Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS CRC 25THANNIVERSARYM TOCROSS O LosAngeles C u tyRaceway on dropped in ro u nd two , o nly to co me over on the pack as they headed dow n th e start straight. Labrado r, Gosselaa r and N e itzel argued ove r the lead , wi th Neitzel an d Gosse laa r blockin g each other in nea rly eve ry tu rn until Neitze l went down in the sa nd half a lap into the race. " H e (Neitzel) a l most la n d e d o n Labrad or and almos t took me ou t, so I just gav e him wha t he need ed;' Gosselaa r said . Ne itzel wen t from battling fo r th e lead to dead last in a mailer of a few seconds . "They wa tered the track rig ht before ou r mo tu," Neitzel said. "I was se tting up to pass Gosselaa r righ t bef ore the w hoo ps, and I just let ou t th e clu tch a littl e too soon a nd th e ba ck end ju s t came all the way around on me." GosseJa ar li t the aft erbu rners and immediately s tart ed pulling away fro m Ma ir ose, who fo un d a way arou nd Labrado r o n the o peni ng la p. By the halfwa y poi nt, Gosselaar ha d five se conds on Labrador, who pushed Mairose back to thi rd, and when the checke rs fell, Gosselaar had more than doubled his lead. "I just rode smoot h," Gosselaa r said By Greg Robertson PALMDALE, CA, OCT. 5 good rider turnout was on hand a t Los Angele s County Raceway to help the California Racing Club celebra te its 25th a nn ive rsa ry of promotin g racin g in Sou the rn Cali fornia. B a ~ r-, 0000- ...... N N ... Q) ..0 .8 u o 38 O ne hundred perce nt tro phies we re handed uut to all the Amat eur classes, wi th the tup three rid er s in eac h class also receiving a medallion commcmo- . ratin g th is s pecial even t. Pro s we re treated to a 3QO-percent payback. A brea k in the racing program mid way thr ou gh the day saw various prizes handed o ut to th e riders who brought th e oldes t CRC m em orabilia, su ch as finish er pins, Tvshirts, Cycl e Netos stories, trophies , etc. But on the tra ck, Chris topher Gos~ laar was unt ou chab le agains t a competitive 12Sec Int ermediate class, as he used a couple of good s ta r ts to s moke the com pe tition . Gosselaar was perfect in the opening ro u nd, nailing th e holesh ot aboard his Axo /PJ1 /l 00%-b acked CR125, and he slowly pulled away uncontested fur the win. Chris Neitz el gated in second and would ho ld the position throu gh out th e moto. Andrew Labrad o r fought off a last-lap Challenge by N ick Mairos e to tak e third, with George laMonte coming across in fifth. Neit zel go t a good jump off t he ce me nt s ta r ti ng p a d wh en t h e ga te (Above) Chris Go sselaar enjoyed a greet dey, going 1-1 for the fnte rm edlateclass wi n at the California Racing ClUb's 25th ann iver sary motocross at Los Ange les County Raceway. (Right) Dustin Evans was perfect In the t25cc Pro cla ss. scor ing both moto wins fo r t he lion 's share of the 300percent Pro paybac k. w hi le coo ling down fro m his secondmoto win . "I didn't want to crash. It was real mudd y out there. I'd like to tha nk every bo dy that's he lped me, and my mom an d dad. " In what wa s u ndoub ted ly the best co me- fro m- beh i n d rid e o f th e da y, N e i tze l m e th od icall y pi ck ed off o ne rider at a time frum his first-lap incident to run th ird be hi n d La b rad or at the w h ite flag. Neitzel cl osed i n on La b ra dor and go t a b r eak when Labrad o r go t o u t o f sh ape in th e whoops. "I was feeling pretty good; it 's just that my back tire went flat, so I started swappi ng left and right, so I cou ldn't do anything about it and he (N eitze l) go t by -m e: ' said the Lunde Su spens ion / Colo r . C r ea lion s / FM F-s ponsored Labrador. Neitze l w ent o n to ta ke th e ha rdfought second overall. HI ro d e m y own r a ce a nd didn 't worry about who was in front of me," NeitZel said. " I wa nted to catch Gosselaar, but th e m ot o was too short. If it was a bou t tw o m ore la p s , I think I could have d one it," said leitzel. "I just go t a Honda support rid e for next yea r. 1 hav e to show so me res ult s and race Intermedia te all nex t yea r, then hopefu lly race supercross the next yea r for them." Suz u ki-mou nted Dusti n Eva ns had thi ngs go his wa y in th e first 125cc Pro mo to, as he distan ced himself fro m firsttime CRC Pro Shawn O'Brien and Tony Su lek fo r th e w in. Eva ns go t a no ther good s ta r t in th e se co n d m oto a n d pull ed o ut a s llg h t lead o ve r a good fight for the runner-up position between O 'Brien and Sulek, which O 'Bri en wo u ld eventually win. "Sulek hit me ha rd o nce:' O ' Brien said . "It wa s tirin g; it wa s w ide open the whole time. I bobb led in the beginning, and it took me a while to reel in Evans, and t just ran o u t of tim e. I can han g wit h him (Evans), bu t I think he has a little horsepo wer on me or something." Evans s tayed a few seconds ah ead of O' Brien to cas h in o n the 300- percent payba ck. "My starts we re g re a t today: ' the Staten G ra phics/Cus to m Truck Warcho use- backed Evans said . "Tha t's what d id it today, just ge tti ng th e holesh ot and pullin g away. No problems at all. It felt great." T h e 25 0c c Pr o a ction saw Eva ns retu rn to take the first -mote win on his RM. Su le k, o n a bo r row ed bi ke, go t things sorted ou t as the race prog ressed and closed in on Evans towa rd the end of th e m o to fo r seco nd. Mark Eas ley pushed Sulek for most of the moto until lappers becam e a pro blem. Easley had to se tt le fo r th ir d , ju st ahead of Erik Linds trom , Eas ley g ra bbe d t he s eco nd -m ote start, jumping ahea d of Lindstrom and Evans. Linds trom w ent und ern eath Easley in a corner to lead the end of lap one. Evans passed both Ea sley a nd Lind st rom in the sa me turn to qui ckly go from third to first. Sulek watched all this pa ssing for a couple of laps before

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