Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

GFI South Racing Winter Series Round 1: Perris Raceway Laninovich, Dubach Strike F rst STORY AND PHOTOS BY GREG ROBERTSON PERRIS, CA, JAN. 7 nder beautiful sunny Southern California skies, nearly 400 riders packed into Perris Raceway for the opening round of the GFI Racing/ Goat Eyewear/Pro Circuit/Klotz/Foxsponsored Winter Series. After a full day of racing, it was the young and the not-so-young who emerged with the first Pro-class wins of the new year, as rookie Pro Billy Laninovich dominated the 125cc Pro ranks and multi-time Four-Stroke and Vet World Champion Doug Dubach prevailed in the 250cc Pro class. In the one-shot, 20-minute 125cc Pro moto, Sean O'Connor led the pack out of the slamfest in turn one, followed by Laninovich, Mark Tilley, Brian Sweany, Steve Mertens and Turbo Reif. Laninovich dropped O'Connor back to second within a lap and quickly started to pull away. Mertens charged all the way up into second, just ahead of Shane Bess, by lap four. Laninovich seemed to have the Perris layout wired; he ended up greeting the checkers with a commanding 25-second lead at the completion of the 13-lap race. "I got a second-place start, behind O'Connor, and it took me a lap or two to get around him, and then I just stayed calm and rode a smooth race," said Laninovich. Reif moved the lone Honda in the field all the way up into second place with just a couple of laps remaining. The battle for the second-place money went down to the wire, with Reif holding off a determined Bess. "I got off to a bad start," explained Reif. "Me and Bess followed each other all the way up and just picked 'em off one at a time. The track was awesome, the ruts were good." "I got a bad start and made a lot of mistakes on the first lap," said Bess. "I ended up passing Reif and pulling away, but I ended up off the track and he got back by me." Fourth place went to Dubach, who was closing in on the Reif-Bess duo but ran out of time. "Getting stuck in the starting gate didn't help me too much," said Dubach. "Once I got rolling, I was doing pretty good. Some of these younger guys go really fast. Considering I was riding a standard YZ250F with steel handlebars and everything, that thing went around there pretty good. A couple more laps and I might have been able to mix it up. I was U Perris Raceway Perris, Califomia Results: .laJluary 7, 28Bl [Round 11 50 STK (4-6): I. Daniel Overton (Cob); 2. Paul Nelson (Cob); 3. Garrett Jackson (Cob); 4. Daniel Voyles (Pol): 5. Damian Tackett. 50 STK (7·8): I. Dakota Gamer (Cob); 2. Zachary Fussell (Cob); 3. Bryce Stewart (Cob); 4. Bryan Brney (Cob); 5. Dylan Schmoke (Cob). 50 OPEN: I. Dakota Gamer (Cob); 2. Zachary FUS~f~!I1 (Cob); 3. DllVld Meade (Cob); 4. Dylan Schmoke (Cob); 5. Jared Thing.. (Cob). 60 FIT: I. Ashton Zernkkow (Kaw); 2. Joshua Bloodworth; 3. Dillon Trotter (Kaw): 4. Daniel Overton (Kaw); 5. Stone Wilson (Kaw). 60 BEG: I. Michael Voyles Jr. (Kaw); 2. Max Touw (Kaw); 3. Travis Baker (KTM); 4. Crystal Layton (KTM); 5. Bubba McQuinn (Kaw). 60 NOV: I. Robert Taylor (KTM); 2. Mike Meade (Kaw); 3. Scott Noble (Kow); 4. Dakota Garner (Kaw); 5. David Meade (Kaw). 