Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Sound of Thunder Four-Stroke MX Series, Round 2 (Left) Eventual double moto winner Doug Dubach (1) sneaks up the inside in the first turn of moto one. Others fighting for position include Dustin Nelson (3), Tony Amaradio (41), Ty Davis (33) and Scott . Myers (29). (Above) Spud Walters spent all day chasing White Brothers teammate Doug Dubach, but this was as close as he'd be able to get to the defending and three-time champ. Blisters in the first moto made it harder to hang on. By Mark Kariya SAN BERNARDINO, CA, APR. 18 here are four-stroke-only races, and there are bigger races, but there are no bigger four-stroke races than the White Brothers Four-Stroke World Motocross Championships, now 14 editions old. And for the third time in his ca-reer, veteran racer and defending champ Doug Dubach proved to be the fastest of the 36 pros on thumpers, seemingly cruising to a pair of wins on his White Brothers/O'Neal/Enzo/Scottsponsored Yamaha YZ400F at Glen Helen Raceway. He earned $600 per moto of the $4500 purse, plus a $500 overall bonus. Dubach's only competition for the day proved to be his White Brothers teammate Spud Walters, who recently wrapped up his second consecutive Thunder Bike crown in the PACE U.s. Off-Road Championship Series. Walters finished second in both motos. Of course, with temperatures suddenly shooting into the low 90s, heat certainly played a part in the day for many. Third went to former motocrosser Ty Davis, who raced the Tonopah 300 desert race the day before and then drove seven hours in order to take part on his Montclair Yamaha/Moose/FMF /Oakleyba'cked YZ-F, carding consistent 3-3 scores. Of the 36 pros, 33 rode Yamahas. There was one Kawasak!, one KTM and one Vertemati rounding out the field. The White Brothers event also filled the role of round two in the Southwest Zone of the Sound of Thunder FourStroke MX Series. Round-one winner Tony Amaradio didn't enjoy the sort of day he had in Arizona last month on his Team Alba/DSP/Xtreme Yamaha, going 8-10 for eighth. "I got arm pump the first moto, crazy," he said. "Then, the second moto, I tried to pace myself too much. The last lap I was trying too hard and fell. It was t[ 60 basically a stock bike with a pipe on it (in Phoenix). Now our bike's completely different from that, but it's the bike we're going to ride in the National, so it's important that I get used to it. I don't know; I'm definitely not happy, not happy at all. But we're going to fix that. TIle next couple weeks, I'm going to ride every day." Amaradio actually got a decent start in moto one, but Dubach cut inside of him in the first tum and was gone, with Walters close behind. The two White Brothers racers quickly put·a gap on the rest of the pack, which desert racer Davis headed. Following closely were Amaradio, Dustin Nelson (who won the Sound of Thunder Central States Zone opener in Texas last month on his MotoWorld of El Cajon/THOR/FMF YZ-F) and Applied Racing/The Racer's Edge rider Scott Myers. With Dubach and Walters leading the 25-minutes-plus-a-Iap parade and Davis fairly comfortable in third, most of the action took place bel\ind. Amara• dio's arm pump would force him to back off ilie pace and drop as low as 12th before recovering to finish eighth. Myers had a worse time and slid back to a' dismal 29ili. . On the other hand, NCY /DeMarinil Axo racer Donovan Mitmell worked his way up from eighth on ilie opening lap to finish fifth, not too far behind Nelson, whose presence concerned Davis for a while. "Dustin Nelson was kind of catching me a little bit, then he faded; I'm really shocked that these guys are not in that gpod a shape," D~vis said, shaking his head. "That really surprises me. I don't train like I used to because I can't, being , (my own) wrench. Man, they were just falling (off the pace) like flies. I mean, it's hot, but when the National's here, it's going to be miserable. I'm thinking, 'These. guys are falling off this fast?' I don't know; maybe I'm just having a good day. Who knows?" Mota two played out very