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GFI Racing Fall Series North
Round 2: Hangtown National MX Track
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(AIghtI steve
Mel'tens (55) won
both the t25cc and
25Gec Pro classes
at the second round
of the GFI Racing
Fall SerIes North.
(Below) Shawn
Trantham _
the
RANCHO CORDOVA, CA, SEPT. 9
ound two of the GFI Racing Fall
Series descended upon the infamous Hangtown National track and,
just like the first round, it was Steve
Mertens - piloting a Powerhouse/
FMF/Troy Lee Designs/IRS-backed
Yamaha - who dominated the Pro
ranks. And this time he came away
with double class wins, acing both
250cc Pro motos as well as carding a
2-1 score in the 125cc Pro class.
Mertens still struggled with starts all
day, but that didn't matter, as he
carved out lines on the track en route
to leads that, at times, baffled his
competitors.
"I was a little bummed after last
week, because I should have won
both classes, but I felt good today,"
said Mertens. "I used the whole track
because it got a Uttle one-lined out
there and [Nathan] Tieamey was definitely riding good today."
Mertens' only glitch came in the
first 125cc moto. With Nathan Tiearney out front, Mertens locked horns
with Yamaha of Modesto/TMR/
O'Neal/Spy-backed Craig Truglio in a
battle for second. Mertens tried several desperate attempts to get by him
and then appeared to have the pass
made with an inside move, but both
riders went down.
"We didn't make contact," Mertens
later said. "He saw I was coming to
the inside and I just caved in the front
end. It screwed him up, too, because
he was right there."
Mertens rebounded quickly but
couldn't catch Tiearney before the
checkers.
Although Mertens returned in moto
two with a solid victory, he still made
it interesting. While enjoying a comfortable lead, he went down at the top
of the hill and got back under way
just as Tiearney made his way by. A
surprised Tiearney, knowing the victory would give him the overall,
turned it up and kept Mertens at bay
for a lap and half, but after a few barbanging incidents, Mertens eventually
made his way by for the victory.
"He was a little bit faster than me
today on the 125s," said Thor/Pro
Action/MCW/Scott-backed Tiearney,
"but it was fun, and I'm good with a
second today."
Many of the more than 550 riders
on hand were caught off guard as the
normally hard-clay track surface was
nearly nonexistent, thanks to a weeklong dumping of sand. The track set
up perfectly and stayed dust-free,
despite temperatures in the 90s.
R
40
OCTOBER 3, 2001 •
cue
25Gec Intennedlate
winner on the
Hangtown National
MX Track.
While Mertens swept both 250cc
Pro motos, Daniel Blair and Oakley
Sport/Posey Racing/TCR-backed
Matt McCrummen split holeshot honors. McCrummen shot out to the lead
in moto one and gave Mertens a battle, eventually taking second and,
coupled with a fifth in moto two, a
well-earned third overall on the day.
Blair, after carding a third in the first
moto, looked good in moto two as he
led for several laps, only to give up
the lead to Mertens after several costly bobbles. Blair ended the day with a
3-2 score for second on the day.
In 250cc Intermediate action,
Shawn Trantham capitalized on
Trafton Chandler's costly first-moto
error. Chandler got the holeshot and
slowly began stretching out his lead
on Trantham but then went down on
lap three. Trantham motored on for
the victory while Chandler fought
back to take sixth.
Chandler returned in moto two
with a solid win over Joey Rodriguez,
who ended the day second overall
with a 3-2 score. However, Trantham
rode smart, checking in third to take
the overall.
Eric McCrummen also took advantage of a mishap in the 125cc Inter·
mediate class, as moto-one winner
Charlie Morrison came to a screeching halt in the second moto. While the
two battled in moto one, with Morri-
I •
neVIl's
(Above) Nathan Tlearney won the first
t25cc Pro moto In Rancho Cordova,
California.
son crossing the finish line a mere
half a bike length ahead of McCrummen, moto two saw Morrison jump
out to a huge lead while McCrummen
suffered a midpack start. On lap
three, however, Morrison came down
the big downhill and suddenly pulled
off the track. He then began walking
his bike over to the mechanics' area
and watched helplessly while
McCrummen made his way to the
front, eventually taking the win and
the overall on the day. Morrison later
stated that the bike seized just as he
was cresting the hill.
Kurtis Batey topped the 80cc
Novice class with a pair of moto wins
over Kramer Patterson. The two had
a good second-moto battle; Patterson held off Batey early on and
appeared to be headed for the moto
victory, but Batey hounded the
Kawasaki pilot and eventually made
his move on the white-flag lap. Patterson hung with Batey all the way to
the checkers, chalking up a 3-2
score on the day.
CJIII
Pee Wee Track
50 (4-6) P/W JR: 1. Gunner Sigler (Vam); 2.
Keith Clark (Vam); 3. AI..andra Moore (Vam); 4.
Demariee Braziel (Suz); 5. Derek Silva (Yam).
50 (4-6) STK; I. Elric Flory (Pol); 2. K.J.
McKenzie (KTM); 3. Jordon Bender (Pol); 4. Zach
Hudson (Pol); 5. Nick Pelte (Pol).
50 (4-6) MOD; J. Mark Broden (KTM); 2. Blaine
Franke (KTM); 3. Emilee Pope (KTM).
50 (7·8) STK: 1. Aaron Williams (Pol); 2.
Weslee Valerio (Pol); 3. Melisse Johns (KTM); 4.
Chris Buhlig (KTM); 5. Derek Bee (Cob).
50 (7·8) MOD; 1. Calvin LaCurelle (Cob); 2.
Brion Vorton (KTM).
50 (0·8) OPEN: 1. Joshua GT