Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

District 36 Moose Westem Regional Cross Country Series MRANN Racing Series Round 6/5: Westem States Cross Country (Left) Despite a first-tum crash, Ro bbie Zimme nnan t ough ed it o ut f or third overall In Dayton, Nevada. By C H RIS G H IO N E AND M I C H E LL E L E E P HO T O S B Y M I C H E LL E L E E DAYTON, NV, MAY 12 1717 0 hey sa id it couldn 't b e don e ," U sa id District 36 Cross Coun try st eward Ch ris Sykes, but the We st ern States Racing A sso ciation proved it cou ld when they held the first-ever ev ent sanctio ned by both th e AMA's District 36 and the Motorcycle Racing A ssoci at ion of Northern Nevada. Serving as a championship round for both series , all th e top ride rs from both orga nizations c am e out to do battle. In th e end, KT M's Brian Garrahan was the fast est on the day, taking the ov erall victory in just three hours and 27 minutes. The Da yton Fairgrounds prov id ed riders w ith so m e unfami liar terra in . As more than 3 50 riders li ned up for th e st art , m any of th e top rid er s didn't k now w hat t o ex p ect, as th ey were go ing to be com peting against racers th ey no rmally didn 't race against. A t the sou nd of the shotgun , the ri ders took off down a lo ng stra ightaway th at led into a few qui ck turns an d then back down a fast fire road that took them out onto the cou rse. Th e f irst 15 miles of the 37-m il e course featured some gnarly rock sec tio ns that kept riders on th eir toes and speeds dow n. The rem ainder of t he co urse was made up of fast, tw isting fir e ro ads, along with some fast singletra ck tr ails in and out of th e trees. M an y of th e top riders got st arts that were far from th eir best, incl ud ing the FMF/ Maxx is/Sm ith Goggles sponsored Ga r rahan , whose b ike d id n 't start for three or four k icks. One rider who didn 't was te any time w as Reno Motor Sp o rt s/ Rac eT ec h/ IMS - sp on so red D e n n i s B e lin g h e r i . 50 JUNE 20. 2001 • cue I e After m ak ing h is wa y thro ug h the first super -r ock y section of the l ast la p, B ria n pi ck ed u p his pa c e even m o re. " I got p a st tho se ro c k s an d j ust k ind of p ut it at a hard pace and tried to catch h im [Beli ngher i] on the last lap," he said . "I caug ht him about five m il es to the en d , an d he was pretty m uch d on e. " A ft er mak ing the pass , Br ian con t inued o n to take th e o verall w in , w h ile B el ingh e r i h a d bu ilt a larg e e no u g h l e ad that he was a bl e to make it to the fin ish in second. Com ing home a lon ely th ird was Zimmerm an , who had pull ed awa y fr om the rest of the field on th e fi nal la p . F in ishi ng fourth was Pat r ick Garrahan , who was able to m ake a pass on fi fth place fin isher Sam Ke y near the end of the f i n a l l ap . K awasak i r ider Dam ien G a lford f i n i she d s i xth. Honda -mounted Chris Peplowsk i fi nish ed seventh. Roundin g out the top 1 0 were Su zu k i ri d e r T im St owe , Yamaha jockey Russell Pereira , and Honda pilot Kev in Brown. . eN (Above) At the fi rst -e ver event sanctioned by both the AMA' s D istrict 36 and the Motorcycle Racing Association of Northern Nevada, the Western States Cross Country race, Brian Garrahan scored the overall v ictory In j u st three hours a nd 27 minutes. (RIght) Dennis Belingherl suffered b ike woes but stili placed second overall at the Dayton Fairgrounds event. who put his Kawasaki near the top fiv e at the start and th en qui ckly moved toward th e front. "I got a good start, probabl y fourth or fifth off the start," noted Bel ingheri. "T hen we hit the rocky sec ti o n and I pass ed every o ne . , ju st k ind of ro de as smooth as you co ul d thr ough the rocks ." At the co nclusio n of the lon g fi rst la p, Belingher i ca me around in fro nt. Al so near th e fro nt was the Yama ha of Ren o M o to r s port s/Br i d g est o n e/ T ho r-sp onsored Sam K ey . Garrahan ca me aro und in fifth , cl osely fo llowed by Tea m Green Ka w a sa k i ' s