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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127962
(Left) Ryan Fisher took his t hird consecut ive championship title - a feat never before
accompli shed - at the 1998 Junior Nati onal Champion ship, held at the Gold Country
Fairground s in Auburn, California.
(Above) Mark " The Shark" Shafer, fly ing his KX500 ove r th e top of Pleasure Ride rs Hill, had
the fast time of the day in Georgetown, Illinois.
to six points lost. At the 1o-mile mark there wa s a
needed rese t. TIle next 13 m iles of trail was a little mor e difficult in places, and it was easy to ge t
behind, but road sectio ns through out gave the
rid e rs tim e to ca tch ba ck up. Check three, a t
27.20 miles, caught many rid ers off g uard. Brewd
er was one of the riders to get bur ne .
Eig h t m il es of trail foll owed, 'lea d in g to
check four .a few hundred yards befo re the gas
stop. It was placed in a corne r and caugh t many
riders off gu ard , ma ny b y se ve ra l minutes .
Brew er wa s about 30 seco n ds hot a nd did the
tria ls thing for abou t 40 feet to bum up the time.
"I was a little earl y there, but 1 managed to
bu rn up the sec ond s," Brewer sa id. "Cree p ing
along in that deep sand is tou gh ."
The gas wa s at 43 mi les and was a welcome
br ea k for all. The temperatur e was now in th e
high 90s, and the tou gh trails we re claim ing victims in the lower classes .
After th e ga s, the trail got tigh t and meandered thr ough a clay pit . It containe d the most
d iverse terrain of the race.
Check five was a t 53 miles, and the 10 miles
of trail befo re tha t were open enough for most of
the fast guys to maintain their time . The distance
from chec k fiv e to check six wa s a bo ut four
miles, an d on ce again the clu b p laced' the check
a nd nabbed rid er s ea rly. Gravitt go t burned
there. Brew er burned the check, too.
Grav itt and Brew er posted the fast tim e with
a one-point loss. Ram ey had br ake prob lem s an d
dr op ped two in the section. Brewer was able to
cap italize on Ram ey's trou bles,
Th ere was a rese t after, th e n o n to chec k
eight a t 68.80 miles. The trail was pr ett y mu ch
the same as ea rlie r in the race: tight tra il and
jeep roa ds . Checks eight, nine and 10 were all
ze ro ed by a lmos t every one~ Chec k 10 ca ug h t
some ea rly. Quite a few rid ers tallied more hot
po ints tha n la te poi nts at the run's end.
Wh e n t he fin al sc o re s w e re a d de d u p ,
Ramey got the top spot with a two ; Brewe r an d
Gra vitt tied with four each' Brewer too k the nod
o n the tie breake rs.
Results
O /A : 1. Fra n kli n R.,me y III; 1. As h ley Br ewer; J . Allen
G rav itt; 4. Tommv Veato r; 5. Mitch McRt.'C.
AA: 1. Ashl~y Bn'wer; 2. Allen G r,lVit t; J. To m my Vea tor .
O PEN A: 1. Mike Scott 2. Ken ny Boyd .
•
2Stl A : 1, Don B.Jxll'y; 2. joh n nie G rig"'by; 3. [).-J nny IJol rfl' t1.
200 A; 1. Son ny Morabito; 2. Stev e New: J . M.,.). Thompson.
4-S"fRK A; 1. Frank And lo; 2, David Kuk a Jr.; 3. Mike- M,u tin .
'
VET A: I. Ma ynard Patter so n; 2. Cliff Rod gers: 3. [onny
. Sim pkin s.
SR A: I. Mitch McRl'\'; 2, Ruber t Nee le : 3. Te rry Hugh s.
y
S/SR A : 1, Mill- Sh.m k; 2. Joh n Kealev; 3, David Kuka .
MSTR A: 1. Joe Va n St'l.'ll'rs; 1. [ohn Wa tts; 3. Jim Furd .
O PEN B: 1. Da vi d Ma cA dam ; 2. C h ris Doran: 3 . Terry
We thl 'ri ng tn n .
2."ilJ B: 1. Don nie Bre wer ; 2. Kim Watson; 3. Rich ard Mo rab ito .
200 B: 1. Wilso n Ce gre. 2. And y Dean ; 3. Ma th ew Gillard .
125 B: 1. M.-.y N Pat terso n Jr.; 2. Joh n Franklin; 3. Jim Yon na
4 -STR K B: 1, N i k [o b n ao rr: 2, G ary C rumba ke r ; 3 . Pet e r
Magee .
VET B: 1. William Prosser: 2. Pat WiIlia l1UlOn; 3. Bob G ran ge r.
SR B: 1. Robert Tanner; 2. C r,lig W.lll .1C\! 3. Fra nk Shoc n bcck
;
S/SR B; 1. Sm a rt man ton; 2. Lane SI1l'p h.u d; 3. Ga tes r elic tiMSTR B: 1. j ohn Gree n; 2. Jim Tnllaba r ke: 3. Steve H uggins
O PEN C: 1. Jo hn Fi!>hl"l' 2. Scott Cor le tt; 3. Paul G ira rd,
;
2S0 C: 1. Craig B oombe rg: 2. Wes ley Merit; 3 . Jaso n H u tchings .
56
200 C: 1. 5. m Ndsn n; 2. Ed Ellsw orth; 3. Br" d let." Cribs.
1
115 C: 1. Sca n Wa lLlce; 2. Richilrd Bear d; 3. For~t Taylor.
....5TRK C: l. ·!Xoott Lamb ; 2. Jam (,:, H ()('~r; 3-. Gle n G ro tcn dorsI.
