Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127959
re n Diem served notice that he wa s a serious threat for the title w hen he took to the track in heat five. Diem flat blew away 14-year-old sensation Cam Rafferty, Can ada's Freddy Legault and Gaet on Carignan to claim the win by nearly a full straightaw ay at the finish . Another New York-a rea speed way veteran came th rough in hea t six, as George "Lazorbeam" Lazor wh eelied off the line from gate th r ee and th en ho ok ed up a n d pulled clear of Andy Harris, Ga ry He smer and(Mike Buman to take his first win of the night. Bobby Cod y go t his night started off in an upside-d own fashion - literally - in heat seven. Cod y launched out of ga te four and immedia tely looped out before he h a d e ven moved 10 feet fro m th e tap es. Cody picked his bike up and continu ed o n, scorin g n o p oints, whil e Bruce "The Mon goose" Ne lson easily put away Bobby Mu szyn zki a nd Gu y Fafard for the win. Kelv in Herrala closed ou t the final heat of round one with a holesh ot and a win over NJK Leathers' Kelcey Gordo n and "Mean" Gene Bon sign ore. Cody got back on track at the start of the seco nd ro u nd by tagging an d bagging a wire-to-wire wi n over Sephton , Rafferty and Smi th in race nin e, while Lazor became the first rider to go tw o for two with his heat-10 win over Dave Oakden, JBR teamm ate Bonsignore and Nick Fafard . Schwartz remained on pace in the very next ride, as he claimed hea t 11 over M uszy nski, Legault a n d Ahl und . . Herra la, who is the track's care take r du r in g th e seaso n, s howed th at he k nows a few th ings abo u t how to get" aroun d it as w~11, when he jetted off the line and claimed his second straigh t wi n in h ea t 12; H er r al a pull ed cl ear of Piep er, Howie Oa kde n a nd Ga ry Hesmer. Ne lson, too, remained on the lead pa ce with another flyin g sta rt, w hich he u sed to eas ily o utdis ta nce Co r tese, Carignan a nd a n obvious ly s tr u ggling Dillon. Burge then came alive in heat 14 and scored a wi n to get him self back in the chase, whil e Hesrner also improv ed to a second -p lace finish . Otto was third a nd took a point, with Bum an comi ng away empty-ha nded. Alrea dy, both ride rs' ch a n ces for a d va n ce me n t to the Su nd ay program were looking grim . Diem broke the tap es and thus ha ndica pped himself 10 ya rd s in his sho wd ow n with Larsen, as on e of the pa ir was go in g to have to d ro p a t least a poi nt off th e lea d pace. Ne ve rthe les s, Diem rode sp ectacula rly, making up the d istan ce and sha dowing Larse n by the w hite-flag lap befo re inexplicably shu tting off a nd lettin g th e youngs ter get away. Diem looked arou nd, go t back on the gas and man ag ed 'to take the tw o poin ts for secon d , while Lar sen scored an eas ier w in th an he d eserved . Guy Fafard a nd Matthewson ran th ird and fourth. "Brain fade, " Diem explained with a lau gh afterward . "I thought that I sa w the checkered flag . Oh, well , tha t won't happen again. Next tim e I'll probably ru n an extra lap just to make su re." Ma nches ter owned the competiti on wi th another dominating display in heat 16, thus ending round two on six points. McBride ra n second, but admitted to remai ning in sea rch of the hot setu p. . "We're still tryin g to put it all together," McBride said . "Th e guy w ho loaned me this en gine ju st had to loan m e a fresh battery box, too. It's like that Murphy guy is at th e tr a ck tonight, y ou know w hat I mean?" A fter tw o round s o f racing , Wes t Coast gu ys Schwartz an d Larse n were d om inating the A pool along with Nelson, whil e Diem sa t a point back. On the B sid e of the ladder , Manchester, Her rala and Lazor remained undefeated . Schwartz re ma ined a to p th e field , with another brilliant win in heat 17, as h e m ad e a cr a ck in g s ta r t a n d th e n s tre tc hed hi s lea d over Guy Fafa rd, Smith and Cari gnan, thus ensuri ng that he wou ld be in th e next nigh t's Open final. "A ll righ t!" Schwartz sa id . "I d on ' t know, though. I'm still no t totally comfor table w ith the track, and my bike is a lo t o lder th a n so me tha t are h e re . Tomo rro w is w hen it coun ts." Ken Piep er d efeated Gordon in heat 18, with bo th rid ers now clea rly in d ange r of being elimi na ted, w hile Nelson d ropped points to Diem and Sephton in heat 19. Harris picked up his sa le win of the night in heat 20, as he got around early lead er Dave Oakden, w hose two points for second nu dged him closer to making the cut. Muszynski nailed down th ree big poi nts over Ra fferty, Dillon and Matthewson in hea t 21. Manchester fin all y knocke d off Lazor in heat 22 . Cod y soli dified his chances of qualifying by running second to Larsen in heat 23. Larsen, of course, was definitely on his way th rou gh. In heat 24, Bonsigno re went from fourth to second to third , behind winner McBrid e and seco nd- placed Chris .Hesmer, bot h of w ho m we re now looking good for Sunday. Bonsignore, however, was han ging on by a threa d . He would need a win aga inst the u ndefeated Manches ter in heat 28 in ord er to ha ve a mathema tical chance at qu alifying - talk abo ut your longshots. Diem wo n heat 25. Chris Hesmer pu lled himself up by the bootstraps and earned a spot in the field with his win in heat 26, which put him on seven points. The scra ppy Canadian was un derstandably in a celebratery mood . "Man, I haven't had but two laps on this tr a ck all y ear," H