Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

PJ1 Ultracro Series, Round 1 Dane County Arena ss : MADISON, WI, NOV. 6-8 I e Kat in w a s t he m an to bea t when the inau gural PJ1 . . Ult rac ross Se ries m a d e it s d ebut at Dane Co u nty Are na in Madison, Wiscon sin. The series is the newes t of PACE' s ~'e x t r e m e s po rt of m ot ocr oss " events and is ru n in 5000- to lO,OOO-sea t arenas. T he tr a cks a p pea r to be id e n t ical to those found in the highl y resp ected PJl Na tio na l A re n across Se r ies . Th e PJ1 Ult r a cross Se ries co n s ists of seve n eve nts, w hich will run for three consec. u tive d ays, with Pro / Expe rt and lim ited Youth / Ama teu r classes on Friday and Saturday evenings and Youth/Amateur classes on Sunday. In the Pro ran ks, $12,000 was up for grabs, wi th $500 to win in each of the U5cc Pro and 250cc Pro classes. In the 125cc Pro main on Friday night, Katin sho wed no mercy, ta king he holes ho t over Charlie Dunaway , Michigan's Adam Martin, Au stin Raubs, Eron Ezerins, Dave Oe rtel, Karter Busse and the res t of th e field of 15 riders . Ia rtway into the 16-lap mai n, Busse an d Eoy Nafzger collided after the Kawasaki catapult triple, taking both frus tra ted riders to the back of the field . Oettel won got loose in the whoops, wit h Ezeri ns latching on to his Su zuki and delaying any furt her pursu it of the lead ers. At the ha lfway poi nt, it was Katin, Dun a wa y a nd then Martin m archi ng away, and those position s wou ld rem ain uncha nged to the en d of the race. Martin had started in the back ro....an d finis hed a hard-earned th ird . Dunaway was second. The only tense moment Katin experienced was wh en he oversho t a berm into the s tarting- line area and had to go aro u n d th e ga tes a nd ba ck o n to th e track. Obviously, he had a large-enoug h lead to rem ain ou t fro nt. "In the 125 main , I rode a good race except for wl1en I wen t off the track," Katin sai d . "I was looking at a few lappers and not looking a t the line on th e jump, and I hit a hole o r something, and it kicked me up and o ver the berm." In the 250cc main, Du naway a nd Katin we re side by side th rou g h the first turn and the lon g w hoop section. Katin came out ahea d over Dunaw ay. Th e two had tra v el ed to g e th e r fro m Oh io to mak e the even t, bu t neither was going to give wa y. More than halfway into the race, Katin see med to tire ou t and Dunaway see med to pick up speed, passing Katin a fter th e w hoops. "I was tryin g to push reall y hard a t the beg inning and w as rea lly concen trati ng on the wh oops because I thou ght I w as slower through , but I go t a littl e tired ," Katin sa id after fin ishing seco nd . " A t lea s t I got good s ta r ts , an d tha t helped . I' m really happy." Du naway cru ised to a victo ry, with Ka ti n , Ez eri ns , Brad Je ro m in s ki a n d Bra n don Bartz rou nd in g o u t th e to p five. "I was prob abl y mid pack a t the start b u t m ad e it up to third o r s eco n d throug h th e firs t turn," Du naway said . "La ter in the race, I saw an opening a t th e corne r before the tri ple, and I go t a better drive through the whoops, and I m ad e the pass stick. It was a lon g race, JlPJ but I tried to pu t in 20 good laps, and it was good enough to come strong at the end." Dunaway , Busse, Ezer ins , Ka tin , Martin, Michael Koch , Fletcher, Raubs and Bartz lined up in the front row for the start of Saturday's 125cc Pro main. Bartz p ushed his Yamaha to the lead into the first turn exiting the whoops, ahead o f Ka tin, [erod Mid d elson , Koch an d Raubs, It wasn' t long befo re Kat in remember ed the dolla rs tha t were at stake, and he go t around Bartz, d isp lacing him to seco nd . Du naway su ffered a m ed iocre s ta rt but concentra ted heavily on rid ing consis te n tly a nd ho ped for a br ea k as he s lo w ly cha rged t h ro u g h th e p a r k to co me u p to fourt h p la ce n ear t he hal fway point. Busse had cras hed hard o ver a double, remo ving himself from content io n. The ru nning o rder at the halfw ay point showed Ka ti n o u t front and Duna way movi ng into seco nd, with Bartz, Martin an d Ra ubs rou nding ou t the to p five. Ka tin tarted to pull o ut a five-seco nd lead over Du naway. Lookin g mu ch faster th ro u g h th e w hoops, Kati n had it d ial ed in. He cru ised to anot her