Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,., : , Final Round: Camp Coker MX Park ~ By Kirk Johnson SOClEIT HILlS, SC, ocr.31-NOV. 1 a m a h a - m o u n ted A n tho n y Pocorob ba and Husaberg's Kelly Smith came in to the fina l ro und of the AMA Eastern Four-Stroke Na tion al MX Series at Camp Coker separa ted by o nly tw o poin ts. The sce na rio was simple: Whoever finished ahead of the other would take the title. Wh e n a ll was sa id a n d d o ne , Pocorobba had ridden a sma rt, met hodical race to claim his seco nd title of the weekend. A nother cl os e battl e in the p o ints race was for the nu mb er-th ree position , between Kevin Walker and Jim N eese . Walk er had the ad va ntage with a threepoint edge on Neese. . . Neese timed the gate per fectly in the first mot o and put his Husq varna 610 o u t in front , fo llow ed b y Wa lke r, Po co robb a , Ja son Th o m a s, Mark Burkha rt, Smith, Kirk Joh nson, Donald Alford and An dy Anaya . The o the r Walker, Ke vin , w as left samp ling dirt in the first corner. Walker was u p qui c kly but had a h ard ti me sta rt ing h is ma ch in e . Hi s fro n t-brake lever was also bent and he wo uld spe nd the moto tryin g to ga in as ma ny posinons as possib le in hopes of securing thi rd in the final points tally. Up fron t, Ma tt Wa lker too k the lead before th e end of the first lap . Neese too k full advan tage of Kevi n Walker' s miscue a nd was running a strong sec~m d. Pocorobba and Thomas we re kee pIng Ma tt Walker honest, never allowi ng him any breat hing roo m . . S~ ith, meanw hile, was slowly workIng hIS way to the fro n t. At this point , Neese s tarted encou nteri ng p ro blems. His exha ust pipe,came loose and fell off, ca usi ng a se ve re p ower loss. At th e sa me tim e, Sm it h mad e h is move o n Thomas, and all eves w ere focused on the ti tle co n te n d e rs . Pocorobb a a n d Smith took their ba ttle past the limping Neese. Matt Walker was busy stre tching his lead ove r the pack, leaving Pocorobba and Smith to duke it ou t. Smi th kept the pressure on Walk er in hopes of forci ng Po corobba to ma ke a m ista ke o n th e rou gh, sandy track, but Pocor obba managed to hol d o n to the checkers a n d exte nd his poi nts lead head ing in to the final mot o. Thoma s was a lso able to w ork his wa y past Neese, but this would be as far up as Thom as wou ld ge t. The rest of the top 10 we re fai r ly s p read ou t, with Burkhart finishing sixth, Tod d Downs se ve n th, Boru ff eig h th, Anaya nin th, and Alford 10th. Kevin Walk er mad e it to 11th by the end of the moto, allowi ng Nees~ to ta ~e over third in th e points stand ings wi th one moto left. T he t itl e was now Poco robba ' s to lose . All he had to d o to wrap it all up was finish behind Smit h. In th e oth er p oints race, N eese he ld three poin ts over Kevin Wa lker. Walker nailed the holesh ot in the second moto. Thom as was hot on his tail in seco nd, follow ed by Smith, Pocorobba, Nees e , Mark Sm ith , Lon n ie T a yl or, Alford , Downs and Boruff . Firs t-motu winn er and possible spoile r Mat t W alker wa s n o w h e r e t o be fou nd, unable to start the race because of mechanical p roblems. Walk er was bla zin g out front on lap one, and it looked as though he wou ld run away with the win, but a miscu e on lap tw o s a w Sm ith , Po corobba a n d Th oma s a ll s li p b y him . Smit h wa s cha rg ing hard and trying to open up a Y gap on Poco robb a, but Pocorobba - not cont en t in the n u m be r-two p osition w~ nted to erase any d oubts in anyo ne's mind as to who is the series champ. As t he rac e -rea ch ed the h alfway p o int, I'ocorobba saw his cha nce and mad e his mov e. Thi s pa s s se e m ed to ta ke th e w in d o ut of Kell y' s sails , as he was unable to mou nt a serious charge for the lead aga in. Mea nwhil e, Th omas had his hand s fu ll h olding d own th e n um be r- th ree position over Kevin Walk er . If Wa lke r co ul d find a way a round Tho mas he wou ld ga rne r e no ug h p o in ts to (ake thi rd place in the fina l poi nt standings. Ho wever, Thomas held stea dy for third wi th Wa lk er securing fo u;th. ees~ backed it d own a no tch and came home fift h . Downs took sixt h, betterin g h is first-mo te fin ish by one. Next across the finis h line we re Boruff, Anaya and Mark Smith. Pocorobba took hom e th e cha m pions hip; his p oin ts total wa s 253, a nd S~i th's w?S 246. Nees e ended up third wi th 193, Just on e point ahead of Walk~ l~ Camp 'Coker MX Park Society Hills, South Carolina Resu lts: October 31-November 1 1998 • (Final round) OA : 1. Anthu ny Pocorob ba J (Yam); 2. Kelly Smi th r. (H us ): 3 . [o son Thoma s (Ya m); 4 . -j im N l't.'S(' (Hus): 5. ToJ ,d Dow ns (Ya m): 6. Ke vin wal ke r (Ya m ); 7. Jon Bonie r (H us): S, A nd y A naya (Yam); 9. Dona ld Alford (Yam): 10. Ma rk Burkha rt (Yam) . AMA EA STERN FOUR-STROK E NATIONA L MX SER IES ',Fin ...1 round): 1. Ant ho ny Pocorob ba (253); 2. Kelly Sm ith (246); 3. Jim Neese (193); 4. Ke v in Wa ll er (192) 5. Todd Downs (171); 6, An d y Anaya (135); 7. Ma rk Bu rkha rt (1 15); 8 . Ma r k Sm it h (97) ; 9. Dona ld A lford (95); to. Jon Boruff (88)' • (Above) Kevin Walker (859) grabs the holeshot ahead of Ke lly Smith (3) and Jim Neese (2) in the second moto of t he Eastern Fo urStroke National. (Right) Poco robba (9) an d Sm ith fig ht f or th e lead in the seco nd FourStroke moto. Pocorob ba took the overall wi n and t he title. a R ," ,I " ~ ~ ~ 00 0\ 0\ ...... 00 l-< OJ ..0 E OJ > o z 23

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