Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

GFI Racing Winter Series South Round 1: Glen Helen Raceway Park e e () e STORY AND PHOTOS BY GREG ROBERTSON SAN BERNARDINO, CA, DEC. 22 he Kawasaki-mounted duo of Craig Decker and Ryan Villopoto absolutely dominated the competition on a rain-soaked National track at Glen Helen Raceway Park during the opening round of the GFI Racing/ Goat Eyewear/Motul/Pro Circuit/ Boyesen/Fox-sponsored Winter Series South. Decker made his way to the front of the pack in both the 125cc and 250cc Pro classes for a pair of convincing wins, while Villopoto, who is arguably one of the fastest mini riders on the West Coast, went six for six to sweep the Supermini, 80cc Open and 80cc Expert classes. When the gate dropped for the one-shot, 30-minute 250cc Pro moto, it was Gerrit Ordelman winning the drag race up Glen Helen's long start straignt to lead Steven Haughelstine, Chris Barrett, Decker and Brandon Milstead. It only took Decker a single lap to drop Haughelstine and Barrett to third and fourth, respectively, and he then set out after Ordelman, who already had a modest lead. Suzukimounted Cole Siebler was on the move, coming from seventh off the start to close to Decker's back fender by lap four. Siebler's hounding of Decker helped the pair to reel in Ordelman by the midway point of what would be a 14-lap race. Ordelman stalled his YZF, handing the lead to Decker. Then Decker kept Siebler at bay for the next three circuits until a fall dropped Siebler back to fourth. Decker put his KX250 into overdrive and pulled away from Ordelman to the tune of 10 seconds at the checkers. Third place was all Barrett's. Siebler, Dennis Stapleton and Austin Squires followed. In 125cc Pro action, Haughelstine put his Troy Lee Designs/FMFbacked YZ250F into the early lead of the single 30-minute moto. Sean Collier, Kyle Mace, Siebler and Decker were all soon camped out on his back fender, making for an interesting five-rider battle over the lead. Collier (Left) Craig Decker flew to the 125cc and 250cc Pro-class wins at the opening round of the GFI Racing Winter Series South. (Right) Ryan Yillopoto picked up overall wins in the 80cc Open, 80cc Expert and Supermini classes at Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino, California. led for a while; then it was Siebler's turn; finally Decker took over for good at the midway point. With a clear track ahead of him, Decker put a couple of seconds per lap on the field for a decisive win. Siebler and Collier traded second place back and forth, until Siebler proved to be a little bit stronger on this day on the rutted track. The battle for fourth went down to the wire, with Haughelstine holding off Mace for the spot. Villopoto was picture-perfect for much of the day aboard his Team Green/Pro Circuit/Thor/Spy-backed Kawasakis. Villopoto's main competition came from Robert Memoli. Though Memoli looked good on his new Honda of Houston/Axo/Renthalbacked ride and was riding the wheels off the bike, Villopoto managed to just stay out of Memoli's grasp for all six motos. Justin Mulford went 3-3 in the Supermini class to top fellow Honda pilot Austin Eitel; Bryce Huffman rounded out the top five. Ricky James turned a pair of good starts into impressive 3-3 showings in the 80cc Open class; Gunner Strum went 4-4 for fourth, followed by Nick Brown (5-6) and Myles Tedder (8-5). Michael LaPaglia led the first few laps of the opening 125cc Intermediate moto, with Micky Griffin coming up to make a challenge. Things got a Michael LaPaglia (31) leads David Sullins (6), Micky Griffin (59), Ricky Jurado (919) and eventual overall winner Daniel Sani (168) at the start of the first 125cc Intermediate moto. 40 JANUARY 22,2003' cue • e n e vv s little heated between Griffin and LaPaglia as they fought over the top spot; the two riders came together in a corner, where Griffin got the short end of the stick. The altercation allowed Tyler Duncan to slip past for the first-moto win. Daniel Sani had slowly been working his way up from a start just inside the top 10, and he passed LaPaglia for second at the checkers. Jared Minor earned fourth, while Griffin salvaged fifth. Griffin returned with a vengeance to dominate the second moto aboard his Yamaha Support/Sketchers/Acerbis-backed YZ125, but it was the come-from-behind ride of Sani and his resulting 2-3 finishes that earned the overall honors. Duncan went 1-4 for second, ahead of Griffin (5-1) and Minor (4-2). LaPaglia and Griffin traded paint for the first couple of laps of the first 