Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Pace U.S. Off-Road Championship Series, Round 5 (Left)Eventual winner Doug Dubac h (57) got his lead off the sta rt at Qualcomm Stadium. He was followed by Tony Suiek (14), Scott M yers (12), Mike Healey (1), Robert Naught on (5) and se ries leader/race runner-up Spud Walters (4). (Below) Dubach does a quick post-race spot with ESPN 2's Jerry Bernardo. After miss ing the first three races of the series due to a bike s hortage and another commitment, Dubach has a 3-1 record. By Mark Kariya SAN DIEGO, CA, FEB. 15 o n ' t ac cuse Doug Duba ch of U ~ bei n g a slow lea rner. He join ed !!!' th e four-stroke-only Thund erbike class in the PACE U .S. Off-Road Cha mpio nsh ip Series ' in Las Vegas for round four (due pri marily to a shortage of Yamaha' s YZ400Fs), go t a mediocre start and end ed up third . White Brothers Yamaha teammate Spud Walters, on ano th er ne w YZ400F, won th e ra ce, whil e Vosbu rg Racing / IMS/ Husaberg's Mike Hea ley rod e his we ll-u sed FCS01 to second. Sa n Die g o' s Qualcomm St ad ium turned ou t to be another story. "Las t week I didn' t quite ge t the start, got bumped around and ended up s trugg ling th e w ho le main even t just tryi ng to get aro un d one or two riders," Dub ach said befo re the start. 'The race is really qu ick, with a 3G-sec ond lap time a nd 12 laps. Six minutes, a nd it ' s a ll don e! It was kind of a learning experience. Hopefully, I'll get out there right awa y a nd ge t up front. I kn ow th at 'll make it a lot' easier. If I can d o that, then I think I can win. I think you' re probably not going to see someone come from wa y back and win the race because it's over so quick and th e track is so simple." He surmised correctly and proceeded to get th a t all-importa n t s tart on his Alan Ol son-prepped b ik e whe n the green flag waved fo r th e main event. (Since the field was comp rised of fewe r than 20 racers, no heat races to d et ermine s ta r tin g order were run h e r e, unlike at the fou r previous even ts.) TRE YZ4 00F pil ot Scott M y ers, Ma lot t' s Up hols tery / H em me Hay-backed Ton y Su le k, Wh it e Bro thers /Ch ap arral ' s Chris Ridgeway (on a YZ), Healey an d Pre m ier Mo torsports /Maxxis' Robert Na ugh ton (on a H usa berg FCS01) jostled for a spo t behin d Dubach after the small tabletop, w hich wa s followed by a tight left. D It w asn ' t a goo d day for eith e r . Healey or Rid gew ay, though . O n the co me bac k fro m d eb ilit a ting inj u ries a few years ago, Ridgeway suffered from arm pump and slip ped backward , eve ntua lly finishing LOth, That was still better th an H e al ey, w ho ta ngle d wi th a no the r ri de r goi ng int o a tu rn a n d ca me o u t of it with a d isl ocated left elbow and a broken clut ch lever. Healey still earned eno ugh poin ts to retain third in the series stand ings, though. As Dub ach reeled off 27-second laps un con tested (except for lap pers later in . the race), Myers settled into seco nd, followed b y Wal ters, Sulek and No Fear/Moto Wor ld' s Bad er Manneh , both on YZs. On th e last la p, Wal ters s u rpri sed Myer s and slip pe d int o second place. "I mad e one mistake the who le race, a n d th at' s (a ll ) it too k," Myers sai d . 'That's all it reallv takes ou t there. It's suc h a race fro m turn to tu rn that you can' t mak e any mistakes, and I d id , so Spud go t by me." "But I w as happy to get third ," Walters said . "I just started riding agai n, so I feel real good . Going into the first turn, I wa s about mid pack. Then I got aro und a few gu ys, actually worked up int o third. Going into a right-hander, the fro nt end just kind of pushed ou t so I crash ed . I got up and was in fou rth, so I just tried rid ing as hard as I could. I saw the gu ys in fron t of me go t held up by some lappers, and that helped me out a lot. I go t by Myers on the last lap. I tried to ride my hard est. It's kind of a bummer, me crashing, beca use I think I could 've been right there." Dubach was u ndersta nd ably happy with the way the race we nt for him. "I did it; I got the start, and I knew it was goi ng to be my ra ce fro m th ere," Dubach said . "I had the con tro l, and I wa s fortu nate enough that some of the other peo p le had a littl e bit of trouble, but I guess tha t' s all racing . I had a little trouble last week, a nd I'm th e winner this week. "Last week I wa s in a fight the whole ti me, but it seemed li ke yo u co u ld almost not eve n get around the slowes t rid er on the track because it wa s th at inside-only," Dubach continued . 'There wa s n o option like there wa s toda y . Actu ally, I did pass some lappers inside an d outsid e, so, like I say, the track wa s a little be tter this week. It still wasn' t ve r y te ch n ical - la s t w e ek' s wa sn' t, either - bu t the racin g' s goo d , I guess. It' s close, because (riders) do n' t get sepa ra ted so mu ch when th e tr ack' s no t tha t difficult. I can only thank God that I go t the goo d sta rt becau se tha t's what it was all abou t." H owever, mo re import ant for WaIters than this race's resu lts is the series. "We weren' t su re how this series was go in g to be ," Wa lters sa id . "Yam a ha wa nted us to go out and win the series. I think I wrapped it up today, the w hole series, so that's goo d . Tha t' ll be the first ch am p io nship on this bike. So far , so good! H op e full y w e ca n keep ou r mom entum into the 250cc Nationals and maybe get some top lOs. That would be great!" Of course, teammate Dubach has his visio n of the remaining two races in the series, an d it goes like this: "I know that I am completely ou t of conten tion for the title . I knew that wa s going to be a fact. As long as Spud and I go 1-2 these last two rounds - me first, him second that's all I can as k for." Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, California Results: February 15, 1998 (Round 5 of 7) MA IN : 1. Dou g Duba ch (Yam); 2. Spu d Walte rs (Yam); 3. Scott Myer s (Yam); 4. Tony Sulek (Yam): 5. Bad er Man neh (Yam); 6. Tony Fu ller (Yam) ; 7. Tyler King (Yam); 8. Shawn Highland (Hbg): 9. Ryan Ragland (Yam ); 10. Chris Ridgeway (Ya m). PACE U.S. O FF-ROAD CHAM MONSHIP SERIES PO INTS STANDINGS (Aflpr 5 of 7 en n15): 1. Spud Walters (5n ); 2. Jeremy Sho ning (346); 3. Mike Healey (320); 4. Robert Naughton (314); 5. Ed Hamm erschmidt (313); 6. David Riordan (288); 7. Tony Fuller (286); 8. Tom Summers (223); 9. Doug Du bach (217); 10. Todd Johnson (214).

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