Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Plen ty of other riders tri ed to take the spo tligh t away fro m Smith. The Yamaha rid ers were ou t in fu ll force . Stylish, high-flying Jim Neese of G re ens bo ro , N orth Carolin a , who is sponsored by Tri ad Powers po rt s Yamaha , Pro teI, FMF, Ball Zee, Hammerhead Gra p h ics and Pirelli, seemed to tak e to the 100foot downhill trip le. Ever y lap ga ve him an opportu ni ty to exercise his creativejumping ability . " O nce I s ta r te d ju m ping , I ju s t could n' t sto p," said Neese. N eese was rew ard ed by the crow d's applause and cheers. He wa s awarded at the end of the day wit h second place overall an d $550. Ru nni ng 3-3 for thir d ov erall for the da y was Clark Stiles from Tanner, Alabama . Stiles ralli ed back fro m some slow starts to move throu gh the pack into third position . Stiles ' ne ve r-give- u p a tti tude earn ed him $500 for his performance. Another grea t show man traveled all the way from Corpus Christi, Texas, to take on the other Four-Stroke National riders. Todd Downs, sponsored by Yamaha -H ond a of Troy , ro d e his Ya ma ha thumper to a grea t second-place finish in the first moto. In the second moto, Downs had to overcome a di sappointin g start. He battled his way back to fifth through 17 rid ers. There were a few times during the second mot o that Downs seemed to be ridin g by the seat of his pants to make up for lost time. His tenacity paid off wit h a 2-5, for a combined fini sh of fou r th overall. This also gave him a paycheck of $525, hop efu ll y ma kin g hi s trip fro m Texas worth the drive. Rou nding ou t the top five was a local rider trying to break into the pro ranks . Nate Esli nger had a sh ort dri ve from Ottaw a, Illinois, compared to some of the other four-stroke riders present. He sta rted off the line in I Oth, fell back to 11th and made his way to seve nth on the final lap, whe re he fin ishe d . In th e seco nd moto, Eslinger came off the line in fourth and batt led with Downs each lap for third place. He ended the moto a close fourth behin d Downs. His overa ll resul ts we re 74 for a fifth overall and $325 in cash. eN Lincoln Trail Motosport s Casey , Illinoi s Results : October 10, 1999 MOTO 1, 1. Kelly Smith; 2. Tod d Downs; 3. Cla rk Stiles; 4. Jim Neese; 5. Robbi e Skaggs; 6. Jimmy Wilson; 7. Na te Eslinger; 8. Da vid Espinoza : 9. Tod d Sheed y, 10. Charlie Degn er . MOT O 2: 1. Ke lly Smith; 2. Jim Neese ; 3. Cla rk St iles; 4. Na te Esli n ge r; 5. To d d Do wn s; 6. C ha rlie Degner. 7. Richard Wa tson ; 8. Tod d Fletcher; 9. David Espi noz : 10. Ma tt Pursley. a O/A: 1. Kell y Smith; 2. Jim Nt'L'Se 3. Cla rk Stiles; 4. ; Todd Downs; 5. Na te Eslinge r; 6. Cha rl ie D egn er : 7. Da vid Es-pino za ; 8. Richard Watson; 9. Kevi n .Stud ley; to. Jimm y Wilson. ECEA E nduro Series Round7 LumisMill H Scrambles : are Hoess socks it to 'em By Mark Uth CEDARVILLE, NJ, ocr. 17 usky man Fred Ho ess en gineered a n improbabl e , l a s t- la p , c o me from-behind victory to ea rn the overall wi n at the ECEA Lumis Mill Hare Scr am bles. Capitali zi ng on the misfortune of runn er-up Kevin Bennett, th e Husqv arna USA /Sco tt Goggles / Ara i/ Spectro / Michelin / Acerbis / An swer/ WE R/Motion Pro f A-Loop /Fredette Racingsponsored H oes s caught u p to and passed the KTM-mounted Bennett as he a tten ded to rep airs in th e pits. Bennett