Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AHRMA/Speed &Sport National Vintage MX Series, Round 13 Events By Clay Light CHEHAUS, WA, AUG. 22 a s h in g to n r id ers Dallas N y bl od a nd Larry Le g arra we re the cream of the crop in the heart of agriculturally ric h Lewis County, as the two Northwesterners both .sco red impress iv e Expert-class wins at the Cheh alis Class ic, round 13 of th e AHRMA /Speed & Sp ort National Vintage Mot ocro ss Se ries , held at Th e Farm. Nyblod netted wins in the 250cc and Over 40 Exp ert classes aboa rd a 1974 Yama ha YZ250, and also led the way in th e internatio nal field of ri ders tha t asse mbled for the Canadia n-A merican (Ca n -Am) Chall e n ge race, w hich Nyblod led from start to finis h. Legarra finis hed second to Nyb Jod , w hile th e top Canad ian, Rickm an -BSA rid er Dennis Han sen , finish ed th ird. . The winnin g Am erica n tea m placed seven ride rs insid e the top 10, altho ug h the "Us vs. Them" battle end ed in a tie, whi ch was broken by Ny blod 's win. Rider s were paired against one a no ther by their ra nki ng: Expert vs. Expert, and so on in the evenly d ivided field of 26 riders. Legarra, wh o rod e a trio of machines, wo n both th e O pen Tw in and Sp ortsm an 500cc Exp ert .c1a s s e s and als o scored a pair of second-place fin ishes in th e O ver 40 and Prem ier 500cc Exp ert events. Alb erta's Hansen also notched a tw o-win tally, topping the Cla ssic 500cc and Premi er 500cc Expert classes aboard a pai r of Rickrnan s. AHRMA regular Mike Atkins did a nice job of filling in for the track's 1998 originator, Dick Mann , o n thi s year's design after Mann was unable to attend, as he was recover ing from surgery last Frid ay. Canada ' s Terry H yd e , a former Yamaha Factory rider, put his Triumphpowere d Rickman at the fron t of the field in the da y's first race, tlie combined Premie r Ope n Tw in a n d Spor tsman O pe n Twin classes, bu t Hyde q u ick ly met his ma tch, as the Triumph-mou nted Legarra chewed his way in to Hy de's lar ge lead in th e ea rly stages and then stole Hyde's lead and mai ntai ned to the finish . Legarra ' s m a rgin of vic to ry o n th e grassy, natural-t errain course was six seconds over Hyde's ailing machine, a loss H y d e would la te r a t t ribute to m echa nical problems. "A spa rk plug was all that the problem was," the Canadian said. "I tri ed so me special racing plug, but it started blubbering really ba d, so I guess I' ll go back to the cheap ones the next time out." A cha nge of p lu gs d id n 't enhance Hyd e's mot e-t wo performa nce, th ou gh , as Cali fornian Danny Davies' 1965 Triumph/BSA hybrid was the leader ou t of th e ga te in th e seco nd moto - althou gh Davi es, too, wo uld qu ickly find ou t jus t ho w fas t Legarra was. Lega rra swep t past Da vies in one fell swoop and from that po int checked out on the competition , leaving Davies to hold d o wn th e number- tw o spo t ahead of Hyd e. Th is was the finis hing order. Legarra aced th e wi n in the Open Twin Expert class, wh ile Da vies, the second -pla ce fin ish e r, was th e P re m ie r Open Twin Expert winner, followed by H yd e and the top Open Tw in Novice, Californian Bob N eilson, who fini shed ahead of Wayn e Rantz , Gord on Ed wards and Bill Rianda . The most dominant of the contingent of Canadians on hand, Hansen, had his hands full with Californian Bob Doran and his 1973 BSA 500 in the first Classic 500cc Expert mot o. Han sen wa s unable to recover fro m a poor start and trailed W th e BSA rid er by 10 seconds at the finish. AJS 370 r ider Mark Rolor, who wa s an early race lead er, finished third, ah ead of John Geer a nd Ca na di an Ken Burn in gham. Ha nse n had initial challenge