60 INT: 1. Michael Holl (Kaw); 2. Webb Mossey (KTM); 3. Trevor Reis (KTM); 4. Bryce Huffmen (KTM); 5. Donnie Kearney (KTM). 60 OPEN: I. Jeff Alessi (KTM); 2. Trent Pugmire (Kaw); 3. Michael Hall (Kaw); 4. Webb Ma....y (KTM); 5. Trevor Reis (KTM). 80 FIT: 1. Johnny L.oos (Kaw); 2. Ryan Legg (Hon); 3. Wes Markley (Kaw). 80 BEG: I. Travis Freistat (Yam); 2. Cody Masson (Han); 3. Tony Caputo (Hon); 4. Joshua Duppong (Yom); 5. Elizabeth Bash (Yam). 80 NOV: I. Chappy Fiene (Suz); 2. Matt Elliott (Yam): 3. Dana Dreier (Yam): 4. Tyler Freeman (Hon); 5. Jake Hulett (Kaw). 80 INT: I. Michael Parker (Yam); 2. Andrew Petrie (Kaw): 3. Bobby Romero (Yam); 4. Kyle Foltz (Kaw); 5. Brad Masters (Yam). 80 OPEN/EX: 1. Mike Alessi (Yam); 2. Cale Wallace (Yam); 3. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 4. Charlie Morrison (Hon); 5. Daryl Ecklund (Hen). S/MlNI: 1. Mike Alessi (Yom); 2. Cele Wellece (Yem); 3. Deryl Ecklund (Hon); 4. Chris Nihan (Suz); 5. Cherlie Morrison (Hon). SCHBY: 1. Donnie Gritton (Yam); 2. Anthony Bru5cella (Hon); 3. Spencer Meineke (Yem); 4. Daryl Ecklund (Hon); 5. Scott Simon (Yam). 4-STRK OPEN: I. Casey Longmen (Yern); 2. Micheel Hull (Hon). 125 BEG: 1. Kemeron Silve (Yam); 2. Tobies Chevalier (Yern); 3. So Schwenke (Yern); 4. Garrett Taylor (Hen); 5. Zachary Soathoff (Kaw). 125 NOV D-I: 1. Chase Meineke (Yam); 2. Corey Murphy (Hon); 3. David Meyers (Yern); 4. umy Reese Jr. (Kaw); 5. Kevin Holmes (Suz). 125 NOV 0-2: 1. Paul Johnson (Yam); 2. Daniel Shaw (YlIm); 3. Chris Nishimura (Hon); 4. Brandon Kerr (Yern); 5. Joshua Borden (Yam). 125 INT D·1: 1. Richie Owens (Kaw); 2. Jesse Casilills (Yam); 3. Eric Meyer (Yern); 4. Donnie Gritton (Yarn); 5. Mickey Griffin (Yern). 125 INT D-2: 1. Josh Stice (Yam): 2. Jeff Eide (Hon); 3. Nick Alvarez (Hon); 4. Ryan MeG.. (Yam); 5. Chez Smith (Yam). 125 PRO: I. Billy Lanjnovich (Yam); 2. Turbo Reif (Hon); 3. Shane Bess (Suz); 4. Doug Dubach (Yam); 5. Steve Mertens (Yam). 250 BEG: I. Nicholas Venoumey (Suz); 2. Steve Cloonan (Hon); 3. Miles Sandridge (Hon): 4. Eric Ekstrand (Yam); 5. Nethan Castellanos (Yam). 250 NOV: I. C.J. Mahon (Suz); 2. Corey Murphy (Han): 3. Jason Myhren (Hon); 4. Scott Roegner (Hon); 5. Jonathan Robison (Kaw). 250 INT: I. Richie Owens (Kaw); 2. Tim Weigand (Hon); 3. Mickey Griffin (Yam); 4. Richard Aibach (Suz); 5. Josh Stice (Yam). 250 PRO: 1. Doug Dubach (Yam); 2. Turbo Reif (Hon); 3. BlIIy LlIninovich (Yam): 4. Shane Bess (Suz): 5. Takase Tanaka (Kaw). 25+ NOV: I. Billy Clifton (Kaw); 2. Don Goettling (Suz); 3. Brian Pinard (Hon); 4. Kendlill Stanley (Hon); 5. Greg Buechler (Yam). 25+ INT: 1. Brad Schultz (Kaw); 2. Brllndon Milstead (Suz); 3. JlIke Wikoff (Hon); 4. David Bagwell (Suz); 5. Mike LIcitra (Suz). 25+ EX: 1. Jon ZaM (Kaw); 2. Don Berg (Hen); 3. Billy Mercier (Suz); 4. Dustin Evans (Hon): 5. Devid ZlIhrt (Suz). 30+ BEG: 1. Antoin Daily (KllW); 2. Mike PlIrsons (Hon); 3. Jay Latimer (Suz). 30+ NOV: 1. Juon Williams (KTM); 2. Eddie Cfllft (Yam); 3. Larry Gross (Yllm); 4. Guy Thompson (Yam); 5. Tom Bell (Hon). 30+ INT: 1. Devid BlIgwell (Suz); 2. David Fontes (Hon); 3. Mike Licitrll (Suz); 4. Ken Lurcook (Suz). 