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E\'cnts
Winter Series South, Round 1
Bryan McGavran topped the 125cc
and 250cc Pro classes at the !irst
round of the GFI Racing Winter
Series at Glen Helen Raceway_
By Greg Robertson
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JAN. 10
ryan McGavran started out the
new year in winning fashion by
topping both the 125cc and 250cc
Pro classes at the opening round of the
GFI Racing/Goat Eyewear /Troy Lee
Designs/Pro Circuit/Fox/FMF /Dunlop-sponsored Winter Series. Glen
Helen Raceway Park hosted the event,
which drew more than 500 riders and
made for a full day of racing that saw
the final motos being completed at sunset. .
When the gate dropped for the 20minute, one-shot 125cc Pro moto, it was
McGavran edging out Justin Buckelew,
Brett Racine, Meihhi UId berg and
Shawn Perolio for the holeshot. In his
first GFI race as a Pro, Buckelew put the
en
on McGavran for the
theg: . moverailed through the tightlead as sec~
pack
inside
tion of the track for the first time.
McGavran watched Buckelew for a lap
before shooting back into the lead. Buckelew lost his front end in a turn and
went down, but he was quickly up and
22 running again in fourth place.
B
With a clear track ahead of him,
McGavran started to pull away. Racine
had his hands full with Perolio until
Perolio pulled off the track with onlythree laps completed.
'.
'1 cased a double and it kind of hurt
my thumb," Perolio explained. "I shook
it off, but then I went back out to the
back tabletop and hit a little kicker on
the face of it and it made me kind of
endo, and my fr~mt end landed right in
a pothole and I hurt my wrist."
By the halfway point, McGavran had
five seconds on Raci11e, with Buckelew
an equal distance further back. Rusty
Holland had gated just inside the top 10
but was up to fourth, ahead of Uldberg,
Doug Parsons and Mike Corder.
At the checkers, it was McGavran
with the win with some 10 seconds to
spare.
"I didn't really ride much this week,"
McGavran said. "j think 1 rode one time.
I was sick last weekend, and I was just
trying to get over that. It took me a couple of laps to get going. After that I just
rode hard and smooth. Justin is really
fast, and it made it a lot easier when he
wentdown."
Holland put his Advantage Metal
Products/Clawson
Motorsports/
VP /Smith/Lamson Porting-backed
RM125 into third place with a couple of
laps remaining and then squeezed past
Racine on the last lap to collect the second-place money.
"{ was back there pretty far on the
,start," Holland said. "The track is good
and technical but it's kind of hard to
pass on. Some of the turns are kind of
off-camber with only one good inside rut
to them, so if you're in traffic, it seems to
hold you up a little bit. { was pretty
stoked that I got around him (Racine). {
came into the corner really hot on the
inside and held it on just as long as he
did and { had control of the next tu rn, so
it worked out pretty good for me."
After running in second place for
nearly the entire race, Racine was a little
disappointed at getting zapped with the
meckered flag in sight.
"{ had an awesome jump out of the
gate," explained the Renthal/Dunlop/
Team Green/Pro Circuit/Fox/Scotti
SPY /Maxirna-sponsored Racine. "1 was
ahead of Buckelew and McGavran
going down the start straight and they
both pulled me big-time. I tried to stay
as close as I could to Bryan (Racine).
Before I knew it, Rusty (Holland) was
on my butt. I held him off as hard as I
could going into a corner in the back'
about three turns from the finish. He
just went straight towards me and there
was nothing I could do. He didn't hit
me or al1ytlung - it was a good move on
his part."
Buckelew would have to settle for
fourth over Uldberg and Corder. Ty
Kady worked up from a last-place start
to earn seventh, with Parsons, Erik
Eggens and Jerry Aleman rounding out
the top 10.
YZ250-mounted McGavran was just
as dominant in the 250cc Pro class. After
reeling off his second holeshot of the
day, he methodically pulled away from
the field at the rate of a second per lap
to take the win easily.
"It's all in the starts, { guess," said the
NCY /Pro Circuit/DC Shoes/Dunlopbacked McGavran after the race. "I
wasn't really pushing too hard. The
track was pretty dry and slick. I tried to
pull away and cruise a little here and
there."
Racine looked to have second' place
in the bag until his lu.ck changed with
only half a lap to go.
"I went over a single (jump) out there
in the middle and my main broke," said.
Racine. "My dad told me tha t chain was
getting worn out. 1 wa n't tired or getting arm pump and felt fast, but that's
racing."
Holland was again forced to fight his
way toward the front after a mid pack
start and was handed second place
when Racine had trouble.
Kady got a better start on Ius 250 and
held off C~der at the checkers for third.
"{ got a pretty good start and ended
up third or fourth going up the hill,"
Kady said afterward. "I just tried to stay
consistent. 1 rode tight and wasted a lot
of energy in the 125cc class coming from
last place. I'm happy with tllird."
Billy Mercier brought his YZ400
across for fifth ahead of Sweden's Espen
Blikstad. Jonte Engdahl climoed through
the field for seventh. Robert Naughton,
Andrew bygd and Keith Johnson finished eighth through 10th, respectively.
Sean Hamblin ran away with the first
125cc Intermediate molo win over Chris
Sprenkel, Dusty Walters and 30 other
riders. Sprenkel was untouchable in
round two, though, going wire to wire
to cla,im the overall over the 1-2 of Hamblin and the 3-5 of Walters.
Suzuki-mounted Kevin Townsend
split moto wins with John Burr for the
250cc Intermediate overall honors. D.J.
Umphries went 2-2 to edge out the 1-3
of Burr for second overall
eN
Glen Helen Raceway
San Bernardino, California
Results: January 10, 1999 (Round 1)
50 STK (4-6): 1. Bloke Baggett (Cob); 2. Justin Quinn
(KTM); 3. Dakota Garner (Cob); 4. Tommy Acquino
(KTM); 5. Brett Harrison (Cob).
50 5TK (7-8): 1. Darmy Gon7.alez (Cob); 2. johnny
jelderda (Lem); 3. Trevor Reis (Cob),; 4. Cody Tithof
(Cob); 5. Garrick Noble (Cob).
50 OPEN: 1. Bruce Rutherford (KTM); 2. Nick
Paluzzi (Cob); 3. Trevor Reis (Cob); 4. johnny jelderda
(Lcm); S. Blake Baggett (Cob).
60 FfT:ยท1. jonathan Hornbeck (Kaw); 2. D.J. HidaJgo
(Kaw); 3. Derek Fero (Kaw).
60 BEG: 1. Andy Straight (Kaw); 2. Chapman Fiene
(l