Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMAiWML LadiesInternational up M otocrossC Championship Kann claims crown By Ji m Sanderson and Debbie Matthew s B INGHAMTON, NY, AUG. 28-29 h e WML (Wo men 's Moto cro ss Leagu e) came ou t to the Bro om eTioga Sports Center for the weekend fo r tw o excl usiv e wo me n -onl y motocross events: the 1998 AMA /WML Lad ies Intern ation al Motocross Cup and round four of the AMA /WML Women's ational Championship Series . The first Ladies Cu p wa s held in Fahensa, Ital y, in 1992. Sinc e that time, La d ies Cup races have been held in Russia, Canada and the Unite d States. The Ladies Cu p is held once a year, and all Cup races have bee n promoted by the WML excep t for those he ld in Italy and Ru ssia . This yea r's Cup welcomed entra nts from the Uni ted Sta tes , Es to n ia , Ita ly, Sw eden and New Zea lan d . Am erican rid ers hav e tradition all y domi nated the Cu p, bu t the field of rid ers for thi s yea r's even t w as the most co m petitive to date. The WML is cu rrently negotiati ng to h old fu tu re Cup races in Fran ce or Japa n. Spo nso rs of the C u p inclu de AGP, Sco tt , Dun lo p , Br id g e st o n e , Comp etition D ir ec t, Honda, Suz u ki, Yamaha , FMF , Ceet, Mo the r Po lis h , Fox , White Bro th e rs, Alpi nesta r, Motion Pro, IMS a n d RK Chai ns . The first m oto of th e AMA /WML Lad ies International Motocross Cup got under wa y with holeshot cred it going to Shelly Kann and Kris ty Shealy. The two were side by side th rou gh the first tum, bu t Italian national cha m p Ste fy Bau had the lead by the Pro Na tional finishlin e d ouble . W hen the pa ck emerged frors the fro nt sect ion, the top five were Bau, She aly, Kann, Amber Hughes and Tra ci Fleming. Tania Satch we ll, the New Zealand n ational cham pion, ha d six th after working her way th rou gh the pack fro m a terrible start off the gate. Trailing Satchwell were Warch , Bednar and ikki Ha rris. The 1997 Lad ies International Mot ocross Cup Champion, Dee Wood, crashed hard in the front section of the racecourse on the firs t la p . She decided to sit ou t the rest of the event and concent rate her effo rts on her bid for the 1998 AMA /WML nati ona l title. On lap tw o, Bau began to open up her lead over Shealy. Shealy, riding with a cracked sternum and a twi sted kn ee sustai ned a t the Loretta Lynn' s Amateur Natio na ls , d id he r best to h old off a ha rd-charg in g Kann in third . By lap th ree , the top four remained the same, wi th Tania Satchwell getting by Flem ing for fifth. Sa tchwell then charged aft er Hughe s and got b y fo r four th In th e fron t su pe rcross section on la p seven. With tw o laps to go, Kann go t by Shealy for seco nd bu t could not ree l in the Italian Na tional champ. The mo to finishi ng order wen t into the books as Bau, Kan n, Shealy, Sa tc hwell, H ughes, National Cha m pio n Fle m in g , H arr is, Angie Keun tjes , Ca na dian Kristine Su nda hl and Glen Helen ational winner Sedanna Losey. (Above left) Angie Kuentjes (19) and Shelly Kann (16) lead the way at the AMAlWML ladies International Motocross Cup Championsh ip in Binghamton, !'lew York. T Ka n n and Shea ly, gated on the fa r inside, blasted off the ga te in the second moto with Kann taking ho les hot honors, followed b y Keuntjes, H ughes, Bau, Satchwell and Shealy. Two turns later at the Pro N a tion a l finish-lin e double, Keunt jes crossed it up ov er the double with another rider, creat ing a spectacular crash and forcing the pack to scatter. The lead pack regrou ped and began an int ens e battle for the lead . O n the downhill