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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127863
EVENTS
- ..,. EDITED BY
CAMERONCOATNEY
Branson USAM
otocrossChampionships
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(Left) Keith
Johnson (68)
won the 125cc
and 250cc Pro
classes at the
Branson USA
Motocro9S
Champ ionship
s In MissourI.
By Malt Draper
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38
B
RANSON, M ocr.3-5
O,
. r / eith jo hnson ma de the tre k from
Alb uqu erq u e, N ew Mexico, a
worthwhile ve nture, cap tu ring
_ _ o vera ll victo ries in 125( c a nd
250cc Pro competitio n at the Branso n
USA Motocr oss Championshi ps. Under
sunn y skies wit h tem pera tures hovering
in the m id-80s, the thi rd a nn ual event
welcom ed more tha n 700 entries from 30
states. " If th is race ge ts too mu ch bigg er,
we' ll ha ve to add another day to accommoda te all of our racers," sta ted Ron
Hendrickson, N MA pr esident and pr omo ter of Branson USA . "Fo r a race of
thi s si z e to fun this s moothly is ju s t
grea t. Everyo ne involved > from trackp rep to sign-in - did a wonderful job."
The condition of the track is just o ne
of th e m an y su ccesses of w hich th is
year' s e ve n t co u ld boa s t. Th e hi gh
humidity a nd th e impeccably timed
waterin g of th e track ke p t dust levels
and lap times down the entire weekend.
Th e layout of the course , almost Europea n in its des ign , kept rider s on th eir
toes wi th challenging off-camber swi tchbacks and wide passing lan es throughout the circuit. The occasional d ownhill,
double an d uphill jumps tested the riders' technical skills as well.
In th e fi rst 2SDcc Pro rno to, D&S
Kawasaki-s p on sored Ch ris To rra nce
ripped th e holes hot up th e lo ng, left hand ed sweeper wi th Suz u ki-mo unt ed
Tom Hofrnaster and the KX2SD of Travi s
Hod ge close beh ind . By lap tw o, both
'S
Hofrn ast cr and Hod ges had lost their
position s to a rampaging Bru ce Gates,
who set his sights on the front-running
Torrance. Also o n the move wa s a slowstarting Travis Riley, wh o moved up to
third pla ce by lap four. Torrance mainta in ed th e lead u n til lap six, w hen a
re lentless Ga tes took over th e point.
With a lap to go, Torrance was not lettin g Ga tes off the hook - nor co u ld he
shake Riley, wh o kept th e pressu re on
for the seco nd spo t. johnson, wh o gated
well outside th e top five, w orked hi s
way past Hod ges for fou rth and bega n
reeli ng in the lead ers. It prov ed to be too
little too late, tho ugh, as the checkers fell
for Gates, with Torrance, Riley, johnson,
and Hodges round ing out the to p five.
In moto tw o, the holes hot again went
to Torrance; he was followed by Hofma ster , Hod ges and jo hnson. During
lap one, Hod ges went down in a ru t and
handed second pl ace to johnson . Th is
spelled tro ubl e for Torra nce and Hof mast er, as johnson passed both rid er s
wi th ease prior to the halfway po int and
th en pulled a n eight-seco nd lead ove r
the pa ir. Up and ru nning after his spill,
Hodges sto rm ed back to seco nd place
a nd cu t d eep in to jo hnso n' s lea d . As
johnso n took the checkers, Hodges was
o n ly fo ur seco n d s b a ck . Th en came
Riley, who again had to work hard to
break int o the top three. Ga tes follow ed
in fou rth after crashin g and end ing his
chances for the title. johnson's 4-1 gav e
him th e victory ov er Gates' 1-4, while
Riley' s 3-3 w as good for th ird o vera ll
a n d Hod ges ' 5-2 g a ve him fo u r th.
Rounding out the top five wa s Torre nce
wit h a 2-6 tally.
