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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127929
(Left)250Cc World
Championship
contender Tallon
Vohland returned
home to win the
125cc, 250Cc and
Over 25 Pro classes
at the open ing round
of the CMC Golden
State Nationals
North.
(Right) Former 250Cc
World
Championsh ip
contender Rodney
Smith traded his
Team Suzuki offroad RMs for MXers
and won the Vet Pro
class. He also
finished fourth in the
250cc Pro class and
fifth in the 125cc Pro
class in Marysville.
CMC Golden Slate Nationals North,Round 1
Vohland
sweeps Pro
classes
By John Sil va
MARYSVILLE, CA, JAN. 18
inald i Yamaha racer Tallon Vohland turned his annual visit home
into "golden memories" by sweeping th e 125 cc, 250cc and Over 25 Pro
classes at the 22i1d annua l CMC Sunstar
. Sprockets Golden State Na tiona ls North .
Series' o pen ing round , h eld a t Beckw or th Riverfront Pa rk . Vo hland hail s
fro m nearby Sa cram en to , th ou gh h e
now spends most of his time in Europe
or travelin g around the world , vying for
th e 250cc World Cha mpionship. Wh en
not racing aro u nd the w orld, Vohland
enjoys visiting family and frie nds' back
hom e while prep arin g for his next title
chase.
.
Altho ugh several facto rs - incl ud ing
incle ment wea ther prior to the event h e ld a ttenda nce down slightly fro m
recen t seasons, the hundreds of racers
w ho ga mbled on the changing weather
were treated to weak -sunshine a nd a
near-pe rfect track - at leas t for the practice sessions a nd the ea rly mot os. But
halfway thro ugh the first r ou nd of
motos, ga thering clouds grew dark and
sprinkles of rain began to fall, creating
increasingly muddy cond itions. The rain
continu ed , building to a downpour that
eventua1ly satu ra ted even th e sandiest
portions of the Cha rlie Sexton-prepared
track, making the completion of each lap
more difficult. At midday, a vote was
taken and the racers ov erw he lmin gly
supported the can celing of the second
half. The fina l results w ere d etermined
based on the firs t mota - exce pt for the
Pee Wees, who were (wisely) run early
in the day and raced bo th their motos.
. The 250cc Pros ran the first rac e of
the d ay, and fans knew a grea t race was
at hand when Vohland, AMA National
Hare Scrambles cham p/ISDE hero Rodney Smith, multipl e past Go lden Stat e
N ationals w in ne r Rick Ry an , Team
Green 's Brett Racine and many other talented riders p ositi on ed th emselves a t
the starting ga te . Wh en th e gate
R
dropped , no one was surprised that the
experienced Ryan started quic kly, with
Vohland a nd Racin e in tow . New Pr o
David Lod erm ei er was a s u r prise in
fourth place, and he was running strong
with the leaders at the completion of the
first lap . Origina1ly from Sacramento,
Lode rmeier has practiced and raced freque ntly at the Riverfront track.
Smith chall en ged Lodermeie r
thro ughout the next lap and found the
scrappy newcomer was fas t, confident
and experienced at finding Riverfront's
"hidden" hot lines . These talents served
Lod errneier well , but Smith's experience
helped him find a wa y past to move into
fourth . Lodermeier diced for the spot,
but af ter a few laps Smith locked it up.
"I try to hit as man y motocross races '
as p o ss ib le ea ch winter, " Smith
explained. "I carne he re for practice, to
learn w hat everyo ne else has to s how
me. Th e MX h e lp s me get m y speed
.ba ck. It ' s funny - I can ra ce for th ree
hours lon g, and I do n't get tired or arm
pump. I corne here for a seven-lap race
and I ge t arm pump! I'm not use to racing a t this speed fo r such a relati vel y
sh ort tim e . I h a n g on too tig ht and
tense."
Pro Circuit /Fox Ra cin g -b a ck ed
Racine look ed comfortable and smooth
in third, always keeping the leader in
sight but unab le to close the dista nce .
Racine, a lon gtim e student of Danny
"Magoo" Chand ler, expressed a prerace d esire for a single extra-long mo ta
inst ead of the traditional two- mota format.
"I'd like to run a longer mota to help
g et prepared for the (longer AMA)
N ati onal s," Ra ci n e sai d. "I 've b een
training hard and I'm read y. All of the
other Pros Said they wa nted to, too."
As is often the case early in the season , man y wh o may have felt prepared
showed the signs of fatigu e well befor e
the white flag; perhaps not all the "othe r
pros" were as fit as the you thful Racin e,
w ho raced strongly and consis tently for
the d u ra tion of the seven-lap mota.
Just back fro m the leaders wer e Steve
Garnett, Mark Workentine, Seth Young,
Eric Sandstrom, Ben Shank and Shawn
MacD on ald . This gro u p ra ced clo se ly
for a brief time before spreading out.
Around the midway point of the ra ce,
MacDonald s u ffere d so me unknown
difficulty and dropped back a lap . Later,
Shank and Sandstr om also dropped one
lap off the lead ers.
Vohland raced in second for only one
la p befor e findi ng a cha nce to slip by
Ryan. On ce ove rtake n, Ryan tu cked in
b ehind Vo h la n d a n d jus t a hea d of
Racine. These shree No rt hern California ns se t a n im p ressi ve pace a s th ey
clicked off the laps and grad ually pulled
away fro m Smith, Lod ermeier a nd th e
rest.
.
The fina l la ps wer e merely a coun tdown to the finish as a ll th e top positions held firm . At the end, Vo hland
was followed by Ryan, Racin e, Smith,
Lodermeier, Garnett; Workentine,
Young, Sandstrom and Shank.
