Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

away to more than a two- min ut e mar gin by the checkered flag. The 1O.2-mile cou rse la id out by the Plattin Creek Dir t Rid ers co nsisted of fast, rolling trails with a few rock-ledge sections . A high-speed fire road that was nearl y a mile long and a grass- track area jus t prior to the pit area kep t speed averages brisk, wit h Leivan ave raging 24.6 mph, comp leting five laps in 2:05:31. Tak ing his 11th holesh ot of the season, Kaw asaki rid er Chris Thiele led the AA class into the woods. Brandon For rest er - w ho has been on a la te-season charge, with pod ium appeara nces in the last six events - tucked in close behind, wh il e Lei va n s lid und ern eat h Mi ke Windma nn to start his ride from third . • The trail ran d own a fast fence lin e before br eak ing off onto a virgin sec tion of trail full of ro ck y led ge s. Ju st a fter e n te ri ng thi s sec tio n , Th ie le lost the front e nd an d went down whil e Forre s ter, Lei van , and W in d mann a ll mov ed arou nd. Forrester took over and opened a small ga p over Leivan when the trail entered a fast fire road . Dust was a bit of a factor in certain sections of the course, and the road section happened to be the worst. Leivan wisel y backed off. When the trail turned back into the woods, Leivan had company, as Windmann was closing fast. Wh en Fo rres te r sta r ted th e g rass track, he had a ga p of approximately 15 seco nds on Leivan , By the time the leaders reached the sco ring tent , Leivan had cl o sed to Forre s ter' s re ar ti re , wit h Windmann an other 20 second s d own. Thi ele was close behind in fourth, while Chris esbitt rounded out the top five. Midway through the second circu it, Forrester was hed ou t in a ro cky creek crossing . Leivan quickly go t a ro u nd him, and Wind mann was able to mov e into seco nd . Forrester got going in time to ho ld on to third. "Bra ndon was ridi ng good, and I was conten t to follow hi m," Leiva n said. "I had show n him a wheel a time or two to le t hi m know I wa s still the re , bu t I hadn' t tried to force a pass. Fortu nately, he went d own just befo re a dusty section , and wh en I got into the lead , I tried to push p retty hard and let them contend wit h the dust." The se pa ration between Leiva n an d Wi nd ma nn after two laps was 18 secon ds , with Forrester anot her 10 seco nds ba ck. Thiele s till held fou r th bu t was having tro uble keepi ng the ru bbe r sid e down, and he d ropped back from th e lead trio. Nesbitt was still rid ing har d in fifth, 25 ticks behind Thiele. Leivan cruised through the woods, negotiating th e lapped traffic and continuing to pu ll away from the field, later reporting no problems throughout the entire event. He added 30 seco nds to his lead the third time around and another 25 on lap four. "A course like this is really good for my WR400," Leiva n noted . "Fast, roIling trails whe re you ca n open it u p a re w he re the thumper reall y s hi nes, so I ke p t it pinn ed a nd co nce n tr a te d o n being smooth and consis ten t." Leiva n certainly was consis tent, as all five of his laps wer e cove red by a 24-secon d sp read . Forrester reeled in Wind mann during t he third la p but co ul d n ' t find a w ay arou nd . Wind mann had a three-second edge over the Yamaha-mounted you ngster at lap' s end, while Leivan 's lead was nea rly a minute. Thiele was still fourth, and Tanner England had climbed to fifth. Windmann had problem s durin g the white-flag lap, bouncing off a rock and sq u a re ly int o a tr ee , which cos t h im almost a minute whil e he tried to regain his composure. Forrest er took advan- tage of the situation and moved into the runn er-up s pot, a p o s iti o n he h eld throug ho ut the remaind er of the event. The final lap proved to be anticlimactic for the fron t-runners , as th e Dunlop / Answer/Und erWARE/Tsuba ki/ Su nstar / DP Brakes-supported Leiva n kep t it upright and fin ished with a lea d o f just ov er two minu tes. With a rid er ' s best 10 of 14 sco res going toward the series championship, Leivan now has a "perfect' score. Forres ter pu t an add itional minute on Wind mann on the final lap a nd has all bu t clinched the number-th ree plate for 1999. Windmann , who recentl y returned fro m a silver- medal performan ce at the Portuguese ISDE, claimed the final podium spot a nd secu red fou rth ov era ll in the final points sta ndi ngs . Alth ou gh Thiele's d ay d idn't go as he had planned , he still finished in four th a nd will wear number tw o in the 2000 ca m p ai g n . Bobby Duncan, who had been a fro nt-ru nner in the A class a ll yea r long , mad e th e jump to th e AA division for the rem aining tw o rounds of the series and put in a consis tent ride all day to rou nd ou t the top five. Perhaps the most im pressive rid e of the d ay wa s th at of Four-Stroke-class rider Gary Pilant, wh o suffered a broken colla rbone a nd a few broken rib s just three weeks ago at the prev iou s eve nt. He need ed so me point s in his attem pt to win his class championshi p , so Pilant entered the even t on a ZSO Honda and comp leted a sing le lap in 2:32:59 to earn the "ha rd -core" award . CIf Result s O /A : 1. Stev e Lei van (Yam); 2. Br.. andon Forrester (Ya m) ; 3. Mi ke wind mann (KT M) ; 4. C h r is Thi e le (Kaw): 5 . Bobby Duncan (Y.1m); 6. Ta n ne r Eng la nd (Yam); 7. Tim C ibso n (Y.1m); 8. Kevin Boyle (Ho n): 9. Kev in Burts (Suz) : 10. M.ltt Fale tti (KTM) . AA : 1. Brand o n Fo rres te r (Ya m); 2. Mike Windma n n (KTM ); 3. C hris Thi ele (Ka w ): 4. Bobb y Dunca n (Yam); 5. Tan ner Engla nd (Yam). A: 1. Kevin Borts (Suz) ; 2. Matt Fale tti (KTM) ; 3. 1 Ga ry Mittelbcrg (Ya m); 4. [ohn Stru ckhoff (K. W); 5. Ion Simons (Yarn) . 125 B: 1. [aso n Dill (Ko1 W); 2. Ja mes SI0.1n (Yam ); 3. Mike Schae fer (He n): 4. Matt [a meson (KTM); 5 . Jod y Smith (Suz ). 200 8 : 1. Stev e C re ws (K,l W); 2. Robert Arm on (KdW); 3. D.lle G r ie inger (KTM ); 4. r .1t Declue (KTM); s 5. Dennis M,ltos ich (Kaw). 250 B: 1. Tim Gibso n (Yam); 2. Jason Stega ll (Kaw ): 3. Matt We is (Ya m); 4. Richard Hart (Yam); 5. Da nny Cra wfo rd (Hen) . O PEN 8: 1. Chris 510.1" (KTM ); 2. Way ne Hatfi eld (KTM); 3. M.1 Coffma n ( J '" o .J:I z 25

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