Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

C alifornia S MX Championship tate By B. LaRock SAN BERNARDINO, CA OCT. 17 , ·18 re n c h m a n Stephane Roncada made hi s first appea rance on a Yamaha a s u ccessfu l o ne as he swe pt both the 125 an d 250cc Pro classes at the Yama ha -sponso red AMA Californ ia Stat e Mot ocross Cha m pionships at Glen Helen Raceway. In the first moto of the 250cc Pro class o n Saturday, Danny Carlson cha rg ed to the holeshot with Jose Polasek, Ty Kady, Ron cada and Spud Walters on his back tire. Coming over "Animal Leap," Anaheim Yamaha /Pro Circ u it-sp o nso red Kad y moved ah ead of Polasek and into seco nd. Polasek then spun out in a tum, s n ap p ing h is handleba rs a n d takin g himself ou t of contention. This moved Ro ncad a up to third , with Walters sitting d irectly behind him. Roncada th en set his sights on Kad y, an d his opportunity to pass came d uring lap three, in a turn in front of th e spec ta tor bleacher s. Kady cut to the inside of the corner an d Roncada made a clean pass on the out side to take over seco nd . Even though Ca rlson ha d opened a sizab le lead , Roncada was on the move, and he qu ickl y closed th e dista nce between h imself a nd t he Chaparra l/ ova /All Pro-backed rider. Just as quickly, Roncada took over at the fron t, passing Carlson in the back sectio n of the tr ac k. Ca rlson m anaged to s tay with Ron cada for three laps until Kady came on strong and took over second. At the end of lap seven, Roncada had a 15-second lead on Kady, who was followed by Carlson and Walters. Carlson continued to struggle, losing third place to Wal ters on lap eig ht. At the checkered flag , it was Roncada leading Kady, Walter s and Ca rlson. Once he go t into th e lead , Roncada said, "the rest was easy. It was good." He al so thanked th e Yamaha of Troy team, Sinisalo, Alpinestar and Dunlop. Walt er s was also look ing forward to the n ext moto . H e a d m it te d h e h a d mi ssed pra ctice in o rder to get some ext ra slee p - so me t hing that's ha rd to come by wi th a six-week-old baby in the house . He w as co n fi d en t that th ings wo uld be better in the second moto. At th e s tart of th e sec ond m ota , it was Ca rlson again m akin g th e charge fo r the holeshot . This ti me, h owever, Ra y m ond Bo w ers took second, w ith Roncada third , Kady fourth and Walters fift h . By the e nd of th e first lap, Roncada had m ov ed into the lead - a position he woul dn' t relinquish. On the seco nd lap, Bowers fell back to fo u r th and Carlson los t second to Kady . Carlson re gained sec o nd in th e third lap, how eve r, when he pa ssed Kad y on the spec tator tabletop. Walters, meanwhile, start ed putting pres sure on Bowers and passed him in the back secti on o f the track on th e fourth g oaround. Two turns before the checkered flag, Kady regained second place, pushing Carlson back to third by the finish. On Sunday, Carlson and Kady we re both co nfident th at they were go ing to have tw o good 250cc Pro m o t os . Although Kady wou ldn't pred ic t the ou tco me, he sai d tha t h e p lanned to "stay clean and give it a good effort." Ronca da took th e holesh ot in the firs t mo to, only to be passed by Ca rlson and Ti m Sha rp co mi ng over the firs t hil l. Kady he ld down fourth. Sha rp and Roncada trad ed the number-tw o spot several times during the rest of laps one and two. O n the third lap, Ronca da secured • seco nd, with Sh arp falli ng b a ck to fo urth after a ba ttle on the tabletops F wi th John Sereika. By lap four, Ron cad a had closed in on Carlson, and th e two pla yed ca t-and -mo use for severa l laps. The battle for first had Carlson in fro nt until the last lap, w he n Ron cada to o