Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~!~ITr~~£~EK AHRMA Classic Bike Magazine Dirt Track Series, Round 13 J (Left) J im Perry (17) sta ved off the advances of Sonny Burres (not sho wn) and later John Proto (83C) to s core the win in the 750cc M odem Vintage class at the Castle Rock round of the AHRMA Classic Bike Magazine National DirtTrack Series . (Below left) Maurice Ortega (5Y) tried to hold off a charg ing Larry Legarra (8U) and Ron Predmore (partially hidden) in the Classic 251cc-Open class, but Legarra made the pass and took the win over Ortega. Predmore was third. CA5TI..EROCK, WA. S EPT. 5 ashington's Jim Perry and his 7 Occ T riumph survived an attack during the Modern Vintage main eve nt from Califo rnians John Pro to and Er ic Wei sl er to notch his name amon g those of so me heavy-hitters with hi s win a t th e Castle Rock round of th e AHRMA National Dirt Track Series. The even t, promoted by the Mount St. He lens Motorcycl e Club , was the first AHRMA National event to be held on the legendary IT course, one of the two IT Nationa ls in the series of 17 rounds. Former Na tional nu m ber 69 Son ny Burres, a past Castle Rock Na tiona l winner (1971) and Peo ria Na tional w inner (1975), was on hand to com pe te, while mu lti-time Cas tle Rock Nationa l wi nner Ch uc k Joy ne r (1973, '75, '76) was on han d as a spec tator. Wh ile Burres - who with his Peoria IT National win in 1975 beca me the oldest rid er (then) to win a Grand Na tiona l, at age 39 - was clearly th e favorite of th e crowd (of around 1500 spectators) , the Oregonian failed to live up to the vociferous gallery's expectations d ue to mechan ical prob lems and the su perb rid in g of Norton-mounted Dick Slusher. While Burres did show the potential to win, Slusher fended off all advances from Bu rres to win the Senior (O ver 50) 601750cc final, joining Perry in the winner's circle of the Iarge-displacemen t classes. A conti ngent of Californians, headed by Weisler, Pro to, Butch Cochra n and San Diego's Brad Holt, represented the AHRMA regulars . Whil e they ventu red . fa r ou t of thei r normal co mfort zo ne, bo th Cochra n and Holt sco red impressive victories . Coch ran earne d a win in 00 th e Sports ma n 251-600cc main even t. 0\ 0\ Buitaco-mou nted Holt' s win came wi th ,a come-fro m-behind performance in the rr) Spo rtsma n 0-250cc final. N ~ MAINS iJ.) ,..Q The first in a series of 12 main events wa s the combined N ovice Modern ViniJ.) tage 250cc/Modern Vintage 250cc and Cla ssic 0-250cc final. Californian Cor y iJ.) Schm uc k put his XL250-based m otorCf) cycle out fro nt, but only mom entarily, as Manuel Ortega put his Bultaco ah ead of Schmuck and Oreg on ' s Stev e Spragu e B EJ ~ E 15.. 10 . for keeps . Schmuck lo st p o sition to Sp rague late in the final for a Bultaco sweep of the top tw o p os i tion s , although b ot h riders con t e s t ed s e pa r a t e classes. Slus her and Burres' clas h, one of the evening's bes t battles, was waged in the Sen ior 601-750cc final. Wh ile Slus her's impressive victory came wit h a wire-towire performance, Burres stayed withi n striki ng distan ce of the No rton-mounted Slusher, eve n putting a wheel ins ide of Slus he r on se ve ra l occa sio ns. Slus he r, thou gh, held u p under the pressure o f Burres for th e wi n . Burres a n d John Kent rou nd ed ou t the podium finishers. Fre d Br ack enbury put hi s XL350 based machine ou t in front of a stellar lineup of riders on the opening lap of th e Sports ma n 251-600cc main even t, bu t he was hou nded by Ga ry Hite and Coc hra n (a lso aboard si mi la r machinery). Holt and Ga rry Roll er . Hite wa s busy usi ng u p every ava ila ble inch of ground in his sea rch for a way aro und Brac kenbury, but it wa s Coc hra n who overtook both after first stu ffing a wheel under Hite and then capitalizin g on a Brackenbu ry erro r to ta ke a la st -lap lead , which he maintained to the finish. "I knew that they were behind me, " Brackenbury said . "I missed a shift coming into the d ogleg, and dropped back a cou ple of spots, fast." • However, it wasn't H ite who na bbed the second posit ion , but ra ther Roll er , who di ved underneath Hite early on the la st lap, th en wa s rig h t there to take advantage of Brackenbury 's misfortu ne a nd fin ish se co nd ahead of Brackenbury, Holt , Hite and Ortega . . Ortega, rid ing a Triu mph, ran ahea d of the Classic 251-600cc main event, but cra fty veteran Larry Legarra s lid hi s 360cc EI Bandito-based mach ine under neath Ortega one lap later. This set up ano ther of the ma ny close finishes, one which favo red Legarra despi te his displacement disadvantage. BSA rid er Ron Predmore finished third ahead of Steve Sprag ue and Greg Sheard. Vancouver, Washin