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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127866
AMA'Fall Classic Series
ffecnosel Carolina UltraS
eries, Final Round
By Mitchell Roop
SOCIEn' HILL, SC, NOV.2
ike Brown came to
Camp Coker MX Park
needi ng "a good fini s h
in either moto" to clinch the AMA
Fall Classic Series title. Paul Curr ie and Kevin Walker did no t
want Brown to have a good finish ,
but when all was sa id an d do ne,
there wa s little tha t ei ther rider
cou ld do to p revent just that.
Kawasaki- m ou n ted Cu rrie
pulled the holeshot, with Walk er
on his fen der, a nd Brown, Ji m
Neese a nd Marcu s Hedrick
rou nd ing out the top five. Walker
and his Yamaha of Kingsport
YZ250 made a quick mo ve on
Cu rrie to try to put some distance
on the field. Keith Bowen compl eted the firs t la p in 10th , and
wit h th e AMA Ea s tern Fo u rStroke National title already his,
he d id not need to co nserve any
energy. Bowen started a ha rd cha rge
through the pac k. Brown quickly dosed
on Currie and go t by on lap two, as Currie fell into Neese's Sights. Brown go t
right u p into Wal ke r' s roost , a nd the
two began to pull away from the pack.
During the third lap, Brown washed
the fron t end out in a slow turn and let
Walker pull ou t to a six-second lea d .
Brown was up quickly in third, between
Cu r ri e a nd Neese. Wal ker would not
need any mo re tearoffs for the rest of the
mota as he pulled awa y to a t o-second
lead - a lead tha t he wo uld carry to the
chec kers. Neese , Bro w n and Bowen
forced Currie into fifth. For the next few
la ps, Bowen wa s co n te n t to watch in
fou r th w h ile Neese a n d Bro wn took
turn s sand blas ting each othe r's bikes .
No more than two bike lengths separated the pair for the next four laps .
With two laps to go, Brown dec ided
to b e hap p y wi th th ird to cli nc h the
AMA Fa ll C lassic ti tle, le tting Neese
pu ll away by a bout 10 bike lengt hs .
Bowen was close enough to try to ta ke
adva ntage of Brown 's lapse, but Brown
had enoug h left in hi s Chesterfiel d
Yamaha to hold Bowen off. Currie.
crossed the line ahead of Mat t Walker to
round o ut the to p five . Brown's thirdplace finish was two places abo ve the
fifth -place points th at he needed to
secu re th e se ries titl e o ve r Broc k Sell ards.
Walker came to the starting line of
moto two lookin g for his first overall
win of the AMA Fall Classic. Walker did
not have to look past the first tum, as he
wa s the only overall contender forced to
pick himself up off of the grou nd after
tangling with Jim Chester.
.
"He (Chester) hit me so hard fro m
behind , he knocked the glove off of my
hand," Walk er said later.
Mea nw h ile, Neese got a cl ea n
holeshot, w ith Cu r rie, Brown, Bowen
an d Sellards trailin g. Walker fou nd his
glo ve and remo un ted, trying to make up
for lost time, moving in to seventh at the
end of the thi rd lap. Brown and Bowen
moved by Cu rrie an d began to ap p ly
p ressure to Neese. O n th e fifth lap,
Neese returned the first-mo ta favo r, lettin g the front end sli de o u t to Brown
and ju m pi ng back up to fall in behind
Bowen. By mi d mo ta, Wa lk er had
moved into fifth place, and his cha rge
through the field fi nall y ra n ou t of
steam . During th e n ext thre e laps,
Brown bega n to gra d ua lly pull away to
the mot o win, di sp laying the form tha t
brough t him the AMA Fa ll Classic title.
Bowen and Neese crisscrossed lines for
th e next thr ee la ps. Bowen , rid in g his
sixth mot a of the da y, finally began to
fade two laps from the end, a nd he settled for th ird .
.
The Te cnos el Ca ro lina Ultra Series
fina le wa s run in conju nction w ith the
AMA Fall Classic Series, and the race
fans at Camp Coke r go t to see more Pro
actio n on 125s. Derr ick Bentley stru tted
h is talents in the firs t 125cc Pro mot a ,
ta ki ng the holesh ot and lea d in g fro m
s ta rt to finish . In second and thi rd ,
Walker and Brown got to ra ce ea ch
other one more time. Matt Walke r and
Se lla rds r o u n d e d o u t the top fiv e .
Brown bogged the motor in some loose
sa nd while trying to pass Kevin Walker
and mad e a short off-course excursio n
w ith out losing positi on . By th at time,
Bowen's recovery from a mid pack start
had him in fifth place. Bentley easily
won the first rnoto, with Kevin Walker,
Brown, Matt Walker and Bowen in tow.
The seco nd 125cc Pro moto had the
KXs of Brock Sellards and Paul Currie
lead ing out of the first turn, with Kevin
Walk er, Brown and Matt Walker filling
in the top five . Sellards led mot o two
from start to finish. Brown moved into
seco nd halfw ay through the mota , lea ving Cu rrie to fight off first-mota wi nner
Bentley. Brown closed on Sellards wi th
two laps to go, and was a bike length
back at the finish. Currie , Bentley and
Kevin comp leted the top five.
Kevin Wal ker rod e six motos for the
day, also com pe ting in th e Ov er 25 A
class with fellow Pro racer Jim Chest er.
Walker go t the holeshot in both motos
and led from start to finish, followed by
Cheste r in both mo tos. Th e effort wa s
not eno ug h to mo v e Walke r p a s t
Ches ter in the Ultra Series points standings. Chester also won the Ultra Series
points race over Walke r in the 125 and
250cc Pro classes.
Josh u a Summey w on three of the
four mot os tha t he en tered . In the first
mota of the 85cc (12-13) class, he fell on
lap two and, at the time, it d id not loo k
like it was go ing to be a goo d d ay for
the Amateu r Na tio na l Cha m p ion . But
Su m mey ro de hard to finis h second
behin d a ha rd -cha rg ing Ad am Overcash . Moto two went a little better, wi th
Summ ey leading all laps . The Supe rm ini
class went a littl e easier for Su mm ey,
who led from start to finish over eventual second-place finis her Spencer Hill.
Camp Coker MX Park
Society Hill. South Caro li na
Resutts: November 2,1 997 (Rou nd 6 016 )
SO 14-6): 1. Brett Mich.a u d (Cob) ; 2. Ma d ison
H a mbri ~h t
(Co b); 3. T.aylor Futrell (AT K); 4. T yler
Bright (klM); .5 McKinnon Welborn (Cob).
.
50 ('-3): 1. CNd W.a~ (Cob ); 2. Bnx TrlJe (Cob);
3. D.lVin Pri tY (L."U\); 4 Zach (}.;h....... (KTM); S. Bu tch
Me-HOlM;' (lGJw).
110 (10..11): 1. Strplwn MArtin (Ka w ); 2. Du~n
(Ka w);
Oa~
3. I lAni, Altmdn ( Ka w); 4. David Walls (K.aw); 5.
Chri~ophL'r~ ( Ka w).
.
60 ('- 9): 1. Chad Wag es (Kaw); 2. Philip Ivers
(Kaw ); 3. Aa ro ns Naho ns IKaw); 4. Jos h ua Sch m itt
(!