Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Rick Ryan (12) and Rodney Smith (31) battle during the 250cc Pro class at the second round of the CMC Golden State Nationals North, held at SandhillRanch. Smith won the 125cc Pro and Vet Pro classes while Ryan won the 250cc Pro and Over 25 Pro classes. 28 Ryan, always a front-ru nner, had a good expla nation for crui sing slowly in last. "I raced earlier this morn ing in Turlock," Ryan sa id . "The y only ra n on e longmoto for the Pros, so as soon as I was finished I drove here to get in some more racing. I just rode eno ugh (of this first 125cc moto) to see the track and get in a little practice for the second moto and the 250cc race coming u p." As the race pr ogr essed , Vohla nd se t off after Smith and Ma tson. By mid race, Vohland had passed Matson for second and was looking for Smith. Vohland conti nued a t a frantic pace, closing the gap to catch up wi th Smith as the racers circled the expansive track in just u nder three minutes per lap. Sud d enly, Vohland was right behind Smith , but just as a p ass seemed in evit abl e, Vohland ap peared to s tall ou t brie fly, allow ing Smith to squirt away temporaril y. The action also continued behind the leade rs. Blair had a few difficulties and dropped a coupleof po sitio ns , a nd Racine, sans goggles, was passed by Bloomfield. Racine recovered to eventually reca p ture fourt h, and Blair found his form again and ran steadily to a seventh-place finish behind Gurnee. In th e final mo ments of the moto, Vohland finally overtook Smit h to take the win. Smit h was a close second, followed by Matson, Racin e, Bloomfield and Gurnee. Ryan holesh ot the seco nd 125cc Pro moto and then foug ht off Smit h as they battled for the lead. Vohland ran third, with Matson fourt h and Blair fifth. Ryan crested the hill and rode the edge as he tried to pull away from the rest. At this point, Ryan enjoyed a four-second lead. Vohland then made a picturesque pass on Smith and set off after Ryan in the lead. Matson continued to run strongly in fourth, ahead of Blair. By mid race, Voh land had ca ugh t Ryan and tri ed several pass a ttemp ts. One a ttempted pass cam e up short and Vohland dropped several positions as a result. This gave Ryan a six-second lead over Smith, Matson , Vo h la nd a nd a rapidly adva ncing Racine goi ng into the final lap of the race. The orde r remai ned stea dy throu gh the last circuit, wit h Ryan scoring first in the moto. Smith was the overall winner wi th a pair of seconds. Matson was third in the mo to, followed by Vohland an d Racine. The 125cc Juniors were a competitive group, led through the first tum by John Carilli as Todd Thompson, Evan Laughridge, Darin Polsley, Chad Wilson, Mike Newnha m, Dan Ail es, Set h Ma rtinelli and the rest of the 28 racers foug ht.fo r position . Chargin g throu gh the pack after a mediocre start was Eric Heagan, wh o has moved up to the 125cc Ju nior class after winning the 80cc Beginnerclass championship at the 1997 Golden State Seri es . Charging jus t in fro n t of Heagan was his friend Don Bainbridge, who crashed soon after . " H e (Ba in b r id g e) w as s wa p p ing aro und in some roug h stuff and he highsid ed - big-time," Heagan said . Some ho w, H eagan avoided a collision and mot ored on, and Bainbridge remounted bu t ro de cau tio us ly to the finish. Carilli held the lead as the white flag flew, grabbing big air as he pres sed the limits to stay ahead . Groups of fan s on the hilltop cheered as intense racing was the rule all through the top 10. However, Carilli suddenly had Dan Polsley on his fender as they crested the hilltop for the final time. With less than a quarter of a lap to go, Polsley took the lead and raced away to the ch eck ered flag . Laughridge seemed to sense oppo rtu nity and ac ted w itho ut hesita tion as he d ispat ched Carilli to th ird place. Dan Ailes shou ld have been required to have a co-pilot, as he parlayed hu ge airtime strategy into a fou rth-place finish. Finishing fifth was Newnham, followed by Wilson, Thompson, Heagan , Mark Verhougstraete and Jay Catucci. Polsley took the holeshot in the second 125ccJuni or rnoto, with Laughridge hot in pu rsui t. Lucian o Quintanilla, who finished 12th in the first moto, proved he could do better as he battled for third with Verho ugstraete. Bainbridge, Wilson , Newnha m, Tho mp son, Martinelli, Matt Barber and the rest gave chase. Heagan ga ted poor ly once aga in, but th is time he ac te d qu ick ly to pass an incredi ble 18 r iders o n the firs t la p. Quick actio n was essential, as only three laps were a llo t te d due to time constra ints, and Heagan made the most of it, beginning the second lap inside the top 10. A slip by Bainbridge nea r the end of lap on e cost him two places, as Newnham and Wilson move d by. All the top riders pulled away from the pack as the whi te flag flew - especially Polsley and Laug hridge, who enjoyed an esti mated 25-second lead over third -pla ced Quintanilla . Run n ing s tro ng wa s Verhougstraete in fourth as he battled wi th Ailes. Barbe r was next , followed by Heagan, Wilson, Bainbrid ge, Thompson an d Newnham. Accordi ng to witnesses, Verhougstra ete and Ailes were involved in a serious crash wh ich o t he r riders, incl udi ng Heagan, narrowly avoided. And althoug h there were some worryfilled moments, it turned ou t tha t no one was serio us ly injured. Othe r shakeu ps also occurred, resulting in a d iffer ent look to the lead erboa rd as th e racer s approached the finish. At the end, it was Polsley taki ng first place, which earned him second overall. Lau ghridge finished a close second to cap tu re first place ove rall and the race series points lead in the class. Quintanilla not ched third, good enough to earn seven th place overall. Heagan finished fourth, making him third overall for the day. Barber finished fifth in the mo to for 12th overall. Fifth overall wen t to Wilson for his consistent &-7 tally. 0 Sand hillRanch Brentwood, California Results: Jan uary 25, 1998 (Round 2) • so (4-6): I. .Richie Thomas {KT}...U; 2. Cody Lambott (Act); 3. Kristie Hunderman (KTM); 4. Michael Rindahl (KTM); 5. Jessica Lu cas (Yam) . SO (7-8); 1. Ma tthew Spencer (KTM); 2. Dyb!, N ay (KTM); 3. Kevin Lucas (Act). ~ 60 (0-8): 1. Ma tth e w Spen ce r (Kaw) ; 2. Cody Hunderman (Ka w ). 60 (9-11); 1. Kyle Peri no (Kaw); 2. Zack Ha m O

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