Ezeri ns won the 250 overall
on the nig ht with a 1 ~2, Pocoro bbtl bagged second w ith it 3-1,
Jackson took thir d with a 2-3, and
Ho fm as te r rounded out fou r t h
wit h a 6-4.
Povolny won th e ·125cc Pro
overall with 2-1 mo to finishes,
Jackson too k second with a 1-3,
Pocorobba netted third with a 3-2,
woolsev took fourth with a 4-5,
c
lOd FJ;rin.. rounded out the top
five with a 7-t
Jackson won the Pre Cha llenge series with five po ints mo re
than Ezerins, and Povolny moved
into thi rd w ith his str ong 125cc
fini shes. jackson pocketed $2000
for the ser ies w in , Eze ri ns too k
ho rne a coo l 51000, and I'ovclrw
snagged $500 .
•
Re s u lts
(Left) J.P. Simonsen battled th rough
Irafflc 10 fi ni sh sec on d behind Je ff Annen
In I he Exp ert main evenl al the Casl le
Rock IT In Wash ington.
(Above) Dan Stanle y won th e Expert main
event at th e Cast le Roc k TT in WaShington.
'f' / W ; 1. ' u k R"wlI: (Cob); 2. Lou i~
Gcilmlcldt (Cob); 3. DomU\ick I...::~ (Cob);
4. Dl-n·k Mu.. hlba u~... (Co b); 5. Br..nd"n B...".
rwtt(C"b).
!IO JR: I. TAdTYl'\'l:'lJ (50.u:): 2. Tyler SmuJ..
c es 11"101'1); J. Dmick Wlutn.. y (~%); 4.l)ylan
M..rtin (Su ;t); s.J" "h R.Kl litfe (Su%)
c
.
l
80 S R: 1. Rilnd y t.llm kln (Su ; l; 2.
C..meron Colby {Y~ m l; 3. Midwcl W,'nJricQ
(Suz) ; 4. ].u.o n Row e (Suz); 5. Cuey Sol ece
(H u n),
25+: 1. Jun iur J.,.Io.t>n (H lln); 2. I" ff Bl"h " (Hu n); 3. J..m....
Hl'i lman (IC,"w ); 4. Tim Ban":! (K"w); 5. Tom Drrlz.ko1 (Ki w) ,
35+: I. To m Drctzk.ll (K.\wl: Z. Roy N.dzgcr IK.\w l; 3, Ron
Maut"r (Sou); 4 . B.....t GlIrLtnd (Suz); S. c.rhiord Wud (HOi'll.
125 PRO: 1. Jim Puvolny (Suz); 2. Jun inr J...ok
...... (Hun); 3.
Anthony f'ororlMy(K.. w) ; 5. Eron E.urin5
(Suz).
125 B: I. Lon Fr.. nb (Ho n); 2. Kt-vin &U (Ho n); 3. No rm
Larooif'(H on ); 4 Jim Ovt-n.-n (Yllm) ; 5. stuhr 5rlIa •.ft.r (J(. w)
125 C; I . WAJ e }OOnllOn oc..wl; 2. EJdifoRoN.i (lion); 3, n m
Gundenon (Ho n); 4. SMwn SeMele!"(Suz); S. Ridwrd Sch ul tz
(J(.a w).
VINT : 1. Jon Hyd e (Htm); 2. Juhn Mt'rl!.lIn ( K'TM ); 3. Chril.
F. 1al (Yam); 4. Richard Couviorl(KAw);S. ChId Stw w ; 3. C.al!Wft Jtie..
miNi (Hon); 4. Milch Mo.nk (Y.m); 5.JiI"",,, Brrtbnd CSuz)_
Annen, Simonsen clash
at Castle Rock IT
By Cl ay Li ghl
CASTLE ROCK, WA,SEI'T. 3
Nati ona l number 40, Jeff An nen , kicked off the
Washington AMA Speed Wee k with a narrow
win in the Expert main eVE"I1t at the Castle Rock
IT. An ne n fcnd ed off ri va l J. P. Si mon se n ' s
advances all night long, starting off during qual.
Hying 3n d e ndi ng 3her 15 13p s of w he el -to ·
wht."t"l compt>tition in tht> ma in t!'wnt.