In th e 125cc P r o ac tio n, H o d ge s
pulled a con vincing holeshot in the first
moto ove r johnson, with Riley an d Hofma ster in tow. Hod ges, who wa s having
tro u b le d ea li ng w it h th e ru ts o n th e
be rm less track, went d o wn on lap one
and fell back to eighth place, hand ing
the lead over to a thankful johnson. By
lap two, joh nson had opened up a twosecond lead ov er the now-second-placed
Riley, followed by Hofmaster, To rra nce
and Nebraskan Tren t Hansen. At th e
halfw ay point , joh nson maint ained his
lead over Riley, whil e To rrance sneaked
past Hofmast er fo r third a nd Hod ges
d isplaced Hansen fo r fift h . johnson ' s
lead over Riley fluctuated between tw o
and five seconds for the bal ance of the
moto, but he wa s never serious ly challenged as he look th e m oto win. Aft er
Riley, Torran ce, Hofm aster an d Hod ges
com pleted an evenly spaced top five.
Moto two sa w another fa n ta s tic
holeshot by Hodges, an d this tim e there
wo u ld be no m ist a kes Js he took th e
wire-to-wi re win. Perhaps the best ride
of the day belonged to johnson, who
s tarted seven th and worked his way up
to sec o nd . johnson pr ""sured Hodg~s
heaVily u ntil th e la s t la p, w he n h e
back ed o ff, kno wing the overall w as
his.
"Travis an d I ride a lot together back
hom~ in Albuquerqu e an d he was going
fast," johnson said. "We bumped a coupl e o f times o n th e back section a nd 1
didn 't wa nt to risk going down."
Joh nso n's 1-2 secured the victo ry ,
w hile Hod ges' 5-1 earned him second
overall. Third went to a very consistent
H ofm ast er, who p os ted 4-3 fin is hes,
whil e Riley' s 2-7 a nd justin Quinn's 6-4
rounded out the top five.
Despite bei ng sh ut ou t in his qu est
for wins in 125cc and 250cc Pro action,
Hod ges retu rned to claim the title in the
O ver 2S A class. Hodges' 2-1 bes ted Pat
Donoho's 3-2.
Th e only tr ipl e class win ne r wa s
Kawasaki / Team G reen's Adam Menne nga . T he yo u ng speeds te r fro m
Moody, Texas, was crowned the cha mpion in the 8Scc (14-16) Stock , 8Sec (1416) Modifi ed, and Super Mini Modified
classes. In fact, Mennen ga swe pt all six
mot os during the weekend. It would be
an u nd erstatem ent to say he was fas ter
th an his co mpetitio n. Wh en Me nnenga
wasn't pulling a holesh ot, he was making s ho rt work of his adversaries and
winning by wid e mar gins.
Florid ia n Da vi Milsaps wa s im p ressive, winn ing bo th the 6Sec junior Cycle
(9-11) Stoc k a nd 8Scc (D-11) Mod ified
class tit les. Th e form er multi-time SDcc
Cham pio n wowed the crowd by airing
o u t h is KX6D o ver lar g e o b s tac les .
Despite being on e of the sho rtest co mpeti to rs in th e 85 cc cla sses, Milsaps
proved to be amo ng the smoothest an d
mos t consistent, pos ting 2-1 moto scores
for the modified win .
America n Suzuki' s Kyl e Pa r trid ge
edged Milsa ps for the 8Scc (D-11) Stockclass title, p ull ing ho leshot s in bo th
mo tus en ro ute to ru na way victo ries .
Likewise, Milsaps won both of his qualifying mot es, se tting u p a mu ch-anticipa ted showdown in the final. Partridge
led the entire wa y but, unable to sha ke
the de termined Milsa ps, won by only a
few seco nds. Partridge's fast starts we re
the key to victory, as both riders rode
virtually mistake-free in the final.
ick Metcalf powered his Suzukis to
a pair of titles in 12Sec Open and 2SOcc
Open actio n. The Ulysses, Kansas, resident used q ui ck starts and mastery of
th e ruts to secu re h is tw o c ha m pio ns h ips. Metca lf a lso pl aced second
ove rall in the 12Sce Int ermed ia te Mod ified class and fourth in the 2SOcc Intermediate Mod ified class, completing his
fine weekend at Branson.
Equ al to th e ta s k wa s Ka wasa ki mou nted Bo Sny der, as he doubled u p
to take titles in the 2SOcc In termediate
Stoc k a nd Modi fied classes . Snyde r,
from Siloam Spri ngs , Arkansas, topped
Metcalf for the Mod ified win w ith 1-2
scores . He holeshot the first moto for a
wi re-to-w ire victory, the n coasted to
seco nd in moto two to take the overall.
Snyder was perfect in Stock co m peti tio n, go ing 1-1 for the title in that class.
