Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

C CGolden S a M tateN tionalsN orth;R 4 ound Ryan socks it to 'em at Argyll By John Silv a DIXON, CA, FEB 14 . o x Racin g' s Rick Ryan swep t th e fin a l round of th e C MC SunStar Golden Sta te Na tio nals No rth, held a t Argy ll Park, by w in ning th e 125cc, 250cc, Ove r 25 and Ve t Pro cla s se s . Ryan 's only real compe tition came from Te am G ree n's Brett Raci n e a n d th e qu agmire on th e track , which made for a formidabl e cha llenge to stayin g u pright and o n th e gas ev en for a mud ma st er like Ryan . Argyll Park is located on the Campb ell Ran ch in th e Ca lifo rn ia s heepranchin g regi on so uth of Dixon . A new addition to th e series for 1998, it is one of the old es t and longest-operating race facili ties in Nort hern Californ ia. Unfortuna tely for everyone, w eeks of sever e storms ha d triggered widespread flooding throughout the su rroundi ng areas, and water-covere d roadways made just getting to the track a m ajor acco mp lishment. Consequen tly, the tu rno ut w a s light, with only the m o s t ded ic a te d point-chasing racers attendi n g the event. When the ra ci ng began , it was to ugh goi ng, with high wi nds, rain and even marble-sized ha il pepperi ng th e racers during so me motos. Mercifull y, a one- moto format w as uti lized. The bes t of th ese ra cers w orked ex tra hard to ea rn the points th ey will ca rr y to the seri es cham pio ns h ip , w hich w ou ld be settled th e fo llowing w eek end at th e North/ Sou th Sho w down . Ryan took o ff with th e lead at the sta rt of th e combi ne d 250cc Pro / Int er m ed iat e m o to a nd never loo ked back . Racine was second, follow ed by Ge off Woods a nd th e rest of the 250cc Pros a n d Interm ed iates . Ra cine ran w ith Ryan fo r a couple of la ps u ntil a sp ill caused a mud-p acked th rot tle to stick on h is Kawa sa ki, ending his ri de o n the th ird lap (of fo u r sc hed u le d fo r th e race). Racin e was score d third beh ind Woods a n d Ry an . Aaron Burns took first for the Intermed iates, with Jesse Olson second and Mike H od ges third . In th e 125cc Pro /Intermed iate race, Ryan led each of the four laps while Racine tr ied to keep him in sight from second place. Burns ran thi rd , ahead of Intermed iate riv al Olson. Burns suffered difficulties early in the race and relinquished h is position to a charging O lson; Burns dropped out of the moto shortl y thereafter. Finally, a ft er four muddy laps, a surprising ly clean Ryan too k the win . Racin e w ore Ryan's mu d we ll and raced smart to a secon d -pl ace finish, and O lson notched the In termediate-class w in . I n b oth th e Ov er 25 a n d Ov e r 3 0 ra ces , Ryan had an easy time sta ying ahead of his cha llengers, w inning both classes over Woods and H od ges. A ll th e Ve ts sta rted to gether, a n d O ver 30 'Beg in n er (yea h , ri ght) M ark Hon tou gat ed we ll, then sen t the co nsidera ble contingent of Fort Bragg fans on hand into' a cheering fr enzy w he n he pa ssed Woods to assu me second behind Ryan , who w as of course long go ne wi th F o a h uge lead . H ontou a ppeared to have the w in in the bag when he suddenly traded a pretty firs t-p lace trophy for an ugly so il sa m p le . In li ne to reap the Beginner- cl