k the inside of the turn on Animal Leap. Roncada took the checkers first, trailed by Carlson, Kad y and Sereika. "I had a good tim e ou t there," Ca rlson said later. "We had a clean rac e. I wa s s to ked. I th ou ght h e (Ro nc a da) would take me out, but he didn' t." In the last 250cc Pro m ota on Su nd ay, Carlson aga in ca p tu red the holeshot.v This ti m e, Ron cada w as seco n d , fol lowed by Kad y and Sereika, The pack of riders staye d close for the first tw o lap s. but th en b oth Ca rl son and Ron cad a pull ed awa y fr om the rest. Roncad a pull ed in tight in th e U-turn comer in front of th e ble acher s and th en clea re d the "Sky Jump" to take the lead on lap five. Th e Fren chman held the lead to the flag , with Carlson taking seco nd , Kad y third and Sereika fourth. In the 125cc Pro class, Roncad a was perfect on both days, topping Michael Young in all four mo tos. "I need to rid e on the bikes to get used to it ," Roncada sa id of his new rid e . "Even though it is an easy bike to ride, I need to get used to it. The fra me is the biggest change. The bike is easie r to ride; it turns better. The engine is really good." Friends Terry Fowler and Billy Frank electrified the crowd with their abilities in both the Junior Vet and Vet Expert classes. Troy Lee Designs/Pro Circuit/ Arnettesponsored Fowler, riding a YZ400F, felt the additiona l horsepower was a definite ad van tage ove r Frank's 250cc Kawasa ki. Fowler used his advantage to take the win . In the 125cc Intermediate contest, 23 rid ers char ged out of the sta rting ga te in the firs t moto o n Saturday, with Dusty Walters seizing the holesh ot and Jeremiah Moore. Joel Nelson. Gary Trachy and Na tha n Cra ig foll owin g close beh in d . Walters a nd Moore hel d the n umber one and -tw o positions through the rest of th e m o ta w hile Nelso n and Trachy fell b a ck o n the four t h lap . Ch ris Spren kel ca me fro m beh ind to ca pture thi rd. wi th Cra ig ending up fourth. Cra ig g rabbed th e hol eshot in m ot o two, followed by Jesse Olson, Walters and Dustin Ja meson. By th e end of the firs t lap. Cra ig still had th e lead , but Trach y had moved into second. During the next three laps, the rider to watch was Moore. Starting seventh. Moore was charging and was up to third. and Trachy wa s only able to hold him off until the final lap. At the chec ke red flag, it was Craig taking th e win over Moore, Trachy and Walters. At the start of the first moto on Sunday, Sean O'Connor was in the lead , followed by Brian Barker, Walters, Josh Cavanaugh and Trachy . On the opening lap , Walters we nt down in the first tum, Trachy slid ou t in the fourth tum and O'Connor lost it in the last tum before Animal Leap. Once the d ust had settled , Trac hy was in the lead , with Sp ren ke l in se co n d a nd Cava naugh in third . Mea nw hile, Olso n and Craig battled fo r fourt h . O n lap fo ur, Trach y w en t down in the fo u rth t urn , givi ng Sprenkel a lead he would h old to the finis h . Cavanaugh ca me in second and Craig took third . In the next moto, there was a g reat deal of confusion in tum one, with severa l riders go ing down. Travi s Frink go t the ho les h ot. foll owed bv Walt ers . Sprenkel, Nels on and Trachy , By th e end of lap on e, Walters had taken the lead over Sprenkel, Trach y and Frink. Sprenkel passed Walters in th e canyo n o n lap tw o, and the top four stayed the sa me until the fifth lap. It was then that Walters stuffed Sp renkel into the lefthand berm befo re the sand stretch to tak e the lead. Walters took the checkers, 0 followed by Sp renkel and Trachy. Glen Helen Raceway San Bernardino, Californ ia Res ults : October 17-18, 1998 PIW MO D (4-6), 1. Kyle Sm ith (KTM); 2. Jak e Lacey (Co b ); 3. Bryce Stew art (KTM); 4. Jos hu a Ma sse y (KTM ). PIW MOD (7-8): 1. Donnie Kearny (KTM) ; 2. Wl..