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/127860
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Yama ha rider Darren Vokes wa s seco nd an d M ich ae l Wa rre n was again
third .
"I did n't loo k back un til the fourth
lap," Palumbo sa id . "I wis h I would 've
loo ked back earlier. I thou ght a couple
of guys were rea l clos e. I do n't kno w
what happened to them."
On Saturda y, Palu mbo conti nu ed
where he'd left off o n Friday, jumping to
the front of the 26-rid er Amateur Ughtweight G rand Prix field , which ran w ith
the Amateur Hea vywe ight T hu nderbikes.
Palum bo had company in the form of
Honda VFR500-mounted Stephen Scott,
wh o stu ck wi th him and nearly went by
o n tw o occasions w hen Palumbo got out
of th e saddle head ing up th e carouse l.
Scott was a consta n t p res~n ce until his
machin e failed him halfway through the
seventh lap, making Palu mbo's life eas i0
er. Patri ck 5.11 nis was well back in second , wi th Bruc e Ulleru p third.
The first red flag of the meet came in
th e Amateur Middleweight End u ra nce
aft er Ga rett King had taken a comfo rtable lead .
O n the restart, King flubbed the start
and Erich Hirsch took the lead; Jas on
Pa lm e r in second a nd Pe ter Douvris
were a lso in front of Kin g. Th en Kin g
made his move, taki ng one spo t per lap
until he wasI n th e lead e nd ing th e
fo urth. He'd stay th ere th e rest of the
way, pulli ng out more than five seconds
before th e lead sh ru nk to 2.67 at the end
as King d ecided to co nserve his tires for
later in the weekend .
Of the two wins, tha t was the ha rder.
"I had to play catc h-up," King said.
There was also a little catching up in
the Ama teu r Heavyweig ht Supersport
race, but only very little. King followed
Dwight Mitchell for a lap before taking
off and build ing a su stained two- to 25second lead.
On the fourtli la p , Mario Martin
began to make his run, passing Mitchell
along the way, bu t he cou ld n't sustain it
and King had his second win of the day,
this one by abo ut 2.5 seconds .
Jason Palmer wa s third after passing
Mitchell two laps fro m the end.
King had to wait until the fou rth
race on Sunday befo re getting his final
w i n , T he South O r a nge, Ne w Jer sey ,
rider moved to the head of the 4D-rider
Amateu r Middl ewei ght Su p e rs p ort
field o n the first lap and tried to disa ppea r. It loo ked like he migh t, wit h a
lead of over four seconds - then Palmer
mad e a ru n a nd closed to just o ver a
second ,
.
O n the fina l lap, Pal mer wa s poised
to p ounce. on ly to run in to a pa ir o f
la pped riders enterin g tum 12, the final
slo w left lead ing o nto the fro nt straight.
King go t throu gh the slowe r riders bet ter and his d rive took him to the w inner 's circle by about six bike len gths.
"I wa s tr ying to take it easy," Kin g
sai d ... It's jus t cl ub racin g a nd I don't
wa n t to take myself o ut or someone else,
but at the sa me time .:"
Mario Martin loo ked li ke he was
goi ng to di sappear fr o m th e I 8-rider
Amateur Unlimited End u rance fie ld ,
especially once the field .hit heavy tra ffic
on only the fo urth lap. Bu t the traffic
d id n't help and he was sucked in and
cha lle nged, thou gh never passed . First
David Dalzell took a run at him; then it
was Palm er's tum. Nei the r made much
of a den t in his lead and he took his first
win comfortably. Pa lm er was se co nd,
a nd Gepha rt wa s cre d it ed w it h third
w he n Dal zell was penali zed a lap for
jumping the start.
Martin's next appearance was in th e
Amateur Heavywei ght Superbike class
Palmer (Ho n); 3. ' ohn Dalzell (Hon); 4. Peter Douvris
aion); 5. Woodrow Gephart (}ion).
EX SITW: 1. Thoau.s Fou rnier (Due); 2. Ridurd
Eyman (Dud; 3. Timothy Kisie~kj (Suz); 4. Kyle Zaz:ri.
(H on); S. John Abd (Due).
EX UW CP , I.j.rry WOOX! IDucl; 2. MMk R.ynold.
( H o n ); 3 . R.ich Nt"'I"n.an ( Uon); ~ . Phi lip Dig rrgono
n
.
-..,
el01
(Left) Eric Wood
poses with his
number-one plate
and the AMA
Horizon Award.
(Right) Wood
leads Charles
Caulnard (8) In
Expert
Middleweight
Supersport
action.
(Yam); 5. Jf"ff Wood ( Kaw ) .
EX M IW S/BK: 1. Eric Wood ( Ka w ); 2. Charl~
Choui n olfd (Ho n) ; 3 . C raig 8abcock (Hon); 4. Ma rc
Un dcrtrcrg (Hon) ; 5. Jclfft')' Cu rtL"