Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt Track ~ 22 would be McWhirt er's closest competi tion throughou t th e day; Fay proved tha t patience is a virtue, as the Ho nda rider wou ld lea d each of the four restarts. McWh irte r too k a nasty tumble at the unleashing of the 85cc-class final, which quickly pu t a prem ature halt to Fay's cha rge. Fay again blazed to the head of the pack on the restart, but he would again see the re d flags waving whim Oregon's Chris Celorie crashed. Fay was again fastest off the line on the third go , but AMA District 27 champion Nick Sellers' hard tumble off the starting grid brought the action to a stop again. The fourth try was a charm for Fay, who led Honda rider Kenneth Hansen, Yama ha- mo unted Eric DeBoer , Californ ia ns Lane and Stewa rt Barber [r., as well as thi rd -row gridders McWhirt er and Sellers. McWhirter quickly rode through traffic, and af ter an unbelievable forge to second af ter one lap, he then challeged Fay in a first-place swapfes t, one which 85cc DTX final. While Fay d id ho ld off the deter mined Mc Whi r te r fo r three la ps , the Californian p u t co nsidera ble CASfLE ROCK, WA, JUNE 2h-'lJ real es t a te be tw ee n h imself and Fay a red McW hirter, th e 13-y~a r-old af ter that to cap off his two class wins on from Ceres, Ca lifornia, overcame the day. Trailin g McWhi rte r to the finish all of the eleme nts th rust upon him were Fay, Stock ton, Californ ia's Barber, - severa l d a ys of rain, d angerous Derick Oquist and Ohge. track co nditions and in cred ib ly tou gh Yamaha rider Amy Pruczins ki pulled competitio n - before he would earn his the trigger the fastest to lead the brigade sweep of th e 85cc Modified cl ass of 125cc riders in their main event, bu t it througho u t the eig ht-day span of th e would only be a matter of time before . AMA West Coast Amateur Nationals in Hansen would execute a slick pass on Was hington State. the fast fe male. Hansen th en p ulled T he Honda- mou nted M cWhirte r away convincingly to post a win, leavshowed the competition his rear wheel in g Pruczinski to fend off the likes of while taking his class wins on the Elma Mitc h Pearce, Chris Mea de, Sean Light Speed way 's half m il e , the Ra in ier and Jason Rosie before ea rni ng second Bowl's e igh th-m ile shor t tra ck a nd, place to Hansen. finally, a t the Castle Rock Race Park 's Vernon, the former 80cc Natio na l TT course . McWhirter a lso a dded a Champion, put his ATK out in fro nt cla ss ti tle in th e 85cc DT X class, during the 250cc fin a l, bu t the Openal though his championshi p in tha t d iviclass w in ne r fro m ea rlier in th e d ay sion came by virtue of only a single win wo uld not be as fortu na te this tim e, as at Elma, backed up with a pair of ru nhe was overtaken by a pa ir of rid ers, ner -up finishes to Cali fornia's Fra nkie Kyle Ragsdal e 'a nd Na tha n Wha r to n, Lane a t Ra i n i er a n d Wa s h in gt on ' s and d ropped back to thir d . A n dy Fay a t th e C a stl e Rock . Wharton rod e in close forfina le. mation wi th Ragsd ale bu t Th us en ded the Californian's couldn't make a pass stick, weeklong quest for a wi n in the and Ragsdale net ted a close 85cc Modified class, one of the win over Wharton. Vernon . sev en chosen as premier classes got the nod for third, ah ead in which $1500 wou ld be ' paid of Rister and th em Sellers, out as expense money for the the fifth-place finis her. trek to the AMA Amateur Grand AMA Di strict 27 O v er Ch ampionships in Indianapolis , 40-cl a s s cha m pion Vince Indiana, July 4-9. Holt has seldo mly met his Th e money w as es tablishe d mat ch in the class, but on fro m a fund of $10,500 of th e the rough oval, Bob Loose $15,000 taken in by AMA Disgave Holt all he could han tri ct 27 fro m th e se ries, w hich dl e a nd the n so me. Loose was spearhea ded by AMA Distrailed Holt for much of the trict 27 competi tion manager Ed fi na l, th en mad e a m ov e Bushnell , and othe rs , including la te in th e ra ce to p ost a form er AMA Expert Wa yne narrow w in . Steve Po w er Hosaka. finis hed third ahead of CalThe West Coa st will be if orn ian Bob Ca s ey a n d w ell-represented , as Brenton Yamaha rid er Doug Schnitzer (65cc), McWhirter Cough try. (85cc), Jerry Hansen (l25cc ), Jeff M cWhirter (2) battled with Washin gton's own Andy Fay (43) all In Professi onal Su pportRister (250cc), Scooter Vernon week long. Fay was one of only two riders to beat McWhirter In an class action, Eli Pric e fended (Ope n), Vi nce Ho lt (Over 40 ) 85cc-class main event, the win coming at the Castle Rock TT. off all of J.P. Simonsen's cha land Mike Ha rri tt (Vintage Twin) len ges for a win iii the 600cc will be mak in g their journey to Expert class. O regon ' s Beau the Mid west, comp limen ts of the wou ld las t to th e fi n ish . McW hirter A. Brown ra n th ird until th e fina l lap. series' payoffs. mad e a su perb m ov e ou t of tu rn four That's when Eric Rickman ove rtook the ELMA SPEEDWAY and overtook Fay before the finish line. second -year Expe rt to gra b the positi on; Ch ristia n Vernon fi nished fift h. Kurt Third pla ce went the wa y of the impresMcWhirter's weeklong saga began as sive Lane, wh o pushed his Suz uki ahead he had to ove rco me a violent cras h as Hawk sco re d a w in in the 600cc Pro of DeBoer to finish ah ead of Barber and Spo rt class in wha t looked to be an easy well as several restarts and a third-row Oregon's Nick Oh ge. wi n for the Preston , Washingt on , rid er, start befor e his first 85cc win - in a perMc W hi rter w a s n 't fi nis he d there, formance that cou ld only be su mmed up who ran ahead of Shawn Raggi o, Brian though , corning right back to again go as sensational. It wo uld corne to pass at McGo nigal, Beau Z. Brown and Geo rge head to head with Fay, this ~ime in the the Elma Half Mile. Washingt on 's Fay Prin d iville. By Clay Li ght ~ AMA West Coast Amateur Nationals Jared McWhirter (2) was the star of the weeklong AMA West Coast Nationals In Washington . McWhirter collect~d 85cc and 85cc DTX titles, and now plans to contest the AMA Amateur Grand Championships In Indianapolis. 1 RAINIER BOWL Consistent throttle respo nse and conservative riding tactics were the key elements to su rv iva l on th e eighth-mile short-track oval at the Rainier Bowl, as rai n showers mad e the trac k - normally a blue groove - resemble a skating rink. Of the lengthy mid week program, only the youth classes (5Occ to 85cc) and four full-sized motorcycle classes we re run d u e to th e h eavy 'p recip ita tion. In the other classes, points we re pa id based on . heat-race finishes . McWhirter put his CR ou t in front of the 85cc A main and rode to a wi re-towire victory over th e Su zu ki-mo u nted Lane, w ho had to ove rtake Fay in order to ga rner the position, re legat ing th e alw ays fast-starting Fay to the final position on th e ros tr um in the class. Thi s continued Fa y's week of fru stration. One of Washington's premier 80cc rid ers, he would again take a back seat to McWhirter and, this time, also Lane. Following Fay at the finish we re Deboer and Oquist. Lane carne back with a vengeance in th e 85cc DTX fina l. Despite a fourthpla ce start, Lane picked his way through traffic ea rly in th e fina l to ca tc h McWhirter, setting the stage for a firstplace confro n tat ion that would last for several laps. Lane, rid ing brilliantl y on the short track, mad e an aggressive pass on McWh irt er, who up. u ntil thi s point had been unbeaten, to steal the lead and cruise to a narrow victory. Lane's pass carne with a bit of contact, but no harm, no foul. "I had to bump him to ge t him," said Lane, the quiet 12-year-old from Vallejo, California. "O n this track, we' re pretty even." -: The elder Lane sibling, Mickey, put his Rot ax in the win ner's circle to con~ tinue th e fa mily 's best s howings thus J far, but t h a t was in th e O p en class' , which on ly ran up till the heat races. H is , victory came in one of tw o Open-class I pr eliminaries. Local rider Nathan Whar~ ton won th e othe r heat ra ce a nd was credited with first-place poin ts, thou gh, ~ relegat ing Lane 's performance to see: ond, ahead of Loose, Tim Ricket ts and Ra y DeFord, second- and th ird-pla ce finishers of their respective qualifiers .

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