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Casey Lytle (33) won tile 125cc 'Pro'
. class at the opening round of the
GFIWinter MX series South held at
Perris Raceway.
By Greg Robertson
PERRIS,CA, JAN. 25
he openi ng so ut hern round of the
M a z da Truck / Go at /G FI Ey e wea r / Cird e K / 76 / GFI Raci n gs po n so re d Wi n te r M X Se ries
So uth , h eld a t Pe rri s Ra ce w a y , sa w
Ho nda of Troy's Casey Lytle and Team
Green 's "Billy Boy" Payn e capture the
125cc and 250cc Pro-class wi ns, 'respectively. Mo re than 1000 racin g enthu sias ts spe n t th e ir Super Bowl Su n day
b aski n g in th e warm su ns hi ne as the
first round of this Kawasaki, Suzuki and
Yamaha cont ing ency-paying series got
under way after being rained out a few
weeks earlier. The decision to d elay the
s ta rt of th e serie s by p romoter Goat
Bre ke r was ba s ed o n th e a d dit io n a l
maintenance costs that would have been
incurred by the riders having to race in
th e se ve re ly muddy co n d i tio ns tha t
existed on the originally sched u led date.
When the gate fell for th e one-shot,
20-minute 12Scc Pro moto, it was Payne
o u t fron t , foll ow ed b y Lytle, Dustin
11
60 NOV: 1. West on Peick (Ka w ): 2. Brad Mast ers
(Ka w); 3. Chad Gores (Kaw ): 4. Jo na tha n Arana (Ka w );
5. Mack Prcscelle (Kaw ).
60 INT: 1. M ich a el LaPagl ia (Ka w ): 2. Sean
Bakerhager (Ka w) .
. 60 O PE N : 1. Ca s Swift (Kaw ): 2. Jake We im er
(Kaw ): 3. Oay Higgin s (Ka w) ; 4. Tim Bhetn c r (Kaw).
80 Fm I. B.J. Ku ntz (Suz ); 2. Co ry G us ta fso n IKaw):
3. Iames Va ugh n (Yam).
80 BEG D·1: 1. Spencer Mein ck e (Yam); 2. C hase
Meinek e (Yam) ; 3. Jerem y Maco tt (Kaw) : 4. Brandon
Cu rrie (J(aw); 5. Tate Misias zek (Kaw).
80 BEG 0 ·2: 1. Marc Aberna thy (He n ): 2. Bre tt
Rot ha s (Ka w); 3. Tamer Engeli (Suz ); 4. Ch ris to p he r
Mills (Ya m) .
80 NOV: 1. Tyler Duncan (Ya m); 2. Chad Gua me r
(H o n): 3. Ryan Beat (Yam); 4. Kev in Pay ne (Ya m); 5 .
Clinton Pierce (Suz).
.
80 INT: I. Jos hu a G rant (Su z ): 2. Daryl Eck lu nd
(1M); 3. Zac Wray (Yam); 4. Scott Simon (Suz) ; 5. Brent
'
Line (Ka w ).
80 EX: 1. Sha ne Bess (Suz); 2. Ross Garcia (Yam); 3.
Bill y Lanino vich (Ya m) ; 4 . N ico la s So le n (Ka w): 5.
Sebastian Sa nchez .
80 S/MINl: 1. Sha ne Bess (Suz ): 2. C hris to p he r
Tocco (Hen): 3. Ross Ga rcia (Yam ); 4. Billy Leninovich
(Yam); 5. Micky Griffin (Yam).
125 BEC 0·1: 1. Billy Arno ne (Ho n) : 2. Na s he r
Valentin (Suz) ; 3. Kevin Kane (Yam); 4. David Ketley
(Kaw); 5. Jesse K"'ell lKa w ).
125 BEG I)..2: 1. Tr avi s larsen (Suz ); 2. Joh n Otto
o
om
Evans, Jimmy Varis and Great Britain' s
Jamie Dobb. By th e se co nd lap, Pa yne
was being pressured by Lytle, w h ile
Dobb, rid ing a CR12S, had passed both
Va ris and Evans and was starting to reel
in th e tw o fro n t-ru n ners. Ly tl e wa s
glued to Pay ne for two more laps before
making his way into the lead .
