Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127930
(Above) Andrew Yarnell won the Pee Wee Modified class during the opening round of the SRA Grand Pri x
season, held at Glen Helen Raceway In San Bernardino, Californ ia.
(Abov e ri ght) Luke Wiitala (507) raced to the win In the Open B c lass at round one of the DTRA
.
Championship Ice Racing Series , held In Centerville, Minnesota.
(Right) 011 Thordarson won the Masters class at the SCTAIATA Trial held In Romoland, California.
Wiitala wins
Waterworks Ice Race
By Tim McBride
CENTERVILLE, MN,)AN. 18
Eig h teen-year-o ld Luke Wi ita la sped to an
imp ressive win over his m uc h older cou nte rparts in the Ope n B class durin g the ope ni ng
round of the DTRA C ha m p ions hip Ice Raci ng
Se ries. The ve nu e w as h osted by the Wat erwo rks Beachclub Loun ge, located on Centerville
Lake.
During the sum mertime, the mild-mann ered
nativ e of Duluth, Minn esota, is a top-rank ed A
rider on the District 23 Motocross circuit.
The 500cc Kawasaki- mounted Wiitala sa t on
the po le by win ning the preced ing Ope n B heat
race. The only rid er able keep him in sight was
Larso n's Cycle Racing-backed Jo hn Larson
a board his near-nuclear-powered 600cc CCM
C27. Lake Martha's Joe Fro mberg, Jeff Berg and
Jerry Lindvall rou nded ou t the top five.
The main event go t off to a roc ky start. As
Wiita la bolted to the front of the pack, Larson
tangled with Tromberg and Berg in turn one
and was immediately th rown from his mou nt,
prompting th e red flag. Tromberg and Berg
made the restart, but Lar son w as forced to sit
out due to a broken thr ottle cable. With Larson
temporarily out of contentio n. Wiitala powered
mto the lead and was never seriou sl y ch allen ged, scoring the w in . Berg and Dan Zitur
(who crashed during the heat race) argued over
second for the rema inder of the race, with Berg
eventually gai ning the upper hand. Tromberg,
Lindvall, N a tha n Sla te r and Llo yd Turner
rounded out the field.
As impressive as Wiitala's victory was, a
post-race chat revealed. tha t his competition will
ind eed ha ve their work cut out for them at the
next roun d .
"The track wa s excellent," Wiitala reca lled .
"I thought r was ridi ng pretty good , but I think I
could hav e been running it into the comers a little harde r."
Larson made the appropriate repairs in time
to line up for the Ove r 30 final, w here he carded a
wire-t o-w ire victory ahead of a herd-c ha rging
Berg . At a sligh t distance beh ind the fron t-runners, Lindv all slid by Zitur with two laps rema ining to gamer third-place honors. Fro mberg, 250cc
B race winner Gary Goeden, and Na than Slater
finished fifth thro ugh seventh, respectively.
Results
30
MINI : 1. Mike Ma lach enr.en; 2. John Kaunzner.
SO: 1. SNlwn Burr ; 2. Travis lknrichs; 3. Keicie Youn g.
125: 1. Brad Banquist; 2. Steve Schober;3. Mike Krause.
250 NOV : 1. Richard Wiitala ; 2. Stew' Schober; 3. Cha d Clark;
4. Doug Bohr\; 5. Tim McBrid e.
250 B: 1. C.ry Goed~ 2. Uoyd Tu rner; 3. Don Bdbs.
O PEN NOV: I. Do ug Bohn; 2. Ric hard Wiita la; 3 . Sie ve
Schobn'; 4, Cha d Oark; 5. Mike Kaunzen.
O PEN B: I . Luke Wii ta la; 2. Jeff Berg ; 3. Dan Zitur; 4. Joe
Tm mbtTg; 5. Jeny Lind vall.
O PEN C: 1. Steve SchobtT; 2. Doug Dt-toring; 3. Mike Krau s.
30+ : 1. John Larson; 2. Jeff Berg; 3. JeTTY U ndv a ll; 4. odn
Zitur; 5.Joo: Tromberg.