The combi ned Expert /Pro-Am ma in even t
lined u p 12 topo-rank ed riden; from the No rt hWe!'It and Ca lifornia , and was the ~t ti me this
seaso n tha t the Expert and Pro-Am rid er s had
r u n co m bined . W h il e An nen and Simonsen
spe nt the m3jority of the ra ce squ a bblin g ov er
the first-pl ace mo ney, it was a no the r pa ir o f
Expert rid ers · Paul Iwanaga and Bea u Brown wh o fon o we d clos t!' bt!'hlnd . Bro w n , a rookie
Expert, b.ltt lcd his W3Y thro ugh the Pro-A m rid ers aft...r a poor start to cha~ down Iwanaga, but
time ran ou t for th e 16-ye3r.old w ho ha s had
several imprt'!osive rid ~ in his sho rt mo nth as an
Expe rt . Annen narrowly ed ged Simo nsen for th e
win, while Iwanaga round ed ou t th e podiu m
~pots ahead of Brown.
.
George Prindiville, bes t known for his sho rttrac k p roWe55, rode his Yama ha to his seasonbest TT performance, earnin g the w in in th e
600cc P~Am clas s; he finis hed behind Expert
Brown b ut 3he ad o f Rota x rid ers Joe Len z,
Joshua Cu rrey and Ton y Fox.
Suzuki-mounted Robert Rosie d id a do ubleclass d «imatiun after hie" first won the 2SOcc ProAm final and then th e 250cc A main event. In
the 250cc Pro- Am class, Rosie bea t Currey, who
normally rompctes in just the 600cc class. Rosie
the n beat a full-sized field of rid ers in the 250cc
A mai n, fending off a Llte-race rally from Kurt
Hawk. Hawk ini tially start ed off poorly, bu t the
former minicyd~ sta r d05t"d in ori Jake Holden
and battled with h im fo r seve ra l la p s bef ore
movin g on to d\a..ooe down Rosie. Rosie won by a
wheel3t the finish line over Ha wk an d Holden.
Chri5 Waite abo tool home a two-c1dss win
tally . W3ite beat Scooter Vernon 3nd Nick Seuers in the 80cc A main, tht!'n ca~ back two races
later to win th e 12. ee A main ah ead of Jared St
S
Ge rmain , the tra ck 125cc class cham pion, and
Orego n" Sean Light.
Aa ron Wes ton battll..>ct a slippe ry track and
the loo ming ad vanCt"S of a trio of Californians •
Steve Ha lt Many Weisler an d Joe Carrerra - to
win the Open A main.
Results
'f'/ W : 1. J.D, Bea 2. Alex Bergman.
ch;
SO JR: I. Rob y Ha ycoc k; 2. Eric Brown; 3. Jorda n St. G~lNin _
SOSR: t.J"t:ub Gcrn.. l..
60 A: I . And y Fay; 2. TlDImy Ua ycuck.;3. ldOIrlo.Studebakt.
JilO A: I. N ick St-Ik-n (!>u 2. Jerry tU~ (Han); 3. And y
z);
F"y (Hon).
.
80 DTX: 1. C'tuU W. il\" (Hun ); 2. Scoutt"l"V.-mon (Han); 3.
Nick Sdkra (Suz).
125 A: I. C hna Wa lllr (Hon); 2, J.lr'fd St. ~In (Hon); 3.
Sdn Ughl (Hon).
_
250 A: I . Robl"rt '""-it (Suzl ; 2. Kurt f-W...... O-lon); 3. I""k.,
HoId; S. Fnonlo. Mar ",""
tHonl .
'. \0;1
flOO EX: 1,]I!'ff AnnI!'n (W.RJ; 2. J.P.
IW.IWg4 fRl.d; 40. BN u Bn_ n (W·Rl.
~
se\-'en~ ract's.i n--ei ght -da ys-of
racin g even t whic h sta rted off w ith the Labor
Day wee ke n d tripl e-head er leading int o th e
Washing to n Speed Week kicko ff. Matt Go mez
was relegated to seco nd, ahea d of Josh Currey,
but Gomez did convincingly come back to beat
Ga b ha rt and Ton y Fox in th e 600 cc Pr o-Am
fina l.
Sta nley, who won the first of the tw o Expe rt
heat races, d id a simil.1r dis.a p~ring act short~
Iy afte r the !'Ila rt of the 15-lap final . Second -year
Expert Vernon r3n seco nd to Stanl ey, followed
by John Hlebo (who won the second hea t race>.