stra igh t near th e sta rt area, it was Bau out fro n t, w it h Shea ly, Kann and Hugh es tra ilin g. Bau bobbled , allowing Kann to take the lead and Hu gh es int o second. Hughes pressu red Kann for the lead ove r the National finis h-line double bu t the ou tcome wasn' t kno wn u ntil the leaders em er ged fro m the front section of the racecou rse. Kann came ou t first, foll owed by Hughes, Bau, Shea ly and Sa tc hwe ll. Th e to p five w ere within strikin g dist ance of ea ch ot her a nd it was anybod y's race. . Th e to p five w er e all doing the big Broome-Tioga d inner table. At the end of lap tw o, Kann and Hugh es were side by side ov e r the d ownhill tr iple, p ut Ka nn m a n a g ed to ho ld Hu ghes o ff again. Sat chwell was back in the top five by the third lap , with the runnin g order Kann , Hugh es , Bau , Sa tch w ell a n d Shealy. Bau and Satchwell moved up to secon d and thi rd w h ile Hu ghe s dropped to fourt h and Shealy held on to fifth . By lap fou r, Ka nn was s till o u t front but the top five were really di cing it up out ther e. Within on e lap' s tim e, Bau cras h ed, rem oun te d in fo u r th , d ro p ped to fifth and then worked her wa y back to second. Satchwell passed Shealy for third at the second tree tu rn on lap five. By lap seven, Satchwell had caught Hughes and the tw o battled it ou t ba r to bar, with Sa tchwell finally getting by for second . Hugh es then wen t down, givi ng Satchwell some breathing ro om, a llowing her to co ncentra te on catching Bau. Bau, see med to be wa iting p a tiently for Ka nn to make a mis take, bu t it did n't happen . The moto finis hed with Kann out front, followed bv Bau, Satchwell, Sh ea ly, Fleming, Hu gh es, Harris, Sundahl, Michelle Bednar and Sedanna Losey. Ka n n t o o k th e o ve ra ll a n d th e Worl d Cup crown with her 2-1 finish. Ita lia n se nsa tion Ste fy Bau to ok the runn er-up s po t on th e p od ium ' w it h h e r 1-2 fi n is h , a n d New Zeala n d's Ta nia Sa tc hwell t ook th e re m a in ing ('X sp ot on the podium. Broome-TIoga Sport s Centsr Bing hamto n, New York Results: Aug ust 28-29, 1998 PRO NAn, I. She lly Kann (Yarn): 2. Stefy Bau IKaw): 3. Ta nia Satchwell ( Kaw), 4. Kristy Shea ly IKaw): 5. Tra ci fl eming (Ya m) . . Abbott aflame at Inferno HS By Ma rk Gow in BARSTOW, CA AUG. 23 , eam Gr een 's Destry Abbott pu shed hard a t So. Cal. Motorcycle Club's Infern o Hare Scra mbles to take the o ve r a ll h onors afte r hamm eri'h g two rock-in fested 27-mile loops on a sweltering da y. The race act ion, covering Stod d ard Valley, was also on fire . The first ba nner d ro pped and se n t the wave o f Exp erts p icking ou t the lin es th rough the rocks and ha rsh cross-grain washes o n a s ho rt bo m b run tha t "fu n neled" righ t up a stee p l oo-yard loose-rock hill. Th e hill quickl y became littered wi th d owned a nd s truggli n g rid ers, many havin g to push their way to the top, as th e visibility turned to almost zero in the ultra-hot and dusty cond itions . Abe Baumann was on e of the first to the top , bu t he was then passed by KTM-mounted Eric Hallgath and Destry Abbott. On the way to the bomb, Hallgath .lost his cl u tc h but w a s s till abl e to hold off Abbott for the first half of the first loop. Abbott has had a great race yea r and has certainl y beco me one of the top offr oa d ra ce r s in the co u n t ry . A bbo t t, d o ing sus p en s ion mo d s to h is b ike, deci ded to test it a t his firs t District 37 desert race other than a nati onal event. "Bones and I were working on my suspens ion and decid ed to test the bike at the ra ce ," said Abbott.