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"The start was a little weird because
it was raining real hard," said Smail
after the race. "Everyone was dancing
around and colliding before the triple.
After that 1 just rode smooth, looked up
and saw Spud (Walters), found an easy
place to pass him and then got Anaya
for the lead early on. I stayed to my lines
and didn't try really hard. 1 wasn't sure
about how many riders 1 passed, but 1
will work harder next moto and maybe
get them all."
"I hate the mud," Walters said, shaking his head. "I just ride too tight and
too tense in it. My start was really good,
but 1 was spending a lot of time finding
good lines, because it was so slick. It
was my main key to stay up and not fall
over and have to deal with restarting the
bike. Smail was on that tractor and had
the horsepower on us. When he passed
me, it was kind of embarrassing because
I didn't even crash."
"The moto w~s pretty tough," Nelson said. "I made sure not to fall down
after spinning off the gate like crazy. 1
worked up to second pretty early and
tried to hold on from there. 1 got pretty
messed up with some lapper and had to
go through a different line in the
whoops and Greg (Schnell) got by me."
Soon it was back to business again.
At the start of the second moto, it was
all Smail, who grabbed the holeshot
ahead of Grayson Hart, Walters and
Myers. Close behind them was Schnell,
Anaya, Tim Gerdl, Naughton, Larson
and Dineen.
Smail quickly 'turned up the wick
and aired it out over the first triple with
a few bike length's lead. Myers jetted
into second down the first straight,
ahead of Hart and Walters. Exiting turn
two and heading. over a quad roller section, Hart and Walters tangled.
"I nailed the throttle to the stops to
clear the quad and the throttle stuck
wide open," Hart said. "I must have not
gotten it (the throttle) all cleaned out
after the first moto, because it wouldn't
return. 1 overjurnped the section and
the bike went sideways on the landing."
Walters was right there..
"I didn't have any place to go, and I
landed on his bike and shot off the track
and tipped over," WaIters said.
Walters got 'going again in 20th and
began a great charge through a cluster
of riders. In fact, he charged past five
riders by lap two, four riders on lap
three, and then he motored around
Ward on lap' four for 10th.
Meanwhile, up front, Smail was all
alone. By lap four, he was ahead of his
nearest competitor by 18 seconds.
Then Schnell washed out and frantically tried to refire his machine. Woods,
Holland, Matson, Nelson, Myers and
Naughton all got by before Schnell
could get going again.
At th"e halfway point, SQ"lail had
already lapped more than half the class
and Holland was running in second, followed by Woods, Matson, Nelson
Naughton, Schnell, Myers, Anaya and
Walters, in that order.
Walters was still pressing forward
and on a good pace, getting around
Anaya and Myers on lap 11. A few turns
later, Smail also reeled in the same duo
and then passed them both.
.
Schnell, too, was mounting a charge.
of his own, as he caught and passed
Naughton and then Nelson on the next
lap.
Smail was the rider to watch, as the
only question left was: How many riders could he lap? Late in the race, Smail
caught Schnell and passed him, then,
three laps later, the two-lap board came
out and second-placed Holland was five
(Left) Dustin Nelson had a consistent 3-5 day which netted him fourth
overall.
(Above) Spud Walters overacame problems in both motos to take fifth
overall with a 4-7 tally.
(Below) Smail took the holeshot in the second moto.
seconds ahead of him. Less than a lap
later, Smail made a block-pass on Hoiland, who tried to pass him back but
came up just short.
Smail eventually got the upper hand
and pulled away, taking the win by more
than six seconds on Holland. Schnell finished third, followed by Woods and elson. Matson took sixth, ahead of Walters,
Naughton, Myers and Downs.
"Once I saw Schnell slowing off the
pace, I started looking up through and
thought, 'Well,l could lap everyone this
time.' Once I saw Rusty, I knew he was
mine," said Smail. "I saw everyone
cheering me on, so 1 figured 1 better pass
them all. I figured these guys would
ride better because the track was dry,
but it was just the opposite. I'm pretty
happy to prove my worth to KTM and
Husaberg. I just want KTM and Husaberg to see that I should be out there in
the AMA 250cc Nationals for the exposure and not just in the AMA FourStroke Nationals.
"I want to win another four-stroke
title for them," Smail added, "but I want
to win at another level, not just here. I
have a few more great years, and it's
sure time to step it all up."
"What a rough day; I'm glad to be
done," Walters said afterward. "I just
didn't feel right all day. I'm not much of
a supercross four-stroke rider and
couldn't get into my rhythm. 1 was off to
a good start again, but when Hart landed sideways in front of me, I tried to
avoid him. I finally got the bike going
and was a half a lap down. I kept my
composure and pushed as hard as I
could, never giving up."
{~
Shasta Motorsports Complex
Anderson, California
Results: May 24, 1998 (Round 2 of 9)
MOTO 1, 1. Lance SmaiHHbg); 2. Greg Schnell
(Yam); 3. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 4. Spud Walters (Yam);
5. Rusty Holland (Yam); 6. Andy Anaya (Hbg); 7. Billy
Binckley (Yam); 8. Scott Myers (Yam); 9. Gordon Ward
(Hus); 10. Todd Downs (Yam); 11. Chris Dineen (Yam)
12. Grayson Hart (Yam); 13. Robert Naughton (Yam);
14. Jason Matthews (Yam); 15. Jon Nelson (Yam); 16.
Kevin Cordua (Yarn); 17. Tom York (Yam); 18. Jay Grim
(Yam); 19. Nathan Woods (Yam); 20. Tim Gerdl (Yam);
21. Kevin Knox (Yam); 22. Troy Kalina (Vam); 23. Dean
Matson (Yam); 24. Mike Larson (Yam),
Time: 33 min., 26 sec.
.
Margin of Victory: 25.5 sec.
MOTO 2, 1. Lance Smail (Hbg); 2. Rusty HoUand
Walters (Yam); 8. Robert Taughton (Yam); 9. Scott
Myers (Yam); 10. Todd Downs (Yam); 11. Cordon Ward
(Hus); 12. Mike Larson (Yam); 13. Andy Anaya (Hbg);
14. Chris [);neen (Yam); 15. Jon elson (Yam); 16. Tom
York (Yam); 17. Kevin Knox (Yam); 18. Jason Matthews
(Yam); 19. Troy Kalina (Yam); 20. Jay Grim (Yam); 21.
Tim Cerdl (Yam); 22. Grayson Hart (Yam); 23. Kevin
Cordua (Yam); 24. Billy Binckley (Yam).
Time: 33 min .• 52 sec.
Margin of Victory: 1 min., 36 sec.
01A; 1. Lance Smail (Hbg); 2. Greg SchneU (Yam); 3.
Rusty HoUand (Yam); 4. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 5. Spud
Walters (Yam); 6. Scott Myers (Yam); 7. Andy Anaya