s from Ossam ounted Dirk Mu rphy ea rly in th e seco nd moto . Murph y, th ou gh , re b o u n ded nicely to catch up to and u ltim ately pass Ha ns en o n th e fi na l ci rcu it of th e mil elo ng cou rse, even tho ug h Ha ns e n's ove ra ll w i n w a s secure, since Murphy was co n testi ng th e combin ed Classic 250cc Expe rt class. Doran tra iled Hansen in th e overa ll tally with a 1-3, followed by Gee r (4-3), Roler (3-4) and Burn ingham (5-5). Murphy' s impressive second -moto wi n, th ou gh, wa s thwarted by his crash im pa ired first-mote fourth-pla ce finish , relegating the Os sa Stiletto pilot to third overall behind Nevadan Jerry Brown (22) and Robert Pool e, who was the firstm oto winner. Hansen again faced tough competi tion in the Premier 500cc Expert class, as th e course designer, Atkins, put a BSApowered Matchless ahead of Legarra's Ariel in a moto-one shootout, in which .Hansen wo uld narrowly prevail. In th e squabble for second, how ever, Atkins emerged th e victo r, as he a nd Legarra tangled coming out of the final tum. "He (Atkins) took my front w heel ou t - he just came across into my line and I h ad no wh ere to go but in to t he hay bales," Legarra said . Han se n held off Lega rra's cha llenges in m ot o two to net the overa ll wi n , which finalized his two-class sweep, ahead of Lega rra (3-2), A tki ns (2-3) , Burningham (4-5) and Poo le (5-6) . . Co lorado's Mo rrill Griffith and his potent Yamaha 1974 YZ360 were Legarra's closest competition in the Sportsm an 500cc Expe rt class, a lt hough Legarra led every la p of both motos. G riffit h ro de in the Su zuki-mounted Legarra's sha dow, bu t he coul d n't find a way a rou nd Lega rra, who took th e wi n for a 1-1 sweep . Gri ffith (2-2) and CZ rid er Ed Flanigen (3-3) filled ou t the podium. Griffith also m ad e th in gs m iserabl e for Nyblod in th e 250cc Expert class, as Griffit h clawed his way into Nybl od 's leads in both m ot e s, th e closest fin ish being in the second mot o w hen Ny blod 's ma ssive lead had eva po ra ted and Gri ffith gave Nyblod 'a run to the checkered flag. Nyblod go t the nod by a wh eel. Utah's Robert Borg also rode impressi ve ly, ~opping a combined Classic 125 and 250cc Expert class despite a huge disadvantage in di splacement. Bor g' s 1971 CZ held o ff challeng es fr om Greeves rider Alle n Wenzel and BSAm ounted Terry Pratt to score a double w ha m my, although Wenzel w a s the winn er o f the Premier Lightwei ght Expert portion, ahead of Pra tt. Reece Dengl er's 1967 CZ 250 tw in piper topped th e first 250cc-d ominat ed (A bov e) The top Canadian rider, Denn is Hansen (58), won the Classic 500cc and Premier 500cc Expert c lasses. Here, he heads Larry Legarra (8U), who won the Sportsman Open Twin Expert and Sportsman 500cc Expert contests. (Right)Dallas Nyblod (2Y) rode to wins in the 250cc and Over 40 Expert classes at the Chehalis Classic in Washington. Premier Lightweight mot o, but Dengler cou ld m u ster no be tter tha n a fifth in mo to two, allowing Utah 's co nsisten t Kim Morgan to nab an overall win wi th a 2-2 ta lly. Ron Bres hea rs finis hed second overall, ahe ad of Dan gler. The day's final ra ce pitted three o f the fastest riders - Legarra, Griffi th and Nyblod - against one ano ther. Legarra rode a strong race in the first mo to , ov ertaking Nyblod fo r a win, bu t in moto two, it was classic Nyblod . Pushed by the likew ise impressive Griffith, the vi ntage m o to cr o s s pio neer topped off his stellar day with another \'\rin. CIJI The Farm Cheh alis, Washi ngton Results: Aug ust 22, 1999 (Round 13) PR EM O PEN TW EX: 1. Danny Davies ITri ). SPTSMN OPEN lW £X, 1. larry Legarra

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