Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

By Mark Gowin KERNVILLE, CA, JUNE 5-6 he m ot ocr oss wo rl d go t a good look at an upcomin g s tar as 15year-old Bobby Bonds surprised the competition and amazed the cro wd duri ng th e 20-lap Pr o rac e at the Di rt Digger MC Kern ville Motocross. Round tw o of the lO-race Sou the rn Califo rnia AMA Ch ampion ship Mot ocross Series was pac ked full of grea t racing during th e two-d ay event, and th e Hi gh Noon Pro Shooto ut was one of th e highli ghts of the weekend. Thousand Oaks Yamah a! Answer! Oakley jTorco- backed Bond s walked away with $1000 of th e $3000 purse after th e.yo ung rid er push ed har d and took contro l of the race on th e fourth lap. Bonds wasted no time in establis hing his inten ti ons as h e fou ght fo r the h oleshot and came up secon d behind Honda-mounted Jeff Willoh . Sp ud Walters and his YZ400 ran third as the riders exit ed the sweep ing first turn aft er th e gre en- flag start. As riders blasted up a steep uphill, Jeff Willoh had a two-bikelength lead as the rid ers looked for the smooth est lin es on the physically challen ging track, w ith Bonds, Wa lters and Jimm y Lewis in close pursuit over the 1.5mile Kernvi lle track that u tilizes the natu rally hilly terr ain of the lower Sierras. It was not long before YZ25D-mounted Bonds was able to grab first, and by the third lap Bonds had a th ree-bike-length lead ove r the CR125 of Willoh. Wa lters was still fighting hard in third and Lewis was a close fourth, ridi ng smooth and wa iting for his chance to make his move as the batt le for second ensued. Halfway th rough the exhausting 20lap event, Wal te rs ma de his move and cha rge d hard for firs t, but after a sta ll, Willoh was once again back in second. As th e battle for second continued, Bonds began to d istance him self from the pack an d by the end of lap 11 Bonds had built an impressive 3O-second lead over Willoh . With four laps remaini ng, Sp ud Walters aga in pushed h is boo mi ng fo u rstroke hard a rid claimed secon d a fte r ge tting around Willoh . Bonds conti nued to maintain his lead for the d urati on of the mot a , and Walter s and Willoh kept within seco nds of each othe r. At the finish, Bonds had a very impressive 30-seco nd lead over second-p laced Wa lte rs , who h ad raced to a five-second ga p be tw een hims elf and thi r d- p la ce d Willoh. Lew is main tained fourth, taki ng the checkered flag ahead of Nationwide Cycle-spon sored Bryan Nelson. " It was the tou gh est rac e I' ve ever raced ," said Bonds. "I just tried to conce n tra te and rid e m y own ra ce . Wit h two lap s to go, I started to ge t tired and I tried to pace m yself. I' d reall y like to thank my paren ts for all their support." Wal ters was also feeling the effec ts of th e lap-a ft er-lap p ound in g in the midday sun. "The co urse was get ti ng pretty ro ugh," sai d Walter s. "A bo ut ha lfway through , I sta lled . I sta rted ge tting a lit- . ti e tired and I co u ld n ' t see Bobby (Bonds) an ymore, so I jus t tried to ride my ow n race. Bobby is fast." Wilioh wa s also impressed by Bonds' rid e. "The kid 's on fire," said Willoh, who w on the event last ye ar and thi s yea r ha d H on d a ' s Erik Crippa on hand to help out with th e w renc hing . "I'm a little bummed. It has been a long week of testing for.Hond a and I'm feeling a little tired, I gu ess ." The High Noon Shoot-O ut was certainly th e hi gh light of the two days of racing, but th e action was nonstop in the o ther classes as well. Sa turday's Vet class sa w grea t ra ce ac tion b e tw een Jim my Lewi s and Tad Sciacqua in bo th motos. The first mota saw O'Neal-sponso re d Scia cqua gra b th e hol esh ot , followed by Lewis, and the pair continua lly batt led for firs t. After swapping first and second severa l times o n th e firs t. three