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MOTOCROSS
WHITE BROTHERS FOUR-5TROKE IX
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Lett) Tony Arnaradlo came
from way back to win the
second moto, but a flrst-moto
llfth relegated him to second
overall.
(Right) Western Regional
Four-Stroke Champion Lance
Small finished second In the
first moto, but a crash-related
DNF in the second moto
ruined his weekend.
At the halfway point, Dubach's lead
increased to nine seconds; then Walters
passed Holland for second. Amaradio
held fourth..
As the laps wore down, Dubach was
up to a 15-second lead on Walters, who
had also stretched a five-second cushion
on Holland. Amaradio was pushing
harder. aughton caught a second wind
and moved back up to fifth.
With only three laps remaining, Walters suddenly dropped out of the race,
and Holland and Amaradio circled the
track in the second- and third-place
po itions, respectively.
"The bike just quit running," Walters
said. "The ignition cap had vibrated off
and caused the problem."
Meanwhile, Amaradio began picking
up the pace. He passed Holland with
two laps left and was now only seven
seconds behind Dubach, who had the
white flag in sight. Right when Amaradio took the white flag, he dropped his
bike and barely got back up and going
again before Holland could pass him.
Amaradio gave it his all to catch
Dubach and was suddenly right on his
back fender. Surprisingly, Amaradio
mad e a bid for the lead and got by
Dubach down the final straightaway.
"I can't believe he (Amaradio) didn't
blow through the left-hand berm, as he
must have been clocked at 60 mph," a
stunned Dubach said. "I had no idea he
was even coming and all of a sudden he
flew past me."
The two riders pulled off the track
and patted each other on the back as
they rode to the podium.
Holla nd crossed the finish line in
third, while aughton, who had been
running fourth, was nowhere to be seen.
"I thought I could milk it around
another lap," Naughton said. "The
motor was making some noise, and on
the last straight it quit."
Myers was handed fourth and fourth
overall.
In Amateur-class action, Beau Baron,
Ty Kady and Bryan Nelson won in the
450cc lnterlTIediate, 450cc Expert, and
Over 30 Intermediate classes, respectively. Baron also took second in the Open
Intermediates, while Nelson grabbed
third in the Open In termediates and second in 450cc Intermediates.
The 450cc Intermediates and Experts
were started together for the first moto,
and Alex Zapata, running as an Intermediate, pulled the holeshot. Chasing
Zapata were Kady, Dan Berg, off-road
legend Larry Roeseler, and Nelson.
Baron started poorly and was almost
caught in the pileup on top of "Animal
Leap" that claimed Rick Hansen and
John Kovalcik. Hansen would work his
way up to sixth in the Intermediates, but
Kovalcik would pull off after three laps.
Zapata held the pOint by the end of
the first lap, but Kady took over the lead
by forcing Zapata to go wide in a comer.
Berg moved by Zapata, trying to keep
pace with Kady. elson moved by Roeseier on the back section on lap two.
Baron got by Tim Olson, Tony Bienert
and D.J. Umphres by the second lap to
move into sixth overall. Zapata went
down on lap three in the sand-pit section and dropped out of contention.
Bienert outdrove Umphres down the
hill to take over sixth on lap five. Roeseler and elson were ba ttling each other
and lapped traffic on the white-flag lap.
Nelson had to go wide in a comer to try
to pass three lappers. Roeseler went to
the inside on the right-hander and, at
one point, both Roeseler and Nelson
were even, with a lapper being sandwiched between them. But Nelson controlled the inside on the next two corners and was able to hold on for third.
Kady took the moto win, followed by
Berg, elson, Roeseler, Baron, Bienert,
Umphres and Kurt Pfeiffer.
The start of the second moto had four
riders coming into the first corner:
Kady, Zapata, Willy Musgrave and
Berg. Kady tangled bars with Zapata,
who was on his right, before the first
comer, and Zapata hit his rear brake to
gain control. But when Zapata went to
grab the clutch to keep the motor from
stalling, Kady accidentally ripped the
clutch lever off. So as the pack roared off
with Berg leading, with Kady and Musgrave in tow, Zapata had to start his
bike and try to get going before the next
line of riders came up on him. As the
riders came back into view from "Bud's
Creek," Kady went past Berg for the
lead.
