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AMA Fall C
lassic, Round2
By Jay Hauser
DANVILLE, VA, SEPT. 19
n his mu ch-awaited move to the Pro
ranks, on e of the cou ntry's top amateur riders, Team Gr een's Ben Riddle,
has had to fac e th e qu estion, Can he
hang in the Pro ranks? Th e answer is a
resounding, Yes! Aft er a stro ng thi rd pl ace showing in the 12Scc Pro class at
the opening round of th e Fall Classic,
held a t Budds Creek in Ma ryl and, Rid dle sho wed up at Birch Creek for the
se cond round with something to prove.
Whe n the day was d one, Riddle had not
only come away with a very impressive
second- place ride to Robbie H o rton in
the 12Scc Pro class, but more importantly, he had taken his first Nationa l overall vic to ry . Rid d le' s pair of awesome
rides resulted in a d ou bl e mo ta sw eep
of the premi er 250cc Pro Fall Class ic.
Tria d Mot orsports /ProT el /Ballzee
Aggressive Wear' s Jim Neese was on the
gas aboard his YZ400F and too k ru nn erup honors to Riddle by riding steadily
and strongly. Neese also ha d a lit tle luck
o n his side - as d id the rest ofthe field in
the 250cc Pro class - when Horton's bik e
went so uth o n him during the first lap
of the first mota, after he had pulled the
holeshot and was rid ing out front .
The I2Sec Pro class fea tured some of .
the best racing action of the da y, as Horton 's Team Moto Plan et /Fox/FMF Racing YZl25 had no problems, as he went
for a double mota sweep of the class, bu t
it w as no easy tas k. Riddle was doing his
best to mea sure up to th e nationallv
ranked Horton and latched his KX onto
.Horton 's rear fen der in both motos .
Riddle rod e to a stro ng finish behind
H orton in moto one, pu sh ing past Kevin
Walker, David Krat z and Jeff Gibson to
get there.
,
Th e second 12Scc Pro moto was far
and away the best mota of the day .
James Web b got his sho t of glory for the
d a y w hen he aced the ho lesh o t over
Walker, Horton, Riddle an d Kra tz, but
h is lea d was sho rt- lived . H o rt on and
Riddle w hippe d into a fierce battl e rig ht
off the bat and mov ed past Webb and
Walker before the end of lap one . Once
out fro nt, the race was o n, and no matter
h o w h a rd H or ton tri ed , h e co u ld n' t
s hake young Rid dl e . Ridd le m a tch ed
Horton move for move, tum for turn, all
the way to the checkers, but experience
p revailed and Ho rton took the mota wi n
b y a one-second ma rgin . Wal ker
remained "Mr. St eadfast" and copped
another th ird -place finish . Kratz and
No rt h Carolinian up-and-comer [erad
Black rounded out the top five .
As stated before, Horton was o ut of
the hunt in the 250cc Pro class before he
could even get started , and Riddle used
this to his advantage. Aft er a few early
laps hovering in third behind local hero
Jim Neese a nd Jarman's Sportcycle's
Mike Martin out of Ch esapeake, Vir-
·
W
Events
ginia, it was time for Riddle to go to
work. Neese hit the ground on lap two
about the same time Ridd le was working past Martin; sud d enly, Riddle w as
in the lead and go ne. Martin held on to
second for a few laps, but a hard -eharging Todd Downs cam e out of nowher e
to take over th e runner-up positi on .
Downs parked his Yamah a in th at posit ion fo r th e durati on , wh il e eese
remounted and c ha rge d ba ck t o the
front of the field . Neese's cha rge ca me to
a n end when he crossed th e line for a
hard-fought third-place finish, just barely having enough time to push Martin
back to fourth. Local rider Chad ewto n poste d a good mota finish with a
fifth, just a head of O hio's Jeff Gibson
and Wiscon sin 's Da rby Flower.
In the seco nd 2S0cc Pro mo ta, Rid d le
mad e his intentions clea r by se tting sail
fro m the ge t-go . After a pictu re-p erfect
ho les ho t, all the rest of th e field could
do was wa tch his green rear fender d isap pea r as Rid dl e wa lked off a nd hid
from the field . Neese was the only rider
to even kee p Riddle in sight, but he was
unable to match the yo ungster's pace,
settling for second in the mota and the
s eco nd s te p on the podium . Black
proved tha t his top-fi ve finis h in th e
125s was no fluk e by backing it up with
a very impressive third-place ride in th e
mota, which pulled him int o thetop five
overall for the d ay . Black had displaced
Martin ba ck to fourth a bo u t halfwa y
(Above) Ben
Riddle (41)
wen t 1-1 to
take the
overall in
250cc Pro
rac ing at
round two of
the AMA Fall
Classic at
Birch Creek
MX ln
Danville,
Virginia.
(Left) Jim
Neese (3)
powered his
way to second
ove rall ,
beh ind Riddle,
in 250cc Pro
action.
through the mot a , and Martin ended up
s li p p ing one m ore spot when Dow ns
made a slick pa ss in the sw itchbacks to
take the fourth spo t away, putting himself in the fin al podium position. Martin 's day wa s still succe ssf u l, however,
as he ed ged out Black for fourth ove ra ll.
Newton, Flower a nd South Caroli na
Yamaha rider Chuck Shirley rounded
out the top eight.
etII
Birch Creek MX
Danville, Virg in ia
Results: September 19, 1999 (Round 2)
125 PRO M OTO t : 1. Rob bie Hort on (Yam): 2. Ben
Riddle (Ko1 W); 3. Kevi n walker (Yam); 4. Dav id Krat z
(Hus): 5. Je ff Gi bson (Kaw): 6. [e ra d Bla ck (Yam): i .
Chad Ne w ton (Yam); 8. Jam es Webb (Ya m); 9. Micha el
Campbe ll ( K.1.....) ; to. Darby Fowler (Suz)
125 PRO MOTO 2: 1. Robbie H orto n {Yarn), 2. &-n
Riddle (Kaw): 3. Kev in walker (V.l m); 4. Da vid Kr.l17.
tHus) : 5. Icrad Black (Yarn): 6. Mark wagne r (Y,l m); 7.
Ja mes Webb (Yam) : tI. C h~l d Ne wto n (Y.1 m); 9. Darby
Fowler (Suz); 10. Ch uck Shirley (yam).
125 PRO O /A : 1. Rob bie H orton (Ya m) : 2. Ben
Riddle ( Ka w ): 3. Kevin W,l lke r (Y,l m); 4. Da vid Krat z
(H ue) : 5. ]e rad BI.1ck (V.1m); n. J.l mt'" Webb (Ya rn): 7.
Chad Newton (Yam) ; 8. Mark Wagn er (Vam); 9. Darbv
•
Fow ler