main-even t wi n in the 125cc Pro class. Dunaway ro de to a well-ea rned seco nd, with Bartz capturing a podium spot with a thi rd . The 250cc Pro m ain was th e fin a l event on Saturday nig ht. Karin foug ht it out w ith Bartz for th e holesh ot as th ey wen t side by side through the fas t lefthand er in to the w hoops, w hi ch w ere getting worn dow n and fast. Katin exite d t he w hoops a hea d of Bar tz , with Dun awa y a n d Ezer in s clo se beh in d them. Ka rin chos e his lines carefu lly and qu ickly moved ahead of th e pack, se ttin g th e p a ce . Du na w a y le ft Ez eri ns behi nd and set his sights on Bartz. Th e pair rode sid e by side arou nd the jum pinfested track, bu t it was Dunaway wh o came out in fro nt for the runner-up spo t beh ind Ka tin , wh o was th inkin g abo u t checking out. Ma n y lapp ers w ere b e g in n in g t o m ount in fro nt o f th e lea d ers by th e h al fw a y p o in t. Kalin , Dun a wa y and Bart z led a Yamaha freig ht train through (Above) Mike Kat in (56) was th e top dog at the open in g round of the inaugural PJ1 Ultracross Series . Kat in scor ed three of a pos sible fo ur Proclass wi ns ove r two nights of compet iti on. (Rig ht ) Just li ke arenac ross: Jump-off contests were held during intermi ssi on on Fri day and Saturday night. Kart er Busse scored the win in riday's exh ibition. the pack and on to the podium. Katin was unsto p pa ble w;th his weekend 's ra ci n g p e r form a n ce , winni ng Sa tu rday evening's 125cc Pro and 250cc Pro m a in eve n ts . He was obviously sa tisfied ....rith his res u lts ove r the wee ken d, havi ng p o ck eted the biggest sha re of the winner's purse. "I felt real good ton igh t," Katin sai d . "Las t night I ten sed up a bit. I felt comfortable, and ge tting good sta rts helped out. Lap pers go t o u t of th e w ay mu ch better ton ight than last night and it wa s good racing. Bar tz barely go t me on the sta rt, bu t we were side by s ide in th e wh oops, and I just got to the tu rn qu icker tha n he d id." Dunaway wa s relegated to third du ring the fina l scoring due to a technicality, mak in g w ay fo r Ba rtz to ta ke the ru nner-u p ho no rs. Fletcher was fou rth C\ and Raubs fifth. Dane County Arena Madison, Wisconsin Results: November 6-8, 1998 (Round 1) Fri day 125 INT: 1. Zac Sa pka (Yam); 2. Dusti n Olson (Kaw): 3. Nick O... lh of (Hon) : 4. Andv Bowma n (Y, m); .h l • 5. Marty .....·u m (Hunl. 125 r RO: 1. Mike Katin (Yam); 2. Cha rlie Du naway (Yam); 3. Ada m Ma rtin C n); 4. Aus tin Raubs (Hen): 5. Ho Da ve Deu el (S u z); b . Ero n Ez e ri ne (Suz) ; 7. Brad Icromin ski ( Ka w ): 8 . M ike Kann (Ya m ); Ii , Bra ndon Bart z (Ya m); 10. Todd Fletcher (K.1w ); t 1. G rant McCabe (5uz) ; 12. Mark eyre (Hon): 13. Karter Busse (5oz); 14. Roy Nefzger ( Ka w): 15. Micha el Koch (Ya m). 250 INT: 1. Za c Sapko (Yam) ; 2. Ia son Wri ght (Ho n); 3. Jd f D.1lt.os (lyw); 4. P,,·I." Laubmeier (H..m ); 5. t Bear Reynolds (Ho nl. 250 PRO: 1. Charlie Dunawav (Ya m); 2. Mill" Katin (Yam); 3. Eron Ezc rins (Suz ); 4. Brad jerominski (Kaw); 5. Brandon Bart l. (Ya m); 6. Karter Busse (5 uz); 7. Todd Fletc her (Ka w ): 8. Roy Nafzg er (Kaw): 9. Ryan Bond (Yam): 10. Todd Sc h m itz (Ya m ); 11. Grant McC a be (5uz); 12 Mike Kann (Yam); 13. Moltl Wright ( I(.)w); 14. Aus nn Raubs (Yam); 15. Dave Q..;ottd (Su .d . S~ t u rd ;lY 125 (NT : 1. Ia me Rossi (Suz); 2. Iason Klop towsky s (K.1W); 3. Nic k Oehl hof (H e n): 4. [a son Schiller (Yam); 5. Steve Ho well (Kav.. ' I. 125 PRO: 1. Mike Kalin (Yam); 2. Charlie Dunaway (V.l m); 3. Brand on Bartz (Yam); 4. Adam Ma rtin (Hon); 5. Austi n Ra ubs (Yarn): 6. Ero n Ezcri ns (SUl) ; 7. Todd Fletcher (Kaw) : 8. Mi c h a e l Ko c h (Ya rn): 9 . [e rod Mid del sc n (Ya m ); 10. M ike Ka nn (Yam); 11. C hris Sc hm u lbach (Kaw): 12. Mark Cy re (Honb 13 . Iesse Williams (Kaw): 14. Karter Busse (SU2) . 250 INT : 1. Jason Kloptowsky IKaw): 2. jaso n wright (Han); 3. JOt.' Dressel (Ho n}; 4. Ieff Oakes (Ka w ); 5. Joe Sch ues ter (Yarn). 250 PRO: 1. Mike Ka lin (Yam ); 2. Bra ndo n Ba rtz (Ya m ); 3. C harlie D unaway (Y.lm) ; 4. Todd Fle tcher (Ka w j: 5. Austin Raubs (Yam); 6. Eron Ezerire.. (502) ; 7. Mile Kann (Yam); 8. G rant McCabt.- (Suz); 9. M.ul Cyre (Hon ): 10. Marl Wrig ht (Kaw): 11. Todd Schmitz (Yam); 12. Rick Sm ith (SU2) . 00 0\ 0\ ,..... N I-< il) .o E il) u il) c 35

• Cover