Eli Price and Jeff Annen. Stanley" lead proved
to be untouchable in only his second appea r·
anre here of th e 1997 season, "While Simonsen,
who initially started off in !>evtc'nth, and Kopp,
who ran 11t h o n th e o p eni ng lap, forged
throu gh the tra ffic to reJttgate many hig h runners back several spots. Simo nsen's cha rge netted the rid er from Cas tle Rock, Was hing to n,. a
fin ish ~o n d o nly to the rider with the most
wins during th e 1990s (Stan ley) , but ahead of
V~m o n . Vernon did an amazing job of maintaining his positio n despite the looming p resence of Kopp , thtc' fourth- pldce finis her. Hiebo's
fifth·place rid e net ted him his best-ever finish at
the facility, while Price, Annen, Steve Mayfield,
Pa u l Iwan aga, a nd lon ny Kopp filled o u t th e
top 10 finis hers .
Hond a-mounted Dan Kirk convi ncingly wo n
two classes during the Amateur portion of the
event. Kirk won the Over 30 250cc A main and
. then came back to beat district champio n Vince
Holt in the Over 40 A final. Oregon's Bob Ingle
finished thi rd in his only a ppearance here this
year.
Results
P/W: 1.J.""", Bt- dI; 2. Ty l.... M... di!'~1 G.lrrid. KA
a
nrn.
50JR.; I. Ruby J-U~ 2. Eric BI"OWI\; J..e-rid< K.nen.
SOSR.; 1, J;I('ObCoon'ln;2.Ch",C~.
&0 A: I. Tlmmy H.1ycoclt (lCaw); 2. Nidi. ~ (lCaw l.
AO DTX: 1. Ch ri~ W.i ll!' (Hun); 2. 5rontPr Vnnon : 2. M.n Gomez (Y.lm); 31""h CUrTf'y (Hu n); 4 RU ''I'1 R.... io- (Sud; 5. M.. tt Sch w \"itzl"l"
R
Njd,. SM1f'n,
(I-ion).
•
600 PRO-AM I. Mitt Gomez (RbI); 2. Jdf Cabtlm ( K.aw); 3.
T.....y "'" (Rbi); 4 . Man. Patwnon (Yam) ; 5. Bob Monn (Y . m) .
O rES A: 1. F.ric Boom (Rtd; 2. M.ark P.ttPTVl n (Y.lm); 3_
A..nJn Wneon (l ion) .
Jl). Of'i:N: I. ~ Ha.ll (Yam); 2. Allen Monnville /.Rbl) .
<40+: I. Dan KU-It (Ho n); 2. VIDa Holt (Hon); 3. Bob lnp
(Yam) .
.
O PEN TW : I. 'oh n Proto (Yaml; 2. Eric W('i51t"1" (Y.m); 3.
M ikt' Houritt (Yam).
EX: I. Dan StanMoy (Rtx); 2. J.P. 5irtl<>Nft< (Hon); 3- ChftsQa ..
Vl'I"I'I(m (ATK); 40 ]nl" karP (Rbll; 5_John H1I"bo(R~.
Valdez vaporizes
the competition at GFI MX
By Kyle C. Par so ns
PERRIS, CA, AUG. 30
The 10th and fina l round of th tc' GF I Sa tu rday
Night Molocm s!'I Series proved to be one of the
most exciting, as Osca r Valdez co mbin ed spet.'d
and ('o n ~ i s t en cy to tak e the overall in a very
com pt.>titivc 125 In tennedia te class .
La u nch in p; h is Su zu ki into the fi rst tu rn
ahead of th e rest of the pa ck, Vald ez kne w tha t
th e first few la p s we re crucial, as Br y a n
McCavran , Du sty Walt er s, C lenn Brans on and
And reu Labra dor p ursut'd agg rt!'!>sivt!'ly. A few
bobbles ea rly on by McGavran allowed Vald ez
to bu ild u p a fo ur~econd cus hion. These bob-hies forced McGavra n to rid e d efen s iv el y as
Wa lters closed to wi thin striking d istance. Walters , however, had problems of his own, as Bran·
so n and Labra do r were aU over him, looking to
get dr ound before a closing Mark T ill y and
Miche l Constanti no u also got close enough to
challt!'nge. Havi ng al ready d isp osed o f Mer le
Zeiders, Tilly and Constan ti nou had a m ajor
head of steam as both riders tried to recover
from bad sta r ts _ Up fron t, Valdez's lead was
being cut into as McCa vran settled into a furi ous
pace . By lap five, McGavran w as all over
Valdez, as TIlly 3nd Constan tinou closed to challenge Branr.on and La b rad or . La p s ix saw
McGavra n ta ke th e lea d fro m Va ldez in th e
rhythm !>t.'ction, whiltc' both Tilly and Constantinou were able to d ispose of Labrad or. Branson ,
ho wev er, would not relinquish his positio n as
easiJy . Tiny briefly go t aro u nd Branso n on the
start straight. only to allo w Bran so n an d Con stantinou ba ck aro und in the n~xt turn. These
three rid ers battled on, so metimes three abreast
in tht!' turns . Their mo me n tu m bro ught the m
right up to the rea r fender of Wal ters , wh o had
settled into a d istant thi rd a s Vald ez a n d
McGavran ~trel:ched out their lead . Immedia tely
u p to tht!' challenge, Wal ters altered his speed,
kee pin g the approa chi ng freight train in check.