much like mota one, wiili Dubam getting a grea t start and Walters shadowing him throughout. "I knew Spud was a little bit hurting; he had some blisters and stuJf in the first mota," Dubach revealed. "I thought, 'If I can just buckle down here and ride 15 hard minutes, it'll put me in a good position: and that's what it did. About halfway, I had a pretty comfortable lead. It just allowed me to move around and ride my own race, ride my own pace. It was easy from iliat point." "It was frustrating (not being able to catm Dubam) because I feel iliat I was probably just as fast as Doug," runnerup Walters noted. "I didn't really get tired. I just had a hard time concentrating wiili my hands (being blistered). I had to kind of mange my riding style when my hands started getting blistered. I'm happy with the way everything went. White Brothers, iliey put on a really good race. I'm just happy to be one and two." Carter Gurnee, who stalled his bike on the opening lap of moto one and rode from dead last to 14ili, got a mum better start and actually held third for the first few laps. The Mam 1/FMF /IN racer even tually finished sixth for the mota and 10th overall. Davis, on the other hand, got a slightly worse jump out of the gate but tossed his bike into turn one wiili a move tl\at netted him fifth. He soon claimed third, followed in short order by MitmeU and Nelson. "I guess I did ilie right things at ilie right times," Dubam explained. "That's what took me to ilie meckered flag and the top of the podium. It's all easy iliat last 10 minutes, but it's what you do up until then that gets you there. I made some good decisions and rode really hard. It was good for me today. I'm real happy." _ Glen Helen Raceway San Bernardino, California Results: April 18, 1999 OPEN PRO: 1. Doug Dubach (Yam);' 2. Spud Walters (Yam); 3. Ty Davis (Yam): 4. Donovan MitcheU (Yam); 5. Dustin Nelson (Yam). OPEN INT: 1. Tim Olson (Yam), 2. Jimmy O'Neal (Yam); 3. Nathan Jones (Yam); 4. Alvin Z'l!amca. OPEN NOV: L Jim Finerty (Yam); 2. Mike Caughlin (ATK); 3. Brett Daugherty (Yam); 4. Brad Daugherty (Yam): 5. SeiU1 Persson (Yilm). 25+ NOV: 1. Rilo Aguilar (Yam); 2. Ryan Johnson (Yam); 3. Todd Flanin.g (Yam); 4. Richard Newton (Yam); 5. Steve Hemandez (Yam). 25+ INT: 1. Scott Mumford (Yam); 2. Ron laPoint (Yam); 3. David Trost (Yam), . 25+ EX: 1. Sten Rasmussen (Yam); 2. Sam Mortensen (Yam); 3. Greg Shaplin (Hon); 4. Darin Green (Yam). 30+ EX: 1. Tim Telford (Yam); 2. Pete Murray (Ver); 3. Willy Musgrave; 4. John Greenway (Yam); 5. Adrian Oomo(yam). 30+ lNT: 1. Jeffrey Haase (Yam); 2. Roger Hurd (Yam); 3. Chris R.,dzinski (Yam); 4,. Ron LaPoint (Yam); 5. Rod Fowler !Yam). 30+ NOV: L Steve Matlock (Yam); 2. Dave Lippert (Yam); 3. Colin Birtles (Yam); 4. Kevin Duffy (Yam); 5. Brian Munson \Yam). XR CHAt: 1. Jimmy Lewis (Han); 2. jeremiah Brown (Han); 3. Larry Kuebler (.Han); 4. johnny Faulkner (Yam). 0-150 STK: 1. Jimmy Lewis; 2. Leonard Holder (Han); 3. Mike Bierman (Han); 4. C. Alamamigos; 5. Jahner Faulkner (Han). 40+ EX: 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 2. Bob Rutten (Han); 3. Dana Bray (Yam); 4. George Kohler (Yam). 40+ INT: 1. JeHrey Haase (Yam); 2. Donald Leib (Hen); 3. Mark Mortensen (Yam); 4. Kirk Bassett (Yam); 5. COley Bowden (Yam). 40+ NOV: 1. Michael L.'1Paglia; 2. Ed Foland (Yam); 3. Mark Moore (Yam); 4. John DiCiaula (Hus); 5. Carcia HoUoway (Yam), KIDS: 1. Bryan Ruth; 2. Michael laPaglia (Han); 3. Rickie Fowler (Hon); 4. Matt Yes,! (Han); 5. Andy Williamson. D/SPT INT: 1. Mark Hall (Yam); 2. Eric Bierman (Yam). D/SPT NOV: 1. D. Aumnacos (Yam), 0-450 EX: 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 2. John Greenway (Yam); 3. Bob Rutten (Han); 4. Steve Anderson (Yam); 5. Kris Keefer (}-Ion). 0-450 lNT: 1. Nathan Jones; 2. Brian Morgan (Yam); 3. Miles Davis (Yam); 4. John Burr (Yam); S. Ron L.'1Point (Yam). 1J.450 NOV: 1. Kory Ellis (Yam), 2. Shane Smith, 3. Wes Noland (Yam); 4. jim Finerty (Yam); 5, Sky King (Yarn). 0-300 EX: 1. Jeremiah Brown. 0-300 [NT: 1. Ron Lawson. 0-300 NOV, I. Mike Seeley (Han); 2. Og Ogelby Q

• Cover