The much anticipated 80cc (12-13)
minicycle showdown was probably the
most-watched minicycle division of the
weekend. Racers would be forced to
qualify through a series of motos, where
two divisions containing nearly 80 racers would be whittled down to a final
30-rider gate. The top 15 finishers from
each division would then be combined
and go head-to-head in a runoff event,
where their qualifying score combined
with their overall finish from the final
would determine their national finish.
The 80cc (12-13) Modified race saw
Stewart and Bess line up against one
another en tering the runoff with firstand second-place points from their
respective qualifiers. The final runoff
had all the ingredients of an epic East
vs. West shootout, which brought the
stands to life in anticipation of a battle
·for the World Championship title.
When the gate dropped it was a picture-perfect holeshot for Kyle Mace,
with Bess on his FMF-tuned Suzuki in
second, followed by Jimmy Nelson from
Battle Mountain, Nevada, J.J. Pecsok
and Stewart. Bess was quick to pull
away from the battle for second between
Pecsok and Stewart, w!)i.le Nelson and
Mace dropped off the pace.
Team Suzuki's Gene Stull charged
from deep in the pack and surprised
Stewart with a half-hearted pass near
the finish-line tum. Stewart was quick to
respond, though, and repassed the
Suzuki speedster before the next turn
and then took aim at Pecsok, bouncing
him out of his line in a hairpin left to
take over second.
With two laps remaining, Stewart
found himself eight seconds behind
Bess. With that in mind, he began to
quicken his pace in a desperate attempt
to make up lost ground on the speedy
Bess. During the next few laps, Stewart
would gain a few seconds on Bess, but
that's as far as he would get when the
checkered flag waved for the new 80ccc
Modified (12-13) World Champion.
Stewart found redemption by pulling
a classic flip-flop in the 80cc Stock (1213) class, returning to dominate the field
aboard his power-valved Kawasaki
KX80.
Stewart and Bess faced off in the heat
race. Stewart showed his ability to come
from behind after crashing on the first
lap near the mechanics area, where he
got sideways over a small double jump.
Stewart put his head down and mounted a charge that would ultimately see
him ca tch a nd pass Bess on the last
straightaway of the final lap for the
motowin.
During the BOcc 02-13) Stock runoff,
Stull led for one lap, but as fate would
have it, he fell in the same turn in which
he and Team Green/Pro Circuit's Dylan
Lord had experienced a heat-race alter-