Walt e~ too k the white flag microseconds ahea d
of Branson and Tilly, wh o had ma naged to get
back around Constantinou. With half a lap to go,
Bran son made the pass on Walters as Tilly and
Constan tinou fell back as a res ult of some seri ous ba r-bangin g. McGav ra n too k the win , fol lowed by Valdez some four seconds back, wi th
Branson , Walt ers, Till y and Co nstantinou in
tow .
The seco nd mota aga in saw Valdez snag the
hol eshot , w it h Bra nson, Till y, McGavran and
Cons tantino u Sl.'1: on th e task of ru nnin g Va.ldcz
down. Constantinou got around McColl-Tan and
set his sights on Tilly, wh o wa s all over Bran son .
Once again, Branson was in the fam iliar position
of fendi ng off Tiny and Constan tino u, as Valdez
had put a tfve-scco nd cushion between himself
and the battle for second thr ough fifth. Do wn
the start straight, Tilly looked to the inside of
Branson, ma de the pa~s and took Constantino u
alo ng wit h him. McCa vran wou ld d o the same
on the nex t lap in th e same spot. By lap fou r,
McCa vran had closed on Tillv a nd Co nstan tinou, and had made h is m o ve on the uphill
!'Iwet"pt!!'. McGa vran looked to have the drive to
get around Constantinou w hen his front wh eel
wa s ve ry b riefly slowed by so m e th ick d irt.
McGavran tried this move again on the next lap,
only to have his momentum slowed in the !'lame
spo t. Upon getting a good look at McGavran 's
fro nt wheel two laps in a row , Const a ntin ou
camt> up alongside of Tilly on tht> ~ta rt ~ traight.
Go ing in to the fo llowing turn, Constantinou
used the in." id e line to make the pass on Tilly,
who Clme right back to force the action in th e
nt>xt tum and g~t back around Constantinou. All
thtc' while, McGavr.an, ~ t ill in hot pu rsuit, almost
went by Constantinou in Till y's wake. A las tditch effort by bo th McGavran and Co nsta nti ·
nou to get by T illy around th e uphill swee pe r
was m et w it h a brilli an t block .pass by Tilly.
Tilly held on to thtc' !>t'Cond po si tion , approxi.
mately sev en seconds behind a very fast an d
I~
consiste nt Vald ez.
Results
50 (oI~) STK: I . Johnn y J..ld~ord ..; 2. Bl'l!tt Down~; 3. Ch ris
G.u.>fy.
50 (7~) S'J1C: I ,Jl"T'I!'mYJohnson.
t\OFIT : 1. Kyll!'Rllhn nn d p
110 BEC'i, 1. W...."'" Pl"'i,-k; 2. J.....1lly Juhr-m; 3. Ori. Joo nckh;
'
01. a...y H iggi"", 5. Miky Ovt-rma n.
t\fI NOV : 1. 0.,.... JMb..n ; 2. M1
iDip Bru~II ..; 3. Brand"n
Hi.......
6OINT: I.J u,,"nWnl"it mln.
flOFIT : I. W....UlO I\oid. .
RO B/W: 1.JrTl"my ~t.1ocI!'n...
M INT : 1. 8r ..nJ..>n~ 2. Mk-I< y Criffin
SI MI"": 1. Rich il!'O wn..: 2. Ty.....o..nmn; 3. T)"'O" ~
tI!'r; 4, Mo y C".nHin; S. BrandolOSuddrn.
125 BFG : 1. Ky. Kr.u.w; 2. Mik Hur ... 1h; 3. Ky..n Fmrn-.
4. T.). Ber. rid; 5. 8ubby 1Ib..J_lrt h.
125 NO v ; I , Rud y Roo rigul!' z; 2. Ju.tin MilIt"I"; 1. Crais
M