ass w in was Suzu ki racer P hil ip H a upt. Hon tou wa s unin jured but called it a d ay. In th e 80cc (12 - 13 ) cla s s , Robert Harold was unst oppable on his Yama ha, e a s ily ta kin g th e cl a ss w in ho m e to Modesto. Like Harold, Linco ln's Bobby Meyer led his Begi nner -class com petition in each of th e 80cc rac e' s five laps for a class win over Blak e Ke lly a nd Jason Wackerl y. Interestingl y, th e 80s raced ea r lie r, while co nd itio ns were . m ore favorable, and had th e long est race of the day at five laps. The 125cc Junio r moto was interru pted a fter on ly tw o la ps by a hail storm , prom pting the fin is h -line flag ma n to wav e the flags in an attem pt to end the race before he - along with nearl y everyo ne else - w ent sc ra mbling for cover. Bru tal wi nds mad e cover hard to find, and not all of th e racers saw the flags or knew the race was over, s o th ey endured another lap of punishment. ' Official scori ng , based on the order at the completion of the second lap, gave Chris Wilson the win; he was followed by Seth Ma rtinelli, Eric Heagan , Todd Thompson and Evan Lau ghrid ge. 1:'< - Argyll Park Dixon, California Results: February 14, 1998 (Rou nd 4) 50 (4-6): 1. M icha el Rindahl (KT M). 50 (7-9) : 1. Matthew Spe ncer {KTMl . 60 (0 -8 ): 1. Matth ew Spen ce r (Kawl : 2. Kod y Hundcrman (K.1W). 60 (9· 11): 1. Tony La Ve zzo (Kaw): 2. Brya n Perry (Kaw): 3. Jerem y Hon tou (Kaw). 80 BEG : 1. Bo bby Me yer (Kaw) : 2. Blake Kel ly (Ya m); 3. Jason Wa ckerly (Yam) ; 4. Tim Smi th (He n): 5. Brian Dennis (Hen). 80 (12-13): 1. Robert Har old (Yam ); 2. 'N ick [a rret (B o n ); 3. Ma tt Hall (Yam ); 4 . Jim my Ha zel (Yam) ; 5. M.ltt Henkel (Yam ). 125 BEG: 1. Jimmy Stew ar t (Ha n); 2. Dan Replog le (Su z); 3. C hri s Ver hougstractc (Suz ): 4. Ia mcy Dille (Su z): 5. Nick Bainbridge (Yam). 125 JR: 1. Chris Wilso n (Ya m); 2. Seth Marti ne lli (Suz ); 3. Eric Hea gan (5uz ); 4. Todd Th ompson (Yam ); 5. Kenny Beer (Ya m). 125 INT: 1. Jesse Olson (He n): 2. Pete Kasten (Ha n); 3. Aaron Bums (KTM). (Top ) Ric k Ryan (12) endu red the muddy conditions to sweep the 125 and 250cc Pro classes, as well as the Over 25 and Vet Pro classes at the fourt h and final round of the CMC Golden State Nati onal s Nort h, held at Argy ll Park in Dixon, Californ ia. (Above) Jesse Olson (418) to pped the 125cc Int ermediates and f inished second in the 250cc Intermed iate class at Argyll Park. '3 125 PRO : 1. Rick Ryan (Suz ); 2. Brett Racine (Kaw) : 3. Geoff Woods (Su z): 4 . Be n Sha nk (Sua): 5. Joh n Nelson (Kaw ). 250 INT: 1. Aaron Bur ns (KT M); 2. [es se Olson (H en): 3. Mike Hodges (Suz): 4. Zcb Arm strong (Yam); 5. Ken Wood (KTM). 250 PRO: 1. Rick Ryan (Suz); 2. Geoff Wood s (Suz); 3. Brett Racine (Ka w ): 4. Ben Shank (S u z): 5. Joh n Nelson IKaw). . 25+ AM: 1. Mike Hodges (5uz). 25+ PR O , 1. Rick Ryan (Suz); 2. CL'Off Woods (Suz). ~ 30+ BEG: 1. Phi lip Hau p t (Su z): 2. Mar k Hon tou (H en): 3. Gary Rose IKaw) . 30+ IN T: 1. Mike Ho d ges (Suz ): 2. Jeff Molina~ (Ka w ); 3. Don Mendenh all (Y.lm); 4. Ron Sharp (Suz); 5. Scott Derocco (Suz) . 30+ PRO: 1. Rick Ryan (Suz) ; 2. Groff Woods (Suz); 3:Jo h n Nel so n (K a w): 4. Jim Owens (Ha n); 5. Allen I Silhanek (Suz). .

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