Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

S turgis P ro-Sport H Me an il Kopp, Souza storm Sturgis By Clay Light J STURGIS, SO, AUG. 6 oe Ko pp fi na lized a su cce s sful , weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota with a win in the 600 cc Expert main event at the jackpine Gyp s ies $5000 Pro-Sport Half Mil e a t the Sturgis Fairgrounds. fI' Kopp, who the night prior fin ished fourth at th e AMA Grand National in Rap id City, took h om e $945 for hi s efforts, which included his fending off a flurrv of late-race advances from fellow G Ccontender johnny Murphree. , Manteca , California ' s Tony Sou za patiently trailed fellow 600cc ProSport rid er Brian Shirley throughout most of the final and then ca p ita liz ed o n a Shirle y error to tak e h ome the top mon e y in th e cl a s s , a hea d o f Du sty Faulds and Iowa's Jared Cheney. oJ Kopps s u ccessfu l d a y s ta r ted o ff w ith a w in in o ne of th e three Expert ho t races, which was a snea k p review of the Expert m ain event, as Kopp .had h is ha nds fu ll w it h Murphree to edge the Ca lifo rnia n for a wi n. J.R. Schnabel and Idah o's Steve Liberty waged ano th er close ba ttl e in th e second hea trace, w hic h w ent in Sc h na bel's favo r. The fin a l he at w as w on by ano ther of th e many Ca li fo rn ia ns o n hand, Jam ie Aguilar. . Ot h er im p ress ive perf orma n ce s included a win by 250cc Pro -Sport winner Faulds as well as d ouble class decimati on in th e a m a te u r ra nks by fa st fema le Elizab et h Kantor, from Zimm erman, Minnesota . Kan tor w on th e 125 an d 250cc A main even ts by lar ge margins, and also placed th ird in the O pe n A main aboa rd a KTM. The first in a' series of P ro fessional main events was th e Experts ' 12-lap, 15rider final, in which Ag uila r sa t on the p ole position . Kopp, th ou gh , countered by d ecisively sna tchi ng th e holes hot to lead Sch nabel, Lib er ty, Mu rphree a nd Aguilar. Agu ilar wa s q u ick to close in o n Kopp af ter rall yin g past both Liberty and Schnabel, but a close battle between the two fastest qualifiers never materialized, as an on-the- move Murphree, who had also made the Gra nd Na tional m ain the night before, overtook Agu ilar and set out in pursuit of Kopp, w ho at this point held a sma ll lead . M u rphre e was s pec tacu la r. T he Rotax-mounted rider narrowed the ga p wi th each circuit of th e rutted-out track, closin g in on Kopp at a blistering pac e, follo wed by Aguilar, who had his hands full with Schna bel. Mu rphree and Kopp were a wheel apart lat e in the race , an d the lead d uo rod e in that configuration for se veral laps to finish a w heel apart, , but in Kopp's favor. "I looked back at the ha lfway point and knew he (Murp hree) was coming," Kopp said . "T he n I h it lappers and caugh t him out of the co rner of my eye he was rea lly comi ng on ha rd . I jus t went low an d kept the ga s on ." Joe Kopp (43) got the holesh ot off the line and went on to win the 600c c Expert main event at the Sturgis Half Mile. Kopp had at the Rapid City Grand National Half Mile on the previous night. An other close ra ce wa s th e o ne for third between Aguilar a n d Schnabel. Aguilar finished inch es ah ead o f th e Na tiona l number-33-pla ted Schnabel, followed by Kurt Boehlke, who had the advantage on a hu ge six-ride r squa bble fo r s ix th