Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The ' 70 s Singles fi nal brough t 14 ri d er s t o th e l in e . When t h e dus t cl ear ed at the end of lap one , hom etrack favorite Nick Tay lor was out in fro nt , wi th John Bowers on his rear wh eel. A furious battle for thi rd was w aged between ageless Larry Weiss , Da v id W il l s and Rich ard Reynolds . T ay lor didn 't bobb le and brought his Ya m aha to the flag in first. Second and th ird w en t t o B o w ers and Reynolds , respectively. The Sen ior class wa s th e thril ls and-spills feature of th e ni ght. It took three attempts to g et the rac e go ing . The Hard Luck awa rd went to AHRMA newcome r M ik e K e an e , wh o g o t holeshots on his Yam ah a 7 50 in the first two starts , only to be ou tga te d by the Ma ico -m ounted Ha milton on the start that counted . Ham ilt on led fr om wi re t o wir e, wi th Keane and Brown rou nding out the top three. T he Sportsman 750cc final again showcased the smooth rid ing style of M ike Scott , wh o ca pt ured his second wi n in the premier cl ass on his beau t i f u l 75 0cc Yamaha, ahead of Tr iumph rider Woods, w ith Eckh art , Taylor and Bill Allen rounding out the top fiv e. Good, safe raci ng was enjoyed by all , and promoter Bra d Ho fstetter ho pes to have AHRMA back next year fo r more v intage fla t -t rack raci ng . CN Trail-Way Speedw ay Hanover, Pennsylvania Results: May ZO, ZOOl [Round 61 011"1.0 : 1. Booker Poi rier ; 2. Geo rge Wi ll s; 3. Denni s Thurlow; 4 , Willlem Worthi ngto n. elSe 250: 1. Mike Connell; 2. John Soya; 3 . Mik e Metzler; 4. Jim Ack ley Jr. ; 5. Vincent Jett. ci.sc 500 /150 : I . Booker Poiri er ; 2. Mike Metzle r; 3. Scott Fluck ; 4 . Billy Kennedy : 5. Jame s Way . SPTSMN. 250 : 1. Bo oker Poirier; 2 . Da ve Sheffer; 3 . Dave Wills ; 4. Billy Kenned y; 5 . Nick Taylor. SPTSMN. 600: 1. Mik e Connell ; 2. Gig Ham ilton; 3. Clay Plck em: 4 . J ames Way; 5. William Rey nolds . SPTSMN 7 50 : I. Michael Scott: 2. Lew Wood s: 3. Brian Eckh art; 4. Nic k Taylor ; 5. Bill Allen . V ET : 1. Mik e Scott; 2 . Lew Wood s; 3 . Br ien Eckha rt; 4. Clay Plckem : 5. Bill All en. SR: 1. Gig Hamilton ; 2. Michael Keane ; 3. Melvi n Brown ; 4. Lar ry Weiss; 5. Gary Brennan. S/S R: 1. Melvi n Brown ; 2. Cha rles Plckem : 3 . Wayne Coleman ; 4 . Bob Gerberick . '7 0 s S GL: 1. Nic k Taylor; 2 . Jo hn Bower J r.; 3 . Richard Reyn old s; 4. David Wills : 5. Larry Weiss. lETHA Enduro Series ....nd z: Pilgrim Sands Trail R iders John Monahan Enduro Jerry-Rigged By J OE McLA UG H LIN FREETOWN, MA, MAY 27 ccording to the AMA rule book , an En du ro i s " a m e et wh e r e speed is not th e d eterm in ing fac tor and a t ime sc hedu le must be ma in tained ." After be ing the fa st est rider all day long, Tom No rt on learned th is lesson the ha rd way . He fail ed to realize t here wa s a r eset and a known control entering the last sec ti on of th e d a y at the John Monahan Endu ro . J erry Madore benefited from No rton 's misha p. A Pilgrim Sands Trail Riders John Monahan Enduro: Jerry Madore capitalized on a mistake by Tom Norton to win the overall High Point at round two of the NETRA Enduro Series In Freetown, Massachusetts. "I don 't really lik e to win this way , but a win 's a win - so I'll take it ," conceded Madore after learning of h is victory. Cl earl y , Norton had the race in th e b ag headi ng into the last section of the da y , having a four-point cu sh ion. " I n ev er stop p ed to l ook at my rout