250cc Intermediate moto, until Griffin motored away with a substantial lead. Moto two was a duplicate of the first, with Griffin getting around a faststarting Cody Hertel for a sweep of the field. LaPaglia finished second again, while Hertel used 4-3 rides to top the 3-4 scores of Duncan. Jake Pischke was untouchable in both the 50cc (7-8) Stock and 50cc Open classes. The Lem pilot went four for four for a pair of first-place plaques. Polini-mounted Cody Baker finished second overall in both classes; Hunter Falk and Brian Taylor earned third overall in the Stock and Open classes, respectively. eN Glen Helen Raceway Park San Bernardino, California Results: December 22, 2002 [Round 11 50 STK (4-6): 1. Wyatt Mllrsau (Lem): 2. Cole Gardner (KTM); 3. Clayton Cooke (Cob); 4. Blake Green (KTM); 5. Maxwell Tedder (KTM). 50 STK (7-8), 1. Jake Pischke (Lem); 2. Cody Baker (Pol); 3. Hunter Falk (KTM); 4. Brian Taylor (Pol); 5. Lane Gardner (Cob). 50 OPEN: I. Jake Pischke (Lem); 2. Cody Baker (Pol): 3. Brian Taylor (Pol); 4. Blake Green (KTM); 5. Tyler Tungate (Pol). 60 FIT' I. Joey Hoh (Suz). 60 BEG: 1. Donny Fish (Kaw); 2. Shane Post (KTM); 3. Andrew Silverstein (Kaw); 4. Mason Rodriguez (KTM). 60 NOV: l. Steven Tokarski (Kaw); 2. Dakota Tedder (Kaw); 3. James Culbertson (Suz); 4. Jordan Bums (Kaw); 5. Jacob Partridge (KTM). 60 EX: 1. Michael Hall (Kaw); 2. Blake Baggett (K.w); 3. Z.chary Fussell (KTM). 60 OPEN: 1. Zachary Fussell (KTM); 2. Blake Baggett (Kaw); 3. James Culbertson (Suz); 4. Jordan Bums (Kaw); 5. Jacob Partridge (KTM). 80 FIT: 1. Vincent Vasquez (Kaw); 2. Joaquin Vasquez (Yam). 80 BEG: 1. Nick Tokarski (Yam); 2. Preston Tilford (Kaw); 3. Dillon Kuntz (Han); 4. Chelsea Candido (Han); 5. Chasen Tedder (Kaw). 80 NOV: I. Austin Eitel (Han); 2. Dylan Tolmasoff (Kaw); 3. Nick Brown (Han): 4. Richard Sterling (Kaw): 5. Dakota Tedder (Yam). 80 (NT: 1. Michael Hall (Kaw); 2. Bryce Huffman (Yam); 3. Matt Dowell (Yam); 4. Gunner Strum (Yam). 80 EX: I. Ryan Villopoto (KllW); 2. Robert Memoli (Hon). 80 OPEN, 1. Ryan Villopo'o (Kaw); 2. Robert Memoli (Han); 3. Ricky James (Yam); 4. Gunner Strum (Yam); 5. Nick Brown (Hon). S/MINI: 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw); 2. Robert Memoli (Hon); 3. Justin Mulford (Hon); 4. Austin Eitel (Hon); 5. Bryce Huffman (Yam). 125 BEG: I. Phil Schaber (Yam): 2. Austin Eitel (Suz); 3. Chris Noble (KTM); 4. Cameron Keidel (Kaw); 5. Mike Yount (Yam). ] 25 NOV: 1. Ricky James (Yam); 2. Kevin Holmes (Suz); 3. Curtis Malins Jr. (Yam); 4. Mark Brewer (Hon); 5. Garrett Henderson (Suz). 125 INT: 1. Daniel Sani (Hon): 2. Tyler Duncan (KTM); 3. Micky Griffin (Yam); 4. Jared Minor (Yam); 5. Ricky Jurado Jr. (Yam). 125 PRO; '1. Craig Decker (Kaw); 2. Cole Siebler (Suz); 3. Sean Collier (Hon); 4. Steven Haughelstine (Yam): 5. Kyle Mace (Kaw). 250 BEG; I. Taylor Peters (KTM); 2. Phil Schaber (Yam); 3. Craig Cheever (Yam); 4. Stuart Dedman (Yam). 250 NOV: 1. Adam Lane (Suz): 2. Jeffrey Page (Yam); 3. Nick Melanson (Yam): 4. Josh Camden (Yam); 5. Kameron Silva (Yam). 250 INT: 1. Micky Griffin (Yam); 2. Michael LaPaglia (Suz); 3. Cody Hertel (Han); 4. Tyler Duncan (KTM); 5. A.J. Steinbach (Yam). 250 PRO: I. Craig Decker (Kaw); 2. Gerrit Ordelman (Yam); 3. Chris Barrett (Hon); 4. Cole Siebler (Suz): 5. Dennis Stapleton (Hon). 500 PRO: 1. Dennis Stapleton (Han); 2. Chris Barrett (Han); 3. Travis Mlirks (Hon); 4. Blirry Forschelen (Yam). SCHBY: 1. Jared Minor (Yam); 2. Daniel Sani (Han): 3. Glirrett Henderson (Suz): 4. Michael laPaglia (Suz): 5. Chukwadi Udeh (Suz). 25. BEG: I. Scott Youngstrand (Yam); 2. Don Wiser (Yam). 25+ NOV: 1. Matt Cleveland (Hon); 2. Paul Berton (Hon). 25. (NT: 1. Mike Giem (Hon). 25. EX: 1. Travis Marks (Hon); 2. Mat Bateman (Yam). 30. BEG: I. Mike McGregor (Yam); 2. Mike Frank (Hon); 3. Kevin Galgerud (KTM); 4. Donovan Heard (Hon); 5. Terry Varner (Han). 30. NOV; I. Eddy Jay (Hon); 2. Tony Sulli (Suz): 3. Milton Mize (Hon); 4. Chris Meyer (Yam); 5. C.T. Falk (Yam). 30. (NT: 1. Mike Giern (Hon); 2. Kelly PicheI (K.w). 30+ PRO: 1. Austin Squires (Suz); 2. Revelle Harrison (KTM); 3. Matt Tedder (Hon). 35. NOV: 1. Dawson Leachman (KTM); 2. Allen Grant (Yam). 35. EX: 1. Rob Engel (Yam); 2. Gregg Dungan (Hon). 40. NOV: l. Rudy Chavez (Hon); 2. Allen Grant (Yam); 3. Jim Masters (Yam). 40+ (NT: 1. Milton Mize (Hon); 2. Greg Dougilis (Yam); 3. Carl Gazafy (Hon); 4. Bob Shimp (Yam); 5. Bill Melanson (Kaw). 40. EX: 1. Matt Tedder (Han); 2. Tony Schuler (Yam); 3. Mark Moscrop (Hon).

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