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CCS Southwest Sprint Series Twin trophy on Bill Snyder's potent 450cc Honda twin. Roy Plattel took his Triumph to second in the class, while David Huddin beat fellow Texans Bill Henry and Tim Castloo, both Bultaco-mounted, in the Singles category. In 250cc Amateur action, Danny Eslick and Cory West traded the lead several times, with the win going to West. Eslick beat Jared Enright and Bret Sowders to the line to take the runner up spot. Eslick, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, took top honors in the 125cc contest, besting West this time, while Enright and Sowders again finished in the following positions. The fight for second place was so heated that the second- and third-placed riders almost swooped past Eslick at the line. Merle Scherb raced his dad's Rotax to the front in all three starts of the Open Amateur final to capture his first 600cc win. Jones, Fleck and Mike Stubblefield, Texans all, finished behind the youngster. The 250cc and Open Beginner classes were pretty sparse, with the win going to Brandon Battson after he served up a classic slide job on Paul Barnes, a move he learned from Barnes in the heat race. The 250cc trophy went to Battson over Justin Elswick, while Barnes took Open honors. Cody Thibodeux "ran off to the win in the 85cc final, while a three way battle for second came down to the wire, with Jeffrey Harder finishing second over Logan and Lucas Scherb, in that order. The Pee Wees put on a good show, with Chad Ray grabbing the lead on the restart after bailing off on the initial start. Matt Castloo grabbed the lead on the second lap, however, and never looked back. Ray finished second, ahead of Johnny Cone and Will Hen~. _ Round 1: Firebird Raceway Romero rolls on By J Firebird Raceway: James Romero (64) won every class he entered at the season opener of the CCS Southwest Sprint Series in Chandler, Arizona. ed wins in Heavyweight Supersport, Heavyweight Superbike, Unlimited Supersport, GTO and a nail-biter of an Unlimited GP contest, against A.J. Ammann. In all, Romero and his Suzuki GSX-R750 collected more than $600 in prizes and contingency money on Sunday as he celebrated his 28th birthday. The last and best race of the weekend was the Unlimited GP, which featured a $1000 purse. Fourteen riders took the green flag for the start of the 10-lap sprint, with Romero getting off the line first and leading the field into turn one. Ammann blew his chance for a good start with a big wheelie, but he caught Romero on the second lap and passed him going down the long Firebird straightaway with the superior speed of his Yamaha R 1. Amman began to pull away, and it looked like he was going to win hands down, but Romero recovered and closed the gap to the leader. "I had to tell myself to calm down," said Romero after the race. "I P/W: 1. Matthew Castloo; 2. Chad Ray; 3. 2, 2000' cue the locals by beating Montgome~ in the Lightweight GP contest. It was a close race, with several lead changes, but Weich used traffic to his advantage to collect the win. Roger Heemsbergen bought Jared Kapoor's F4 Honda and used it to win the Middleweight Supersport race, over Jewett, who led at the start, with Kapoor and Trent Feltman on his tail. Heemsbergen came up after a mediocre start and joined the leaders a lap later. Kapoor made a mistake on the next lap and ran off the end of the track in turn one. Jewett's lead vanished, and Heemsbergen got by to win by less than two bike lengths. Kapoor got some measure of revenge in the Middleweight Superbike race by beating Jewett and Heemsbergen in a race that could have gone to any of the three leaders. Jewett led at the start, with Heemsbergen in second, followed by Kapoor. Their lap times dropped into the low 1: 1Os as they pulled away from Feltman. Kapoor got by Heemsbergen and tried to put a pass on Jewett on the outside of tum two, but he couldn't make it stick. Kapoor finally got by in turn lOon the last lap to take the win. eN Firebird Raceway Chandler, Arizona Results: January 8-9, 2000 [Round 11 Johnny Cone; 4. Will Henry (KTM); 5. Mason Young. 85: 1. Cody Thibodeux (Han); 2. Jeffrey Harder (Hon): 3. Logan Scherb (Hon); Lucas Scherb (Hon): 5. Scott Beckley (Hon). 125: 1. Dllnny Eslick (Suz); 2. Cory West (Han); 3. Jared Enright (Suz); 4. Bret Sowders (Han); 5. Doug Criswell (Han). 250 B: 1. Brandon SaUson; 2. Justin Elswick (Hon). 