Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

CMC Golden State National Series North, Round 1 ished 11 th in the moto and in the overall tally. Fisher kept the throttle pinned and raced hi way up to sixth place. Fisher, Paladino and Windham battled for the rest of the moto, but near the end, Fisher appeared to tire somewhat and he was passed by Paladino and Windham. Throughout the moto, Pestana continued a steady march toward the front, moving into second behind orthrop. Smith .diced briefly with Pestana before Pestana cut loose and roosted away. After that, Smith settled down to cruise along comfortably in third. Following the lead trio were Moore, Matson and Wiechers, who raced the remaining laps in their respective positions. At the checkered flag, it was Northrop first, followed by Pestana, Smith, Moore, Matson, Wiechers; Paladino, Windham, Fisher and Killam. In the Over 30 Pro race, Pestana and Smith diced for the lead in each moto, but in the end it was Smith who was up front when it counted most. Pestana had to settle for a pair of seconds. Terry Bostard was third overall with a 3-3 score. CIII Riverfront Park Marysville, California Results: January 10. 1999 (Round 1) By John Silva 34 MARYSVILLE, CA, JAN. 10 trio of native onhern CaliforniA ans spli t the lion's share of the purse at the opening round of the 23rd annual CMC Golden State ationa! Series orth. ine-time ational title holder Rodney Smith of Team Suzuki Off-Road won the Over 30 division and also placed third in both the 125cc and 250cc Pro races. Topping the 125cc division was Team Green's Jeff Northrop, who also snagged second in the 250cc Pro race. The fastest 250cc rider proved to be Clawson Motorsports' Jeff Pestana, . who also fattened his wallet with second-place money in the 125cc, Over 25 and Over 30 Pro classes. Stillie/Westwood's Tyler Evans surprised many by making the long drive from Saturday night's Anaheim Supercross opener in time to start the 250cc. Pro race at Marysville. When the gate fell for the first moto, Dean Matson bla ted off the line far ahead of all the re t, but officials ruled that he had jumped the gate and later penalized Matson, putting him down one lap. Matson led the race until the riders reached the sandy West Side, where Evans took over. Evans looked sharp as he led the early going, with Dean Matson, Jake Windham, Jeff orthrop, Dan Moore, Rodney Smith, Danny Paladino, Jeff Pestana, Monty Ware and the rest of the field giving chase. Evans held the point position through the first several laps, while orthrop rapidly rose to second place. Smith and Pe tana were also charging hard and passed Matson for third and fourth place, respectively. As the race progressed, Evans motored on, with Northrop a short distance behind. "I feel pretty good about matching Evans," said Northrop about his secondplace showing. "Tyler's a real strong rider - he always has been. We've battled since back in the 80cc days, but I made a few mistakes Oll t there." Back in third, Smith held his own against Pestana despite a lack of recent motocross experience. Smith began his pro career racing motocross before becoming an off-road specialist. "I really enjoy coming to Mary ville," said Smith. '1t always seems to help me every winter. It takes me about two or three motocrosses and I'll get back up to speed where I'm comfortable. It helps me out a lot in special tests (lSDE)." . Pestana finally got around Smith with two laps to go; Smith put the blame on ann pump. At the finish, Evans was victorious, and he was followed across tile line by Northrop, Pestana, Smith, Matson, Moore, Paladino, Windham, Stapleton and Cook. Matson dropped to 17th in the official scoring due to the gate-jumping penalty, which moved Alberto Zamora into 10th place. The second 250cc Pro moto got under way without Evans, whose race day ended earlier when he was injured in the first 125ce Pro moto. Pe tana got the holeshot and was shadowed by Northrop, Smith and Matson. The group quickly broke away from the pack. Cook got a much better start this moto and raced in fifth place until Moore stole away the position on lap two. Moore eventually was able to do one position better by passing a fading Matson on the penultimate lap to claim fourth. Pestana continued to lead out front. "I'm used to riding hard for at least 30 minutes per moto in the outdoor alional, 0 it's easy to ride fast for seven laps," said Pestana. "1 was enjoying myself o",t there. The harde t part was getting warmed up and keeping warm. I've got other races coming up later, so it should get even better for me as the day goes on." . Pe tana ul timately led all seven laps to take the win over Northrop, Smith, Moore and Matson. Cook, Windham, Paladino, Stapleton .and Zamora rounded out the top 10. orthrop snagged the holeshot in the first 125cc Pro moto, with 19 challengers racing behind him. At the end of the first lap, Northrop held the lead over Matson, Evans, Cody Killam, Windham, Pestana, Jesse Bath, Smith, J.R. Mason and Jerrad Fisher. Evans acted quickly, passing Matson on lap two, and then he went after orthrop. Pestana was flying and he passed Windham, but Matson slowed Jeff Northrop raced to victory in the 125cc Pro class during round-one action of the CMC Golden State National Series North. Northrop posted a second in the 250cc Pro class. him with an effective defense, and it took Pestana three more laps of furious racing to overtake Matson and capture third place. Meanwhile, Evans had reeled in orthrop as the lead duo gradually put the rest of the racers behind them. Once Evans was upon orthrop's rear fender, the race for the lead was intense. Heading into the rockers, Evans went for it, but the pass attempt met with di aster and Evans went down hard. The crash ended Evans' day. Northrop offered his take on Evans' crash. • "We were just basically going triple, triple," said orthrop. "He tripled but maybe didn't get enough drive. He caught the last one and endoed. It's a pretty gnarly section." Northrop was unaffected by the Evans mishap and motored on to take an ea y win. Pestana finished a distant third, followed by Matson, Smith, Windham, Aaron Burns, Freddy Wiechers, Moore, Paladino and Bath. In moto two, Windham timed the gate perfectly and powered his Lamson Porting-backed Suzuki into the first turn, wi th Paladino close behi nd. ortluop was caught napping at the gate and spent the lap working hisway up to third, with Smith, Matson, Wlechers, Moore, Fisher, Bath and Pestana racing.in fourth through 10th. On the second lap, a charging Northrop flew past Windham and into the lead. Windham was also passed seeond later by Smith, who was rediscovering his motocross form. "After two or three races, I can relax because I'm more comfortable," explained Smith. Earlier in the moto, Fisher and Bath were passed by the rapidly advancing Pestana, dropping them back to ninth and 10th. Fisher responded to Pestana's pass by immediately turning it up a notch to break free of Bath. Bath rode his own race, and he eventually fin- PIW (7-9), 1. T.J. Loren' (Pol); 2. Ryan Toomey (Lem); 3. Ken.sey Ehmke (KTM); 4 Joshua Ouppong O

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