rejoined the race, a nd 't he two lea d er s rail ed aro und the cou rse on th e whiteflag lap , Hoess refu sing to yield and Bennett un able to tum the tide. They finished 1-2 by a mere two-second margin. Th e w in ma rked th e fi rs t time in quite a while that the WR250-mounted Hoess was able to avoid mechani cal gremlins and earn top billing. "I had the en tire susp ension redon e after Tri-Coun ty (rou nd fiv e)," Ho ess revealed . "It turned out tha t [ nearly rod e that entire event with a brok en shock that limited the rear -wheel travel to abou t 5 inches. Last wee k (at Budd s Creek), deep ruts and mud forced my tire insert off the rim (w hic h resulted in a DN F). It felt good to br ing this one home." Regardin g th e tr ack, H oess laud ed the CDR layout. " It was a grea t co u rse with a nice, lon g, tight sec tion - we ll, tight for ha re scrambles, anyway. [ had fun the whole time." H oess moved u p from the nu mbert h ree p osi tio n, passing series po ints leader Bill At kinson coming ou t of the barrels at the start of the fifth lap, and se t his sig h ts on Bennett, a seemi ng ly ins u r mou n tab le m inu t e a n d a h a lf ah ea d . A t th e ti me, Benn ett w as in hyper-drive mod e. "I was o n it a ll d ay long," Bennett remarked later . Unfo rtu na tely for the Fairway KTM/ WER / SRC /M a u r tco Powder Coa t i H Hartem We ldi ng-sponsored Bennett , h e soon experienced troub le s th a t tilted the playing field , as his KTM's shift lever fell off du rin g th e six th trip aro und the 7.2-mile course. "My shifter fell off, so I stop ped and ran ba ck up the trail to look for it ," Bennett expla ined . "Unbeliev. ably, the bolt and shifter were right next to each other on the trail - I really go t lucky. However, I did n' t have any too ls with me, s o I co u ld on ly fi ng e r - tig hten it b ac k d own a n d nurse it into the pit s fro m the re ." Passi ng throu gh the barr els at the beginni ng of the white-flag lap, Ben- . nett s till ha d a 28-second lea d on Hoess. " My pi t cr e w hel ped m e ge t it tigh tened down, bu t Fred d y scoo ted ah ead of me just as I was exiting the . pits, " Benne tt re coun ted . " I tr ied everyth ing, even just screaming m y hea d off at him, but I just cou ld n' t get aro u nd him. [ th ink th at Fredd y knew that all he had to do to stay in front was keep it "On the trail." And tha t's what Hoess d id. The Competition Dirt Rider s planned a three-eve nt card for the day, with ATV a nd You th races p rece d ing th e mot or cycle main event. The main eve nt was packed with all no n-You th moto rcycle classes , wit h a s urp ris ingly . robust tu rn out in s p i te o f the threatenin g wea th er, w hic h w as cool and overcast with occasional passin g showers. Fortunately, the ma in event missed the worst of any pr ecipitation, a nd temperatures hovered in the low 60s. At th e s ta rt of th e ma in even t, the KTM-mounted Atkinson led briefly after ge tting the holeshot. Bennett wa s fourth off the start, and in the earl y stages of the first lap he assumed the lead , a position he ma naged to hold for six of seven lap s. Atkinson and H oes s w e re fe nder to fe n der for m uch of th e e ar ly goi ng , locked in a d an ce tha t continued for the fir st four laps. Eve ntua lly A tki nson yielded, setting the stage for the calami- tou s finish between Benne tt and Hoess. Jack Lafferty Jr. rode