Fo rm er and cu rr ent Loretta Lyn n' s
cha m p ions sq ua red off in the highl ycompetitive SOcc (7-8) Stock clas s, with
Minnesota 's john Heinlein ta kin g th e
title over Tennessee ' s Brand on Large.
H ei nl ei n w on t h e first mote, w hil e
Larg~ struggled to finish fourth. Large
got the best of Heinl ein in mo to tw o,
though, but the overall went to Heinlein
by wa y of his 1-2 finishes. Large went 41 for second, and Oh io's Devan Welch 's
2-4 was good enoug h fo r third -pl ace
honors .
La rg e w as no t satis fied , h owe v e r,
and turned in a pair of spectacular rides
in the Super Pee Wee class. Large swept
bot h mo tus in convincing fas hion to take
the titl~, ahead of Iowa's Cod y Gilm ore
a nd KTM- mou n te d Du stin Sh o w s .
Large, fres h off hi s cha m p io ns hi p at
Loretta Lynn's, was com pe ti ng in his
first atio nal since mov ing up from the
4- to 6-y~a r-o l d cla ss a nd d efin it el y
show~d h is co m petito rs the fast way
aroun d the Branson track.
No t to be outdone, Kenn y Henry wo n
the 50cc (7-8) Modified class over Penn-
sylvania 'S Sean Hackley and Large.
Henry's 4-1 score earned him the win, follow ed by Hackley' s 2-3 and Large's 1-4.
Henry, out of Perry , Ohio, also won the
65cc (~) Modified title by sweeping both
mo tos. Henry topped Tenn essee' s Branden Miller and Texan Michael Pritchett,
who went 2-2 and 3-4, respectively.
Miller turn ed the tab les on Henry to
g rab the wi n in the 6Scc (6-8) Stock class.
Miller' s I-I sea led the dea l over Henry's
'"
5-3 and Ryan Dungey' s 3-5.
Branson USA
Branson, Missouri
Results : October 3-5, 1997
PIW (4-6) 5TK: 1. Trevor Pletcher (Cob); 2. Vinoo
Fri ese (Cob); 3. Tyler Murray !Cob); 4. Gary Rad ford
(Co b); 5. Kyle Ohland (KTM ).
rfW (4-& MO D: I. Trever Pletcher (Cob ); 2. wry
)
Radford (Co b) ; 3. Vince Friese (Cob ): 4. Kyle OhL1 nd
(KTM): 5. o..'T{"~ Barath (Cob).
PIW (1 -8 ) STK : 1. John Heinlein (Cob) : 2. Brandon
Large (C~}b); 3. Devan Welch (Cob): 4. Ryan DunKt'y
(Cub): 5. MOIMln Rdch (Cob ).
P/W (1~8) MOD : 1. Kenny Henry (Cob): 2. Scan
Hacldey (Co b); 3. Brandon urge (Cob) ; 4. Bran d e n
Mim.... (Cub ); 5. Joh n H. ';nlt>in (Coh) .
51 P/W ( 6 ~~ 1 : I . Bra ndo n La rge (Cob); 2. Co dy
G il mo~ (Cob); 3. Dusti n Shows (KlM); 4. Sca n Hackley
(Cob) ; 5. Devan Wdch (Co b) .
JK CYCt!; (b--B ) STK; 1. Bra nden MiIlt.1' (Kaw); 2.
'
Ken ny He nry (K.lw ): 3. Ryan Dungey (Ka w ); 4. Joh n
Heinlein (K.1w): 5. Sca n Ha ckle y (Kaw ).
JR CYC LE (6-8) M OD: 1. Kenny Hen ry (K.1w ): 2.
Bran den Mille r ( KoiW); 3. M icha el f'ri tcht.>t:t (Kaw): 4.
Chad CoI'l"S (K,aw); 5. Rya n Dun gey (Ka w ).
JR CYC LE (~ 11 ) STK: 1. Davi Milsaps (K.. w ); 2.
Kody Schantzen (K.. w ) ; 3. Dt>nn i.. Jo non (Kaw); 4 .
Stl!p h.m MOirtin(Kdw) ; 5. Trevor MOflks Ouw).
JR CYCLE (~ 11) M O D: 1. JOn.lthan Ke-rr (K.Jw ); 2.
Davi MiL
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