e sheet comi ng out of the sec ond-to - Ia st se c t ion , " said Norton. "T here was such a short piece of road b et w een the two sectio ns t ha t I thought it was just on e lo ng section. Wh en I hit the road, I was 18 m inutes la te, so I just kept go ing and didn 't look down at my computer until 1 was at the c hec k-out of the last section. As soon as I saw the look on the head checker's face , I knew I had burned the last check and blew it. " Norton m i ssed the lo ng r e se t b etw een the last two sections and entered the very last section so early , he was gone before the check crew even g ot set up! Rain had been scarce for most of the pa st month, but as fate wou ld have it, it ra ined quite heavil y the n ig h t before the e vent . It started again just as the first ro w of ride rs t o o k off and d idn 't let up until t h e event was half over. Norton qu ickly set the pace in the first section, losing 4:20 in th e slightly rocky single -t rack section. He wa s followed through by Hans Neff (4 :52) , Madore (4:54 ) and Neil D enn e tt (4 :57). The next section provided a com pletely different mix of t erra in , mostly sandy uphill and downhill trails with big berms and who ops . A ga in, No rto n led the way, lo si ng o nly one poin t while the rest of the AA field dropped two points. After a break for ga s, the second lo op utilized a good -sized portion of the Fr eetown State Forest m ot orc ycl e loop. This section p roved to be fairly slick fo r t he earl ier row s, while t he later rows fo u nd d eep ru ts form ing and rocks covered in slick m ud. Nor ton sepa rated h imself furth er fro m th e fiel d , dropping four po ints, followed by the fives of Madore, Dennett and Eric McEa chern . Th e rem ainder of the second lo op co ns is ted of the same fast , sand y m otocross-style section as earlier in t he d a y , though it w a s a little b i t slicker this t ime th rou gh . Ne ve rt he less, Norton and M ad ore b ot h he ld their YZs throttles to the stops, each losing only one minute in the long section. Neff, McEachern, Rick Clax ton and Peter Tanner , who JosLtwo ap iece, followed them in. A healthy reset followed before the co urse headed down a long stretch of ro ad to the secon d gas stop . Th e th ird loop, ridden by A and B riders only, proved to be the gnarliest st uff an yone sawall day. The final loop was nearly 30 miles long , with two sect ions of 17 an d 12 miles , respectively. Tho ugh th e ra in had stopped , the 17 -rn ile section w as a difficult on e. Much of the section was a seco n d p a ss t h rou gh a lo op run ear lier in th e day, though th is tim e it was ru tted out and very slop py. No one was even close t o Norton in the longer of th e two fi nal secti ons , as he managed to lo se on ly 18 m in utes over the 17 m iles . Closest to him wa s Madore , with 2 1 points , foll owe d by the 2 2 s o f Neff, M cEa ch ern and Claxton. F or everyone bu t Norton , a much -nee de d rest befo re th e fina l 12 miles gave every on e a c h an c e to recoup from the jackhammer effect of the relentless p o u n d i n g f rom th e Freetown rocks . Th e final 12 miles pro vided anoth er h e al t h y dose of ro c k garde n s, though the pounding was not quite as h ar sh as i n the previous sectio n. Madore and M cEachern aced t h e field , lo si ng 1 1 po ints api ece . Neff and Claxton followed through with 12 points each. In the end , Ma dore's 48 wa s p lenty good en ough t o b eat ou t M cEach ern's 5 1 and Neff's 