Rick Hansen was leading the Intermediates, with Nelson, Bienert and
Baron right behind. Musgrave was
applying .pressure to Berg and looked
to make the pass in the sand pit, but
Berg held the line going over the log
jump. Baron went by Bienert corning
down from Animal Leap and was now
pushing on Nelson. Musgrave got
beside Berg on the north part of the
course and was able to make the pass
coming out of Bud's Creek. Baron
moved by Nelson, who was racing his
sixth moto of the day, as they came out
of the large bowl turn. On lap four,
Baron moved to the top spot of the
Intermediates by going around Hansen
before the tabletop jump.
Kady got the white flag, but he
looked to be slowing, and Berg was
now in second, followed by Roeseler.
Musgrave crashed off the course by
Bud's Creek and did not finish the race.
Ka"dy and was now just trying. to hold
on, as his bike was sputtering on the
last lap. Berg got right behind Kady on
the last couple of corners but was
unable to get around. Kady took the Pro
win, followed by Berg and Roeseler.
Baron was fourth overall and first.lntermediate, with Hansen, elson, Bienert
and Jeff Blackmore rounding out the
top five.
In the first Over 30 Intermediate
moto, Bienert took the early lead, followed by Nelson, Scott Hoffman, Mark
Decker, Leon Capps and Jeff Seifert.
elson went by Bienert, and Seifert
passed Capps. Roger Hurd, moving up
from a poor start, was now pressuring
Capps. Hurd passed Capps by the end
of lap three and then went by Seifert to
take over fifth. Capps would go down
on lap four and fall out of the top 10.
Nelson took the first-moto win, followed by Bienert, Hoffman, Hurd,
Decker and Seifert.
Decker took the lead after Animal
Leap at the start of the second moto.
elson was second, with Donald Leib,
Hoffman, Hurd, Dennis Cole, Tim ash
and Seifert in close formation. Hoffman
quickly passed Leib for third. Nelson
then made the move for the top spot where he would remain - by getting a
better drive on Decker out of a corner.
Cole, on the step-up jump after the finish line, got sideways and almost went
into the fence. Cole stopped in time but
grabbed his knee in pain and would not
finish. Hoffman tried to go on the inside
of Decker before the log jump, but went
too far inside and got hung up by a hay
bale.
Decker got going JUSl as Hurd was
passing Leib for fourth in the same section. Leib and Nash were battling coming off the tabletop and got entangled at
the left-hand U-turn, with both riders
going down. Coming out of Bud's
Creek, Hoffman tried to pass Decker
before the big tree but laid the bike
down, giving up third to Hurd. Hoffman kept the engine running and only
lost the one position.
On lap three, Hoffman tried to pass
Hurd on the uphill right-hander but
could not control the inside on the next
corner before the finish line. Decker,
however, was slowing down, letting the
Hoffman/Hurd duel catch up to him.
Hoffman got a better drive off the corner going up the north section and went
by Hurd. Then Hoffman went by Decker on the descending tabletop on th~
white-flag lap. Hoffman, thinking he
had second sewn up, bobbled on t.!:le
left-hand U-turn, letting both Decker
and Hurd catch up. Going toward the
big taQletop that leads into the canyon,
Hoffman tried to get back up to speed
but got in the way of Decker, who
stumbled for a second, and Hurd went"
to the outside and had enough speed to
clear the jump. Hoffman controlled the
line on the bowl tum and retained second. The checkered flag waved for winner Nelson, followed by Hoffman,
Hurd, Decker, Seifert, Blackmore and
Leib.
l.'
Glen Helen Raceway
san Bernardino, California
Results: April 25-26, 1998
OPEN tNT; 1. Jim O'Neal (Yam); 2. Beau Baron
(Yam); 3. Bryan Nelson (Yam); 4. Rick Hansen (Yam); 5.
Chudc McCarty (Yam).
OPEN NOV: 1. John Burr (Hon); 2. Chase
Bankhead (Yam); 3. Judd Scanlan (Yam); 4. Karl
Holmbe'8 (Hu.); S. Jmuny O'Neal (Yam).
4.50 EX: 1. Ty J

