Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GR California Winter MX Series South, Round 5 • Pingree, McGavran • (Left) David Pingree won both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes during the final round of the series, held at Competition Park. (Above) Brian McGavran has won every 125cc Intermediate moto run in the series. By. Greg Robertson SAN JACINTO, CA, APR. 5 avid Pingree put in a couple of flawless rides to win both the 125 and 2S0cc Pro classes during the fifth a nd final round of the Mazda Truck/Goat Eyewear/Circle K/76/GFI Racing-sponsored California Winter Series South, held at Competition Park. Equally impressive was the performance of Yamaha-mounted Bryan McGavran, who went I-Ion the day for the 12Scc Intermediate win and, in doing so, finished out the series with a perfect 1a-moto sweep. Pingree's reign in the 250cc Pro class started as soon as the gate dropped for the one-shot 20-minute moto, as the Team FMF/Honda/Thor rider pulled the holeshot, ahead of Jiri Dostal, Billy Payne and YZ400F-mounted Spud Walters. Walters made the first pass am~ng the lead pack as he pushed Payne back to fourth. Walters closed in on Dostal and was looking to make the pass until he overshot a turn and found himself back in sixth behind the Suzuki duo of Rusty Holland and Jeff Willoh. Pingree continued to pull away from Dostal, who was coming under fire from Payne in third. Payne was all over Dostal up until the halfway point, when Dostal killed his engine in a corner, handing Payne the runner-up spot. HoIland ran third but was soon being pressured by Dostal, 'who was back up to speed in fouTth. Willoh and Walters fought over fifth, with Walters making a D pass stick with a couple of laps remaining. When tl;te checkers came out, it w,\s Pi ngree ou t fron t with 10 seconds to spare. "I pulled a mean holeshot and just tried to ride smooth and aggressive and push the lap times," Pingree said: "The track was fun. I was having fun out there." Team Green/AXO/Pro Circuit-sponsored Payne· found himself ali alone in second place after the 20-minute race. '1 made a couple of mistakes on the first lap and got passed by a couple of guys and ma'naged to repass them," Payne said, "and then I was third behind Jiri and he stalled. My mechanic was telling me I was pretty much the same pace as Pingree." Dostal managed to hold off a hardcharging Walters on the last lap to collect the third-place money. "Once Payne got by me after I stalled my bike, it was hard to get my rhythm going again and catch him," Dostal said. 'Tm happy with what I got." Willoh would hold on for a close fifth over Ted Campbell and Holland. Dustin Nelson, Steve Andrich and Ty Kady filled in the top 10. The 12Scc Pro action saw Payne put his KX12S into an immediate lead, ahead of Holland, Pingree, Casey Johnson and Willoh, and then Pingree went from third to first on the opening lap. Holland went under Payne in a sweeper to take over second place, with Johnson pushing Payne back another position a lap later. By lap three, Johnson was up to second place and closing in on Pingree. For the next seven laps Johnson was all over Pingree, just waiting for a mistake to happen. Pingree kept his cool under pressure, and would actually pull away slightly from Johns~n in the final laps of the 20-minute race to take the win. "I knew Cas y has been riding real good," Pingree said. "I knew it would be he and lout front, so I tried to get as big a gap as I could. He came right up on me when he got up to second place and we both turned it up pretty good. It was a good race; I had to work hard, for sure." Johnson would cross the finish a few seconds behind Pingree, but well ahead of Holland in third. "I tried re.eling him (Pingree) in today but he was riding real good," Johnson said. "I was giving it 100 percent out there, but there was nothing I could do to catch him." Dostal fought his way up from a midpack start to battle it out with Payne over fourth place until P

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