Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) " Lightn ing Lauren" Wallace 1 64W) pa ssed Devin Boo he r 1 63) on the last lap to w in the 80ee main e ve nt in Pa so Robles, Ca liforn ia . (Below ) Pa ul Hennan 1 68) won the Modem 7 5 0 e e m ain on Steve Berg's fast Tri u mph. fo ur, Rod, turning a 12 .27 lap time, was distanci ng him self from t he fie ld. O n lap seve n , Ha rr ell we nt around the outsid e of Jens en t o t ak e ov er t he fourth spot. Ha rrell turned t he sec o nd -fastest lap in this class at 12.34 , but he ended up fourth, with Wilburn second and Br ad th ird . AI Ludwigsen shot to the fro nt of the Bartels' / J RC Engineering-ba cked Su per Senior m a in , w ith Bud Riddl e and Larry Madrig al g lued to h is rear wheel. Mel Stoner, in fourth, charged hard into turn three - too hard , as he quickly we nt from fourth to sixth . By lap five, the front three were co mi ng up on lappers . Tak in g full advantage of th e situa tion, Ridd le struck and went on to win , o ve r L udwigsen , Madrigal and J im Chisum . Standing ovations we re g iven t o all of the Yo uth clas ses , and ri gh t fu ll y so. Some 39 yo ung ste rs partic ipated in the 50cc, 60cc and 80cc classes . J ared Sla te was unstop pable in th e Shelly Ward -spo nso red 5 0 cc mai n , even turn in g 15. 0 3 -sec o nd la p s en route to v ict o ry . With 14 .7 0 -sec on d lap times, Kayl a Rit ch ie was t he fir st fem ale m ai n-ev en t winner of t h e n i g h t , besting Cody Silva , M i chael Avila and J ess Garcia in the Mega cycle 60cc m a i n . But the loudest cheers ca me for " Li g ht ning lauren " Wall ace, wh o , on th e last lap, passed ra c e lea der D ev in Boo he r. W all ac e, wh o fi n is hed t h ird in her heat ra ce behind Booh er an d J ustin Jmaev, p ut in a D .0 9 -second lap to take the victory i n th i s h otl y contes ted K & N backed 80 cc m ain. T h e B e rk el e y H o nda / Ya m a h a Mo dern 250cc m ain was a co ntes t of surv iva l. F rom the fl ag , To m Horton beat Bultac o-m ou nt ed C rai g J ohn son , o n ly t o h a v e Sim i Va lle y Kaw asaki ' s ,J oh n L u ndg re n ex pe rie nc e brak e f ailu r e a n d c au se a rest art, Horton once aga in led on th e seco nd try ; how ev er, go ing into t urn three , J ohn son m ov ed p ast hi m fo r the fro nt spo t. Rick Holl en bec k ran t hird , Yama ha-mounted Craig John so n (no re l at i o n ) was fourth , and Cary Bu c k ran fifth . O n lap two , Lu ndgren aga in lost his brakes and oversho t turn o ne. By lap five, Horton appeared t o be having p robl ems a n d d ro pp ed bac k to fourth . T he Bu lta c o -moun ted Johns on seemed t o have this one i n th e bag, turn ing 13 .26-second lap times, but before the end of l ap six, th e Bu lt ac omounted Johnson pulled out wi th a m e chani cal grem l in . This ga ve th e lead to Hollen bec k - wh o o n th e last la p a l so pulled o u t, g i vi n g th e l ead b a ck t o Hort on. Bu ck m ov ed up to se c ond , with Ya m a h a - mo u n te d Cra ig J ohnson th ird . Th e KLH Ra cing M od e rn 5 0 0cc ma in had Rod Lak e on po le, via h is h eat-rac e win . Lake, taki ng f ull adva ntage of this , rocketed into fi rst p lace, ove r Brad, Ken Th iebau d , J eff Less ley and Ian Fou ld s, and he led the enti re race fro m sta rt to finish . T h e Mot ion Pro /Max ima Mod ern 750cc m ai n is always a hard- foug ht war. Heat- race w in ner Wilburn led the pa ck into tu rn one, w ith h is co nstant riva l Paul Herman , aboard the Steve Be rg Triumph, riding intensely by his side. By th e end of two laps , Herm an ha d t ak en the lead over Wil b urn , Ho r ton and Sc ally . Herman was on fire, and he b eg an to inch away . By lap five , Sc all y was