Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Thunder in the Sand By Barbara Williams WILDWOOD, Nj, ocr. 9-10 . ® uzuk i-m ou nt ed Bar ry Ca rs te n d ominat ed th e 125cc A, 250cc A and Over 30 A classes at the fourth ""n nua l Thund er in the Sand two-da y motocross beach race, in spite of a broken bike an d a tooth ache. Rossi ni Racing Products' Ty Wallace had the Ov er 25 A even t locked u p, and he w as the next-biggest money wi nner of the weeken d, w it h th re e moto seconds a n d a third for seco nd overall in bot h 125cc A and 250cc A. "It was fun ," sm iled Carsten back at his camper w ith his wife, Tammy, and his dau ghter and baby son. "Racing on the beach is so mething d ifferen t." An a d ded b onu s w a s wh en Steffi Bau , TFWITW (The Fas tes t Wo man In The Wo rld), step ped up to the sign-u p wi n dow to enter the 125cc A contest along with the guys. "I hop e to d o w ell here, " she said qu ietly. Steffi did ind eed d o well : a top-five finis h in the 125cc A event - maybe not good enough to satisfy her, but certainly enough to bother som e of the guys. Th is eve nt , produced by th e New Jersey Hot Rod Associ ation, is quickly becoming a classi c, as it is unique . Wildwood 's huge mile-long beach track drew 350 ride rs w ho were eager to pla y in the sand at the wat er's ed ge, against th e ba ck d ro p of th e More y ' s Pi er amusem ents and boardwalk. In addition to th e con tin gencies provided by va riou s indus try su p p orters, Morey' s generous ly offe red fre e passe s to the Pie r for rid e r s, a s we ll as d iscount cou p ons for the ir fam ily m embe rs o r friends (a donatio n totaling a $14,000 value) . The track itself, designed an d maintai ned by JMX Racing of No rth Carolina, quic kly showed who could ride in sand and w ho were the victims of wishful thinking. Carsten can d efinitely ride in deep sa nd . Ca rsten's victories were not w ithout effo rt, how ever. He di d not get every holesh ot - those went mostly to Wallace - an d on Sa tu rday, both Wa llace and Bria n Carroll ma d e life difficult for Ca rs te n by lea di ng th e firs t 250cc A moto. However, Carsten was in con trol by the tim e.they came past the scoring stand after the first lap, and he led every lap therea fter. Walla ce absconde d wit h the holeshot an d led for much of the firs t lap, with Carro ll on his YZ' s fender and Ca rste n in th ird . Ju st after th e m id w ay p oin t, Ty ' s fron t w heel s t rayed into some whit e sa n d a nd it twisted sha rply , d u m pi ng Wall ace. Ca rroll step ped up, and for a few turns he and Carsten were on ly a bi ke length ap art. But Carste n was patient and kept th e pressure on, fina lly ta king over th e lead la te in the lap . With Car st en out in front, Wall a ce be gan s loggi ng throu gh th e sa nd to wo rk his w ay back .up, chas ing Carroll and Ra lp h DeLanzo III of Cape May Court, New Jersey. Ty was able to pas s DeLanzo and rega in third , but that was as far as he got. Wallace crossed the line in third, and Carro ll was seco nd. Sa tu rday's th in overcas t turned to rain on Sund ay, mostl y annoying d rizzle with som e windy showers. Luckily, the tem peratures d id not d rop much. The second 250cc A mo to was the last of the da y, and it turned ou t to be the bes t. Carsten and Wallace opened up an early lead on the rest of the field of 15. Walla ce tried every thing, but he could not force an opening to get past Carsten, w ho sa iled p a st th e checke re d fla g a leng th ahead of Wa llace - t h e most Events - (Abov e) Brian Carro ll's wild rides at the Thunder in the Sand event in Wildwood, New Jersey, earned him second place in t he Over 25 A and Over 30 A cl asses and third place in th e 250cc A cl ass. Carroll sports the Stars and St ripes at every race, so he's easy to spot. (Left) Champion Steffi Bau (956) rallied some cages by plac ing fifth in the 125cc A even t. advantage he' d had all moto. Ca rroll had go tten held u p in turn one when a couple of rid ers'slid out and bloc ked th e track . Recover ing in fifth , Brian se t out on a mission towar d th e fron t, but by the tim e he go t to third, the lead p air w ere s till two long s traightaways a head . So he se ttled into third, but he was soon joined by Jim McIlvaine of Englis htown. Carroll's comfy position turned int o a battl e that was eve ry bit as fierce as that between Carsten and Wallace. Lap