Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.Indiana State Fairgrounds/Lawrenceburg Speedway AMA GRAND CHAMPIONSHIPS Gr oup Two progra m never go t started due to a severe thu nderstorm. The first event in the Gro up On e pr ogram wa s the 85cc (12·15) Modified featu re, w hich rapidl y turned into ano ther Nicky Cummings victory . The race itself was red- flagged w hen a rider slid down in turn tw o in the late laps. The rider was u n in ju r e d , . and th e ra ce was declared co m p le te, with Cummin gs wi nning over Devin Jessup and Logan . Myer s. N ext up was th e 50cc Pee Wee fea· ture, and Ca ndy Hiley wa sted little tim e in ge tting up to the lead, which she held to the checkered flag. Trevor Bu th took second an d Keith Boulis came ho me in third . In the 65cc DTX (7·11) featu re, Travis Myer s checked ou t ,early, only to see a red flag as Clayton Riggle unl oaded in turn one . A sing le-file restart go t them go ing again, and Mye rs again took the lead, which he held to the finish. Brock Schwarzen bacher a nd Trevor Jessup took the second and third spots. Justin Pit ma n won th e 50cc Ju nior fea tu re over Eric Stump II ana Jeremy Mou nts. Stump go t the holeshot and led for most of th e firs t la p un til Pitman went by in turn th ree. Th e tw o riders th en swa pped th e lead severa l times before Pitman was able to get some distan ce between himself and Stump. In th e 85cc DTX fe ature, Blak e · Youn g got the ho leshot and led for the first two la p s . Cummin gs quickly worked his way to the front and took the lead from Young. Cummings then built u p a quarter-lap lead at the finish. Logan Myers took second, wit h Young getting third . Travis Myers and Brenton Schnit zer came off the lin e togeth er in the 65cc Modified featu re and raced side by side for the first lap. Myers took ov er the lead, w hile John Lewis came up through the pac k to pass Schnitzer and take over second. At the end it was Myers, Lewis and Schnit zer. Ryan Brothers led the pack in to tum one in the 125cc Modified featu re. Cummings follow ed him into the corn er, got th e p ower on ea r ly and rod e around Brothers in tum two to take the lead and ano the r wi n. Broth ers ra n in secon d until the la te laps, whe n Cory Mcfrermitt go t by him. Then , on the last lap, Log an Myer s go t by, movin g Bro the rs back to fourth plac e. In the 85cc Modified feature, Ricky Marsh all go t the initial lead, which he held to the midpoin t of the race. At that 'p oin t, Young reeled him in and moved pa st h im to take th e lead. In th e lat e laps, Lewis go t by to move Marshall back to third . At the finis h it was You ng, Lewis and Marshall. Co lby McCutch eo n, Robb Lapee n and Evan Aronson had a thr ee-way battle going in the 50cc Sen ior featu re until Casee Mc C amm on fell in tu rn o ne, bringin g ou t the red flag and a rest art. On th e restart, McCutcheon h eld th e lead until th e last laps, when Johnny Coop er II g o t b y to ta k e the w in. McCutcheon took seco nd, follow ed by . Lapeen , The last Gro u p One race of the da y brought the 250cc Pro Sport rid ers to the lin e, and wh en th e light went green, Roger Lee Hayden shot into th e lead. C ory Roth m oved int o seco n d and chewed on Hayden till the finish, where he pulled of an ou tsid e pass to nip Hay0> d en at the lin e. Du sty Fau lds fini shed 0> 0> third. At this point, the Group One part of N . the day was over, and a strong sum mer thunderstorm put an end to the day's ...., racing. The Gro up Tw o part of the pro· 34 gram was rescheduled for Wednesday :6- -S morning, with the first feature, the 600cc Pro Sport class, starti ng abo ut 2:25 p.m. In th is race, Mike Forro came out on the backstre tch first, held off a chall en ge by Tom McG rane Jr. and held on for the wi n. McGrane took second, with Jason Goodwin followi ng in third . Brian Vincen t an d Cory Roth waged a war over the fourth spo t, wi th Vinc en t winning this battle. In th e 600cc Modified clas s, Tony Meiring and Jacob Johnson fou ght ove r first for most of the race . On the last lap , the pair we n t through tu rns three and four side by side . Johnson sp un the rear tire and gave Meiring the lead and the win. Bryan Smith took the third spo t. Meiring returned to the track to wi n the 250cc DTX feature. Meiring followed early leader Cody Shamblin until Sha mblin slid d own in turn thr ee, giving the lead and the win to Meirin g. Steve Murray to o k second pla ce, wi th Cory McDermitt coming hom e in third place. The next feature was for the Over 40 Open class, an d John War ren won the even t on his Rota x over Roval Adderso n and Gary Hi te, w ho we re b o th o n XR750s. ' Ch arlie Itali a we nt wi re to wire for the wi n in th e 250cc Mod ified class. Jacob Jo h n s o n to ok second , half a straig h taway back, and K.c. "Co yo te" Knod el go t third. The Over 21 Open Twin s featu re saw Nick Taylor get the