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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127959
Cod y Hert el was the king of the 80cc Beginner
class tonigh t afte r posting a set of moto vict ories.
Hertel and his blood -red Hon da ran off and
hid fro m ha rd-cha rg in g M ike Wet zel durin g
bot h mo tos o f competitio n, w h ile A n d re w
Wagema n, Kris Deleon and Tim Berger rou nd ed
out the top five.
Bruce Ru the rfor d pi loted his pee-wee KTM
to tw o sepa ra te class wins tonight a nd simply
sto le the show by stretching o ut some 3O-serond
le ad s in each moto. W hen t he du st se tt le d,
Rutherford to pped bot h the SOce Stock and 50cc
(7-8) classes, a head of the like of Michael Hall
'S
and Kry stal Cra me r, and Donnie "Eart hquake"
Kearney and Kyle Smith.
Results
(Above) Bru ce Rutherford t ook som e 30second leads to ta ke the win s In each
moto of his Pee Wee KTM cl ass In Moreno
Valley, California.
(Left) In Vintage Tw in acti on , Ron Leeman
(27) passed Tom Robe rts on (9) and hel d
off Buzz Arndt (17) to win his first race of
the season at St. Pete r, Minnesota.
1Y98 a t the Califo rnia high-desert race tr ac k.
Almost e ve r y o n e of th o se v ic t o rie s have
requ ired Ada ms to battle Graves from sta rt to
finish. Graves is not only the defending Formu la
One-class champion. but he is also the current
points leader in the class. Adams wasted no time
in powering into the lead off the line on his Dunlo p-shod Yamaha YZF750F. G ra ves wa s right
behind him, with Tokc y Beck emerging in third.
' ear the end of the first of 12 laps, Frank Ara gaki moved up and was challenging Beck for third.
In lap fou r, Aragaki draf ted Beck down the front
straight and passed him just before tum one . But
Beck wasn' t rea dy to let up, and a lap later he
retook third w hen he passed Aragaki down the
back straight. In lap six, Aragaki foun d his way
aro un d Beck ag a in . a nd befor e Beck could
respond, his motorcycle d eveloped a mech ani cal
problem and he was forced out of the race. Whil e
th.1t wa s happenins. Jeff Short closed up on Aragaki. Rounding the long tum~ight sweeper two
laps lat er, Short powered around the outside of
Aragaki to mo ve up int o thi rd . Aragaki qu ickly
reco vered and. as the racers sta rted lap nin e, he
passed Short on the front straight. For all of the
first 10 laps , Graves had Dt,en sitting in Ad ams '
s ha do w . As la p 11 t>t,gan, Gra ves d ra fted and
passed Ad ams jus t before turn o ne. H ow ever ,
Adams m.."ld e a daring mov e. He dropped to the
in sid e of G ra ves o n th e exi t of tu rn o ne an d
retook th e lead . A few tu rns 41ter, Short pulled
out of the race with a m~hJni cal problem, lcav.
ing Aragaki wi th a so lid hold on third.
Sta r ting th e fi na l lap, G ra ves o nce again
pa ssed Ada ms going int o tu rn one, bu t Ada ms
made the sa me di ve throug h th e tu rn an d stole
the lead ba ck. Graves co ntinued to sit righ t on
Ada ms' ta il for the remainder of the la p, an d
headi ng for the checkere d flag, Gra ves mad e
one last attempt to use the draft and get pas t
Ada ms . However, his efforts fell just short as
Adams took the win by half a bik e length, leav ing Aragaki to round nut the top three.
In th e Tom Sera Racing /XYZ Clo thing Co.
Formula Two ra ce, class points leader Jer em y
Toye wa s un able to make the race s ta r t after
crashing in a race earlier in the day. At the drop
of the sta rter's flag, Ken Ch ase gr abbed the lead
off the line , with Br v an Ko vari ck seco nd .
Round in g tu rn five, Ko varick p as sed C hase
momt!n tarily, but Chase repa ssed him going
through tum nin e.
Ovc r t hc firs t two laps , M ark H opkins
mo ved hi s way thr ou gh the field and , go ing
around tum eig ht, he po wer~ past bo th Kovarick a nd C hase to tak e the lead . Hopkin s began
opening the gap t>t,tween hi m""lf and the res t of
his pu rsuers.
While H o p kin s so lidified his hol d o n the
lead , Chase a nd Kova rick con tinued to ba ttle for
seco nd and third . While C hase held second for
the nt!xt fc\\' lap s, Kovarick sat in his dra ft. On
lap seven, Kovari ck made his way around C hase
in tu rn tw o, but his hold on sl.'Cond l~l stcd on ly J
lap an d a half before C hase rep assed him.
As the final la p go t under way, Chase an d
Kovari ck w er e side by side between turns tw o
a nd thre e , b u t C hase m a na g ed to kee p th e
ad van tage ov er Kovarick. (n turn eig ht, Kovar ick mad e a fina l at te m pt to get past C hase by
pulli ng alon gsid e him on the 'outside of the turn,
But Chase kep t the th rot tle tw isted , a nd at the
line it was Hopkins w ith th e \\-in , follo wed by
'
Chase in seco nd an d Kova rick in third.
Results
46
F· l ; 1. C u rt is Ad.l ms (Ya m I 2. Chuck G rav el' (Yam ); 3. Frallk
Ar o1F;a ki.(Ka w); 4. Jl)hn Hopkins (Ya m ); 5. Kar l Lowry Jr. (Ya m l.
F-2 ; I. Jo h n Hopk in' (Ya m I; 2. Ken Cha!>\"(5u z ); 3 . Dry..n
Kovarick (Suz); -I. Frank Ar.l~ki. (Ka w) ; 5 . Andre Castanos (H on) .
1=-3: l. Vicky Jad ...,un·lkll (lion); 2. Ga vin St·. ka m p (H o n l; 3.
·
•·
Yu ich i Ka to.lk ll {Hon); -I. Erik Dadej (Ho n); 5. [o....· p h Shd tnn Jr.
(Ho nl,
F-4(1 I. P.lu l V(l~d !SU1:); 2. Stephen H ew itt (H Ull); 3. Art hu r
;
Coldw ell-, () Ion ); 4 , D" v IJ Molit o r rY.l ml ; 5. John B.lill·y (SUL).
500 S /STK; 1. JOI.' Hammond (Y:tm); 2. Sh awn Ca ~h (Yam); 3.
Aaron Lu nsford (Y.lm ); -I. And re.l H ilto n ('Y m ).
a
NXlS/ STK I. Chuck C rav es (Suz); 2. Karl Lowrv Jr. (Suz ); 3.
Ken CM .... (.. uz); 4. Bryan Kovaricl. CSuz); 5. R.uld y G rm."e!'(Suz,).
• <;
Suzl ; 2. Jak e z...'ltllu;o