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/128010
14th annual Lake County
By Dave Deringer
Photos by Todd Swift
GRAYSLAKE, IL, JULY 28·29
o r th e 14t h year, p ro m o te r Bill
Sparks and his Up-Fron t Promotion s cre w did an excellent job of
pu ttin g on a grea t s how in fro nt of an
eno rmous crowd a t th e tw o-d ay Lake
Co unty Fair Stad ium Mot ocross eve nt,
pre s ented by Ba n z a i Mot o rs p ort s,
Valvo line and Pepsi-Cola.
Mo nterey, California's Ty ler Evans
was the man to bea t both nigh ts. Evans
won every Pro mai n event and both
Dash For Cash races, pocketing a total of
more than 55100 on the Arenac ross-s tyle
bowl-turned circuit.
''I' d say it was the star ts ," th e
DGY / A- Ride /O'Neal-backed Evans
said fro m the final podium of the weekend . "Once I go t out fron t, I just rode
my own races."
Evans became the first rider in the
race's history to sweep every main event.
On Wed nes day, Evans won bo th of
his hea t races, while Texan Charley Boga rd and Ohio's Mike Katin won th e
other two.
Ju nior Jackson nailed the start of the
125cc Pro m a in, bu t Evans s nea ke d
un d erneath and was leading befo re the
riders hit the seco nd turn. Damien Plotts
qu ickly go t by for second a nd Jackson
drop ped to third .
Tom H ofm a s ter an d Bogard go t
toget her befor e the end of the firs t lap
and were left pickin g u p the p ieces as
the pack bega n lap two.
Pl otts w en t to the ins id e o f Eva ns
before the triple to execu te a block-pass
bu t went d own w he n hi s fro n t w hee l
washed ou t on the fourth lap as Jackson , .
Katin and Mark Burkhart mot ored by.
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Tyler Evans won every Pro main event
and both Dash For Cash races at the 14th
annual Lake County Fair Stad ium
Motocross event.
Eva ns began to distance himself fro m
the pack th rough ou t the next few laps,
w hile Jackson settled into second. Plotts
al so began working h is way forward
after his fall and made his final pass on
Burkhart for fou rth on lap seven. Evans
took the win, followed by Jackson and
Katin .
McConnell, Illinois' Andy Th yberg
walked away with the 125cc Amateur
win. The wi re-to-w ire finis h proved that
Thyberg would be a fo rce to be reckoned with throughou t th e even t.
Kawasaki-mounted Jason Kloptowski
and Suz u ki pil ot Jesse Edge followed
Th ybe rg across the line for second and
third .
Todd DeHoop was the early leader of
the Over 25 class, b u t Pro Circuit's
jere my Buehl ou tju m ped DeH oo p on
the massive triple and took over the lead
several laps in. Buehl pu lled awa y while
DeHoop, Ero n Ezerins an d Iowa 's Ted
Cieminski filled ou t the top fou r spo ts.
New Mexico's Keith Joh nson rode a
bo rro wed Pro So u rce YZ400F to a big
w in in th e Fou r- Stroke class. The No
Fear/ Spy-sponsored rider was un stoppab le on the big blue ma chine and took
a co m fo r ta b le w in a hea d of Cha rl ie
Du nawa y , w h ile De H oo p and Jesse
William s crossed in third and fourth.
The 250cc Ama teur class look ed to be
ano ther Thyberg win, but the teen ager
cr as hed his bo rrowed YZ250 th rou gh
the whoops, handin g the w in to Kloptowski. John Mazur moved into second,
while Pa u l Cam pen a nd Jason Urb an
otocross
a lso to o k a dva n tage fo r third a n d
fourth. Thyberg recov ere for fifth.
d
A stacked class of 250cc Pros lined up,
a nd Keith Johnson grabbed th e s ta rt.
Hofmaster and Evans moved into second
and third, and the race' was on. Joh nson
pulled away the first few laps as Evans
tried to find a way around Hofrnaster ,
but Evans came up short on the massive
tripl e and seve ral double jumps, losin g
more time to Hofmaster. As John son was
rid in g flawl essl y up front, Evans once
a gain closed on Hofma s ter. Crowd
favorit e Hofmaster took a wid e ou tside
line before the whoop section and Evans
moved in . Evans slam med the door on
Hofmaster and the block-pass took Ho fmaster to the ground , losing man y pos ition s. Evans now closed in on John son ,
and he U SL'

