Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

California Gold Cup Motocross Series, Round 1 By Greg Robertson • PALMDALE, CA, FEB. 21 uzuki-mounted Rusty Holland was the man of the hour as he went four-for-four to sweep both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at the opening round of the inaugural running of the.California Gold Cup Motocross Series, held a t Los Angeles County Raceway. In his first race back from a broken arm, Chris eitzel reeled off the 125cc Pro first-moto holeshot, but his lead was short-lived, as both Holland and Travis Preston made their way around him within a single circuit of the jump-filled sand track. Holland put a couple of seconds on Preston, who was pulling away from the KTM of Mark Tilley and Andy Anaya, who ran third and fourth, respectively. Preston turned up the heat in the final laps to make Holland work for the first-moto win. Tilley ended up all by himself in third, with Anaya fourth and Neitzel holcling on for fifth. Holland was untouchable in the second moto. He quickly put some breathing room between himself and Preston, who passed Tilley for econd place on the opening lap. Preston slowly chipped away at Holland's lead, but time ran out and Holland got to the checkers first with a couple of seconds to spare. Tilley collected the third-place money by way of his 3-3 score. Rich Truchinski went 74 to break a tie in points with Jason Dubin (6-5) and eitzel (5-6) for fourth overall. The first 250cc Pro moto was a Holland benefit right from the drop of the gate. Holland's lead grew with each lap until he took the checkers with a comfortable IS-second cushion. Dustin Evans worked his way through the field' to take second, with Jon Nelson running a close third. YZ400F-mounted Tony Sulek finished off the moto where he started: in fourth. He finished just ahead of Anaya and Kazv Ikeda. Holland put his Clawson Motorsports RM250 out front right from the drop of the gate in second-moto action and continued on for an uncontested win to sweep the class. "It was a good day," Holland said. "Preston gave me a run in the 125 class and kept me honest in both motos. It's too bad he didn't bring a 250. "I was real patient off the concrete start and got good starts," Holland added. "1 tried to get out front and get away from everybody. I wish they would all go this way. It's so easy when it's going good, but it's so hard when it's not." The second-place money went to elson with a 3-2 score after holcling off the late-moto charges of Evans. "It was tough out there," elson admitted. "Luckily, 1 got a lot better start that time. There was no way] was gonna catch Rusty. He (Evans) kept pushing me, and I don't think he gave up until the last half a lap or so." With a lap remaining, a bobble on the part of Evans let Nelson escape his grasp and allowed Sulek to almost catch Evans at the finish line. n] was going for him (Nelson) on the last lap," Evans said. "He was riding kind of defensively. I hit this clicker with a lip on it, and it almost launched me over the bar, so [ was kind of thinking third place was looking good at that point. So I just relaxed from there and finished third." Ito Posca dominated the 125cc Inter, mediate class. Posca made his way to the front of the pack on his YZl25 by the S Hollandal (Above) Rusty Holland (62) won both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at the opening round of the California Gold Cup Motocross series at Los Angeles County Raceway. (Right) Ito Posca won both motos in the 125cc Intermediate class. first lap of both motos and then just walked away from the competition. Tim Weigand ran second to Posca in the first moto but was buried in the pack off the second-moto start and could only manage a 10th for sixth overall. Travis Smith came out on top of a real dogfight involving Jeff Eide, Chris Elliott and Chris Thompson to earn second overall with 4-2 rides. Thompson returned to pick up his own big share of the Suzuki factory contingency money by sweeping both motos in the 250cc Intermediate class. ick Mairose held off Thompson for the first couple of laps. of the second moto and would eventually earn second overall via a 4-2 performance. Brandon Milstead (3-3), Kristian Blomdahl (2-6) and Patrick Wade (5-4) rounded out the top 'five. Chad Frank collected the 125cc Novice first-moto win by mere inches over Jimmy Eberle and Lucians Quintanilla. Shane Smith took the early lead in the second moto, while Frank was stuck in traffic and Eberle got involved in a first-turn pileup. Smith went on to win the moto. Frank was 'reeling in Smith but ran out of time, though he still earned the overall over a full gate of riders with a 1-2 showing. Smith went 4-1 for second over Mangus Jurfen and Johnny Urban, with Eberle passing nearly 20 riders to go 2-11 for fifth overall. Double class winners included Cobramounted Nic Paluzzi, who won all four motos that he entered to top the Pee Wee (4-6) and Super Pee Wee classes. Andres Quintanilla aced both round of 125cc Beginner action for the win. Then he used consistent 2-2 rides in the 250cc class to get the better of individual moto winners Chris Taylor and Jake Smith. _ Los Angeles County Raceway Palmdale, California Results: February 25, 1999 (Round 1) PIW BEG; 1. Rhett Raha (1..em); 2. Shawn Rhinehart (KTM); 3. Corey Talbolt (Cob); 4. Sean Springer (Cob); S. Tyler Varner (KTM). PIW YAM STK I. Kyle Prince (Yam); 2. khola. Legg (Suz); 3. Panos Bravos (Yam); 4. Eric KahJer (Yam); 5. Colby Raha (Yam). P!W (4-6): 1. ic Paluzzi (Cob); 2. Tommy Aquino (KTM); 3. Chris Plouffe (KTM); 4. Alan Jiron (Cob); 5. Michael Truglia (KTM). P/W (7-8): 1. Danny Gonzalez (Cob); 2. Corey R.'lY Bernatz (HM); 3. Cody Tithof (Cob); 4. Jake Canada (KTM); 5. Armando Aquilar (KTM). SfP/W: 1. ic Paluzzi (Cob); 2. Shana Rhinehart (KTM); 3. Jake Canada (KTM); 4. Cody Tithof (Cob). 60 BEG: 1. Nick Sanchez (Kaw); 2. Jonathan Hornback (Kaw); 3. Ken Slater Jr. (KTM); 4. Christian Melhorn (Kaw); 5. Andy DeJarge (Kaw). 60 (0·8): 1. Trent Pugmire (Kaw); 2. Trnvis Christensen (Knw); 3. Casey Huntley (Kllw); 4. Danny Gonz.'llez (}(aw); 5. Tanner L.lngham (Kaw). 60 (9-11): t. Justin Mulford (Kaw); 2. Charles Pearson (KTM); 3. Chad Core (Kaw); 4. Casey Logan (Kaw); 5. David Medina (Kaw). 80 BEC: I. Roberto Jiron (5uz); 2. Ryan Salinas (Hon); 3.·Jimmy Patrick (Yam); 4. Justin Mulford O

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