Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DIRT TRACK AMA W S E TCOAST FLATTRACK SERIES Round 4: Bakersfield Speedway umping in to Johnson , tryin g to ge t a by. But Joh nson held his grou nd, leav ing Simonsen in th ird , w hile Rand y Bereman se n t McD ani el, on th e lone Yamaha, bac k one more spo t to fifth. Rod La ke Raci ng 's Paul l wan a ga gra bbed the lead in th e seco nd Exp ert heat a nd never look ed ba ck , pulling a w ay fr o m Alla n McClell an , Ron ni e Reimer and A.J. Herrera . Her erra took ove r third , but Lonnie Pauley mu scled through traffic and took the spo t away from Hererra, pus hing inside McClellan and then looking a t the s tra ig h taway between Iwan aga a nd him self . Reim er and He rrera pulled ahead of McClellan, w hile Paul ey closed the gap on IwanagaoHererra slipped by Reimer's Honda to third on the last lap. By Fred WIndum BAKERSAELD, CA AUG. 22 rev e Mayfield put in a perfect night , as he scored th e 600cc xpert-class win at the fina l round of Gene Romero' s 1998 West Coast n it Track Series in front of the largest and no is ies t crow d to da te at Bakersfield Speedway's high-banked quarte r-mi le oval. Although the track was a little dusty during practice , as the su n went crown and th e temperature coo led, th e track continued to get faster, with the track announcer giving the average speed for the 600 Experts at more than 84 mil es per hour! Smooth operation by both the AMA officials and the racers gave th e fans a show with few in terruptions and great racing. 34 HEATS To ny Souza jumped the s ta rt of the first Pro-Sport heat, handing the lead to Ray Comer [r. , but Souza still led at the s trip e for the first he at of th e ni ght. Com er' s rid e at the frorit wa s short, as he was dropped to the rear by Brent Volbrecht , Chris Rud y and Ron Hinton . Rick Reed led heat tw o fro m wi re to wi re a hea d of Mik e Go nz ales, Ward Mckee , Rich ard Pollock and Wayne Warrington . Ronn ie Brown sa t alone on the fro nt row for the fina l Pro-Sport heat afte r the rest of the racers were sent to the penalty line for jum ping the sta rt. The forme r ational number 47, stuck in the Ama teur ranks due to AMA licens ing techn icalities, didn't reall y need the br eak , jettin g o u t front o n th e Rod La ke / SoftLink Wood-Rotax. He was chased by Dann y Ritchie , Robbie Lee, Rick Pearce and Gary Ritchie. Pear ce charg ed pa st Ritchie a nd Lee, managin g to look smoo th on a twi tchy Honda CRSOO and . to take second ah ead of Danny Ritchie, Lee and Gary Ritchie . The AMA starter thr ew a red flag in the 883cc hea t, res tar ting th e field but withou t any penalties . On the restart, A.J. He rrera too k the front spo t ahead of Eric Wood , Donnie Paul and Trapper McDani el, charging hard from the back ro w . Pau l took over s eco n d but wa s soon joined by McDaniel. thus leaving Wo od to run fourth. Reub en Mal a gu arn ero sa t in fifth , but h e sa t (Top) Steve Mayfield carried the che ckered flag atler sco ring his secon d 600cc Expert maln-event win In AMA West Coast Flat Tra ck Series action at . Bakers f ield Speedway. (Abo ve) Donn ie Paul (96) lead s event ual win ner A.J. Herrera (42E) In the 883 main event. Herrera also clinched the 883 tit le for the ser ies . th ere for too long, gettin g passed by Norm Francis. Herrera ran awav from Paul, who was trail ed b y McD aniel , Wood and Francis. Eddie Muld er , Romer o' s so metime p a rt ne r in prom o t ion s, s to le th e holeshot in th e first heat of the Ascote ra vi n tage tw ins, leading tw o la p s befo re s li p ping to th ird behind Ken Thiebaud and John Lundgren. Mu lde r pulled back in to second as Lundgren dropped back and was passed by Jeff S. Johnson, ge tting back up to third on the last lap. Sta rte r anticipat ion co ntinu ed in to the second 750cc heat, as all of the rid ers ju mped the start. Clyd e Denn er go t the best jump on the se cond start, leadi ng Triumph riders Jeff Johnson , Mick ey Alzola and Wayne Warrington . Johnson qu ickly moved to the front, Alzola went arou nd th e ou tsid e of Denner for second , and Dennis Pinheiro dropped War ringt on to fifth. Steve Ma yfield, Randy Ber eman and J.P. Simonsen all go t to watch the first Expert heat le av e the lin e fro m th e pena lty line after jumping th e s ta rt. Ste ve Johnson and Trapper McDaniel were the first into turn one, with Ma yfield getting McDaniel in turn two and leading as they came around for the first lap. As Mayfield pulled away, Simonse n ' was d iving through th e pack to th ird ' SEMIS Pro-Sp ort riders hit the track for their semi, with Richa rd Pollock lead ing on hi s YZ400, ahead