Lake Whitney MX, Round 1
......
(Left) Lake Whitney MX has been good to Dustin Nelson. He won
the final round of the AMA Western Region Four-Stroke Nationals
last year and opened up the Central States Region of the Sound of
Thunder campaign with a two-mota win.
(Above) New Mexico's Keith Johnson made his four-stroke debut
with a 2-2 tally for second overall at Whitney. He rode the first mota
immediately after finishing the final 125cc Pro mota and battled
rival Donovan Mitchell in both four-stroke races.
•I
•
By Mark Kariya
WHITNEY, TX, MAR. 28
tun~ perhaps, by his motne fall
...... last week in Phoenix, which result.-: ed in him getting "only" third
before he won the second moto, Dustin
Nelson got even this week. He took olit
his frustration by thrashing to a convincing pair of moto wins at round one of
the Central States Region in the Sound of
Thunder Four-Stroke MX Series on his
. Motoworld of El Cajon/FMF IEnzo Racing/Pirelli/THOR-backed Yamaha
YZ400F.
How else could you explain his decision to drive 20 straight hours in his
Toyota truck from Southern California
to the heart of Texas, especially when
you consider that as a Southwestern
Region con tender he's ineligible for
Central States Region points? Maybe it
was the memory of his victory here last
year, at the final round of the AMA
Western Region Four-Stroke National
MX Series - one of the few races series
champ Lance Smail didn't win.
Of course, Nelson's still eligible for
the purse - which was $5000 and paid
by moto - so ygu can bet he sprang for a
motel room on his way back home.
Californians took two of the top
three spots. In addition to Nelson,
Donovan Mitchell, from Northern California, finished third in both motos,
denied second by perennial New Mexico rival Keith Johnson. Both rode Yamahas and were focused mostly on the
accomp,,!,ying Amateur Lake Whitney
Spring National Championship, in
which they rode both the 125 and 250cc
Pro classes.
That mattered little to the 18 riders
who rode the Four-Stroke Pro class, and'
as tl1ey thundered toward turn one in
the first moto, a couple riders tangled.
Local favorite Dean Lane, who'd been
banged up in a crash the day before, sat
by the side of the track for a while
.~ before packing it in for the day. Too bad,
c:(
because he'd borrowed a Husaberg FC
30 501 from Guy Cooper for the race.
S
....
~
elson emerged from the first turn of
moto one with the lead, followed by
Mitchell and Johnson, and he remained
essentially on his own for the duration
of the 30-minutes-plus-a-Iap moto. The
only time he became concerned was
when he nearly tossed it in the whoops.
"It's getting some holes in between
(the whoops), and 1 hit a hole between
the third and fourth one when 1 was
going to triple again," Nelson said. "It
kind of kicked me weird. 1 almost went
over the bars, but I saved it and decided
to tone it down a little bit and start doubling through because nobody was
gaining on me when 1 was doubling, so
1 figured 1 could do that and get away
with it."
The real race was for second,
between Mitchell and Johnson - which
was pretty entertaining, considering
that neither had raced four-strokes
before and especially because Johnson
was in back-to-back motos, jumping
from his YZ125 in the final 125cc Pro
moto to his YZ400F for·this one.
"It was really weird, because 1 got up
there (on the starting line) and changed
goggles, changed gloves, tried to stretch
out my arms a little bit," Johnson said.
'1 jumped on it, and I was fogging up so
bad when 1 put my goggles on. The gate
dropped, and I just hammered it. 1 was
leading into the first turn, held it on too
deep, went through some mud and got
passed back to third. It ~as a little crazy,
because Donovan (Mitchell) and [ were
pushing really, really hard at the beginning, slicing and dicing, so 1 got a little
worn out."
Nonetheless, Johnson got the upper
hand about 10 minutes into the moto,
though he had no time to rest. Coming
up from a bad start was Texas native
Brad Woolsey on a Precision Powersports YZ420F he borrowed from Todd
Downs (who's still rehabbing a broken
wrist).