la ps, Lewis go t by Sciacq ua a nd h eld on until th e fi nis h. The secon d mota sa w more of th e same between th e tw o hard -ch ar ging ve tera ns as they hit the first turn, wi th the YZ250 of Sciacqua getting the holeshot. Lewis go t by Scia q ua o n th e s ta rt of th e thi rd la p. However, h is lea d w as tem p o ra ry, as Lew is found himself on the ground after falling in a sa ndy turn. "I was able to get the holesh ot," said Sciacqua with a big gri n. "Lewis. got by me on the third or fourth lap and then I just set tled in behind him . I knew that Baj (Lewis) was riding over his head an d I knew it was just a matter of time before he wo uld go down. Sure enough, he did ." Lewis q u ickl y got back o n and pushed ha rd and was ab le to finis h just a bike length be hind Sciacqua at the finish . Sciacqua's 2-1 topped Lewis' 1-2 for the overall. "That's th e fir st -tim e I' ve beaten Jimmy," said a d elig hted Sciacqua, The race a ction in the Junior Ve t Novice race wa s ho t, and on his second day of racing , Ridgecrest Motorcycl e Center-backed John Co nd on was try ing to wrap up the overall after a hard earned first in the firs t mota. In the seca nd m o to, Condon and Da ve Bu rson ba ttled from the start after they left the firs t tu rn a nd cha rged up the first hill sid e by side and frequ entl y excha nged posi tions th rough out the race . With one lap to go, Burson edged Condon for firs t and was able to han g on until th e las t quarte r of th e fina l la p, when Co ndon w as able to d ig d own deep and overcome the obvious fatigu e and ma de his fin al p ass on the ba ck- straight ju mps and capt ured the ha rd-earned first. "The course was rough bu t a lo t of fu n," said Con d on. "I' m ju st bea t and I'm glad that 1was able to pull it off." The 125cc Expert! Amateur class provided some g reat ac tio n in th e final moto between Rich ard Sa zama, Joel Nelson and Team Green desert racer Kurt Caselli. Sazama had his work cut out for him, as he furious ly staved off th e co nsta nt pu s h es of Nel son a n d Case lli. Caselli and Nelso n swa p ped p ositions fo r second thr ough out th e final rno to, w it h Caselli maki ng a la terace charge for firs t, but Sazama was able to ho ld his lead an d crossed th e finish lin e five seconds a hea d of Nelso n, w ho made his m ove int o seco nd in the last half of the final lap. "The tr ack was awesome," the elated Sazama sa id . "Trai ni ng was definitel y . the key to winning here." The racin g go t reall y se rious in th e Mini cl as s , as th e you ng racer s and future stars sho wed th eir stuff and kept the crowd on its feet. In the 65cc (9-11) (Right) Bobby Bond s ran away with the purs e money from the High Noon Pro Shooto ut at the Dirt Diggers motoc ross in Kernvill e, California. (Left) Sweeping both motos of the Open Expert class, Team Green-backed Doug Chiapuz io showed that he is just as comfortable on a motoc ross track as he is in the desert. 85 (7-11): L Randall Hall (Kaw ); 2, Ty ler Thompson (Ka w) : 3. Rhett Urse th (Ka w ): 4. Nathan Bjork (Ho n): 5. Ricky Cum mings (H on ). Californ ia AMA Championship Kernville, California Result s: June 5-6, 1999 (Round 2) 85 (12-13): 1. Tristan Kallis (Yam); 2. Nicolas Burson (Ka w); 3. Brett Mountain (Ya m); 4. Kyl e Melton (H on) : 5. Eric McNd l (Ho n). W MN BEG : 1. Mi ch ell e A lbert s (Ya m ); 2. Lisa Mende z (Ka w), 3. Jean Walt on (H on ). WMN AM : 1. Heat her McNabb (Yam) . WMN EX: 1. Hea ther Rog o (Yam ). S/S R NOV: 1. jerryHaye s (KTM) ; 2. Rod Peyton (K aw): 3. Willie C levela nd (K aw): 4. Stevie Free ma n (Ka w ): 5. Bob Morten sen (Ka w ). S/SR AM : 1. Tim Colvert (K : 2. Ch uck Holm es aw) (Yam); 3. Wayne Rut led ge (KTMl. S/S R EX: 1. To mmy Pearl (Hen): 2. Da vid Rogers (Hon) : 3. Bill Oli ver (J

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