wh ich sa w Oregon ' s Be au Bro wn landing th e position ahead o f Lon nie Kopp, jerry Southw o rth, Don i H ol em a n , a n d W yom in g ' s Ri c h a rd Marrs. Jacob Latim er was th e leader of th e 250cc Pro-Sport final on his Honda, but th e Wyoming rid er sa w just how fast th e Fau lds ' CR-based machine w as, as th e Sou th Dak ota rider blit zed past Lat im er to take th e lead and m ain tain it to th e finish, despite all of Cheney's looming ad va nces. Third went to john McC lelland followed bv Sheld on Wen z, Mar k Erickso n and [amie Vollmer . Souza trailed Sh irley on th e ope n ing la p of th e 600cc Pro-Sport final, a nd it loo ked a s th ou gh the H a rt Ra cin gbacked Shirley wou ld do a d isappearing act sim ilar to the o ne he did in his hea t race . Sou za, thou gh, kept Shirl ey honest through out the 10-lap final, but a bobbl e late in the race by Shi rley allowed Sou za and Chen ey to sto rm past Shirley, fina liz ing th e o rder of th e fi ni sh . Fou r th we nt th e way of Shi rley, w ho also lost a position to Faulds' Rotax; fifth through seven th were Latimer , Tim Sea rs and McClellan d . Th e top amateur performer , Kan tor, fir st w hi p ped the compe titi on in the 125cc A m a in , ove rta k ing O rego n's Sean Light, 't he n d em oralizing the field w ith a run a wa y w in a hea d of Will ie Bro ten, Light and a no the r fas t fema le, Dani elle Beving. Kantor th en d id a like wise ac t in th e 250cc A main, wi nni ng by a larger m arg in. Darren Li pp fin ish ed second , ahead of Nic k Olsen and Broten . C\ Stur gis Fairgrounds s turgis, South Dakota Resu lts : August 6, 199 8 SO A : 1. M.uk Kierleber ( KT M); 2: Sara Hai n e s (Yam ). 60 A: 1. Clay to n Riggle (Hen): 2. Ca mero n Mea ns (Ka .....); 3. L.N. Waggener ( K., W). 80 A: 1. Ca mero n Mean s (Yam) ; 2. Troy Sal msk y (K,lW); 3. Na te Ncc thcr (Ya m);4. Jacob Kierlebcr (Yarn): S. Dev in Wl'/1Z (Su z). 125 A: 1. Eliza be th Ka ntor (Yam ); 2. willie Bro ten ($uz); 3. &',10 Light (Ho n): 4. Da niello Bcving (Kaw) : 5. Na te Nee ther (Yam ). 250 A: 1. Elizabeth Kantor (Yam) ; 2. Da rr in Lipp (Yam) ; 3. Nic k O lson (Ya m); 4. Willie Bro ten (Kaw ): 5. Robert Griffin (Yam). 250 P RO-S PT: 1. Dus ty Faul ds (H e n): 2. Ja re d Cheney (Hen): 3. Jo hn McC'lelland (Kaw): 4. Sheldon Wenz (Suz ); 5. Mark Erickson (Ka w ). OPEN A: 1. Jim Fo ring to n (Yam ); 2. Richard Stinn (ATK); 3. Elizabeth Kantor (KTM); 4. Richard Ligh tcap (Ho nk 5. Joe Uhler (Yam). bOO PRo-SPT: 1. To ny Souza (Rtx ): 2. Jared Cheney (ATK):-3. Dustv Faulds (Rtx); 4. Brian Shirley (Rtx); 5. Jacob Latimer (Hon). 600 EX: 1. Joe Ko pp IRtx): 2. Johnny Murphree (Rtx): 3. Iamie Aguil ar (Rtx): 4. J.R. Schnabe l (Rtd; 5. Kurt 8lJt"hlkc (Rtx) . Andy Tresser M emorial ProS T hort rack Koppleads Northwest sweep By Clay Light STURGIS, S0, AUG.7 a tiona l number 46, Lon nie Kopp, scooped up the lion 's share of th e Expert purse with a win in th e 12la p 600cc Ex per t m ain eve n t, ta kin g hom e the top prize of $840 for his sho rt wo rk at the AM A Pro short track held a t the jackpi ne Gypsies Clubgrounds. A $5000 Professiona l purse, d ivid ed among four cla sses .; th e Expert, 600cc Pro-Sp ort, 250cc Pro-Sport a nd 600cc Vi ntage Pro - drew ri ders fro m n in e sta tes, the furthes t rid er co mi ng from Geo rgia . A n d i t w a s th e Geo rgia n, G reg Tysor, w ho came