Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The finals opened wi th the renewal of the Dinosaur-class battle between Harley hand-shift aces George Wills, the defending champion, and newcomer Booker Poirier from Biddleford, Maine. In a virtual repeat of their Ocala matchup, the hard-charging Wills just couldn't manage to reel in Poirier. A red flag resulted in a single-file restart, but Wills still couldn't use the new opportunity to overtake Poirier. Finishing a strong third was Craig Breckon on a Triumph. • After struggling at Ocala, Classic 250 champ John Bova found his groove at Daytona, leading the final from start to finish. Behind him was some good racing between BSA-mounted William Berger, Leland Prewitt on a Triumph, and Mark Hawk on a Harley Sprint. At the end, Berger hung on to second despite a glancing encounter with the hay bales. Honda rider jim Oliver initially led Classic 500/750, until Plumb took control on lap two. The top four remained close throughout the race, but at the checkered flag no other positions had 'changed, and the order was Plumb, Oliver, Triumph rider Wills and BSAmounted Breckon. Kenny Parker worked throughout the Sportsman 250 race to dethrone fellow Yamaha rider Plumb, but the defending class champ made no miscues that would allow the Floridian past. Third behind Parker was Bultacomounted Brad Holt, chased by Donnie Warf on his Ossa and Harley man Dave Scheffer. In Sportsman 600, Brad Spencer put his Honda thumper at the head of the pack and stayed there despite challenges from second-place finisher David Allen on a Yamaha and Bultaco jockey Holt. The real battle was for fourth place, which was claimed by Maicomounted Gig Hamilton over Randall Campbell. New Yorker Jack Wagner did the best job of wrestling his Triumph around the tight, bumpy little oval when the big bikes took to the track in Sportsman 750. Class champ Plumb moved his way up to third, with the race ending as he was a ttempting -to challenge Triumph rider Mark Gibson for second. The new '70s Singles class for SOOcc four-strokes from the mid- to late 1970s was a wild affair. Leading initially was Parker on a Yamaha, but BSA rider Michael Gilkey came charging through the pack to take over by the halfway mark, followed by Rod Lake on a Honda. It looked as though Gilkey would win by a comfortable margin, but then he pulled off the track with bike trouble a couple laps from the end. Lake held on to win narrowly over Yamaha-mounted Ken Lilly, who in turn was ahead of Dennis Williams, Darrell Bryant and Parker. In a display of sportsmanship, Lake ended his parade la p with the checkered flag at the spot where Gilkey was pushing his bike back to the pits and handed over the flag to the Michigan racer. When the Over 50 riders took to the track, Senior champion Gig Hamilton grabbed the holeshot with his Maico and got into a battle with Honda-mounted jim Oliver. But the Pennsylvanian ran wide in a turn on the third lap and dropped to fourth. Hamilton worked on third-place rider Bill Snyder for the balance of the race, but he couldn't find a way to advance. Meanwhile, Oliver rode to a clear win over Triumph rider Marty Lewis. Dean Matson raced to the 125cc Pro-class win at round four of GFI's Winter Series in Turlock, California. Dirt track legend Ronnie Rail was the man to beat in AHRMA's new Over 60 Super Senior class, and no one did. Behind the diminutive Michigander, -William Burr held down the second spot while close behind, Jack Joyner and Norman Gruber battled, with joyner eventually earning the third spot. CIII Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium Daytona Beach, Florida ReSUlts:. March 2, 1999 (Round 2) DLNO: 1. Booker Poirier (H-D); 2. George Wills (H· 0); 3. Craig Breckon (Tri); 4. Leo Anthony (H-D); 5. Beno Rodi (En!). elSe 250: 1. John Bova (Bul); 2. William Berger (BSA); . Leland Prewitt (Tri); 4. Mark Hawk (H-D); S. Mike Connell (H-D). elSe 5001750: 1. John Plumb (fri); 2. Jim Oliver O-Ion); 3. George Wills ITrD; 4. Craig Breckon (BSA); 5. Mike Metzler (Tri). SPT5MN 250: t. John Plumb (Yam); 2. Kenny Parker (Yam); 3. Brad Holt (Bu!); 4. Donnie Warf (05s); 5. Dave Scheffer (R·D). SPTSMN 600; 1. Brad Spencer (Hon); 2. David Allen (Yam); 3. Brnd Holt (Bul); 4-. Gig Hamilton (Mai); 5. Randall CampbcU. 5PTSMN 150: I. Jack Wagner (TrO; 2. Mark Gibson (Tri); 3. John Plumb (Tri); 4. Ray Corney (Yam); 5. Dennis Williams (Tri). '70. SG[., 1. Rod Lake (Hon); 2. Ken Lilly (Yam); 3. Dennis Williams (Yam); 4. Darrell Bryant (Hon); 5. Kenny Parker (Yam). SR: 1. Jim Oliver (Hon); 2. MamnLewis (frO; 3. Bill Snyder (BuD; 4. Cig Hamilton (MaO; 5. Duwayne Montgomery (Yam). S/SR: 1. Rorutie Ra1J; 2. William Burr (BSA); 3. Jack Joyner; 4. Norm.1n Gruber (Tri); 5. Jim Kidman (Hon). GA California Winter Series North Round 4 Matson harvests win at Oatfield By Jim and Valerie Enos TURLOCK, CA, FEB. 28 ean Matson made his presence felt at round four of the 1999 GFI California Winter Series by taking a wire-to-wire victory in the 125cc Pro class as well as posting a hard-fought second in the 250cc Pro class. After trailing early on, Jeff Pestana managed to edge out Matson in the 250cc Pro class to take the win. In the 125cc Pro moto, Matson put his Suzuki out front, ahead of Yamaha of Modesto rider Danny Paladino, Pestana, Scott Davis and Naoki Serizawa. Matson promptly set a blistering pace that challenged the rest of the field to turn it up a notch. Pestana, backed by Clawson Motorsports, decided to meet the challenge with a clean pass on Paladino, placing himself in second on the rear fender of Matson. In fact, Pestana appeared to have the speed to pass Matson early on, but Matson clicked off flawless laps that kept Pestana at bay. The figh t for fourth between Da vis and Serizawa saw Serizawa nearly go over the bars at the exit of the whoop section, almost taking out Davis in the process. However, on the next lap, the TE Sports rider from Japan kept it steady through the whoops and made the pass on Davis to secure fourth. In front of him, Paladino continued to hold down third. Meanwhile, up front, Pestana continued his pursuit of the speedy Matson D but just could not gain ground on him. .Pestana made a few uncharacteristic mistakes here and there that eventually caused him to fall back a little. As the 20-minute moto came to a close, all seemed in order until Paladino came to a sudden h 0> 0> ~ 45

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