Events
AMA Eastern Four-Stroke National Motocross Series, Round 1
Neese as well before the end of the same
lap.
"1was ge tting arm pump really bad,"
N ees e exp lai ned . "I hadn't ridd en the
four-stroke as mu ch as I u sually d o. I
ju st wante d to keep th e lead a fter
pulling that holeshot, but I just cou ld n' t
hang on . I w asn't co mfo rta ble . I ju st
wa nted to finis h well, with some good
points. It's go ing to be a long six weeks
of racing and I wa nt to be ab le to kee p it
safe."
Ha lfw a v into the mot o, Kra tz and
Gu rnee succumbed to Wallace' s charge.
N eese co u ld n' t ho ld o ff Ca rs ten and
relinquished fourt h a lap later. Am ara d io and Downs had passed more than a
dozen rid ers .
By Don Schneider
BUDDS CREEK, MD, sm. 12
e ll Y Smit h , b a ck ed b y KT M
Moto rcycles USA, looked incredible aboard his Na tional number tw o KTM 620LC4, and to the delight of
h is m ech anic, Tom Mo en , Sm ith p ut
toge ther an im pressive 2-1 mot o tally to
garne r the first overall win of the 1999
A MA Eas tern Four-Stro ke N a tio na l
Motocross Series. The series' first round
d rew an impressiv e 36 Fou r-Stroke Pro
riders to Budd s Creek MX Park.
Ballzee Aggressive Wear and Husqvarna Mot orcycles USA, co-spo nso rs of
the six-race series, were stoked to hold
the even t in co nju nction with the final
ro und of the FIM 250cc GP. The crowd
was in a frenzy, wa tching the thumpers
pound o ne o f th e bes t tr a ck s in th e
nation . Tra ck ow ne r Jon athan Beasley
and crew kept it loo king pri sti ne, which
mad e for some gr eat Open-class racing.
• Fin is h in g secon d on t he d a y wa s
firs t- ti me Four-Stro ke r ace r Ba r ry
Ca rsten , with a 3-4 mot o tally. The final
podium spot was take n by Rossini Racing Pr odu cts' Ty Wa llace w it h a 5-3,
over Triad Powersports' Jim Neese's 7-2
and Team Atlas Yama ha's Robbi e Horton's 1-9.
In the' first moto, YZ400F rid er Jim
Neese pulled the holeshot, wit h Horton,
Anthon y A ma ra d io , Carter Gurn ee,
Smith, David Kr a tz , Ca rs te n , Kevin
"Sk y " W alker, Wall ace and Tod d
Downs in close order ins ide the top 10.
The mayhem began halfway in to lap
one, after a hu ge tabletop jump.
"I just passed Wallace and was very
close to Wa lker," Downs later recounted. "We both flew off the jump together
and on different sides of the take-off actually launching at an angle at on e
another."
~