30+ EX: 1. Jon Zahrt (Kaw); 2. Olin Berg (Hon); 3. Kevin Montgomery (YlIm); 4. DllVid Zahrt (Suz); 5. Woyne Zahrt (Suz). 35+ NOV: 1. Brad Smith (KTM); 2. Todd Freistot (Yam). 40+ NOV: 1. Cary WBtson (KTM); 2. DlIniel Smith (Hen); 3. Brad Sloan: 4. Randy Griffith (Yam); 5. J.D. Bramlet (Yam). 40+ INT: J. Kevin Dunham (Yam); 2. Larry Gross (Yam); 3. Darin Layton (yom); 4. Jeff Gianni (Yom); 5. Pryor Campbell (Hon). 40+ EX: 1. Brent Bettin (Hon); 2. DllVid Fontes (Hon). right with them at the end. I haven't ridden a 125cc Pro class in about eight years, so I can't complain." Mertens brought his Yamaha across the line for fifth, ahead of Nathan Woods, O'Connor and Nick Hansen. Dubach got to the first turn first in the one-shot, 20-minute 250cc Pro moto but quickly came under fire (Above rightl Jon Zahrt styled his way to the Over 25 and Over 35 Expert-class wins at the opening round of the GFI South Racing Winter Series South. (RIght) At Perris Raceway, Doug Dubach (4), en route to the win, grabs the 250cc Proclass holeshot over Billy Lanlnovlch (32) and runne....up TwtJo Relf (3). IBelow) Richie Owens (18) eventually found a way around Donnie Gritton (39) for the 125cc Intennedlate-class win. from Laninovich and Takase Tanaka. Laninovich dogged Dubach for three laps before making his way into the lead. Laninovich started to pull away from Dubach when he went down hard. "I was starting to face-plant into a bank along the side of the track and I was trying to hold myself up, and my front end washed out and I hit a big kicker and high-sided all the way down the hill," explained Laninovich, who would re-enter the race in 10th. Dubach inherited the lead, but he started feeling pressure from Bess by the midway point. Bess was all over Dubach for a couple of laps before clipping Dubach's back tire while entering a turn and going down. Dubach continued on uncontested for the win, some 10 seconds ahead of Reif. "I was riding another out-of-thecrate YZ426F in this race, and I just wanted to come out and race and have fun," said Dubach. "Those guys were riding well. Racing is racing, and I won the race. The guy leading crashed all by himself and the other guy ran into the back of me, but I'll take it. I've lost races that way, and I can appreciate it when I win one that way." Laninovich kept his YZ250's throttle pinned and worked his way up into third, behind Reif, at the checkers. "Once I got back up, I knew I didn't have enough time to catch Dubach, because he was going so fast," Laninovich said. "I knew I could catch some of the other guys. I'm not really happy with third place, but when you get up from a crash like that, it takes a lot out of you." Bess recovered for fourth, over Tanaka, Dennis Stapleton and O'Connor. Kawasaki-mounted Richie Owens was the top Intermediate rider on the day, topping both the 125cc and 250cc classes. Jesse Casillas and Eric Meyer finished second and third, respectively, to Owens in 125cc competition, while Tim Weigand and Mickey Griffin did the same behind Owens in the 250s. eN cue .... n • _ S • JANUARY 31,2001 29

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