o ut o n to p of the 600cc Pro-Spo rt ma in eve nt, w ith a win a hea d of South Da ko ta's D usty Faul d s. The event also d oubled as the And y Tresser Mem ori al, in trib ute to ationa l nu mber 91 p late h ol der Tresser, w ho ha s his nu mber pla te d isplayed in th e club ho u se alo ngs ide of a no ther rid er lost to the spo rt, Ricky G raha m . Tress er's last professional w in ca me here the nig ht p rior to the 1997 Rapid City Grand Nation al, in whi ch he wa s trag ica ll y killed . Qualifyin g kicked off the short progr am wi th two Expert heat races. Washington's Kopp earned a w in in the first h eat o ver jeff Hiatt, while Ore gon 's Beau Brown picked u p a win ov er fellow No rthwesterne rs Eric Rickman and jerry Southworth to sit on the pol e position for the 12-1ap final. Two heat races were also utilized to finali ze th e order in th e 600cc Pro Vintage class, which also ran for a healt hy- N f in i~ hed fourth sized purse. Sturgis' Darrel Brink , riding a Yamaha TT5 00-based ma chine, ran away with a heat-one win, followed by Tim Sears and Bill Snyder. Th e second heat fea tu red a runaway performance by Colorado's jim Foringt on , wh o won over John Jeffrie s and John McClelland . Tysor put his CR SOO Honda into an untou chabl e lead in the first of the tw o 600 cc Pro-Sport heat races, p osting a wi n a head of Ra nd y Cou ghlin. Fau lds b eat Brian Sh irley in th e seco nd heat race. Sheld on Wen z he ld off one o f th e m ost suc cessfu l riders thus far during the Rally & Races week , Fau lds, for the en tire 250cc ProSport main event , battling w heel to wheel for 10 laps. Faulds tr ied to ge t a wh ee l und ern ea th o f Wenz, but Wenz's flawless race earned him a narrow win. Faulds finished second , ahead of Jamie Vollmer , C]. Beving and john McClelland. Th e tw o-row, 12-rider 600cc Vintage Pro main event had Foring ton's Yamaha o n the outside pole po siti on , but Brink go t th e holes hot and led the o p ening lap . Bri nk's lead , thoug h, w as s ho r tlived , as he was passed by the Yam ah a of Fo ri ng to n co mi ng o u t of turn two. Fro m that po in t, Fori ng ton would ope n u p as much as a ha lf-l ap lea d , w h ile behi nd him th ere raged a six-rider battle le d by Jeffr ie s, w ho was th e second place finisher. Tim Sears finished third. ah ead of McClellan d, Johnny Isaacs and Mar k Erickson . Tysor's pick of the insi de pole position for the 600cc Pro-Sport ma in event was a ga mble, but it paid off, as he put his Honda ou t fro nt for the entire main event. Faulds' H ond a w as in Tysor' s sha dow th e enti re race, as Fauld s was lookin g for hi s firs t win in a tw o-cla ss ques t - on e th at w oul d be d enied , as Tysor picked up th e w in. Third went to jacob Latimer, wh o was foll owed by Beving, Vollm er, Shirl ey, Coug hlin and McClelland . The evening's final even t was the 600cc Expe rt fina le, o ne in w hich Kopp took control. Rickman ra n seco nd ahea d of Brown a nd Sou thworth , bu t it was the fron t tr io tha t 'pu t g ro und on th e field in a clas h for top positions. It was evident ear ly in th e ra ce , though, that Kopp was no t going to be d e ni ed t h e win , despi te Rickman's looming advances . Rickman los t d istance o n Kopp w hen Colorado's jo hn Griffi n cras hed, bringing out the cau tion

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