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/127967
gradua lly pulle d away from the rest of the grou p. Gibson was ho ld ing his own until he s lid ou t, le tt in g Po co ro bba by h im . Pocorobba took ad vantage of the situation and started chewing away at Sh ue's hol d o n th ird pl a ce. Pocor obba , h oweve r, wasn' t expecting Jon Boruff to ste p it up like he di d. Boruff closed the ga p on Pocorobba and started to cha llenge him for fourth place. Wit h a lap to go, Boruff slipped by Pocorobba , makin g the final finishing order Bentley, Wal ker, Shue , Boruff an d Pocorobba. Bentley pull ed off a repeat holeshot in the second moto, bu t following in his wa ke we reG ibson, Po cor obba, Shu e and Jaso n Thomas. Wal ker was nowhere to be see n, as he mad e the decision to sit out the second moto to save himself for the Four-S troke clas s. "He (Wa lke r) wa nted to be sure to win the Four-Stroke cla ss," said ProAction 's Steve Litz of his sponso re d rider. "Some peopl e were speculating th at he didn' t feel well, but that's not so." Pocorobba did n't like being in third, SO he cha rged har d after seco nd- placed Gibson. Per haps he tried a little too hard ; as he we n t to pass Gibson, Pocorobba crashed hard in the whoo ps , w hich ultimat el y lan d ed h im way d own in th e p a ck . He s ti ll fini s h ed 13th overa ll , which was good enoug h to keep h is ser ies poi nts lead. Pocorobba' s ex it le ft Gibson, Shu e and Th oma s to mix it u p over second th ro u gh fou rt h . Ben tley, meanw h ile , was long go ne out in front. La p af te r lap, G ibso n , Sh ue an d Thomas batt led , and then Shu e eventu ally powered past Gibson. A few turns later, Tho mas also go t arou nd Gibson , relega ting him to fou rth. Gibson's problems we ren' t ov er yet , as Mark Burkhart cau gh t up and bega n hounding him . On the last lap, Burkhart got him. FOUR-STROKE NATIONAL In the Four-Str oke Na tiona l, Wal ker p ut his number-seven Yama ha into the lead at the start of the first moto. Hot on his rear fender was series points leader Kell y Sm ith, w ho was fo llowed by Ke vin Wa lk e r, Bu rkh art, Neese a nd Pocorobba . Matt Walker would go on to (Above) Bentley (47) also took top honors in the 250cc Pro class, winning both motos. (Right) Ben Riddle (41), here passing Travis Reagan , won both the 125 and 250cc B classes. score the win scot-free, while the rest of the pack battled ferociously. . Po co ro bb a began a ma rch tow a rd th e fro nt, picking o ff rider a fte r rid er, d espite being the o nly front-run n er opti ng not to attempt the track's backsectio n doub le ju mp . Pocoro bba worked h is Ya ma ha a round the track and ended up scoring a hard -earned second place. Kevin Walker turned in a fine ride to fin ish th ird , jus t ahea d of Smith a nd Neese. Sm it h ca me o ut a nd p ulled th e holesho t in the second m oto , b ut Pocorobba took the poin t before the firs t la p was ove r . Matt Wa lker was rig h t the re , followed bv Neese, but Neese's rid e was sud d enly over whe n his bike sna pped its chain. Pocorobbaeventually lost his lead to Ma tt Walker through the doubl es. At th is poin t, th e race fo r th e win was, for all intents and pu rposes, over, as Wa lker race d to his seco nd wi n and the over all. Pocorobba, mean while, ma intain ed the second spo t. Smith never coul d ge t around Pocor obba, while Kevin Walker hung ou t in fourth. Finishing fifth in the moto was Tod d Downs, w ho too k seven th in the firs t mo to. U.S. MEGA SERIES Suz uki dealers fro m six sta tes sponso red th is yea r's Top Gu n Showdown, wh ich, as always, featu red a one-mo te, winner-takes-all form at. When the ga te dropped in the 125cc Pro final , 27 hungry riders raced to tu rn one. Shue mad e it there first; he was followed by Bentley, Walker, Thomas and Gibson. Bentley pressured Shue ea rly on; then he foundan opening and managed to sli p by before the end of lap one . On ce Bentley was out in fro nt, he set the throttl e on cruise con trol for the rest of the moto . Wit h Bentley ou t fron t, everyone else wo uld be left to fight over seco nd - and fight they did. Sh ue tried to ma tch Bentley 's pace bu t cou ld n' t; how ever, h e d id, a t one p o in t, pull away fro m t he d ogfi gh t going on behind him . Walker was busy tr ying to hold o ff th e h ard -ch a rgin g Tho mas , who in tu rn had his hand s full wi th Gibso n. Me anwhil e , Jim N e e se , wh o h ad ga te d p oo rl y , was maki ng a ch arge toward the fro nt on his Husqvarna, an d b y m idmo to h e h a d clawed a n d scratched his wa y to the tail end of the le a d pa ck . Abou t th a t tim e , fe ll ow Husky rider Tho mas encountered problems, and Neese too k his spot. Elsew here, Walker was bu sy mak ing a run on second-placed Shue and had closed the ga p on him. Neese conti nued his run to the front, ha u ling in fou rth -placed Gi bson a nd thi rd -placed Wal ker, and their momentum was carrying them a little close r to seco nd-placed Shue, As th e race ca me to a close, it w as a pparent th at nobod y co u ld ge t quite close enou gh to each o the r to mak e a move. At the finish, it was Bentl ey finis hing ou t in fron t. ifollowed by Sh ue, Walker, Gibson 'and Neese. Dou g Stone finished sixt h, Jim Chester seventh an d Clark Stiles eig ht h. Hans Neel and Troy Cris p filled ou t the top 10. In the 125cc B class, it was J.R. Ca rte r co 0\ 0\ ,..... -:i l-< (l) "E (l) >o Z 21