Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS FLO AWINTE RID R MPICS N N ATIO ALOLY (Left) Ben Riddle (41) gets the jump on Chad J ohns on (35) an d the rest of the 125cc B class at the Florida Mini Olympics in Gainesville. Riddle ended up earning the Golden Goggle Award for his performance at Gatorback. (Above) Riddle leads Andrew Short (131 ). t who came away with wins in the 125cc B (12-15) clas s In the su percros s portion of the event. By Mike and Anne Ada ir GAINESVILLE, FL, NOV. 24-28 eam Gree n Kawasaki's Ben Riddle rolled to an overwhelming victory, winning both the prestigious Scott Gold en Goggle and.Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe Awards in the 26th an nual Florida Winter Nationa l Ol ympics. Riddle not only won both 125 and 250cc B divi sions, but al so tallied the highest poin t score am on g all 4000 entries. Ma tt Walker rode hi s Al Lane /Fox Racin g /Mo toplan et-backed Yam aha to a n overa ll vic to ry in the 125cc Exp ert class and seco nd in the 250cc Expert class to ea rn the Dunlop Silver Tire Awar d. FMF / Cha pa rr al Yamah a Rider Ryan . Morais, meanwhile, was pr esent ed with the Fox Bronze Boot Award after win ning each and every mot o in th e Stock and Mod ified 85cc (14-15) classes . "He is th e only rider w it h a per fect reco rd here this year," Walker said whil e p resenting the awa rd to Morais . "I' m glad that I'm not on an 80 and have to race against him." Pee Wee-cla ss cham p io ns Mad ison H amb right a nd Se a n H a ckley we re awa rded KTM Motorcycles in their age divisions. Sean Hackley, w ho w as the top guy in the 7- to 8-yea r-o ld class, sa id: "The points came down to the fin al moto. I hit the ga te early, sta rted last and rod e hard to finish th ird to w in the cha m pionship." The Ricky Jo seph Sportsm an ship award w as given to Jessi e Sturgel and Jerry Van Braun. "These tw o yo u ng m en se lflessly stop ped du ring their race and helped pull a bike off a stricken rider," pro mot er Bill West said. Afte r w inning th e Mechan ic Award, Ro bin Farley sa id : "El si e Dav is a nd I packed up th e kids, left ou r husb an d s behind in Mary land to go huntin g an d headed for the Win ter Olympics. Elsie go t the kids ready to race and I kept five 50cc bikes goi ng. The kid s rode well and w e T .00 0\ 0\ ,..... .,0 ,..... I... OJ .c E OJ u OJ o 18 had a wonderful time at a very speci al event." Sco tt's Bevo Forte, m issed the event for the first time in recorded history. Forte said by ph one: 'The family is all at home stand ing by for our next child - coun t o n us to be back next year." TT The Unlimited Sports track crew pre- . pared a IT track that was wide, smoo th, fast and fun for the riders. • In the opening 125cc Stock final, Walker passed Ivan Ted esco to take the early lead, though Ted esco took ad van tage of a Walker miscu e to score the win. Walke r then moved from a fifth-p lace start in the Modified main to take the win. "The track was in pe rfect condition," Walke r sa id . " I k e pt it r oll in g a n d picked off Ted esco and Aaron Day for the victory." In 250cc A Stock actio n, Keith Johnson passed Billy Payne on the first lap and led all the way to the flag. Da mien Plot ts then erased Walker's 250cc A Mod ified holes ho t with a pass and the two d ueled for the wi n . Payne and Joh ns on finished second and third, respecti vely. "It's good to be back raci ng," Plot ts sai d. "I've been running my own business for three years an d have missed the com petition." Kyle Keylon passed Kenn y Henry to w in th e o peni ng Pee Wee (7-8) fi nal. Def end in g cha m pion Brand on La rge, who ended up finishing fifth, said : 'This is my last race. My kn ee ligaments are gone. I will have to have surgery and be outfor a yea r." . Th o usa n d Oaks Kawa saki' s M ike Alessi started a nea r sweep of the 65c<: (79) classes wi th flag-to-flag wins. Nick Evvennou and M att Goerke started their wee k-long battle for the 65cc 00-11) su premacy wit h Evennou takin g bot h wins after very