challenging Ho rt on fo r t hird . T hen , com ing out of turn fo u r and h ead in g to ward the w hite fl ag , Sca ll y m ade h is m ov e and dis pl aced Horton . A t the finish, the o rder was H erm an , W ilburn , S ca ll y and Horton . Th e Dig ger Helm Pro 6 00c c event ha d 2 7 Pro s b attlin g f or o ne of 14 spots in the m ain . Heat -r ace wi nners Herman , Rod Spenc er (the defending cham p from last year) and A&A Rac in g 's Jim my Abrams lin ed up o n the po le. Showm an Mulder pas sed his hat throug h the c ro w d , i n crea sing th e purs e to $2400 , to be paid through seventh position . When th e green flag dropped , So uth land Racing ' s Jimmy Wo od la un c hed from th e m idd le of th e fr ont row, h el d i t wid e o pe n th r o u g h tur ns o n e and tw o , and emerg ed in th e lead go ing dow n th e ba ck straight . Rod, Harr ell , Herma n and Tommy Carrig er all gave chase. On lap two , Wood dropped the track reco rd to 12 .04 seco nds . However , at th is point Rod was riveted to Wood , as t he two o f the m began to pull away . O n lap four, Rod showed Wood a wheel co ming o ut of t u rn four , b u t th i s o nly cau sed W o o d t o twist the throttle a little more, turni ng a 12.00 second lap o n the sixth go -a ro und and b reaking fr ee from Rod , By la p seve n, Ritchie had m oved up to fifth, wi th B ra d now in six th, m ovin g Carriger back to seventh . Eigh t laps in , the new tra ck record hol der, Wo od , was already into la p pers . By the ti me the white fl ag ca me o ut o n lap 14, Wood had lapped up to ei g ht pla c es . At the chec ke re d fl ag , Wood was victo rious by almost a fu ll st ra ig ht ov er Rod , w ho himself was secure in front o f H arr el l. H erm an fin ished fo urt h , w ith Rit chi e fift h . Redl an d s' Jim m y W oo d no w has t hree Ca lifo rnia t rack rec ords to his cred it. Aft er th e rac e, Wood and Rod posed for photos w it h th eir fans . " T he track was pe rfect, pool -table sm oo th ," Wood stated . Wh en ask ed cue I e about Rod Sp en c er , Wood added , "I though t he was th ere th e wh ole ti me, so I just pu t m y head down and went. I lo ok ed ove r m y sho ulde r and saw it was Ro d , an d k n ew I h ad t o k eep p ush ing - he's awes ome!" When asked w ha t he was go ing to do now, Wood smi led . " Go road raci ng , and go to Disney la nd! " eN Mid-State Fairgrounds Paso Robles, California Results: August 31, 2003 IRound 4] YT H 50 : 1. Ja red Sla te; 2 . Na than Howa rd: 3. Amanda Bea ubien . YT H 60 : I . Kayla Ritchie : 2 . Co dy Silva : 3 . M ichae l Av ila . YTH 8 0 : 1. La uren Wa llace: 2 . Devin Booher: 3. Justin .Jmee v. V ET A : 1. Rod Spen cer: 2 . Greg W ilburn: 3 . Brad Spencer Sr. VET B: L Trapper McDaniel: 2. Tom Horton; 3. Craig Haas. SR : I. Ma rty Lew is: 2. Bob Sca lly; 3 . Joe Brown. SR NOV / S /SR : I. B ud Ri d dl e : 2 . AI Ludwigsen ; 3 . Larry Ma drigal. DI NO: 1. Mike O'Nei l: 2. Marsh Runyon. ClSC 2 50 : 1. Ron Lessley: 2. Ca ry Buck: 3. Steve Lacey. CLSC 500: I . Jeff Lessley: 2. Chris Rudy: 3. Ron Lessley. MORN 250: 1. Tom Horton: 2. Cary Buck: 3. Craig Johnson (Yam) . MORN 500: I . Rod Lake: 2. Brad Spencer Sr.; 3. Ken Thiebaud. MOR N 750: 1. Paul Herman: 2. Greg Wilburn: 3. Bob Scally. 250 OPEN : 1. Rod Spence r J r.; 2 . Stev ie Bonsey : 3. Austin Helwig. 500 SUP A: I . Mike Go nzales: 2. Rod Lake; 3. Greg Wilburn. 500 SUP B: 1. John Larson; 2. David Brown; 3. David Nance. O PEN A M A : I . Brad Spenc er .Jr.: 2 . D ale Jensen: 3. John Larson. OPE N AM B: I . Ch uck Monosrnith : 2 . Gle n Smith; 3. Craig Estrada. PRO 60 0: 1. Jimmy Wood; 2. Rod Spencer; 3. Donnie Harrell. n e _ S • O C TO B ER 1 , 2003 53

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