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A V
MA ictory Sports IndoorW MX Series, .
inter
Rounds 7-8
Boruff,
Bunch
blast off
By Barba ra Williams
Photos by Lo ren Williams
MORRISTOWN, TN, jAN.1O-l1
ingsport KTM' s jo n Boruff en terta in ed w it h d o u ble w ins in the
12Scc A class and a runner-up finish in the 250cc A class at rou nd s seve n
and eig ht of the AMA Victory Spo r ts
Ind oor Win ter Motocross Series, held at
the Walters Sta te Arena. Boru ff's finishes were impressive considering the stiff
compe tition, wh ich consis ted of rid er s
such as Robbie Horton, Jim Neese, Matt
Shue a nd Sco tt Graves. All of th e Pro
mains were run with a full ga te of rid ers, selected by mean s of multiple qu alifiers.
Bra dley Bunch o f Tr a vel ers Rest,
South Carolina, won both rounds in the
50cc (4-5) class in exciting battles with
McKinnon Welborn of Boonville, North
Carolina , and Zackary Alvear of King,
North Carolina.
On Saturd a y, well o ve r 350 rid er s
came from 13 states as di verse as New
Jersey , Illino is, Mi ssou ri , Ohio and
Maryl and, as well as the usual sou theas tern locations. A respectab le crowd
of 250 stayed over for Su nd ay's performan ce - a good sho w ing for the Bible
Belt.
"We 've had less than 10 rac es her e
since this facility opened last year," said
Victory Sports prom oter Sam Gammon
of the Walters State Arena . "It's a won d erful place to race, and we' re making
good pr ogress as far as int eresting the
local people in motocross racing."
Newly mounted on KTMs thi s season , Pro-Action / Sinisalo/FMF s Boruff
took the measu re of the track and th e
competition by winning Saturday's first
12Scc A qu a lifi er . Whe n th e gate
dro pped in the 12Scc A main event,
Boru ff leaped to th e fro nt and colored
himself gone, leading eve ry lap to the
checkered flag. With Boruff out of reach,
th e batt le was for second . Maryland 's
Tom Welch a nd Georgia ' s Matt Shu e
p itted th eir Suz ukis agains t Boru ff' s
KTM teamma te, Robbie H orton , an d
Ame rica n Mo torsports' Scott Gra ves.
Welch, Horton an d Shue all took thei r
turns at trying for runner- up, bu t Shue
ended up with the position w hen time
ran ou t.
Ha vin g observed Boru ff' s success
out fro nt, Horton d uplicated his battle
plan in th e 2S0cc A main by grabbing
the holesh ot an d holdi ng on to the point
position tighter than a vise grip. Boruff
shadowed Horton for the entire 12 lap s,
whil e Kingsp ort KTM/ Winter Market ing-backed Neese marched his way up
fro m a seve n th- p lace s ta r t to clai m
third.
Sa turd a y' s 2S0c c A fi nis he s w er e
not abl e for the fact th a t th e top three
winners were all on KTMs, all from the
sa me Kingspor t KTM tea m a nd a ll on
stock bikes.
F&S Suzu ki's Kris Swa ney nosed ou t
to the fron t in Su nday's 125cc A main,
' should er to sho ulder with Boruff a nd
Shue. Welch and Suz u ki/Winters Mar -
K
26
keting-backed Marcus Hed rick stepped
up to join the fun, and the bat tle was on.
Ear ly on lap five of 12, Boruff fo rge d
ahead coming over the mid field timing
jumps and , as in Saturday's contest, procee ded to pull away. Sw an ey, Sh ue,
We lch , H orton , H edric k a nd Sha ne
Templeton of Hillsville, Virginia , pu t on
a show that kep t everyone on the ed ge
of thei r pa d d ed sea ts. Th e scra p py
Swan ey was not abo ut to give up one
foot withou t a fight and had fifth place
until the la s t hal f of a lap. Swa ney's
Suzuki hesitated coming through one of
the bowl turns, a llowi ng H ed rick to
pass and finish fifth.
Shue ow ned Su nda y' s 250cc A main,
d anci ng away out fron t while all th e
ac tion to ok place behind his Su zuki' s
re a r fend er. Neese fin all y go t a go od
start, dicing with Welch and Horton and
e nd in g up fou rt h a ft er a cras h t hat
resulted from challenging Welch for second . Boruff got off the ga te badly, startin g a t least eig h th (a nd m a yb e ev en
worse than that ). Boru ff then made contact with Georgia's Brian Raymond and
crashed; then , a few turns later, he tangled with Preston Rose of Du ffield, Virginia, taki ng an othe r soil sa mp le. The
secon d cras h took Boruff's KTM ou t of
\ conte ntion .
On the other end of the spectru m of
expe rience, Brad ley Bunch's star sho ne
brigh tly all week end in th e SOcc (4-6)
division. In Satu rday'S mai n eve nt , the
holesho t went to Su zu ki of Wi ns to nSale m's McKinnon Welborn , w ho wa s
s up p la n te d b y D.J. Ellis , ri di ng fo r
Kawasaki /Suzuki of Durham. Ellis in
tum yielded to Bunch, who hung on to
the lead with a bu lldog 's determination
for the win. Zackary Alvear slipped past
Welborn a nd m ad e his li ttle Actio n
mach ine "real w id e," as they say in
NASCAR competi tion , to di sallow any
passin g a ttem p ts . Elli s wa s fo u nd to
have been entered in the wro ng class, so
h is placing was giv en to Alvear, and
Welbo rn was adva nced to third .
Pumped from Saturd ay'S ru nner-u p
finish, Alvear was more than read y for
Su nday's sta rt a nd jumped ou t fro n t.
But Bunch held the throttl e open jus t a
tick longer and took over within a few
turns. Bunch then stretched out a sizable
lead, leaving Zackary and McKinn on to
battle for second. A midrace fall hand ed
the runner-up position to Welborn, but
Alvea r was able to remou nt withou t losing more than one position.
0
Walters State Arena
Morr istown, Tennessee
Resu lts: Janua ry 10-11, 1998
Satu rd ay
so (4-6): 1. Bradley Bunch (Cob); 2. Zackery Alvear
(A ct); 3. McKinno n Welborn (Co b) ; 4. Ern es t Lopez
(Cob): 5. Trey Matthew s (Cob l.
SO (1.-8 ): 1. Bra nd on Large (Cob ); 2. Zac h ~bome
(Cob); 3. Easton Hankins o