esm er sa id. "I knew that I could run with these guys . I jus t have to get used to this again." Co dy locke d in to the Su nd a y p ro gram as well, scori ng his sixth, seven th and eighth points with a win in his final ride, heat 27. Heat 28 would prove to be th e big sho w do w n between a d esper at e Bonsignore and Manchester, who no doubt (Above) Bobby " Boo galoo" Schwartz, who cla imed the very first U.S. Open title, came back 20 years later and wound up being • credited with third. (RIght) Manchester (left) and Diem (right) engaged In the best battle of the night In heat 14. Diem held the lead for Just over three laps before Manchester made a pass for the win. wa n ted to remain unbeaten, even if it came a t the ha n d s of his JBR Racing teamma te. But things went awry fo r Manchester, who sna ppe d a chain and coasted int o tum one, while Bonsignore go t ou t fro nt and held off Howie Oak d en and Bu man to jus t squeak int o the big show on Sun da y. "I thought Chris was maybe th rowing it to he lp m e," Bonsignore sa id. "Either that, or I was jus t wa iting for so meth ing to jus t go blowing by m e, b ecause I knew that I wa s going slow. I didn' t ride very well tonig ht. Hopefull y tom orrow w ill be di fferent. " Manches ter, meanw hile, was livid . " It jus t su cks, because I didn't br ing a ny thing (equ ip me n t)," Man ch este r sa id . "I was told n o t to wo rry, th at everything was organized. Well, it is far from org anized ." Dillon sco red his only regular heat win of the eve ning in heat 29 to earn the right to a ru noff for a tran sfer spo t to Su n day . A dejecte d Go r do n w a s knocked ou t of contention in heat 30, as he ran last to winner .Burge, Dave Oak den and Chris Hesmer. Schwartz flat outgated Larsen in hea t 31 to w in and remain th e o nly perfect rider a ll n ig ht. Lazor bea t McBrid e in the final heat , with McBride's se co nd placing guaranteeing him a spo t in the Sunday final. Sep hton, Dillon and Raffert y closed the s how w ith a runo ff fo r the fi na l spots in th e progra m, with Se p hto n grabbing the wi n and Dillon runn in g second . Ra fferty crashe d ou t, d riving int o the infield in tum thre e and going ove r the bars. Desp ite injuring his wrist, the tou gh 14-year-old would return on Su nd ay to take hi s s po t a s a rese rve rider on the program . SUNDAY With the field pared d ow n to 16 riders for Su nd ay , those riders fac ed 20 heat s in five rounds of cha mp ionshipstyle racing. The top eight points earners wo uld then be split up and loaded into tw o semis, wit h the first two finishers in each go ing to the cham p ions hip fina l. The last two would then have one mor e opportu nity to transfer thr ough , via the last-ehance qua lifier. Diem cam e ou t hot and heavy in the ope ning heat , as he rocketed off of gate two an d pu ll ed cl eanly a wa y from Schwartz, who tried to reel him in. But Diem was hooked up to the tacky su rface and he would not be headed. Harris and Mus zynzki t rail ed Diem and Schwartz hom e. "And this is a box-stock [awa," Diem said of his la y -down machine . "Bill Cody told me that this is the way they come from the factory . I'v e never had a bik e this good ri ght out o f th e cra te before." Heat two was interrupted by a firs tturn melee involving Cody an d Sep hton , w ho tangled In tu rn one and wen t down in a heap. Both riders too k part in the rest art, whic h was led by Sephton, bu t Man chester came off ga te four and go t a d rive in the deep stuff to take the lead and pull away for the win, ahead of Seph ton, Dillon and Cody. Heat three was all Lar sen from sta rt to finish, as he put his pole starting position to good use. Herra la d ived und er Dave Hesmer in turn four on the last lap to rob h im of the secon d spo t, w h ile Dave Oakden was stuck with the goose egg . And Lazo r p roved t ha t the races we re wi nnable from all four gate position s, as he scored a win over Ne lso n, McBrid e a nd Bonsigno re in the fina l hea t of the firs t rou nd . Ne lson, mean while, came from last and pe rformed a low-sid e double-pass on McBride and Bonsignore up the front stra ightaway on lap three for a popular second-place finish . Nelson then up ped his tally to five poi nts wit h a win in the openi ng heat of the seco nd roun d. Larse n and Diem were the firs t two und efeat ed rid ers to ru n aga inst eac h other as they squa red off from gates two an d thre e , respectively , in h eat six. Lar sen got the drop on Diem off th e . line, but "The Warrior" refused to relent a nd vigo rou sly purs u ed the ou ts ide. Larsen, however, played it sma rt by taking as much of the race track as he could to prevent Diem fro m making a pass, and held him off by half a w heel. "I fee l p rett y good," Larse n sa id . "I'm getting good starts, bu t there's only one start that's going to coun t ton ight, and that's in the main event." Sephton was ru led the wi nner of heat se ve n a fter Oak d e n cras h ed a n d brought out a red flag after the race was half ove r. . Schwartz and Man chester ma y have been wishing for motocross bikes wh en they met in heat eight, as the track was getting rou gh in the low groov e through the turns. Manchester go t the start, and u nc haracte ris tically pulled it down to run the low side, wh ile Schwartz mo ved jus t off Manny' s rear wheel and looked for an opening. The pair did a synchron ized bump-and-jump fo r four la ps, wi th Man chest er notching another win. A B ~ 17