- "Th e bi ke worked real well in the cross-grain and in the rocks. Both Hall gath and Ondas gave me a goo d push. I rod e as fast as I could. It was a real hairb all bom b run, and I was running fou rth to the bomb. Hallga th gave me a good race . He was runnin g the first half of th e first loop until he waved me by on a rocky uphill. You sure don't see that very often. Hallga th caug ht me and passedme back. On the seco nd loop, we both went back an d forth. It was a lot of fun ." FMF /KTM o f Mo ja ve /O 'Neal backed Hallgath finis hed secon d overall a nd firs t 200. H all gath, w ho has been smoking the 200cc class all this yea r, certainly displayed his desert-raci ng expertise, considering he was riding wi tho ut a clutch the entire race an d was still ab le to provide Abbott wit h some very close competition. Hallgath finished seconds behind Abbott. "I had a blast," said Hallgath. "I was T beh ind Abe (Bau ma n n) a t th e b omb , and then I go t by him and took the lead . I lost my clutch right off and stalled the bike a few ti mes on th e down hills because I wa s without a clutch. Destry a nd I went back and forth the second loop, which ma de it real fun ." Tea m Green ' s Dave Ondas finished third overall and first District 37 O penclas s r id er, fo llowed closely b y th e View fi n ders Mo torcycle Club ' s Ron Schule r, who had a great ride aboard his KXSOO. Ste ve H en g e v eld rode h is Team Green Kawasak i 250 to th e firs t 250cc Expe rt spot and fifth overall, with Ru ts Mot orcycle Club's Abe Bauman n tak ing the first Vet Open spot and sixth overall. The Viewfinders Mot orcycl e Clu b' s Ca s ey Lon g m a n m otored hi s XR600 th rough the tight and rocky cou rse for the first Four-Stroke spot, and Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Cl ub' s Jon Pa rks finished first in the Vet 250cc class . Team G ree n /Pro Circuit / H BMC's Dou g C hiap uz io w a s runn in g fif t h beh ind Baumann ea rl y on in th e race when he had a hard ge t-off on a downhill. Chiapuzio refused to quit after his crash and cha rg ed ba ck to a secondplace finish in the 250cc Expert class. "I had the wind knocked ou t of me," Chiapuzio ex p la i ned, " a n d th en I found that my throttle wa s stu ck when I tried to ge t goi ng again . By the tim e I got that fixed , the amateu rs wer e coming by . I just rode hard and d id n't qui t and I was still abl e to pick up a second in class." Checkers Mot orcycle C lu b's An na Cody showed that s he fully recovered from th e broken -a rm she susta ine d a few mo nths ago and rode hard to a firs t in the Wo me n' s Expert cla ss and 40th overall. Traveling a ll the way from Arizona and also smo king in the Women's Expert class was 17-year -old Kelly Yancey, w ho is cu rren tly the Women 's nation al Har e and Hound number-tw o rider. Yancey ha d a go od ride and finis hed a s tro ng second in the Wom en ' s Ex pert cla ss , seven positions behind Cody. The Team Green /IMS /S t ro ker-backe d Ya ncey called it an "awesome race ." "I thought tha t the course wou ld be m ore like Luce rne , wi th a lot o f whooped -ou t trails, bu t th is was really neat," said Yancey . "I enjoyed the hard packed trails and all the fresh, new stuf f out there. The rocks we ren' t a problem, and it was grea t pract ice for th e next nat ion al har e an d hound ." First Amateur was Fun Team's Nick Barlow, who finished a n im p ressive 28th overall, an d Jeff Finerty took bo th to p Novi ce a nd Novice Four-S troke honors at 76th overall. l~ 00 0'\ 0'\ .......

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