250 AM: l. Cory West (Han); 2. Danny Eslick (Suz); 3. Jared Enright (Suz); 4. Bret Sowders (Hon); 5. Charlie Carter. 250 PRO SPT: I. A.J. Eslick (Su,); 2. David Khoury (Han); 3. Jennifer Snyder (Han); 4. Bill Bellvers (Han); 5. Kirk Thompson (Han). 600 PRO SPT: 1. Michael Hinds (Rtx); 2. Blane Fore (Yam); 3. A.J. Eslick (Yam): 4. Jennifer Snyder (Rtx); 5. Bill Beavers (Hon). 600 EX: 1. Clayton Hull (Rtx); 2. Brandon Cartwright (Rtx); 3. Victor McAnally (Rtx); 4. Mark Burch (Hon); 5. Jason Tyer (Han). 883: 1. Victor McAnally; 2. Mark Witham; 3. Mike Speh; 4. Greg Welford; 5. Stephanie Welch. VINT SGl: 1. David Huddin (Yam); 2. Bill Henry (Bul); 3. Tim Castloo; 4. David Henry. VINT lV/: 1. Brian Fleck (Hon); 2. Roy Plattel (Tri). VINT PRO: 1. Aaron Jones (Hon); 2. Bill Snyder (Hon); 3. Mitch Hovden (Yam); 4. Alan Moriarty (Yam). OPEN A AM: 1. Merle Scherb (Rtx); 2. Aaron Jones (KTM); 3. Brien Fleck (Hon); 4. Mike Stubblefield (Hon); 5. Terry Wright (Hon). OPEN B: 1. Paul Barnes. I'IAD 000: 1. Jerry Past (Hon); 2. Jack Yost (Hon); 3. Dustin Cantrell (Hon); 4. Ted York (Hon). FEBRUARY Ross CHANDLER, AZ, JAN. 8·9 ames Romero started the year out in a big way, winning every class he entered during the season opener for the CCS Southwest Sprint Series at Firebird Raceway. Romero collect- Colin County YDuth Center Arena McKinney, TeXIs Resalts: Dece..ber 18, 1999 [Raand 21 36 MICHAEL tried to stay smooth and I started to reel him in." As Romero pulled up on Ammann, he put himself into a position to capitalize on any miscue. With three laps to go, Romero got a big break. "My bike started missing," reported Ammann. "It did this to me once before, but I thought I had the problem fixed." The R1 coughed at the exit of turn 14 on the last lap, and Romero was right there to take the lead and the win. "I thought he missed a shift exiting turn 14, and I was able to get by him," said Romero from his pit. • • n .. VII' S The season opener was a double points race and the first one with CCS's new owners, PACE. Bill Syfan and Kevin Elliott from PACE were on hand Saturday and helped emcee the awards banquet on Saturday night. Inexplicably, the attendance for the first race was way down. According to CCS registration personnel, there were only 65 riders entered. Some Firebird regulars were waiting for new bikes. Mark Ledesma said he was in the process of building an SV 650 to compete in AMA twins races at Daytona. Chris Greve was waiting for an RC5l. Scott Willock was on crutches after crashing his R7 at Buttonwillow. In spite of the low turnout, there was plenty of good racing. John Jewett and Laroy Montgomery left the rest of the field behind in the GT Lights race. Jewett initially held the advantage, but Montgomery got the upper hand during the closing stages of the 30-minute event to win by less the one second. Scot Welch upheld the honor of U/L S/SPT EX: I. James Romero (Su,); 2. Roger Heemsbergen (Hon); 3. Trent Feltman (Yam); 4. Eric Haugo (SUI); 5. Lenny Beckman (Yam). U/L S/SFT Al'I: 1. los Undhart (Yam): 2. Curt Loch (Hon); 3. Kane Lasky (Suz); 4. Michael Seabrook (Su,): 5. Jeffrey Gittleson (Yam). H/W S/SFT EX: I. James Romero (Su,); 2. Rory Palmer (SUI); 3. Eric Haugo (Suz); 4 Kenneth Canteen (Suz); 5. Robert Roy (Suz). H/W S/SPT AM: 1. James Shambarger (Yam); 2. Kane Lasky (Sut); 3. Peter Miglioranzi (Hon); 4. Michael Seabrook (Suz); 5. Chris Sedillo (Yam). M/W S/SFT EX: I. Roger Heemsbergen (Hon); 2. John Jewett (Suz); 3. Trent Feltman (Yam); 4. Scott Jensen (Hon); 5. Steve Kopp (Yam). M/W S/SPT AM: I. Shannon Moham (Hon); 2. Roddy Cooper (Kaw); 3. John Terenski (Han); 4. James Shambarger (Yam); 5. Peter Miglioreanzi (Hon). H/W S/BK EX: I. James Romero (Suz); 2. Rory Palmer (Suz); 3. Eric Haugo (Suz); 4. John Jewett (Suz); 5. Kenneth Conteen (Suz). H/W S/BK AM: I. Kane Lasky (Suz); 2. Shannon Moham (Hon); 3. Michael Seabrook (Suz): 4. Robert McRobbie (Kaw). M/W S/BK EX: t. Jared Kapoor (Yam); 2. Roger Heemsbergen (Hon); 3. John Jewett (Suz); 4. Scott Jensen (Hon); 5. James Cox (Yearn). M/W S/BK AM: 1. James Shambarger (Yam); 2. Shannon Moham (Hon); 3. Michael Dantonio (Yam); 4. Roddy Cooper (Kaw): 5. Eric Bartlett (Yam). L/W S/BK EX: J. Laroy Montgomery (Suz); 2 Scot Welch (Suz): 3. Thomas Krause (Han): 4. Jason Davis (Suz); 5. Roger Coyle (KllW). 1./W S/BK AM: I. Joshua Sortor (Apr): 2. Roddy Cooper (Kaw); 3. John O'Keefe (Suz); 4. David Khoo (Hon): 5. Whit Bissell (Su,).