Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

hay bale on the final straightaway of the final lap while leading. Las Vegas seems to be Jonathan Shimp's favorite place to win races. Last year, Shimp was the top minicycle rider at the World Mini Grand Prix and the winner of the U.S. Open of Supercross minicycle competition inside the Grand Garden, located on the Las Vegas strip. This year, Shimp made a successful transition to big bikes and, with the help of his Thousand Oaks Yamaha-sponsored YZ125, looked practically untouchable in both the 125cc Stock Intermediate and 125cc Open Non-Pro divisions. Shimp's week didn't exactly start out perfect, though. (Above) Pee Wee entries -ned like never before at Las VegBlI. Perhaps the most Interesting story was that of Austin Stroupe, who showed up, borrowed some bikes and WOI1 two 50cc classes. (Above right) Promising amateur Travis Pastrana made his return to competition at the World Minis. While still not 100 percent, he was good enough to capture the 250cc Modified Intermediate win. "We got here Wednesday afternoon and noticed our name wasn't listed on the program," Shimp said. "We later found out that NMA did not receive our entries, and it was past the deadline to sign up. We were almost not permitted to race. Fortunately, Mike Guerra from Yamaha Motor Corp. was here to get things worked out, since we had the canceled check and all." Shimp proved without a doubt that he was the rightful winner of the 125cc Stock In termediate division by passing both Team Green's Ben Riddle and Pro Circuit's Johnny Marley to score the championship in the 125cc Stock Intermediate runoff. This year also saw the return of Travis Pastrana, who experienced a near-eareer-ending crash last fall during a jump competition. "Well, I was in a wheelchair until February of this year," Pastra aid. "Then I had therapy for abo wo hours a day, every day, for the last two months to get ready for this race." Pastrana had a week of peaks and valleys, but nothing seemed to impair his positive attitude. '1 feel great to be racing again," Pastrana said. "Most everything is 100 percent except my muscles. They still have a little bit to go." Pastrana celebrated his return to rac- ing with a victory. in the 250cc Modified Intermediate class and cut the week's fastest lap times of any rider in attendance, proving that he may be the most elite amateur in motocross today. As expected, it was another record shattering year for Pee Wee entrants, as the number of entrants has continued to go through the roof. Branson Motocross champion Nick Paluzzi was the youngest of the field and piloted his AC Racing/Curnutt Shock-suspended Cobra to a pair of class titles in both 50cc (4-6) Stock and Modified classes. Team Polini-backed Forest Lane and KTMmounted Cody Farrar finished first and second in their stock qualifiers but seemed underpowered during ~he runoff and finished outside the top 10, opening the door for a Cobra sweep of the top five positions. The 50cc (7-8) division saw a new champion who just happens to hail from Damon Bradshaw's old stomping grounds of Lincolnton, North Carolina. Austin Stroupe came to the World Mini as an unknown threat. In fact, he came without any motorcycles. . "We didn't have any way to get our bikes here, so we decided to fly here and see if we could rent or borrow bikes for the week," Stroupe said. Stroupe was able to round up some equipment for the week, and when all was said and done, he found himself a winner in not one but two separate classes, topping the charts in the 50cc (78) Modified and 60cc Stock divisions. Stroupe topped hard-charging Danny Gonzalez and "Nico" Dominic Izzi in the 50cc Modified (7-8) class and Trey Canard and Jake Erickson in the 60cc stock (6-8) division. The m~t prestigous race of the week was saved for last: the ever-popular Race of Champions. Former notable winners of the Race of Champions include Brian Myerscough (976), Jeff Ward 0975,77, 78), Erik Kehoe 0979, 80) and Ricky Carmichael (995). This year's event pitted the top 10 mini racers in the country on equally prepared KTM 65s. "It was a joint effort this year between NMA and KTM to bring together the nation's top 10 minicycle racers and put them on identical KTM 65cc machines," said Revelle Harrison of KTM's media-relations department. "It's really inspiring to see the best mini racers on the best race bikes tear it up and fly over all these big jumps on KTM 65s. It was a definite honor to be able to host this program." California's Alessi left little doubt as to who would be the winner of the marquis event after he pulled a pair of holeshots and stole the show with two hands-down runaway victories to claim the Race of Champions title. Dennis Jonon rode a determined pair of races and brought great pride to the state of Kansas with a strong second-place showing, while New Jersey's Jason Lawrence, Washington's Josh Hill and Organ's Justin Keeney rounded out the top five. _ Las Vegas Speej1way Las Vegas, Nevada Results: April 7-11, 1999 RACE OF CHAMPIONS: 1. Mike Alessi; 2. Dennis Jonoo; 3..Jason Lawrence.: 4. Josh Hill; 5. Justin Keeney. 50 STK (ll-6), 1. Nic Paluzzi (Cob); 2. Garrel Toth (Cob); 3. Dakota Garner (Cob); 4. Dylan Pemberton (Cob); 5. David Meade (Cob). SO MOD (0-6): 1. Nic Paluzzi (Cob);-2. Garret Toth (Cob); 3. Forres. Lane (Cob); 4. Zackary Freeberg (Cob); 5. Chris Thies (KTM). 50 STK (7-8): 1. Colton Maynard (Cob); 2. Dominic lzzi (Cob); 3. Jake Canada (Cob); 4. Michael Hall (Cob); 5. Scoll Noble (Cob). 50 MOD (7-8): 1. Austin Stroupe (Cob); 2. Danny Gonzalez (Cob); 3. DOlUlie Kearney (KTM); 4. Jake Erickson (Cob); 5. Colton Bailey (Cob). SfPlW (6-9): 1. Kyle Keylon (Cob); 2. Brandon Miller (l.em); 3. Zach Osbourne (KTMl; 4. J.ke Erickson (Cob); 5. Mike Meade (Cob). 60 STK (6-8); 1. Austin Stroupe (Kaw); 2. Trey Canard (Kaw); 3. Jake Erickson (KTM); 4. Colton Maynard (Kaw); 5. Donnie Kearney (Kaw). 60 MOO (6-8); 1. Trey Canard (Kaw); 2. Colton Maynard (!(aw); 3. Dominic lzzi (!(aw); 4. Mall DeAlIey (!(awl; 5. Dustin Pipes (!(aw). 60 STK (9-11): 1. Mike Alessi (Kaw); 2. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 3. Robert Memoli (Kaw); 4. Jason Lawrence (KTM); S. Grant Moreland (Kaw). 60 MOD (~il~ 1. Mike Alessi (Kaw); 2. Jeff Alessi (Kaw); 3. Robert Memoli (Kaw); 4. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 5. Grant Moreland (Kaw). 80 STK (0-11): 1. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 2. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw); 3. Eric McCrummon (Yam); 4.. Mike Alessi (Kaw), 5. Robert Memoli (Yam). 80 (0-11): 1. Mike Alessi (l

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