SR L Doug Deeri ng; 2. Uoyd Turner; 3. Don Bettis; 4. Mike
l...edin; 5. Tim McBridc.
Lewis on the gas at SRA
Grand Prix opener
By Robert Van Damme
SAN BERNARDINO, CA,JAN. 18
Jim my Lewis won the Vet Expert clas s at the
opening round of the SRA Grand Pri x season,
held at Glen Helen Raceway.
Bragging and bench-r a cing g o hand in
hand, but it is not wi se to bra g wh en
motocross fri ends get together, es pecially a t
th e be ginnin g o f a n ew sea son. Tak e, for
instance, the exam p le of 1997 Southland Racing Association Vet champion Dave Donatoni,
wh o invited some friends ove r for pi zza a COU ~
pie of da ys before the SRA Gra nd Prix at Glen
Helen Ra ce wa y . Dona toni told h is fri end s
about how he wa s in front at al mos t all th e
races last year. Donatoni then su ggested. that
his friend Lewi s com e out an d participate. A
mistake, ind eed .
Lewi s decided to race-test a prototype Gas
Ga s 250 motoc rosser a n d , with so me sligh t
adj ustmen ts, Lew is went o u t and pulled th e
holeshot in the 45~minute Grand Pri x. Duri ng
th e first la p, things sort ed ou t beh ind Lew is,
with second belonging to Donatoni , who was
foll owed by John Whitaker, Gordon Keller.
Brian Fount ain , Craig Adams, Fred Co nover and
Ron Oement.
Whitaker passed Don at oni as th ey ma d e
their way onto the vintage cours e, and Conover
and Clemen t, in a two-man train, passed Ada ms
a nd the n Fountain as th ey ca me towa rd th e
tow~r . Doug Yarne ll moved into con tention by
getting aroun d Ad ams at the switc hback turn s.
By the thir d lap on the 4-mile course, Lewis
already had a IS-secon d lead on the battle for
seco nd between Whi ta ker a n d Do natoni.
Cleme n t go t by Conover-for the fifth spot. and
Adams moved pas t Fo u n ta in into seve nth.
Whitaker, having an inspiri ng ride, opened up a
five-seco nd advantage o ver Dona toni by la p
five . Conover sl ipped back a few spo ts, and
would lat er admit to a little arm pump. Ton y
Strang io then moved by bo th Fo untain and
Yarnell to take over seventh.
. Whita ke r 's cus h io n over Do natoni was
short-lived . as only four bike length s separated
them on lap six. Mean wh ile, Strangle we nt by a
tiring Clement, while Adams caught and passed
Keller around the sweeper tu m in the canyo n.
Then Yarnell pu t on a charge and wen t by Strangio, Keller and Ada ms withi n two laps. Conover
was also catching his second win d and cha rged
back toward the front.
Donatoni was finally able to get by Whita ker
by the log ju m p : Donat oni got und erneat h
Whitaker as the latt er was held up by a lapper.
Lewis took the win, follow ed by Donatoni and
Whitaker. -Co nove r wo rked his w ay back to
fo u rth by getting around Yarnell a couple of
turns before the finish line.
Results
r /\'II MOD: 1. An d re w Va rne ll ( K n .·); 2. Joe-y Jo hn s on
(KThU; 3. Frank Aguirre (KTM).
P/W STt<: 1. Sea n Renshaw (Y il m ); 2. Cha d Smit h (Y am ); 3.
I...acqWootton (Y dm).
80 BEG: J. Bra ndon w ood s (Hon); 2. Brad CooIIJ,y (H on); 3.
Pct l,. Wrig hl JD (Suz).
-r
80 NOV : 1. Ja.o;o Jeffery (Yilm ); 2. Kevin Hu nleT (Y il m ); 3.
n
Jared Minor (Hon).
200 BEG: 1. Jmemy Mead (Kaw ); 2. JoMua Bon:It.-n (Ma i); 3.
Nils~ (Hon l.
200 NOV: 1. Brad ley H ulh