Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS EDITED BYC ERO AM NCOAmEY D·37 Big Six Grand Prix Series, Round 6 1 ' - - - - - -- - • By Matt Freeman A ~ ~ r-, 0\ 0\ ...... v5 N .... ~ ,.D s o z ~ ~ 20 GORMAN,CA,NOV.I-2 he final round of the District 37 Big Six Gran d Prix Series came to a n e nd in a tota lly diffe re n t fashio n than d id the five rounds before it. The Prospect ors MC 12th annual Californ ia G ra nd Prix , held at the Hungry Valley S~RA, saw many faces unfami liar to th e series in th e winner 's circle. Few races sa w th e usual favorites preva il but, reg a r dl e ss o f th e outcome , spectators and riders alike were treated to close battl~s and a slower-than-usual cou rse th at on ly a llow ed competitors three laps before the checkered flag fell. Twel ve races were sched uled for the entire weekend, most of them at an hour apiece. The 10-mile course employed the ce men t-based Quail Ca nyon starting ga te fo r ta keo ff , a professi onall y groo med motocro ss track, and approximately eight miles of was hes and winding tw o-track trails tha t hug the hillsides of H ungry Valley. The 40- rid er ga te d ropped fo r the firs t time at the start of the Unclassified race, but not for everyone. Rider turnout wa s so high tha t three rows we re used at the start, requiring some competitors to wor k their way u p fr o m behind before reaching the front of the pack. CR500-mo unted Donnie Morrison started on th e second row and, amazingly enoug h, wo rked his way up to ninth at the end of the motocro ss section. By the end of the first lap , Morrison had passed IM5-backed Rand y Norma n for the lead . The mos t excitin g scuffle of the race wa s bet ween the 2505 of And y Segale and Joe y Lanza, who also started on the second row. They too had worked thei r way aro und a fadi ng Norman and had managed to gra b the second and thi rd places, respecti vely. As th e checkered flag fe ll fo r M orrison a n d h is firs t Unclassified win of the year, the crowd waited a nxious ly for Segale a nd Lan za to come into Sigh t. When th e tw o KX rid ers came in to view, Segale wa s still heading up secon d place, but Lanza was right on his tail. As luck would have it, a sa ndy tu m go t the best of Segale, and so did Lan za whe n Sega le laid it d own with the finish line in sight. Lanza literall y motored right over th e down ed rid er and into seco nd place, posti ng his best ov erall fini sh of th e ye a r. Segale was able to sa lvage third just before the hard-ch a rging YZ250 of John Rudd er cou ld catch him. Wh en th e Vet Expert /Amateur race rolled aro un d just before noon on Saturday, Team Green's Paul Krause seemed to be the clear-rut favorite, as he has been all year. His biggest worry appeared to be a hotter-than-ever Morrison, wh o was al ready familiar wi th the course due to his d us t-free Unclassified win. Howe ver, Morrison turned ou t to be the leas t of Krause 's wo rr ies , as CR25O-mou nted Drey Dirks used his years of mot ocross skills to nab the holeshot, Krause, on his KX500, filled in beh ind Dirks, followed by Segale and Rudd er. "I got kind of a bogus start," Krause said abou t his sec ond-place s ta r t. " I cou ld gain on Drey out in the dese rt, but he 'd pull awa y in the motocross (section ). I just couldn't get him in time." Time did indeed run. out for Krause, who still claimed th e Ve t O p en-class win despite a second-overall race finish. Dirks ' lead was monstrous at the checkered flag despite crashing twice ou t on the back secti on of the course. The overall w in was Dir ks' first in th e series. Third to the fini sh behi nd Krau s e w a s Rudder , tailed by Morriso n. The tal k of th e pits o n Satu rda y w a s the Team race, which posted a $1200 purse for the w i n n i ng t ea m . Last year's winning team of Dir ks a nd mot ocr osser Spud Walters wasted little time wo rking their way to the front aboard th e same 250 tha t Dirks used in the Vet race . As th e ho u r -and-a-half te a m effor t wou nd down, the Dirks / WaIters team s tayed a t th e top of the lap shee t all the w