it woul dn 't la st , as he
w as beaten first 'b y Bill
Peider's 3.163-seco nd time on
his Hon da , and then by Haas.
who d e liver e-d t he seco nd fastest time all da y: a 3.123-second high flight of!
his cous in's CR500.
Resul ts
s...nn
50 AlfI'Q; 1. Rubert
(Suz); 2.ltandy Wil liall\5 (Yam ).
8S YTH : 1. Bill M yc~ (Hon); 2. On n Myers (Hun); 3. Ik:ck y
Wi lhOlIT\!l (KiI w); 4. JU5h n H ,w,,. (KIlw); 5. Da niel Boys (H t"')
200: I . Ryan P..M'..on (I-I
on); 2. Zl eh Paidl"!" (" aw); :\. Sn lll
Slu..-ts lKd w ); 4. Dill SL j" o I" n); 5. An th.. y Del l.. rt (Ya m ).
u
m
250 : I. Anthon y De Ha rt (Hon) ; 2. Brent S lew a rt (Yam ); 3.
C h n t Crow l.,. (Ho n ); 4. Andy Fortne1" (Suz ); 5. ROl4 And ...rsc n
(H on)o.
400 : 1. ~ rry C hri" l (Ydm ); 2. Md re Sta m m (Ya m ); J. Steve
Sh ai n (Ya m); 4. Dou g Cam pbe ll (!-Ius); 5. r s w Hi llard (Yam ).
s uo: 1. A nd y For tn e1" (H o n); 2. Bill Paider (Ho n ); 3. Llo yd
HOI""lHonJ ; 4. Ern: Stdt (Hon); S. D avid p..mgo ( Hon).
7Sfr 1. "" Yin T i l""n (T ri); 2. Ll oyd 1-1.... 5 ( K.. w ); 3. ""I,,'b
f'.n, 3. 100. (Hon ).
Costello conquers
Carlsbad OTHG MX
By Ch ri s Sanchirico
CARLSBAD,CA, SEn 6
Pro Valve p roprietor N ick Cos tello utili zed his
man y hou rs of Carlsbad Racew ay exp~rience
and motored his CR2SU to 1~ 1 mo to wins, do minating the very competitive Over The Hill Gang
Ov er 38 Expert class . On a hot and hu mid day ,
Carls ba d li ved u p to it s repu tation of being
notorious ly ro ugh and slick, bu t Cos tello was
very determined and woul d not ~ d enied the
overall on the day.
.
Moto one sa w Cos tello rock et his ma chin ein to the lead , with Grcg Green, Paul Nce:.--dlcs
and Rob Townlev in tow . Cos t~ lIo s~m~ to
know all the best lines, keepin g a very fast pace,
as Gree n and Needles had to wick it up to stay
,
with the lead er . Costello had the "C rlsbad Frt.'t'-'
way" section d ialed as hc p ropelled his bike
uph ill, gaining breathing room with each lap.
The figh t for second was torrid , as Needles wa s
putting intense pressu r e on Green , sticking a
w heel in wh er ever he co u ld . Mf"anwhile, all
alone in four th position wa s Rob Townley on his
very clean '98 KX25O, and he would later finish
in tha t position. Up front, Cos tello was in com~
plete control of the lead positiun and took it to
th e checkered flag with a four-second advantage , Needles d ug dee p and upped the pressure
on Green, laun chin g his bike out of the hairpin
left turn leadin g to the up hill. The two wer e side
by side guing up the hill , bu t Green was able to
maintain the inside line - an d control of second .
Needles mad e several m ore atte mpts to pass,
but Green thw ar ted his every atte m p t; Gr een
claimed secon d and Ne:.'Cdlcs th ird .
Custe llo ust!d his catlike reflexes and thrust
himself to the head of the class once agai n . Needles wa s able to gra b seco nd , wi th Rbland Baily,
Gary Schied ler, Green an d Townley in hot pu rsui t. Needles appeared to be in position to cha)~
len g e for th e lead , but o n la p two he had a
mishap whi ch left him in the back "Of the pack.
allowing Green to work h is way into seco nd
place. Costello was tt"d no time in moto two; he
picked u p th e pace and rode a flawl ess race un til the las t lap, when he clim bed up the rear
w heel of a lapper and almos t went d own . However, Cos tello had a co mfor ta b le lead and
regained his co mposure to secure thE' victory. .
Mean while, Needles was mounting 3 comeback
and gave a valia nt _
effort to work his way bel
d
up to third place, but he could not catch Green,