Cra ig Wesner , who ha d battled ba ck an d forth with Garrahan for m uch of the fi rst lap . A little further back was the Yam aha of Specialized Motorcycl es of Car son City /Cycle Ge ar/FMF rid er Rob Z i m m e r m a n , follow ed b y t h e KTM / A ra i/Mo ore' s Cycl es of Santa Cruz -spo n sored Pa tr ick G a r r ah a n ; both ri d er s ha d st ead il y moved fo r ward aft er slow st art s. "I had a good start and go t into a first -corner cr ash ," sai d Zimm erman. " I got bound up in th at. On c e I got going , I just c o u ld n 't g et a rhyt h m go ing in those ro cks. It wa s brutal. " By the end of the second lap, posi tions had again changed. Belingheri came through in the lead, but B rian n e "" s Dayton Fairgrounds Dayton, Nevada Results: May 12, 2001 IRounds 6/5 1 had m oved up in to second , abo ut 30 sec onds bac k. Com in g arou nd j ust a sho rt d istance behi nd Gar rahan was Wesner , who had also c o ntinued to m ove forwa rd . In th e ve r y ro cky section at the start o f t h e t hi r d loop , Wesner charged to Brian 's rear fender. "I don 't th ink he knew 1 was th ere," sai d Wesner , " so I tr ied t o sneak by hi m li ke he had done on lap on e. It d idn 't work . He reali zed I was there be fo re I go t by and go t on th e pipe." Althoug h he was un a bl e to m ak e th e pa ss We sner stayed glued to Gar ra han u ntil nearly halfwa y through th e last la p, wh en he severely dam aged h is front rim on a roc k , essentiall y endi ng his race. Th e race was n ot over for Brian , ho wever. E arly on the last la p, Bel ingheri suffe red a rear flat, which , along with losing his front-brak e lever earli er in th e race, greatly slowed his pace. "A fla t rear tire in the rocks is terri ble to rid e o n, so I had to slow way down ," Belingheri sa id. "I knew that the y were catc hi ng m e." A O / A : 1. Br ian Garrah an ( KT M) ; 2 . Dennis Bel ingheri (Yam ); 3 . Robbie Zim rne rrnen (Yam ) : 4. Patric k Ga rraha n (K TM); 5 . Sa m Key (Yam) ; 6 . Dam ien Galford (Kaw); 7. Chris Peplowskl (Hon) ; 8. Ti m Stowe (Suz); 9. Russell Perei ra (Yam) : 10. Kevin Brown (Hon) . A 200 : I. C h ris Ma a s (K aw ): 2 . Matt h ew Teegarden (Gas) ; 3. Erik Hatch . A 250: I . Bri an Ga rrehe n ( KTM) ; 2. Den nis Belingheri (vern ) : 3. Rob Zlmmermen (Yam) . A OPEN : 1. Sam Key (Yam) ; 2. Kirk Stephe nsen (Yam); 3. Roderick Kreiss (Suz) . A 4 -STRK: 1. Russell Perei ra (Yam) ; 2. Ke vi n Brow n (Hon); 3. J ason Fret (KTM). A VET: 1. Chri s Peplcw skl (Hon) ; 2. Ron Picken (KTM) ; 3. Darrol Brown (Han) . A SR; 1. Greg Bum s (KTM) ; 2. Michael Harper (Ka", ); 3. Charlie M4",hall (KTM). A S/SR : I. Rod ge r Mer cer ( KTM ) ; 2 . Peter Prichard (KTM); 3. Fred Sumrall (KTM) . A WMN : 1. Heather Wil son (KlI w) . B 2 0 0 : 1. Bry ce Olson ( KTM) ; 2. Terry Miller (KTM ); 3. Gran t Glenn (KTM). B 2 50: 1. Chr is Zeto (YllIm) ; 2. Jere my Wh ite; 3. Joel Ray (Kaw). B OPE N : 1. Jame s Stanle y ( Ho n) ; 2 . A ndy Jenny (Han ); 3. Kelly Purdy (KTM). B 4 -STRK : I. Gary Qu igle y ( KTM); 2 . Ti tan McK ibben ; 3. Gebe Strou se. B VET: 1. Marc Palmer (KTM) ; 2. Paul Mahoney (Han) ; 3 . Peter Bienas (KTM) . B SR: 1. Gr eg Tomsi k (Hus) ; 2 . Wesley Kyle (Han ); 3. Bill Trem aine. B S/SR : 1. Brad Bi rd (YlI m) : 2 . Don Hopkins (Yam) : 3. Paul O'N eill (KllIw). B WMN : l. .Jesstc e Gh ione ( Kaw ); 2 . Jenny Pedersen (KTM) ; 3. Darlene Sumrall (Yam) . C 200: 1. Matth ew Yeldcvlnos (Sw ); 2. J oshua Palo me (Han) ; 3 . Matth ew Stevens (KTM). e 250: 1. Gabriel Eggen (Han) ; 2 . Jo el Burk ett (Han ); 3 . J ared Reed. OP EN: 1. Te rry Eva ns ; 2 . Ste phen O'Brien (Han) ; 3 . Dan Baldwin. e 4 - STRK: 1. Mi ch ll el Du rflin ger ( KT M ) : 2. Michael J acobsen (Han): 3 . Dean Kemp . VET: 1. Dolf Van Kesteren; 2. J eff Stone; 3. Rock y Tllender (Han) . SR: 1. Tim Tallent: 2. Edd ie Gragg ; 3. Brent Krick (Yam ). S/S R: 1. Ste ve Campbe ll (K aw ) ; 2. Gar y Gamb ill (Yam); 3. Randy Wendt (Han). GENT ; 1. Bob Collins (KT M) . e e e e e

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