Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

U.S. Off-Road Championship Series, Round 5 Iy put distance on the pack, with Myers -working to keep pace in second. The best battle on the track was for the third-place spot, with Drew fighting with aughton, Dano Legere and Knox, who had fallen victim to the aughton and Legere attack. These four riders remained fairly close through the middle portion of the race. Halfway through the eight-lap contest, Walters had checked out, while Myers looked to be locked in the second-place spot. Naughton had turned up the pressure on Drew for the final podium spot as they battled within a few bike lengths of each other in the last half of the race. On the white-flag lap, Walters, with a comfortable lead on Myers, had already started to put on a show for the crowd, while Drew and Naughton remained in a bar-to-bar fight for third. [n the end, it was Walters picking up the win, followed by Myer , while Naughton managed to squeeze by Drew on the final circuit for third. Legere and Knox rode a steady race to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. The sixth-place finish let Knox take over the points lead, while Tony Sulek, Phoenix homeboy Troy Kalina, Shank and Tony Fuller filled out the top 10 spots. Ridgway had a less-than-stellar By Mike Larson PHOENIX, AZ, FEB. 6 fter silting out a couple of rounds with a punctured lung and a couple of broken ribs, 1998 U.s. Off-Road Championship Series cham p Spud Walters got"back in the groove a t Phoenix. The While Brothers Yamaha pilot led every lap of the main event in Phoenix and had little trouble in doing so. Walters' White Brothers teammate Scott Myers backed up a heat-race win with a solid second place in the main event behind Walters, while local favorite Robert Naughton piloted yet another Yamaha to third place. The points race in the series continues to tighten up and remains very A • '" '" '" ~ 32 interesting. The rider piloting the oldest bike in the series, Chris Knox, guided his privateer 1996 Husaberg to a sixthplace finish in the main and took over the series points lead. The Lewisburg, Ohio, rider leads Chris Ridgway, 559546, while Walters is third and closing, with a main-event win and 473 points. Walters rejoined the series after silting out the first two rounds in SI. Louis and Minneapolis, and he has been steadily working his way to the front, while Knox and Ridgway have relied on consistent finishes. The 20-rider thunderbike main was made up of nine riders from each heat race and two riders out of the lastchance qualifier. Myers and Walters each picked up wins in the heat races. Myers topped heat race number one (Above) Defending 1998 series champ Spud Walters picked up his first main-event win of 1999 at the Phoenix round of the U.S. Off-Road Championship Series. (Right) Scoll Myers backed up a heat-race win with a runner~up finish in the main event. (Left) Chris Knox piloted his Husaberg to sixth place in the sea of Yamahas, picking up the points lead in the process. after working his way past early frontrunners Ridgway (who got the holeshot) and KTM pilot Mark Roop. Once out front, Myers styled his way to the win. In the second heat, it was Knox on the vintage Husaberg with the early lead, but it was short-lived as Walters came charging to the front. The LCQ win went to Californian Ben Shank. The 20-rider main event thundered into turn one with Walters leading the pack around the sweeper. By the time the field hit the triples on the first lap, Walters already had his YZ400F at warp speed and had already begun to pull out a small advantage over Myers, Vertemati-mounted Steve Drew and Knox. With a clear track, Walters steadi- race after getting a bad start and falling down; he finished 13th, which relegated him to second in points behind Knox. CIII Bank One Ball Park Phoenix, Arizona Results: February 6, 1999 (Round 5) O/A: 1. Spud Willters (Yam); 2. Scott Myers (Yam); 3. Robert N

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