gton, said . "I have to fee l p retty go od abo u t th a t sin ce I've only ridd en four times this yea r." T railin g th e t rio we r e Slus h er, Beach, Coch ran , Bud Roberts, Joe Rassmusen and Burres, wh o joined the race a lap down after a brief pit stop. "The brakes locked up on me ," Burres sa id . "1 pulled in and it freed up a bit , so I w ent back ou t. Th at 's just the kind of luck we've had this week , but it's a new machine, so we're just working the bugs ou t of it." SUPPORT CLASSES Lega r ra . ca me back tw o races later aboa rd his Hon d a to lead the highl y co mp etitive Spo rtsma n 0-250cc final, pu ttin g the mach ine well ou t in fro nt of Brian McGoni gal in the early s tages of the fina l. This left a trio of riders - Brian McGon iga l, Holt an d Ro ller - to battl e fo r seco nd, a s Lega rra quickly left th e pa ck behind him. However, o nc e H o lt disp la ced McGonigal, he narrow ed th e d eficit a t a n a la rmi n g rat e . With a lap to go, Lega rra ' s a dva n tage h ad com p le tely evapo rated; on the fina l lap, Holt gai ned momentum and displa ced Legarra a t the line for the win. "That one was for my ment or , (former AMA Expert ) Wa yne Hosa ka ," a ju blia n t Holt said. "He' s our drivi ng force, the one we look up to." Trailin g the close Ho lt /Legarra finish were McGonigal, Roller a nd Richard Arnold . The evening's fina le was the highl y a nticipa ted Modem Vin tage 750cc and Sp ortsman 601-750cc ma in even t. The classes we re combined to make for a 12rider field. Proto sat on the pole positi on, but it was the Triump h of Perry motoring in to the lead . Th at lead wou ld grow, bu t Burres tagg ed alon g for the ride. Perry g ot a luc ky b reak w he n Burres' Tri ump h , w h ich h a d b een pla g u ed b y m ech ani ca l gre m li ns a ll week lon g , d eveloped p roblem s. Thi s moved th e pair of Californians, Proto and Weisler, into the second and third spo ts. The two clawed th eir way in to co n te n tio n, as Perry's once-large lead had diminished. Perry, thou gh , held off the duo to post a na rrow v ictory ah ead of Pr oto a n d Weisler. " It was sweet revenge for a th ird place finish last night," th e rid er from Washingt on 's Joshua Currey scored his first ....i n as an Expert with his wireto-wire vi ct ory in the 10-l ap 600cc Expert main event , in which he led fellow second-year Expert Beau A. Brown to the finish ahead of A.J. Herrera, wh o was ri di ng the fac to ry-backed ATK en try , w h ile fellow Cali fornian Kevin Bricker finished a close fourth. Ju st over 20 600cc Pro -Sport contesta n ts were on ha nd, a ltho ugh only 12 w ou ld line up for the main eve nt. Yamaha rid er Bob Moran squeaked ou t a narrow victory ahead of Ho nda rider Frank Marker, both of who m put su bs tantial grou nd o n th ird -p lace fin is he r Mark Stud eba ker. Geo rge Prind iville finished fo u r th , a head of Califo rn ia n To ny Sou za. Ca lifo rnian's Joe Ca rre ra and Steve Hall placed 1-2 in the IT500 main event; then Ca rre ra came back to win the Open Spor tsm an final to ca p off a tw o-class sweep of the program , bea ting Richard Arnold to the line . (~ Castle Rock Race Park Castle Rock, Washington Results: September 5,1998 (Round 13 of 17) MORN VINT 750: 1. Jim Perry (Tn); 2. John Proto (Yam); 3. Eric w eisler (Yam); 4. Bu tch Cochran ITri). SR 601-750: 1. Dick Slus he r (Nor ); 2. Sonny Burres (Tri): 3. John Kent ITri); 4. Jim Mona ge (No r). n SP'TSMN 251-600: 1. Butch Cochran (Ho n); 2. Ca rry Roller (Su z); 3. Fred Brackenbury {Hon): .1. Brad Holt (Bu l): S. Larry Legarra (Hun). S PTS M N t}.2so, 1. Brad Hol t (Bu l); 2. Larry Lega rra (Ho n): 3. Brian McGon iga l (Yam) ; 4. Garry Roller (Suz) ; 5. Richard Arnol d {Honl . . S R 251-600: 1. Gary Hi tc (Hon); 2. Ron Pred more (85A); 3. Bud Roberts ITri). C lS S C 251- 0P EN : 1. Larr y Le garra (Bu l) ; 2. Maurice Ort ega ITri): 3. Ron Predmore (BSA); 4. Stew Spragu e (BuD; 5. Gr eg Shea rd (BSA). CLSSC 0-250: 1. Ma u rice O rtega (Bul) . MDRN VINT ()"250: 1. Steve Sprag ue (Bu l). NOV 251.fJOO: 1. Cory Schmuck (Hon ). SPTS MN O PEN SU P: 1. Joe Carre ra (Ya m) ; 2. Richar d Arn old (Su z); 3. Mart y Weislcr (Rtx) . IT 500 SUP: 1. J ~ Ca rre ra (Ya m); 2. Sieve Hall (Yam); 3. Richa rd Arnold (Suz); 4. Tim Williams (Yam); 5. Ed Derda (Yam). 600 PRO· SPT: 1. Bob Mo ran (Ya m) ; 2: Fr ank Mar ke r (He n): 3. Mar k St ude ba ke r (Hon): 4. Geo rge Prind iville (Rtx); 5. Ton y Souza (Rtx). 600 EX: 1. Joshu a Currey (Rtx): 2. Bea u A. Brow n (W· R); 3. A.J. Herre ra (ATK); 4. Kevin Bricker (Rtx); 5. Tod d Somers (Hon) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 14 - Hayden. Color ado, September 16 Round 15 - Peoria, Illinois, September 26

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