"1 lined 'up on the inside," Woolsey
explained. "The guy next to me kind of
knifed into me, and I ended up almost
sliding out. Luckily, there wasn't a whole
lot of riders, so coming through the pack
wasn't that bad."
Woolsey charged up to fifth after
three laps. It took a couple more circuits
to knock Dave Shade (who would DNF)
out of fourth, and he then worked on
Mitchell, passing him around the
halfway point.
"I saw the guys fading in front of me,
and it just kind of helped me ride harder," he said.
Johnson gave way several laps later,
giving Woolsey possession of secqnd.
It wouldn't last, however. With less
than two laps to go, Woolsey stalled the
bike in the turn after the finish-line
tabletop.
"This is my first race on a four-stroke,
so I got all excited, 1 guess, and had a
hard time getting it restarted," Woolsey
lamented.
Eventually, he did get his borrowed
bike refired, but not before several racers passed him, and Woolsey ended up
fourth it) the moto behind Nelson, Johnson and Mitchell.
Moto two fired off the line with Nelson getting another good jump out of
the gate, but Woolsey rocketed around
the outside
"He definitely had the corner speed
going around that first bend and came •
around me," elson said.
Woolsey led the entire lap, with Nelson right behind, followed by Mitchell,
Chad Sparks from Minnesota, Oklahoma's Whispering Smith (who'd spent
the first moto trying to ride with a grip
that kept sliding ofo and Johnson.
Nelson passed Woolsey in the area of
the track's big hill on the second lap,
however.
"1 just wanted to push really hard
and get by him right away and try to
pull a little lead so I could run my own
pace (afterward)," Nelson said.
Mitchell just as quickly zapped by
Woolsey for second, but Johnson needed
more time to pass the Texan. He finally
passed Woolsey for third about halfway
into the race and once again found himself with Mitchell in his sights.
"Usually, I don't get as tired when 1
come from behind because I get mad
instead of nervous," Johnson revealed .
'1 knew I had that going for me. I knew
I was catching him (Mitchell) after I got
by Woolsey - I just started reeling him in
slowly, so I was just trying to find
smoother lines so 1 didn't get worn out.
I really wanted to triple, triple by him in
the whoops, but 1 never did it one time
that race. I'm just not too comfortable
jumping this thing yet, I guess."
Instead, he made his move in the
Gravity Cavity section of the track and
found himself in second again.
"We always seem to end up together,
like I said before," Mitchell said later.
"We just always end up together, and it
was a hard race. He was behind me the
whole race, trying to wear me down. He
got the best of me. I held on for as long as
I could. When he passed me, I had to take
my goggles off because they were fogging up. I made a charge, one last-ditch
effort to catch up to him, ~t I was getting
roosted in my eyes, and I was worn out,
so he got the best of me."
Tha t settled the top five for the moto
and overall.
'1t felt better," said a happy Nelson.
'1 didn't even get tired at all this moto.
Last moto, I got a little tired at the end. I
did nothing all day yesterday after a 20hour drive, so I think it just took the first
moto to break my body in and get me
ready for this stuff. 1 grew up on the
hard, slick stuff, so I think this stuff tires
me out a little bit because I try to work
the bike too much in the sand instead of
letting it do what it wants, but it's a little
bit easier on your nerves. On the hard,
slick stuff, it's easy to start sliding out,
(so) you're stressing out over it. A nice,
loamy berm to rail every once in a while
is pretty nice."
And so is a perfect 1-1 day.
_
Lake Whitney MX
Whitney, Texas
Results: March 28, 1999 (Round 1 of 3)
4·STRK IYRO: 1. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 2. Keith
Johnson (Yam); 3. Donovan Mitchell (Yam); 4. Brad
Woolsey (Yam); 5. Jason Upshaw (Yam); 6. Whispern
Smith (Yam); 7. Jeremy Shoning (Yam); 8. Roger Thayer
(Yam); 9. Chad Sparks (Yam); 10. Spdnl Haynes (Yam).
Upcoming Rounds:
Southwestern Region - Round 2 - San
Bernardino, California, April 18
Central States Region - Round 2 - Denver,
Colorado, June 6
