Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128007
t,
Events
11()'125 WARMUP: 1. Jaso n Bryant (Yam); 2. Adam
Bra n n u m (Ya m) ; 3. Brad le y Robe r ts on (Ya m); 4.
Ma tthew Johnson (Yam); 5. Ben Riddl e (Kaw).
250 ·500 WARMUP; 1. Steven Wh ite ( K a w ); 2 .
Jackson Vick (Han); 3. Na te Larsen ()(aw); 4. Han... Nee !
(Han); 5. Kevin Blalock (Yam ).
A U AMega series: Kawasaki
MA S
olu
V nteer State Championship
Gibso.n a
maverick
at Muddy
Creek
Yamaha Dealers series, Round 5
:
Glen Helen Raceway Park
Upton up
on top
By Beth & Bob LaRock
By Barbara Williams
BLOUNTVILLE, TN,j ULY16-18
e a m Green ' s jeff Gibson of
Thornville, Ohi o, played his cards
right and hung tou gh for the 250cc
A win at Muddy Creek Raceway' s 15th
annual Kawa saki Volun t e er State
Mo tocro ss Champi onships. Gibs on
proved that consistency pays off, taking
the overall win w it h 2-2 fin ishes. Gibson also finished third in 125cc A with
2-3 placings, the only green rider in the
top 10.
'
,
Nearly 720 r id e r s enjoyed warm
wea ther on Saturday. On Su nday, the
sun was getting higher and hotter until
a thunderstorm riding the ridge behind
Muddy Creek quickly cooled things off
by 20 degrees and dumped its payload
of rain on the other side of the hill.
Gibson came off the line well in both
motos of 250cc A competition, gating
fourth behind local hero Kevin Walker;
jim Chester of Lenoir, North Caro lin a;
and Jim Neese from Greensboro, No rth
Carolina. For the past few years (aside
from taking a yea r off to recover from
knee s u rgery), Walker has d ominated
Muddy Creek , mu ch as Mike Brown did
earlier. But not tod ay.
Walker looked to have the first 250cc
A mot o win in the bag w hen he found a
new rut and d ropped h is YZ. Chester
was too close to avo id slowing for Walker so he wouldn't cras h, too, which gave
Nees e and Gibson th e op po rtu nity to
rid e the wa ve int o the front two spots.
Though Walker quickly re mou nted, he
had lost his rhythm, an d another layd own g ave h im a n unchara cteristi c
DNF .
"O ne of th e thro ttl e ca b les broke,"
explained Wal ker. "And the way I was
goi ng, if the o t her one bro k e to o , I
wasn't sure if it wo uld hang wi de open
or what. I figu red it wo uld be better to
stop and wo rk on it."
Meanwhile, Neese and Gibson laid
d own a wa ke of w hite wa ter ou t fro n t
th at Ch ester co ul d ca tch but not pass.
Th ev crossed the line in tha t order for
th e 'fi rs t-mo to wra p-u p , foll o w ed b y
Hans Neel of Bristolf'Tennessee, and
ano ther green rider, Tom Kelley of New
Ph ilade lp hia , Ohio.
.
Gibson again sta rted well in the seco n d round, rig ht b e h i nd Wal ker,
Chester an d N eese. This time, Walker
roared off to th e next co u nty . Gibson
was also in "no non sen se" mode, and by
lap two he had left both Chester and
N eese beh ind . N eese ga ve chase, but
Gibson ro os te d off in to th e sunset to
hunt down Walke r. Though Walker was
ou t of reach , Gibson ex ubera n tly took
next honors, and the overall win.
Gibson's 125 is his preferred ride, and
it carried him well in both 12Se A motos c
to a strong second-place finish in the first
round , and a co me-from -not-too-fa rbehind third in the return outing.
Carvin g through turn one in six th
on the second 125cc A mot o start, Gib-
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JULY18
acers thron ged to Glen Helen Raceway for the fifth and fina l round of
the Yamaha Dealer s Series . Two of
the most lightl y contes ted classes were
the 250cc Pro race and the 250cc Begin ner race .
