Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

, . STTARS/Mot o Connection -Super TT R o u n d 6 : Las V e gas Motor Spee d w a y Ward WiY/s, eerY/icky Wraps Title STORY A N D PH OT OS BY J AME Y B LU NT LAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 21 r o y Lee D e s i g n s H o n d a ' s J eff Ward and Joe Ro ck et/D un lop' s Mark Cern icky wer e tw o of t he day ' s big winn ers among th e more than 80 ride rs who made the trip to Las Vega s t o t ak e part in t he G.A.M.E. Super TT program . D on Ca ne t's STT A RS/Moto-Co nnec tio n ser ies gets better at eac h round. For Sa t u rday fo ur hea t races an d fou r mains wo ul d be run on the .8 5 mi le course , including the Mid dle weight main and t he fi r st O pen [main] m oto, w it h th e seco nd Open [main I m oto to be run on Sunday. Cern ic k y sat o n po le in th e M id dleweight Ma in by v irtu e of his heat race win . Troy L e e / S p y ' s Jimmy Roberts g ot th e ho les hot, but Cernick y took over within two c o rn er s and nev er look ed back . J eff Bragia on a KTM ran third , with Robert Wersch ey from FM F fourth . B y the fifth lap o f 10, Del Amo Motorsports' Dauv McNeely had charged his way up to third . By then Cern icky had a five -sec - T o n d ga p o v er Robert s, whil e An d r e Ba rbosa go t a taste o f aspha lt. Lap e ig h t saw l app ers co me in t o p l ay , whi ch allowed Cern ick y to stretch his lead ev en m o re. J eff B rag ia also took adva ntag e of th is o n th e last la p to sec u re th ird . M c N eel y h ad his own trouble on the last lap and faded out of t he top five, allowi ng Ric ardo Barbos a and W er sch ey to m o ve up to fou rt h and fi ft h respectively . A f i el d o f 20 pros lin ed up at 5 p .m . for th e 20- lap Open Moto One . Hea t - race winner Ward shot t o th e fr ont, with C erni ck y , Zoo York /R ed B ull 's M ik e Metzg er , T wo Broth er s' Dustin Nels on and Robe rts in tow. By th e end of t he first lap th e race was for second, however , as Ward c ut th e f astest lap of the w ee k e nd at o ne m inute 6.34 sec onds and pull ed clear of th e field . Lap two s awN e l s on pu sh p a st M etzger for third , while Cern ick y hel d on t o seco nd . Metzg er r eturn ed th e move two corners lat er on ly to have N el son c o m e back at him . An oth er rider o f note ma k ing h i s Su per TT d ebu t w a s n ew ly cro wn ed AMA 125c c Nationa l Motocro ss Cha mpio n " I used a d i ff eren t Hond a t oday, and it wo rk ed j ust as well as the other on e d id yeste r day," Wa rd said. " I c o uldn't hav e run mu ch faster , but I j u st w anted t o stay co nsis te n t, and my laps were all aro und 67 seco nds, Grant Langston aboa rd a factory KTM 525. La ngsto n had worked his way to t he seve nth posit ion . Lap fiv e h elped settle th e b attle o ve r the seco nd spot as Ce rn ick y we nt down in the d irt sec tion , lea ving it t o N elson a nd M etzg er t o fi g h t it out. Roberts wa s now in fourth , with Trav is M ar k s fifth and Lan g st on sixth . A t the ch ec k er ed , Ward do mi na te d by over 43 seconds, even lapping t he field up to sixth plac e. The second Open moto held on Su nday was sti ll t he J eff Ward show . M etzger took th e po int at the sta rt, only to have Ward tak e over midway th rou gh th e first lap. The clocks once again had War d almost tw o sec o nds a lap fast er than an y on e else on th e r a c etra c k . Ce rni c ky ran third but w ould expe r ie nce fr ont bra k e f ad e an d wou l d h av e t o b ack off of th e pa ce . At the halfway po int Ward led Metzger b y 24 seconds, w ith Nel son ano t her eig ht seconds back , in th ird . Running fo u rth , Andy Harrin gton l ed Marks , Cern icky an d Chu ck M cC arty. By th e finish the top three wer e set in sto ne, W ard , M etzg er and N el son . For t he o ve rall th e order wa s the same, with Ward at the top of th em . which was good on this course . Mike Metzger got th e j um p o n m e at th e st art , bu t I c a ug h t him hal fwa y t h ro ug h th e first la p, and af te r that I was tryi ng t o race c l ea n a n d get around the slower bik es." T he T roy Lee Designs/ Hon da sta r sho u ld definite ly be a do mina nt force i n the remaining AMA Re d Bull Superm oto rounds and th e big Cha mpi on ship fi n al in Las Vegas o n eN Nov ember 21 . las Vegas Molor Speedway las Vegas , Nevada Results : September 21, 2003 IRound 61 OP EN : I. Jeff Ward ( Ha n) ; 2. Mi k e Me tzge r ( Hon) ; 3 . D us ti n Ne lso n ( Yam ): 4. T r av is M ar ks ( Hon); 5 , Andy Harri ng ton (Ho n) . M/W : I . Mark Cernicky (Hon); 2. Jimmy Roberts ( Hon); 3. J eff Br agia ( KTM); 4 . Ric ardo Ba rbo sa (KTM) ; 5 . Robert Werschey (Ya m) . MIN I MOTO: 1. J .D . Beach ( Kaw) ; 2. Ja co b Leh ma nn ( Ho n) ; 3. Bo b Co bb (Ya m) ; 4 . Rob Wea ver (Hon ) ; 5 . Ty ler Lukes ( Ka w) . SPTSMAN : 1. Just in Ross (Yam ) : 2. Dun v Voyer ( Hon ) ; 3. M att Foster (Y a m) : 4 . Ca mero n We ls h (Ka w); 5. Ma rk Su tto n ( KT M). VET OPEN : 1. Jimmy Robe rts ( Ha n) ; 2. Chuc k S u n ( K TM) ; 3. M i c h ~ e t D eitk e ( Ho n) ; 4 . .Jua n Benav idez ( KT M); 5. Bob Co bb ( Han) . NOV: I . Robert Werschey (Yam); 2. Jeff Braqle ( KT M); 3. Ricardo Ba rbosa ( K T M); 4 . M i ch a e l Hal ve rson ( Hen ): 5. Eric k Welch (Ho n) . Eddie Mulder's West C oas t V in t a ge D irt T rac k Seri e s R ound #6 : L a s Vega s Motor Speedwa y --- Mulder, GAME, A Perfect Marriage STO RY AN D PH OTO S BY J AM EY B LU NT LAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 21 A ft er fo u r fu ll d ay s o f eve ry thin g m ot o r cy cl e , Ed die Mu l d er bro ught his West Coast Vintage Dirt Track Series to the banked half mile cl ay oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway , with so me 125 entrants on hand for a program of 17 hea t rac es fol- lowed by 13 ma in ev ents. On this th e final day of the GAME, Mulder's was the whole show on t he ma in ova l. Wi th all t he heat races in the books by ] :4 0 p .m . , the m a in s cyc le were se t t o sta g e , but b efo re that there wa s t o be a first -ever speci a l fea tu re for t he Mul der Series, a we d di ng. Mulder bro ught th e br ide-to -be to her wait in g g room on t he ba ck of n e .... S • OCTOB ER 1 5 , 2003 37

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