·bb Masse y (KTM); 3. Fra nky Aguirre; 4. Dak ot a Tedd e r (Yam); S. Myl es Tedder (Lem ). SIMINI: 1. N ick Alva re z (Ho n); 2. Donnie Gritto n (Yam); 3. Sco tt Simo n (Yam); 4. Ch ris C hen et te (Suz ). 60 (D-8): 1. Co le See ly (KTM) ; 2. An d rew Jo hn son IKe w ): 3. Brian Hiner (Ka wk 4. Webb Massey (}(aw); 5. Do nnie Kearny (Ka w ). 60 (9-11): 1. Mike A le ssi (Kaw); 2. A a ro n Breid (KTM); 3. Brandon Hiner (Ka w): 4. Matthew Tedder (Ka w ): 5. R~~ Pacheco (Kaw). Frenchman Ste phane Roncada made his Yamaha debut a su ccessful one as he took victories in both the 125 an d 250cc Pro classes during the California Champions hips at Glen Helen. 80 BEG: 1. Jeff Vau g hn (Yam); 2. Sean Borkenha gen IKaw ), 3 . West o n Peick (Suz); 4. Da n Bartz (Suz) ; 5. C} , Mahon (Ya m). 80 NOV: 1. j u stin Workm.1n (Kaw): 2. Kevin Bred (Yam); 3. Je ff Loo p (Ya m); 4. Ch ris Che vrett (Suz ): 5. Jared Mino r If-ion). 80 l NT : 1. Do nnie Gr itto n (Ya m); 2. Mi ke Al essi (Kaw): 3, Scott Simo n (Yam ); 4, Kevin Payne (Ya m) , 80 EX: 1. Ni ck Alvarez (Ho e ): 2. Eric Meyer (Yam ). 125 BEG: 1. Do n n ie FuHN (Yam) ; 2. Rob Sty ro n (Suz) ; 3. Brian Melsh eimer (V.1m ); 4. Ryan Gi lfoy (Kaw ): 5. Brad Huth (Yam ). 125 NOV: 1. Matt Co ndon (Yam); 2. Jaso n Cia rlc tta (Yam); 3. Brett Hoval (Yam); 4. Da vid Su llins (Ya m ); 5. Co re y Maco mber (Ya m ). 125 !NT: 1. Du sty Walt..·rs (Yam); 2. Na tha n Craij; (Suz) ; 3. Ch ris Sprenkel (Suz) ; 4,.c.u y Tra chy (Yam);;,. Jerem ia h Moore (Hun). 125 PRO: 1. Stephene Ro nca d a (Ya m); 2. Michael You ng (Yam) ; 3. Tyso n Tay lor (H on ); 4. Ch ris to p he r Nei tze l (Ho n): 5. Danny Ca rlso n (Yam ). 250 BEG : 1. Brett Da ug he rty (Ya rn) : 2. Ra nd y Sha do wn IH on): 3. N .K. jackson (Suz); 4. James Scha re r jr. (Ho n); 5. Pedro Revvelta (Suz) . . 250 NOV: 1. wes Burr (Yam ); 2. Gary Lacy (I--Ion); 3. Da nn y Shealy (Ka w): 4. Ca meron Mulford UC .1W). 2SOINT: 1. Kevin Ceyer: 2. Kevin Town nd (Suz) ; se 3. Jeremiah Moo re (Ho n); 4. Na than Cra ig (Yam); 5. D.J. Um p hries (Yam). 2SO PRO: 1. Stephane Ron cad a (Ya m); 2. Ty Kady (Ya m); 3. Danny Ca rlson (Ya m ); 4. Ray m ond Bow ers (Honh 5. Spud Wal ters (Ya m). J R VET BEG: 1. Juan Ordonez (Hen): 2. Joe l Pli tt (Yam). JR V ET NOV: 1. Ed N ie mela (Ka w ); 2. Matt Mor gan (Suz) . JR VET JNT: 1. C h r is A lvarado (Yam) ; 2. Bria n Wa lker IKaw). JR VET EX: 1. Jerry Fo wl er (Ya m); 2. Billy Fra n k (Ka w); 3. Ma tt Ted der (Ya m). VET BEG : 1. Fra nk Wri g ht (Ya m ); 2. Jo h n Barry (Yam ); 3. KI;!'I'l Kin nu can (Ya m); 4. Dave Vincove (H on) ; S. Da vid Willia ms (Hen}. VET NOV, 1. Gary Lacy (Hon ): Ed Nie mela (Kaw); 3. Da n ny Cunni ngham (Ho n k 4. Rich Wa ite (Kaw ): 5. Da ve Lippert (Yam) . VET INT: 1. Jon Le vey (Ya m) ; 2. Bria n Frid a y (Ka w); 3. Rand y Dan yl o (Kaw); 4. M ik e Alt enhot e l (H on) . VET EX: 1. Terry Fo wl e r (Ya m) ; 2. Bill y Frank (Ka w ): 3. Mat t Tedder (Ya m ); 4. Will y Mus gra ve (KTM) . SR NOV: 1. Mi cha el Jo h ns o n ( H o n) ; 2. Mi k e Ma chuga (Ya m); 3 . Greg Cla n to n (Ya m ); 4. Ca r los Ollervides (Hen ). SR INT: 1. Mike Altenhotel (Hen): 2, Kirk Bassett (Yam); 3. Jaso n Yodogawa (Yam ). S R EX: 1. Barry Kla ssen (Ya m) ; 2. Bob Ma xw ell (Yam ). 4-S TRK NO V: 1. Lou ie Peick (Ya m ). 4-ST R K I N T : I. D .J. U mp h ries (Ya m ); 2 . C o le Townsend (Ya m ); 3. Kelly Yancey (Yam) . WMN BEG: 1. Shell yDanylo (Suz); 2. Elizabeth Bash (Yam ). WMN INT, I. Jennifer Caputo (Yam). WMN EX: 1. Kelly Ya ncey (Ka w); 2. Bonni e Wa TCh . OPEN N O V: 1. Ro ck y H a sh (H o n): 2. Joel Pl itt IHcn) , ...... ...... ~ I-< Q) E Q) > o z 33

• Cover