52 fo r the ov erall win . Jim Pric e pu t in a very solid rid e on his KTM for the A High Point with a 55 -p oint score , while Doug Simone earn ed the B High Point with an 83 . Dan Selvidio won the C High Point on the sho rtened lo op . Norton may ha ve r uine d h is ch an ces fo r a n Endu ro c ha m pio ns hi p, sin c e th er e are no " t h r o w- aw a y " event s in th e sh o r t nine-ro und sc he d u le . After two rounds , Neil D enn ett si ts atop t he po ints ladder, holdi ng a five -poin t lead over Cla xton . CN John Monahan Enduro Freetown, Massa chusetts Results: M ay Z1. ZOOl [ Round ZI O /A H· PT: J erry Madore (Yam) . A H-PT: J im Price (KTM ). B H-PT: Dou g Simo ne (G-G). C H-PT: Dan Selvidi o (Suz). AA : 1. Er ic M cE ac hern ( Ha n) ; 2 . Han s Neff (KTM): 3 . Rick Claxton ( Hon). A BNTM: 1. Dav id Harris (KTM ); 2. Marty Griff (Yam) ; 3. Steve Ant oniou (KTM). A LT : J. Mik e Nash (CRE ): 2. Ryon Brown (S ua): 3. Scott Hoginskl (e RE) . A HVY: I. Matt Estes (KTM ). A 4 ·S TRK: 1. Lou is Colo m (Suz). A VE T: 1 . Pll ul Courvi lle (Yam) ; 2 . St ev e Peloquin (G-G): 3. Louis Dols (KTM) . A S R: 1. Peter Rugg ier o (KTM) ; 2. Je ff Grant (Kaw): 3. Robert Whit e (KTM) . B BNTM : 1. Rick Genti le (KTM); 2. David Dr am (KTM) : 3. Peter Kelly (KTM). B LT: 1. Fran Gau lIn (KTM ); 2. Peter Belanger (KTM) : 3. Peter An ani a (Hon) . e HVY: 1. J ohn Egzln (KTM) ; 2. Dav e Gaspa r (Hon) ; 3. Gary Ryan (KTM) . B 4-STRK: 1. Rick Sa gu n ( Yom): 2 . Lay ne Dutlinger (KTM); 3. J ohn Considine (Yam ). 8 VET: 1. Lance Brown (Han); 2. Tom Canesl (KTM): 3. Scott L ussier (KTM) . B SR : 1. Ron ald Pratt (Kaw) ; 2. Kev in Corbeil (Hen ): 3. Pat Fogarty (Yam ). BNTM: 1. Sco tt Pok en ham ( KT M): 2. Ken Salsnon (KTM) ; 3. Robert Costa (Hon ). IT: 1. Ben Kimbllil (vern) : 2. Michael Waters (Kaw ): 3. Steve Woodruff. C HVY : 1. Dav e Gali sew ski ( KTM) ; 2 . A l ex c e Ces tce e (KTM). C 4 -STRK: 1. J eff Goslenski (Yam} : 2. J ame s Dryd en (KTM): 3. Mark Th ar (Hon) . c VET: I . Ste ve Wirk us (KTM); 2. Dean Huff (GG) : 3. Kelly O'M earo (KTM) . C SR: 1. .Jem es Ante s (Yam); 2. Robert Kelli her (Yam); 3. Davi d Jon as (Suz). . S/ SR: 1. Paul Lussier (KTM) : 2. AI Zita (KTM): 3. Bill Jo hnso n (Hon) . MSTR: 1. Tom Farley (CRE) : 2. J oe Curti (Hon). WMN : 1. Deb Qu inn (Kaw). AMP/GFI Spring Series Round 5: Oatfield Raceway Mertens For Certain By J IM AND JUSTI N EN O S TURLOCK,CA,MAY27 T he Oatfield Racew ay played host to the fifth and final round of the 2001 AMP jGFI Spring Ser ies, sponso r e d b y Fox and Yamaha of Mod e sto, and i t was Po w er h o u se Yamah a-ba cked Steve Mertens who cl aim ed the vic tory in the 250cc Pro c la ss. The Sonoma resident, known for his crowd-p leasing , on -the -edge ri ding sty le , used back-to -beck go od sta rts to garner a solid 1- 1 score on the day over runner-u p Cr aig Truglio. cu c l• Riding for Yamaha of Mod e st o, T rug lio turned in a 2 -2 showing on the day after g etting the first - m o t o holeshot and lead in g earl y on, j ust ahead of Mertens. In fact, it looked like Truglio had it in the bag , a s he a n d Merten s checked out on the rest of the fiel d. How ever , on th e last lap , M erten s made his move after a long, do wnhill triple , t ak ing the inside li ne on the ensuing left-hander and eventually taking the moto win . In moto t wo . Trug li o 's t eam m ate Matt McCrummen snagged th e early n e _ S • JULY 1 t , 2001 75

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