ho lesho t to lead the pack into tum one. A big bobbl e on his part gave the lead to Royal Ad de rson, who p romp tly checked ou t on the field. Gary Hite wo rked his way up to second at the finish, followed by Geo rge Mack in third. Bryan Smith won the 500cc Modi fied feature, ge tting the hol eshot and goi ng wire to wire for his win. He w as fol lowed across th e line by Henry Wil es and "Coyote" Knod el. Thi s race saw a fa ther-and -son pa ir in the form of Phil and David Wolf. Phil go t fourth, while his so n David finis hed ninth. In the Over 30 Open feature, Johnny C ooper grabbed th e e a rly le a d a n d sailed off to the win , followed by Mike Butler in second and Matt McQuillin in third. TT Aft er th e la st half mil e eve n t, th e track was converted into a TT track. The s ta rt / fini sh line wa s moved ov er to what had be en the backst retch, a chi ca ne w a s formed on t h e form er frontstretch, and at the apex of the former turn one, a sharp righ t-hander followed by a 180·degree mot ocro ss-st yle swit ch ba ck se n t th e rid ers ba ck into wha t was now turn four. Through ou t both th e Croup One and G roup Two programs, the key to victory see med to lie in how fast you could ge t out of the switchback and ba ck up to speed. In every eve nt, the.rid er s would bunch up at the rig ht-ha nder and then spread ou t as they go t back onto the ope n part of the track. The Grou p One practice was int eresting, as several riders d iscovered they couldn' t go WFO through th e chicane. Many hay bales were d emolished in the process. The off-camber right -hand turn and the switchback also sen t a few riders tumbling to the dirt. . At about 8 p .m . t he firs t fea tu re eve nt, the 85cc Modifi ed class , came to the line, and Nic ky Cum mings wen t to th e poi n t and h eld th e lead until the end . Jarred McWhir ter worked his way into second ea rly, movi ng Devin Jesso p back to third . That's how they finis hed : Cu mmings, McWhirte r and Jesso p. . In th e 50cc Pee Wee race, Ke it h Boulis we nt by about five riders in the chicane, a bold move that gave him the lead and the wi n. Ca ndy Hiley moved in to second and, at the halfw ay p oint, Trevor Buth go t by Bre tt Pugh to take over th e thi rd spot a nd se t the fin is h order. Travis Myers go t the holeshot in the 65cc DTX fea tu re an d che cke d ou t on the field for his win. Brock Schwarze nbacher got by Clayton Riggle late in the race to claim the second spo t. Riggle finish ed third. The 50cc Ju nio r feature again turned ou t to b e a tw o-rid e r match r a ce bet ween Dale Wakefield Jr. and Ju stin Pitman. Wak efi eld go t th e earl y lea d and the win, while Pitman fell in the chicane and didn't complete his final lap. 'Loga n Myers go t the ho leshot in the Bryan Smith ran away with the 500cc Modified features on the mile and the half mile , and won the 600cc Modified feature on the mile as well. 85cc DTX feature and went wire to wire for the wi n. McWhirter moved in to second, followed by Cum mings. Evan Aronson led the pack into turn one in the 50cc Senior feature, bu t Robb La pee n II mad e a g re a t mo ve going ' through turn two and the chican e to go fro m fourth to th e lead . La p een a n d Aro nson battled over the lea d for th e next lap m1til they took each other out in th e rig h t-ha nder an d brou gh t ou t th e red flag. On the res tar t, both Lapeen and Aro nson started from the third row and qu ick ly m ov ed up through the p a ck . Lapeen w on the race in a ph ot o finish over Johnny Cooper Il, w ho was la ter d isqu alified for an ill egal carburetor. The DQ moved Aronson into second, wi th Tyler Pitman finishing third . The 65 Mod ified Featu re took to the track and their first start lasted for half a lap, as Justin Hitt le collected a hay bal e in the chicane. On the res ta rt, Bre nton Schnitzer led the pac k at the end of the firs t la p. Joh n Lewis slid down in the rig ht-hande r and wo rke d his way back u p to a very credi tab le fifth-place finis h . Up front , Travis Mye rs ca ug h t an d passed Schnitzer for the w in. Schnitzer go t second and Gary Conklin took thir d . In the 125cc Mod ified feature, Bryan Dou glas and Cory McDermitt ran firs t and second for mos t of the race, finishing in that order almos t half a lap ah ead o f th e r est of i he fi eld . C u m m ings chas ed Eric Kvinlaug until he got by late in the race to claim third, ahead of Kyin. laug. The next-to-last eve nt of the eve ning w as th e 85cc Modified (7·11) fea tu re . Carter Myers led the pack throu gh turns . one and two and held the lead to the finis h lin e . Cla yt on Ri ggl e a n d Cod y Humphrey battl ed ove r second briefly, with Riggle takin g the p osition , w hich h e h eld to th e fini sh. H u m p hrey fin ished third . The last event of the eve nin g was the 250cc Pro Spo rt feature, and Joe Zydin-

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