"In th e ba ck su perc ross se ction, I
ju mped along next to him (Pa yne) and it
ended up that I had the better line going
into th e fo ll owin g tu rn ," Lytle
exp lained. "As soon as I passed him, I
set m y s ig h ts fo rw a r d a n d pulled
away."
A cou p le of laps lat er, Dobb used a
similar move on Payne to move int o second place.
"I think I ha d a bad line in the back
a nd those guys (Lytle and Dobb) w ere
ca tching me ," Pa yne sa id , "and on ce
they go t by me, I saw their lines ."
Lytl e set in to a p ace th at kept him
out front until the checkers came out.
"Once I got ou t fro n t, I tri ed relaxing," Lytle said . "The tra ck' s getting
really roug h. Goa t puts on a good race . I
wan t to th ank m y m ech a n ic, Dennis
Pet racca, for coming out here an d helping tod ay."
With a handful of laps left in the race,
Dobb had pu lled clear of Payne, but that
changed as Pay ne u pped the pa ce to
make it a race for second in the final two
laps.
"I was makin g mista kes toward s the
sta rt of the race," Pay ne said . "It sta rted
coming on in the end ; m y lines sta rted
coming toget her and I was smoothi ng
out. I started catchi ng Dobb, but th er e
just wa sn't enough time."
Dobb held off Payne by a coup le of
bi ke lengths to take home the second p lace money.
"I' m on ly out her e training and I've
only been b ack on a b ik e for a week
sin ce about the beginning of Oct ob er,"
Dobb sai d . "I com e over here every year
to train a nd m e e t up with m y oid
fri ends. I d on' t th ink I was tr yin g the
hardest I could . 1 mean; the bike I'm riding is complete production; it only has a
pipe and silencer on it. The up-and-com-
in g kids are go ing pretty fast. Th e guy
(Payne) is fast. I was just able to use my
expe rience to keep him back."
Va ris got around Eva ns fo r fo u rth
pla ce on lap th ree and h eld on to the
position right up un til the finish on his
Answer /FM F /ZLT-backed RM 12S.
Mich el Constantinou put a last-lap pass
on Espen Blikstad to finish fifth. Don ovan Mitchell w o r ke d h is w a y up
th rough the field for seventh, ahea d of
Andy Anaya, Danny Carlson and Evans.
Payne nailed his second holesh ot of
the day to lead German rider Pit Beirer,
Tim Beatty, Gas G a s pilot Donald
Upton, and Steve Drew as the 250cc Pro
riders tackled the trac k for th eir 20minute moto. Up ton was on the move,
jumping past Beatty for third and then
going under Beirer a sho rt time later to
move up into secon d pl ace. Dr ew put
th e m ove on Beat ty and closed to th e
ba ck fend er of Beir er. Beir er go t ba ck
a round Upton an d s ta r te d h oundin g
Payne. For th e next fi ve laps, Beirer
matched Pa yne move for move un til
Beirer started show ing signs of slowing.
"T h is is m y fi rst r a ce in t hre e
months," said Beirer, who finished third
to Stefan Eve rts and Ma rnicq Bervoets
in the 250cc World Cha mpionships last
year. "My speed was good, but th en I
had ar m pump because I d id n' t ride for
so long."
Payne was on fire and pu lled out a
10-s econd lead on Beirer. Up to n s till
held dow n th ird on h is new rid e but
was being pushed by Japanese Nationa l
rid er Kyu ichizo Takahama , w ho is in
th e United Sta tes for tra ining before
headin g back to Japan to contest their
national series. Takahama was flying on
his HRC-b acked CR2S0, a nd he managed to pass both Up ton and Beirer in a
sing le lap .
Wit h the laps wi nd ing down, Payn e
looked to have the win in the bag until
going down in a turn.
"T h e ruts are gettin g reall y rou gh ,
a nd I was trying to take all the insid e
lines and my front w heel popped ou t of
the rut and I just got cross-rutted a nd
fell ove r," Pa yne ex plained. "I go t up
and that g uy (Ta ka ha ma ) w a s ri ght
behind me."