close races. Co n te nders in the 85cc (7-11) class, Brandon Layto n and Broc Helper divided class wins. "I was leading Broc in the Modified main, hi t a ru t and was th row n off m y bike," Layton sa id. "I was d ragged beside it and fina lly go t back in the seat to hold the lead ." Gene Stu ll topped Na than Davenport and Shane Lusk in the SScc 0 2-13) fina l eve nts . In 125cc 02-15) co mpe titio n , Jona th an Shimp, w ho ha s r e centl y swi tche d fro m 80cc bik es, topped Chase Reed and Bo b by Bon d s . Reed ro ll ed ba ck wi th a M odi fi ed w in a hea d of Johnny Mar ley. Barney ' s Ya ma ha's Bill y Wo od w or ke d hard for his O ver 3D-class w in ahea d of Rodney Carrier and Eric McHatton. Over 35 winner john Lund y said: "My son is hu rt and can' t race. I'm almos t 40 years o ld and wonder w ha t I'm doing here." Th o u s a nd Oa ks Ka w a sa k i' s R.J. Thompson u pset Ridd le in th e 125cc Stock B ma in, but Riddl e rolled to wins in the Mod ified 125cc B ma in and 250cc Stock mains to stay on track for the top awards. SUPERCROSS During the second eve nt of the week, inj uries began takin g th eir toll o n th e favo rites . Expert riders Jeff Gibson and Payne and 12Scc B rider Johnny Mar ley were sidelined with injuries. Th e 125cc A Stock main began w ith T ra v is Elliott leadi ng Walker, Jarrret Rhod es, Jason Th omas and Kei th Johnson. Walker passed Elliot for the wi n. Wal ker tr ailed Keith Jo h nson in th e 250cc A Stock ma in, w ith Thoma s taki ng the wi n. "I thou ght that I had a win un til my throttle stuc k just before th e w hoops," johnso n said. "I had to pull in the clutch and qu it." In the 250cc A Mod ified final, Damien Plott's YCH /KTM rolled past Jo hnson and then led every lap. Wa lker, meanw hile, ended up fifth. "I w as trying to tak e Plotts, go t too close, clipped his rear tire , went down and scrambled back to fifth, " Walker said. In the Pee Wee Stock final class, Mad ison Hambright and Cameron Smith battled . Smith held the lead for tw o laps, with Hambright moving by for the win at the halfway point. Matt Goerke staved in the 65cc 0 0-11) championship hunt by taking over the Stock-class final and passing Evvennou for the class win. It was the Alessi bro thers who swept the 65cc (7-9 ) classes. Mike, as usual, d ominated the Stock class. In the Mod ified main, Mike started nea r last after a ga te stack-up. Brother Jeff rose to the occasion, holding on for the win. "I was in the lead and realized, 'Hey, it 's finall y m y turn to wi n o ne:" jeff Alessi sa id. Gene Stu ll, the d ominator of the SScc 0 2-13) IT class, was missing from the Sup ercros s lin eup, a ll owi n g Pu e rt o Rico' s Edga rdo Ro ja s to win bot h classes. "Rojas got great starts and was out of range before I co uld ge t goi ng in bo th mot e s," ru nn er-up Donnie McGourt y said. Morais m ade it fo u r in a row with another sweep of the 85cc 04-15) classes, wi th Gavi n Gracyk and William Brown ing alterna ting second-place finishes. 'The FMF guys have been inval uable to me: ' Morais said. "My suspension and jetting have been right on." In th e 125cc 02-15) d ivi sion, Thou sa nd Oaks Yamaha 's Bobby Bo nd s claimed a pair of wins, '1 was havin g a lot of trouble with my starts:' Bonds said. "I swi tched to second gea r, an d started getting better traction of the ga te." John Lun d y passed Jim Faul ken berg to win the Over 35 final. "I was looking back and landed short on a jump an d jam med my ankle:' Lund y said . "I'm not goi ng to take my boot off until my last class ." Barry Ma yo took time off from hi s tra ck prep arati on a nd topped both the Ov er 40 an d Over 50 motos. Riddle finish ed seco nd to Bond s in both the 125cc B Stoc k and Modified finals . And re w Sh ort, mean w hil e, took the 250cc stock win ahead of Ridd le. Indiana State Women's Champion jennifer Squire com peted in the 125cc class. M OTOCROSS Walker and Plots were neck and neck in the Expert points race goi ng into the

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