of Ron Hinton and Warrington. Gary Ritchie and Francis went a ro u n d Phil Swearingen ; th en Fra nci s passed Ritch ie a nd aimed for Warrington . T he cha s e ended w hen Francis low-sided in turn three, giving fou rth ~ a n d the final t ra n s fe r - to Ritchie. ROD LAKE DFC Rod Lake, the p atron sa in t of dirt tra ck, sponsored a five-lap d ash for cash for th e hea t w in ne rs o f th e ProS port, Vintage Tw ins a nd Expe rt heat s, w ho lined up in hand icap o rder, with the Pro-S port riders ou t fro nt. At the flash of the g reen light , Re ed jum ped out ahead of the pack, followed by Souza and Mayfield, who mad e quick wo rk of the Pro-Sport crew to tak e the lead on the first go-a round . He was soo n joined by Iwanaga, w hostu ffed his way under Souza on la p three into seco nd , while Joh nson worke d by Reed int o fourth. Paul ey ma naged to ge t by Reed into fifth , bu t tim e had run o u t bef ore he could get past the Triumph of Johnson. M a y fi eld , lwana g a a n d So u za , a ll Wood -Rot a x-mounted. sped acros s the line ahead of th e Triumph of Johnson and then the singles of Pauley, Reed and Ronn ie Brown. Triumph-mounted Mulder and Alzola followed , and Lundgren muscled his Yamaha twin across for the final payin g spot. MAINS With a short break behind them, the Pr o-Sp ort rid ers too k to the track for their final race of the night. Progressive Su spen sion 's Reed led Brown, Pea rce and Souza in the ' first false sta rt , until AMA referee Bob Hill li ned th em up aga in. This time Souza led Reed , Pearce, Ward McKee and Mike Gonzales. Brown was forced to drop out when the exotic SoftLi nk rear suspe nsion on his mount wen t south. Souza began to motor away from the pack, rid ing smoothly and consistentlv ou t front, wh ile Pearce worked past Reed and set ou t after the lea d er . Reed slip ped wide in tu rn tw o and go t into the marbl es, losing third to the KTM of McKee but ta king third back on the ou tside of thr ee and four. Souza kept the lead ou t fron t, w h ile Pea rce, lookin g wild but fast on his Honda CR500, slowly gained on the lead er, half a lap ahea d of third-placed Reed . Yama ha -mo u n ted Go nza les passe d McKee for fourt h, and Richar d Polloc k rode his YZ400 arou nd Danny Ritchie's Yama ha, securing the sixth and seventh s p o ts . Yamaha -m ounted Ro n Hinton a nd t h e Honda s o f Chr is Rud v and Wayne Warringt on fil led out the top 20 in the most diverse class o f the nigh t. The ....'in gav e Souza the Pro-Sport championship in the se ries, ahead of Ken ny Noy e s, Pe arce , Ronni e Kemp and Brown . Pa ul got off th e line a h ead o f McDaniel. Francis, Wood and Hererra to lead the 883cc race in th e ea rly go ing. Her erra began picking off riders on his Az tec Racin g mount earl y on, mov in g past Wood on lap one and going outside . Fran cis to pull in behind the tw o frontrunners. Hererra's 883 was clearlv one of the "new-ru le" 883s, as was evide-need by his power mo ve pa st McDaniel on the back chute to pull in behind Paul. Further back, Wood was gaini ng on Francis, and Reu ben Ma laguarnero ro lled on ahead of Mike Boyle and Ken Schlosser, who gained a spot w hen he passed Boyle for the seventh spo t. Up front , Hererra was p u tting t~e p ressu re on Pau l as the pai r p u lled awa y . Tha t p ressure finally worked when Pau l slipped wide in tu rn tw o, leaving Her erra the space he needed to take the le a d . McDaniel held o n to fift h , a hea d of Fr anc is , Wo od and Mala gu arnero. Lundgren led the thundering 750cc twi n s off th e l in e o n h is C ha m pio n Yama ha in thei r final ride of the series , ahead of a charging Joh nson, Thiebaud, Muld er and Denner. Jo h nson slid h is 650cc Triumph aro und inside Lundgr en to lead the first lap, as Th iebaud pulled up alon gsid e Lundg ren to try an outside pas s on the wi de groove in turn three. Lundgr en held on to seco nd , bu t he was put in to th ird on th e n e xt lap w hen Thiebaud made the mov e wo rk. Alzo la drove aro u nd Denner 's Norton to pull in behind Muld er , puttin g four Triumphs in th e top fi ve spo ts . Johnson . co n t in u ed to pull a way a hea d of Thiebaud, Lundgren, Mulder and Alzola o Bob Cobb, on one of She ll Thuet's Yarnahas, put Denner ba ck to seventh. Jeff S. Joh nson followed , with Pinheiro and Ma laguarn ero roundi n g out th e top 10. Riders lined up for the 600cc Expert race in what s h ap ed up to be a mini National, as five National plate holders occupied the fron t row . Mayfie ld put his Mayfield Brokerage Wood -Rotax sq uarelv in front of the field at the flash of the green light , ahea d of Rod Lake Racing 's

• Cover