Ta ka hama made a race of it all th e
wa y to the finis h line for a close seco ndpl ace finish . Up ton an d Beirer arg ued
over third until Up ton went down.
"I was using a bank on the side of the
trac k to miss so me of the low er bumps
because there was so me rocks and stuff
comi ng up, a n d it w as dust y a n d I
co u ld n' t see, a nd I sli p ped ou t of my
li ne a little bit and hit the g rou n d,"
exclaimed Up ton after his disappointing
13th-place finish .
Beirer cross ed the finish all by him self for third.
. "The young guys here go so fast, and
eve n me as a Grand Pri x rid er hav e to
go 100 percent to follow the ir speed, and
it' s a perfect pra ctice for me for Europe,"
Beirer said . "I have eight more weeks of
tra ining before the 250cc Grand Prix season sta rts."
YZ250 rid er Constantinou finished a
stro ng fou rth after battling his wa y up
through t he pa ck. In fifth was Blikstad,
foll o w ed b y Remy Van Rees and
Ka zu yoshi Odagir i. Jer emy Chaussee,
Beatty and Hideya Mu rano rounded ou t
(~
the top 10.
.
Perris Raceway
Perris, California
Res ults: January 25, 1998 (Round '1)
SO STK BEC (4 ~6 ): 1. Frank A rr ey; 2 . Johnn y
Jeldcrda (KTM); 3. Gregory Dah n (Yam ); 4. Nichol as
Pa lazzi (Co b); 5. Dakota Gam er (KTM).
50 STK BEG (7-8) Ffr, 1. David Shepardson (Le rn):
2. Danny laFon ta ine (Yam).
50 ST K BEG (7-81 BEG , 1. Krysta l Cra m er Il.em): 2.
J.D. Myerscough (Yam ).
SO M O D (4-6) BEG: 1. N icholas Pal a zz i (Co b ); 2.
Da ko ta Gar ne r ( KT M); 3. Fr a n k Ar rey (KT M ); 4 .
Kristophe r Cha mbers (K1'M).
50 M O D (7-8) BEG , I. Krysta l Cramer (Lem),
50 O PEN (0-8 ), I. ).0. Mye rsrough (Yam ).
50 STK (4-6) BITR K, I. Ga rrick N o bl e (Cob ); 2.
Scott y Cra ven (KTM); 3. Michael H.111 (Cob) ; 4. Johnny
Ield er da (KTM ); 5. Richa rd Ster ling (KTM).
50 ST K (7-8) BITRK: I. Blake Harber (Cob); 2. Bryce
. Terzian (KTM ); 3. Cl ay to n Mu rillo (Cob) ; 4. Ju stin
Ca rm od y (Cob); 5. Tyle r Hemme (Cob) .
50 OP EN BITRK: 1. Jake Hul ett (Lem ): 2. Michae l
Hall (Cob); 3. Casey Huntley (KTM); 4. M.m Harrison
(KTM); 5. Bryce Terzian (KTM).
60 FIT: 1. Bobby' Hesse (Ka w): 2. Ma tt Ha rri so n
(Kaw): 3. Justi n Cannody (Ka w): 4. Tyler Sievers (Kaw);
5. Th oma s Ca mpbell [Kaw},
60 BEG: 1. Chase Taka cs (Kaw) : 2. B.). Kun tz (Ka w) :
3. Clay Higgin s (Ka w); 4. Ja ke Hu lett IKaw): 5. Patrick
'Pennington (Ka w) .
(Ya m) ; 3. Kyl e De Qu itl ete (Yam ); 4. Pat rick Terry
• (Yam); 5. Dan Ashbrook (Ya m).
125 N O V D·l: 1. Bri a n Morga n (Suz ); 2. Eric
And e r so n (Ya m ); 3. Matt W illia m s (Ya m ); 4. Fr ed
Berggren (Yam); 5. Greg Ch im its (Yam).
125 NOV D-2: 1. Derek Chase (Ya m); 2. Charles
He ch te! (Ya m ); 3. Richi e Owens ; 4. Chuck Henson
(Hen): 5. Ryan Feddro w (Kawl.
125 NOV D· 3: 1. Joa kim Ha nsson