Taking a wee kend o ff fr om the
N ati onals, IMS ProSeries / FM F/ VP /
Shock Therapy / Maxxis-spo nso red Donald U p to n d ec id ed to m ak e this a
marathon weekend o f racing . Startin g
off w ith StadiumCross on Friday night
at Glen Helen, then racing at Perris on
Saturday night, and cu lminating with
the Yama ha Dea lers Seri es on Sunday,
Up ton overalled in e v e r y e ven t he
entered . At the. Dealers Series, Upton
had his work cut out for him when he
was pitted against Brett Racine in the
250cc Pro class .
.
. Capturing th e hol eshot in the first
rnoto, Kaw asa ki Team G reen's Racin e
quickly d eveloped a healthy lead over
C raig Da n s, Oscar Valde z a nd Rich .
Truch in sk i. Upton carne th rough th e
hol eshot turn in seven th , but quickl y
passed tw o riders into fifth .
By the end of the first lap, Upton had
passed Truchinski and had his sights set
o n Va ldez . A ft e r p a ssin g Val d ez in
Bud ' s Creek o n lap tw o , U p to n's
momentum carried him past Dans on
the third lap.
Smooth-ridin g Racine had a six-second lead on Up to n go ing into the fifth
lap o f the se ve n -la p m ot o . Although
Upt on was able to close the distance to
Racine, seven laps was not quite enough
tim e to make the pass. Racin e crossed
the fini sh lin e 2 1/ 2 seconds ahead of
Up ton. Dans carne in third .
The start of mo to two was similar to
the first, with Racine in the lea d a nd
Upton iF fifth. However, by the en d of
the first lap, Upton had already passed
his way into second.
By lap five, Upton was wi thin stri king d istance of Raci ne, bu t it was no t
u nti l the white-flag lap that he was able
to pass.
'1 topped off that drop away (coming
out of the back bowl)," Up ton explained,
"cu t inside of him and left it pinned."
Up ton held the lead to the finish and
captured the overall. securing the series
win. Racin e finished second, followed
by Jason Vincent.
"Th is tim e I had to push it," said
Upton . " It was the la st m ot o . I wa s
push ing real hard. I'm really happy. He
(Racine ) mad e me wo rk for it. That kid 's
fast."
In 250c c Be ginn er ac t io n, Hohm
Motorsports ' Zach Scu ri claimed th e
holesh ot in the first mot o, followed by •
'"
M icha el Morro w a n d Ar ek M eyer. '"
'"
Meyer passed Morrow on the first lap,
pl a cing h im in secon d . Scuri held a
d ecis ive lead throu ghout th e m oto ,
w i t h M e yer ho ldi ng d own sec o n d .
Morrow held third until the fourth lap,
w he n Jared Wil s on , who h ad s ta rte d 35
R
T
Donald Upton (76) took the overall win In the 250cc Pro class (and with It, the series
overall) at the fina l round of the Yamaha Dealers Series , held at Glen Helen Raceway Park
in California.
so n foll ow ed Walk er, Chester, N eese,
Paul Ju stus and N ick Met cal f. One by
one, Gibson dispatched Hill , Justus and
finally Neese, but he ran ou t of chances
to advance further. Walker crossed the
fini sh lin e fir st , foll owed by Chester ,
and Gibson claimed th e fina l podium
position.
.
James "Bubba" Stewart Jr. gave his
usual shining performance as Kawasaki's rising star, lead ing every lap of 8Sec
(12-13) and Supermin i com pe titio n, as
we ll a s th e fi rs t roun d of t he 0-100
Wa rm u p for th e Amat eur Nationa ls .
The Stewa rts packed up befo re Sunday's
second mot o of the Mini Wa rm up to hit
the road for Florida.
_
Resu lts
50 lUI, 1. Ian Trettel (Cob) ; 2. Cod y Robbins (Cob) ;
3. Preston Thomas