By the time the 12Sec Pros lined up,
the track wa s slick - just the wa y mu d
master Ryan likes it. Ryan started strong
and held off Vohland for ne arl y three
laps before Vohland took the lead . Ryan
once again cru ised th e track between
fir st -placed Vohland and third-placed
Racine.
Behind the lead trio, Dus tin Bloom field led Daniel Blair, Sm ith, Cody Killam, Ca rter Gurnee, Ga rne tt, Robb Forsberg and Jeremy Dab ne r . Bloomfi eld
battled wit h Blair and Smith for fou rth,
with Smith taking the measure of both
on lap th ree to lay a firm grip on th e
p osition - but Blai r co ntinued to han g
wi th the "cha m p" and diced wi th Smit h
in a close contest tha t the fans (and racers) seemed to en joy. Smith d escribed
the action for Cycle News.
"It was my first rid e eve r on m y 1998
RM125," sa id the 33-yea r-o ld , Team
Suzuki / Moose/ Alpines tars-sponsored
Smith . " It was toug h ou t there, but I was
riding good . I ca rne fro m near last to
fourth; then that new rid er (Blair) gave
me a good battle. O n the last la p, my
grip carne off, so I had to let that guy
(Blair) back by me. Tha t kind of made
me mad , bu t - that's racin g . Ther e's a
bunch of new rid ers co mi ng u p w ho
look good."
At the finish, it was again Vohla nd
fi rst, w ith Ryan seco nd and Ra cin e
third; Blair and Sm ith rounded out the
top five overall.
Joe Lodermeier was so jazzed over
h is so n Da vid ' s p erformance in the
250cc Pro race that he just had to suit up
and do him one better. So the senior
Lod erm eier to o k no priso ne rs as h e
roosted the muddy track and scored the
win in the Over 40 class. John Ha ndelin
finished second.
Th e lu cky 250c c In termedia tes ra n
while the track was still in good shape .
Co ry Morais got the holeshot an d led for
one lap before Carl Baker took over first
pl ace. Once ou t fro n t, Baker ran away
and hid unt il he saw the checkered flag.
Jesse Olson laid claim to second wit h a
pass on Morais. Jere mia h Israel battled
an d then overtook Morais, as did Aa ron
Burns . At th e fini sh , th e o rd e r read
Baker, Olson , Isra el, Bums and Morais,
The last and muddiest race was the
125cc In termediate con tes t. Ol son got
the holeshot and led bri efly before giving up the lead to Burns. On ce ou t front,
Burns mad e the tou gh conditions look
easy as he raced to the wi n over Olson,
Baker, Pete Kasten and J.J. Cummings. 1:\
Beckworth Riverfront Park
Marys ville, california
Results: January 1B, 199B
50 MO D : 1. J.D . Moon" (Lem ): 2. Ronnie Schoff
( A ct ).
50 (Uk 1. jos h ua Greco ( Lem): Z. Ty ler Lui (KTM );
3. jerrad Grosskopf (KTM); 4. Dillon Moo re (KTM ).
50 17-9): 1. Ty lei- Welsh (KTM) ; 2. Milso n WOl1'\ilck
(KTMI; 3. Chad Smi th (KTMI .
60 (0-8) : 1. Matt hew Spen cer ( Ka .....); 2. Ko d y
H und ermen (Kaw): 3. Rory D' M.lrC'O ( Kilw).
60 (9·1)): 1. Bryan Perry (Ka w ): 2. Jer em y Hontou
(Kaw}; 3. Ton y Lavezzo (Ka w ): 4. Zach Ham (Kaw): 5.
Deven Edwards (Ka w).
80 (12-13): 1. Jim m y Ne lso n (Yam); 2. Ro bert Harold
(Ya m) ; 3. Ni ck Ja rr ed (Hon) : 4. Co le Siebler ISuz): 5 .
Matthe..... Hall (Yam ).
80 (t 4-16): 1. Ryan Morai s (Yam) ; 2. Dustin Miller
(Yam) ; 3. Jon Repl ogl e (5uz) ; 4. Steve Mertere (Yam); 5.
..
T.J. Huggin s (Hon).
80 BEG: 1. Jaso n Wackerl y (Yam); 2. Bobby Mey er
(Ka w ): 3. Tim Smith (Ho n); 4. Scu tt Holcomb (Yam); 5.
Blake Kelly (Yam).
80 (7-1)): 1. Vince nt Blair (Ho n); 2. A.J. Perez (5uz) ;
3. [ario Blevins (Ya m); 4. Adam Kawal cyk (Suz) ; 5. Mark
Hall (Suz) .
•
SIM IN I: 1. Robert Harold (Ya m ); 2. Jimmv Nelson
(Ya m); 3. Micha el Alarcon ( Ka w ).
•
125 BEG : 1. Jimmy S te w a r t (Hen ): 2. Rodrigo
Quintanillo (Ya m) ; 3. Nick Bainbridge (Ka w): 4. Greg
Center (Yam); S. Chris Verhaugstracte (Suz) .
125 JR: 1. Eva n Laughrid ge (Suz) ; 2. Ch ris wi lson
(Ya m ); 3. John Ca rilli (Yam); 4. M.ltt Barber (Suz); S. Eric
Hca g en (Suz) .
.
125 INT: 1. Aaron Burn s (KTM); 2. Je sse Ol son
(Ho n); 3. Carl Bilker (}(a w ); 4. Pete Kasten (Ho n); 5. J.J.
Cu m mi ngs (Suz).
125 PRO: 1. Tallon Vohl and (Ya m); 2. Rick Rya n
(5 uz ); 3. Brett Racine (Kaw) : 4. Daniel Blair (Honk 5.
Rodney Smi th