after lap , they blast ed th rou gh th e sa n d, Carro ll d u m pi ng soggy , sandy roost on McIlvaine through th e corners and the n hold ing off se rious cha llenges on the straights. Fina lly, on the las t h a lf of the las t la p, scu d ding over t h e i nfield w hoops , McIlvaine goosed it and d id n' t brake for the corne r until th e last seco nd . Jim muscled in to th ird an d held it until the checkered flag. "I was dyin' ," Ca rroll la ter sai d to Mcilvaine, with a lau gh. "I was jus t hoping tha t I could hang on an d maybe you wouldn' t mak e it past me into the cor- ner, bu t you did. Good race, man." Car sten accep ted congra tula tio ns for his wins with his customary smile. "My reg u lar 250 wa s b roken, so I borrowed this one from a frien d:' sai d Cars ten. "Even thou gh it isn't set up for me at all, it d id the job." Wallace was philoso phical about the weekend . " This is really abou t the hardest I've ' raced since com ing back fro m my b roken femur," said Wallace. "The sta mina isn' t nearly w ha t it 's hou ld be ye t, bu t RRP is willing to hang in there wi th me, so next year we're going for it." Wallace and RRP pla n to compete in th e PACE Arenacross Series , th en hop over to the AMA EA Spo rts Supercross 12Scc Eastern Regi on even ts, and th en go on to all of the outdoor National MX ~ries. ~ Thunder In the Sand Wildwood, New Jersey Results: October 9-10,1999 85 (1-11), 1. Kyle Perry (Hen): 2. David Scott (Kaw ): 3. Ted dy Grant (Hen): 4. Da le Kelly Jr. (Kaw); 5. Chris Ren nles (Ka w). 85 (U·13): 1. Jesse Festen...tine (Kaw): 2. Dean Smith (Hen): 3. Cha r les Perna (Ho n): 4. Matthew Bred er (Yam); 5. Ma tthew Mash ur a (Hen). 8S (14.1 5): 1. Da vid Bona na ta (H en): 2. Michael Stuart (Yam); 3. Matt McCu rrv (Yam). 5 /M IN I: 1. Je~se FL'Sten;tine (K.1W); 2. Kyl e Perry (Ha n); 3. Dean Sm it (Ho n); 4. Da le Kelly Jr. (Kaw). h SCHBY; 1. Kenneth Rand Jr. (Yam ); 2. Archie Perry (Hen): 3. [im my.Romer (Han); 4. Zach Mikl ea (Ya m) ; 5. Eric Bala we jder (Y am ). C LGB Y: 1. C h ris top her C ho n ko (Ya m ); 2. Matt Bartho lomew (Han); 3. Chri...to ph er Beddi ges II (Kaw): 4. Tony Cav azza (Han); 5. Bobby Boyle (Suz) . 125 A, 1. Barry Carsten (Suz): 2. Ty wallace (Yam); 3. Brad Batso n (Hus) : 4. Ch ristopher Chonko (Yam); 5. Stefania Bau (Kaw). 125 B: 1. Kenn eth Rand Jr. (Yam); 2. Jimmy Romer (He n): 3. jeremi Truex (Suz ); 4. Archie Perry (Hen): 5. Char lie Fisher (Suz). 12 5 C: 1. j u stin Fa ze kas (Ka w ); 2. Zach Mi klea (Yam); 3. Chip Koban (Yam); 4. Bria n Calma (Ya m); 5. Stev en Spe ncer (Hen) . 1251250 D: 1. Andrew Ricco (Yam); 2. justin Rand (Suz); 3. Alb ert Mooney Jr . (Ya m) ; 4. Gr eg Roman (Kaw): 5. Ch arles Hock (Hen). 250 A: 1. Barry Ca rsten (Suz ); 2. Ty Walla ce (Yam) ; 3. Bria n Carroll (Yam); 4. James McIlvaine (Yam) ; 5. Bob Sorenson (Hon). 250 B: 1. Mark W esnof sk e (Ha n) ; 2. Robert Stravinsk y (Su z ): 3. Mark Di Pasquale (Yam) ; 4. Jo e Deller (Ka w); 5. Jason Benkowitsch (Ha n). 2SO C: 1. Michael Moschitta (Kaw); 2. Richie Strube (Ka w) : 3. Alfred Portilla (H on); 4. Dean Ploumi tsakos (Suz): 5. Cha rles Hock IHo n). 25+ A: 1. Ty Wal lace (Yam); 2. Brian Ca rro ll (Ya m); 3. Brad Batso n (H us): 4. And rew Genti le (Yam); 5. Bill Sellers (Ka w ). 25 + B: 1. Ro bert Stravins ky (Suz); 2 . Ma rk Loniewski (Ka wb 3. Jason Ben kc wttech (Han); 4. Jeff Hudan ich (Ya m); 5. Keith Bowma n IHon) . 25+ C: 1. Antho ny Na rch ini (Ka w ); 2. Karl Bohn (Ka w) ; 3. An d re w Vih el yi (Ho n); 4. Alf red Po rt ill a (Han); 5. Michael Hudanich (S02). 30+ A: 1. Ba rr y Carsten (Su z) : 2. Brian Ca r ro ll (Yam); 3. James Mci lvaine (Ya m ); 4 . Bob So re nso n (Hon); 5. Christopher Va nnote (Ha n). 30+ 8: I. Mark Loniew ski (Ka w): 2. Jim Helves ton (Kaw): 3. Dav id Myers (Yam); 4. Bill Mor gan (Suz): 5. Jeff Hudanich (Yam) . nder (Hen): 2. Antho ny Na rchini 30+ C: 1. Rick Be (Kaw): 3. Karl Bohn IKaw) : 4. Michael Moschitta (Ka w); 5. Tom Cu tter (Ka w ). 35+: I. Da vid Mye rs (Ya m); 2. William Fix (Ka w); 3. Paul Hanna (Ho n): 4. Tom Cutter (Kaw): 5. Bill Morgan (Suz). U/l AM : 1. Ma rk Wesn of sk e IH cn): 2. C h a r li e Fishe r (Suz); 3 . Jimmy Romer (Ho n) ; 4. Mark DiPasquale (Yam); 5. Joe Delle r (Ka w ). . U/l C/ O: 1. Robe rt Novak (Yam); 2. Ch ip Koban (Yam); 3. Richie Strube (Kaw); 4. Jeffrey Mount (Suz); 5. Jus tin Rand (Suz) . 39

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