a y to th e finish, exchanging the bike afte r ~ v~ry lap and pittin g only once. Grand Prix specia list Oakley Lehma n brought ou t motocr osser Jeff Willoh as his teammate to pilot Lehm an's Team G reen-backed KX250. T he du o tu r ned in a n impressi ve rid e a nd collec ted the second -place prize m on ey. Previous event winne r Jimmy Lewis tea med with Dave Donatoni on a CR250 to claim third . Th e first Open bike to finish wa s the KX500 of Krau se a nd Dave Ondas, followed by an imp re ssive fi fth -p la ce e ff o r t from YZl 25-mou nted Ryan Dud ek and Joel Albrecht. The Prosp ectors a w a r de d prize m on ey down to 10th place. The big news on Sunday was the ou tco me of th e Vintage z' C la ss ic / PourStroke / Dual Sport race, in whi ch Senior race winn er Rex Staten relived his glory da ys a boa rd a 1979 Mai m 400. Sta te n took the holeshot and won the race, follow ed clo se ly by XR600- mo u n ted Jeff Ca p t. Ca p t, w ho won th e Fou r-Stro ke class on Sa tu rd ay a t a Nationa l Hare and Ho und in Nevada, wa s leadi ng the s tr o ke r class des pite being in seco nd overall behind Sta ten. Cap t wo rked on Sta ten bac k and fort h, bu t the strongrunning classic Maico wo uld not bu dge. "He (Ca p t) got by me once," sa id Staten abou t m omenta ril y lo si ng the lead. " He w ent a round me on the outsid e once, but I was able to get in underneath him at th e next tum." The last event of th e weekend was t he long -awaited 250 cc r a ce . La n za jumped ou t to an early lead, followed by a n o ns la ug h t o f fast-charging riders, including Doug Chia pu zio, Lehman and Team Green ace Steve Hengevel d, who worked his wa y through the pack after getting hung up in the starting gate. On the seco nd la p , La nza 's ha m me red (Len) Doug Chiapuzlo wo n the 250Cc Expe rt class and finished third overall In th e Open class at the Prosp ecto rs Me Cali10m ia Grand Prix. (Above) Sen ior-class winner Rex Sla ten turned In an Impressive rld.e on his 7 9 Maico 400 in th e combined V intageiClass icIFour~StrokelDuar Sport race by taking the overall win ove r Jeff Capt . who won the Fou r-Stroke Expert class. KX250 was 15 secon d s a hea d of Ch iapu zio. who had al ready cha lked up an im p ressive th ird -o ver all fin ish in the Open race behind Krause and Ondas. Racing for his firs t overa ll wi n, Lanza pu s hed a little too hard, cartwheeling his bike in the desert section. Chiapuzio cruised by Lanza and motored all th e way to the finis h, clai ming his first overall win of the series . Lanza bru shed himself off in time to claim second, followed b y r a ce favo rites Lehman a nd Hengeveld, who w ere eve nly spaced out due to the dust. "I think w e all cras h ed out th ere," sa id a d eterm ined La nza, who posted two seco nd- p lace finishes for the weekend . "It doesn' t matter, thou gh. I shou ld hav e w on it." f~ Pro spect ors Grand Prix Gorman. Cali10rnia Results: Nov embe r 1-2, 1997 O/k, 1. Drey Dirks; 2. r a u l Krause, 3. John Rudder. UNCLS: 1. Don nie Morrison ; 2. Joe y Lanza; 3. And y Segale. sa 250 AM : 1. Dan Ma rt inez: 2. Ste ve And erso n ' SR OPEN A M: 1. Kriss Kudl.l; 2. Bub A....II,lII . l> SR 250 EX: 1. Jt1f H.l rr inlt ; 2. Tf'rry Oilvi!i; 3, Rick Sbb y. e SR Orl::N EX: I. Rex Staten; 2. Bud d y Bo!ih; 3. Mike MeG«. MA G EX: 1. Jim Co nnolly; 2. Rowland MdJonnld. VET 2SOBEG: L jo hn Coo k; 2. Steve T.. ylcr. VET 250 N OV: I. ja so n Wittv; 2. To m MiIlc."t'; 3. Robe rt Cunn. • VET 2SO AM : 1. AlJ.n U psk y; 2. Bod St."henso ll. VET 2SOEX: 1. Drey Dirks; 2. John Rudd«; 3. Rick O'Donnell. . VET O PEN BEG : 1. Sa kd!Oh M i!Oh im a ; 2. Kevi n UN'. V ET Or EN N OV; 1. Mike O 'Don n~ll ; 2. To m Auntcr;: 3. Mark Daven port. VET O PE N A M : I . Jo h n La n g ha mer; 2. Les te r l...t-h i~; 3. Eric Fleming. VET OPEN EX: 1. Pa ul Krau~; 2. Donnie MorriNm ; 3. Abe Baumann, TE A M: 1. Di rh / Wa!l l?rs ; 2. Lt-hmdn / Willoh; 3 . Uwi... / Dona toni; 4. K rau~/Ond a ... 5. Dudt'l/ Alhm:-hl ; 125 EX: 1. IJ.l na VanStee. US AM: 1. Rya n Dudek. 250 BEG : I. Brad Schuler. 2. Cham p Fl"IT3to; 3. John Kh

• Cover