a strong race, maintaini ng the fourth-place position for the first four laps. Jack passed Atkinson during his fifth trip aro u nd th e cou rse to claim the nu mber-three position , w hich he held until the fini sh, coming in less than three minutes behind the lead ers. Rich Lafferty agai n use d a shaky start as an excuse to work his way throu gh the 'peck. During the cou rse of the race, the mi ddle Lafferty, Rich, passed Bob Benne tt, Dan Sharpless, Atkinson, et. al., to earn the fou rth-overall seed at the en d . Atk inson hel d on for a fifth-place finish. Fred Hoess streamed to th e ove rall win at the penultimate rou nd of the ECEA Enduro Series , the Lumi s Mill Hare Scrambles, in Cedarv ille, New Jersey, beating runner-up Kevin Bennett by a scant two seconds. Th at, co u p led w it h h is win at Budds Creek, makes him the odds-on favo rite to win the series championship, With one round rem aini ng. Rounding out the d ay' s top finish ers w er e Hond a rid ers Steve Pfeffer and Bob Bennett, Yamaha-mounted Jam ie Wright, and KTM pilots Craig She nigo and Bob Solomon, who finished in th e six th - th rough l Oth-overall posit ions, respectively. Like the leaders, each rider eN com pleted seven lap s on the d ay. Lumis Mill Hare Scrambles Cedarv ille , New Jersey Results: Octobe r 17, 1999 (Round 7) O /A: 1. Fred HOt. (Hu sh 2. Kevin Benn ett (KTM); 'SS 3. Jack Lafferty Jr. (Suz); 4. Rich Laffer ty (KTM); S. Bill nnett At kinson (KTM); 6. Steve Pfeffer (H en ): 7. Bob Be (H oe): 8. Jam es Wri ght (Yam ); 9. Cr a ig Shenigo (K'TM ); 10. Bob So lomo n (KTM ). A 200: 1. Kevin Benn ett (KTM); 2. Jack Lafferty Jr. . (Suz ): 3. Da le Hiles (KTM); 4. Tod d Quinn (TM). A 250 +: 1. Fre d H oess (H us) : 2. Ric h Laffe rty (KTM); 3. Bill Atkinson (KTM ); 4. Steve Pfeffer (H e n): 5. Bob Bennett (Han). A V ET: 1. Craig She nigo (KTM); 2. Bob SOlomo n (KTM); 3. Bip Gunselman (Yam); 4. Mik e Beeler (J(TM); 5. Dan Polak (Kaw). B 200:' 1. John Hummel; 2. Le w is Rob bins; 3. Ron DeCaro (Yam); 4. Dan Carper; 5. Steve Brown. B 250+: 1. Brian Burt (Kaw ); 2. Giles Ryan; 3. Robe rt Novo tny (Hen): 4. Jim Shainline; 5. Jeff Brown (Ka w). B VET: 1. BillC ilmo re; 2. Richard Ferside . 4 ~STRK : 1. Stew Larkin (Hen) : 2. Scott Devecchio (Ya m) ; 3. Ma rk DiPa squal e (Ya m ); 4. Jo h n Ca ma ra (Yam); 5. Wayne Maso n (Han). S R: 1. Ke vin Re ed (Ya m) ; 2. Kevin Kuenzne r (KTM); 3. Lou Gree n; 4. Dan Com pton (KTM); 5. Craig Copeland . S /S R: 1. Scott Wolfersbe rger (KTM); 2. Jack Lafferty Sr . (KTM) ; 3. Rich Trader (KTM) ; 4. Mika el larson . (Yam ); 5. Sa l Croce vera (H us ). WILLOW SPRINGS MOTORCYCLE CLUB and TOYOTA present the 1999 TOYOTA CUP. Roadrace Series Roadracing every month at the fastest road in the West...WILLOW SPRINGS RACEWAY! The next roadrace meet is November 20-21,1999 WSMC offers a New Racers School every month for riders who want to improve their riding and experience the thrill of roadrace competition. Roadracing year round available only at Willow Springs with WSMCI W illow Springs weekend S uperTickets for WSMC even ts are just $10 per person (children 8 and under are admitted free); th e ticket includes parking, general admission seating, free overnight camping, and unlimited pit access . . WSMC provides w inning opportunities to our members every month...come and race with us soon! 45

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