.'"
('
VET C: 1. J(
.rry Caudll'; 2. c..'Org e To lso n;·3. De nn y Licg ero t.
SR C: 1. Cameron Smith; 2. Carl Monroe; 3. Al ex Au stin.
S/SR C: I , Jt.hn Da y; 1. M ike Lynn ; 3. W illiam Thom pson.
MSfR C: 1. Buddy Gaillard; 2. Bill Go ldsby; 3. S" m Shaw.
G O LDE N MSTR : L Richa rd Smi th; 2. Jo h n 5c h n cl b.ll' h; 3.
Ron Hawk.
WMN : I. Ka ren Nelson; 2. Lind a Rorrio; 3. Vicki Wilco x.
VINT: 1. Chuck Milll' r; 2. Ed Tho ma s.
Fisher wins third Junior title
at Gold Country Speedway
By M. Sobe r
Photo by Gen Moore
AUBURN. CA, SErf. 4
. "Flyin ' Ryan" Fisher moved h imself int o a very
rar e a nd e lite ca teg o ry by virtue of a perfect
ma ximum score of 16 points a t the 1998 Juni or
Na tional Champions hip, held at the Gold Cou ntry Fairgrounds.
•
It was Fisher 's third consecutive title - a fea t
tha t ha s never been accomplish ed in the Ju nior
Speedway ranks. In fac t, no other Jun ior ha s
won the tit le mor e than tw ice. Previou sly, Ronn.ie Correy 0 981-82). josh Lasen 0986-87), Brent
Werner 0988-89) and Ste phen Dow ning 099394) had wo n two consec ut ive titles, but a ll faile
d
in th eir thi rd a tte mpt or g rew too old to com. plete the hat trick. Fisher ha s the o ppo rtunity to
put the record virtua lly out of reach, as he still
has one mo re yea r of Juni or Speedway eligib ility
left in 1999.
'
Unlike the 500cc Pros that were compe ting in
th e Au burn track cha m p io nship in the sa me
eve nt, the Jun iors. produced oil field of sev en riders tha t had to face each other twice d uri ng the
nigh t. Four poi nts were aw arded for a w in, three
for seco nd , tw o for th ir d and one point for
fourt h. In the first heat, Fisher ga ted sma rtly and
was clea r as th e fie ld entered the first turn s.
Bryan Yarrow initially ran second but eve ntua lly
fell an d W3:-o cred ited wit h the four th sp ot. Chris
.
Kerr held the secon d spo t ove r ].J. Martyn'Se In
the seco nd First Divisio n Junior race, Yarrow got
the ea rly lead , on ly to have Northern Ca lifornia
Jun io r po in ts c ha m p io n Eri c Carrillo wor k
underneath him and take the win . Yarrow was
second , Kerr was third, and A J. Jones survived a
starting-line loop to finish in fourth , In the th ird
heat , Fish er had his o nly scare of th e evening
w hen he was taken out near the tum -two wa ll by
A.J. Jon es il l th e sta rt. Don nie Rob inson to ok '
adva ntage of Fisher's poo r start and led the pa ck
th rou gh the next 2 1/2 laps. O nce Robinson sp un
out in turn thr ee of lap thr ee, Fisher had a clear
tra ck and a no the r fou r-poi n t w in aboard hi s
RMC Ca rrie rs / T&N jo nes / Tho m pson Pla ting
Nj K/BilI Cody-backed [awa.
"1 was a little wo rried whe n I fell behind in
tha t second heat, but I knew I could ca tch him,"
Fish er said after the race. "I jus t wan t to thank
my dad . Without him , I would have no Speedway titles ."
In heat number four , Fisher met Ca rillo for
the first time. Fisher got th e ga te a nd was followed by the sm ooth-riding Carillo, w ho couldn' t
mak e up an y gro und and had to settle for second
place. Bryan Yarrow was third and Rob inso n was
fourth. Donnie Robin son go t his first"win of the
even t in the next heat when he outga ted and bea t
Yar row, A.J. Jo nes and J.J. Martynse, in that
ord er . Race six - the last chance for C1rillo to put 1
an end to Fisher' s dominati on - came and went
with somewhat predictable results. Fisher got the
sta rt a nd assumed a lead he wo uld not relinquish. Carillo, w ho rid es for Rod Lake/Peterich
Cycle/Off Beat Prod uction s, ptut in a near ly flawless p erformance behi nd t he cha m p io n but
co uldn' t find a chink in his armo r an d finished a
frustra ting' second, For the second heat in a row ,
A.J. Jones was third and J.J. Martynse was fourt h.
In the final ri ce of the 1998 championship , Carillo
claimed second p lace overa ll wi th a nice win over
Donnie Robin son, J.j . Mar tynse an d Chr is Kerr,
w hose bike failed to ma ke the call.
Results
. D-I JR: 1. Ryan Fisht!!'OJwl; 2. Eric Ca rri llo (J.lW ); 3. Donnie
Robinson O" W); 4. Brya n Yarrow (Wcs ); 5 . Ch ris Kl'1T(Wes ).
D-2 JR : I. M a tt Browne (Wl'S ); 2. (T I E) j o na t ha n C u rry
Oa w) / Jay Heidt (Wes ); 4. To n y Marti nez .(Wes ); 5. Scott Ha wl ey
(W ('S ).
Results
50 AlITO: 1. Blake Cappello (l..em ); 2. D yla n Brad y (Suz ).
85 YTH : 1. Nic k MdVO(Ho n) ; 2. C h ris Ri\'l'I"3 (Suz); 3, Block
a
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