Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

my Own Ra ce Brian Ga rrah a n fin ished f ourth overall. S c o t t S u m me rs 1 1th Five-tim e GNCC Champion Scott Summe rs contin ued his unoffi cial "comeback tour" with an 11th-place fin ish . Sum mers suffered fro m wh at he jok ingly called "self-induced mechanical sabotage." Sum me rs said. "The problem I was hav ing was, the bike started bogging unpredictably . And it was hard to ride with any confidence. especia lly on the motocross tra ck. We pull ed down the carburetor after the race and found a sma ll stone in the 1I0at bowl that was occasio nally block ing the mai n jet. Before the race we had made some shoc k adjustments and had the intake boot off. That 's when the stone must have fallen in." Lance Sma il 16 t h Lance Smail , who is currently fourt h overall in points in the series. made the trip to Kahoka after taking the sum mer off due to injuries. Sma il was running as high as fourth place during the opening laps when he twisted his knee. Sma il said, "I popped my knee prett y hard halfway through the second lap, and I just lost my rhythm. With my MX background . I'm just not a feet-on-the-pegs woods guy . I kept catching my knee and just had to back off ." Homero Dia z 12t h Mexican off-roader and World Enduro Series regular Homero Diaz (KTM) finished 12th overall , after giving American off-road racing a try. "I' m not very comfortable with the two-hour form at: he said. "During the Wor ld Enduro Series. we concentrate on going fast for 10 or J 5 m inutes. Here you have to go fast for a complete tank of fuel. " With two races left in the 13-round 200 3 Wor ld Off- Road Champ ionship Series, prom oter Dave Hamel has decided to redefine his series for next year. Aft er running a successful WORCS raci ng program in both 200 1 and 2002, Hamel had com bined his West Coastbased series with the Midwest-based Parts Unlim ited Moose Run Series for 2003 . The marriage of the two existing series brought together a 13-race schedule with races in Ari zona (2) , California (2 ), Texas, Flor ida, Utah, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missour i and Oklahom a. According to Ham el their intent ions were to bring together a m ore unified National series that would name a tru e Natio nal charnpion, a champion who excelle d in se veral environ me nts: motoc ross , desert and wood s. lead a n d Watts st i ll runn ing in fifth . But when th e y e me r ge d f ro m th e trees si x m i les later , it was W o od s, h an wa s gone . But I h ad a good p ac e g oing .. . an d soo n I h ad K ann ey push ing m e. W e had b e en rid in g Watts and D av is se pa rated b y on l y togeth er ea r lier until w e got separat - fi ve seconds, wit h J oiner, Sma il an d Garrahan leading a secon d group of e d [b y Sma il] . I mad e a p a s s , bu t rid ers 30 seconds ba c k . second -to -l a st la p , I c rashed , and as Garrahan sa id , " It w as real hard to m a k e a cle a n p a s s in the w ood s. Kanney c o uld n ' t g et b y . T hen on t h e I was p ickin g myself u p , here comes K anney ." On c e y ou fe ll o ff t h e p a c e , i t w a s Kanne y sa i d , " I didn ' t r i d e th e alm ost impossibl e to make u p a ny qua lifier rac e o n Satu rday , so I wasn 't time. " I had a b ad sta rt, so met hi ng li k e eig hth o r n in th , a nd h ad t ro u ble m a k ing m y way up ," Garrahan added . " I had to m a k e a few g n arl y m o ves in t he bus h es . B u t e ve ry bod y w a s o n t he ra il , an d I j us t cou ld n't m ake u p su re wh at pa c e t o run . I got a so -so Ham el sai d , "The m anufact urers and spo nsors th at support off- road rac ing have alway s complained that there are ju st too m any cham pionship series to support and that they would prefer to see one series that could nam e a true National champion. "For 200 3 we team ed up with Moose Run Series prom ot er Bill Gusse and put togeth er a 13-race series that covered two -thirds of the country. We posted $10,000 purses in k ey races, paid 100 -perc ent Pro pa yba ck at th e remaining round s and also had another $25 ,000 prize to the rider who cou ld sweep those five races, $2500 guaranteed to the high point rider for those fiv e races. "What we learned is that by sim ply posting big payback purses alone would not guarantee that the top riders show up. While the already established Westem roun ds nour ished, with each new round growing from the prior season. the new Eastern round s oft en only drew half of what we needed to break even. "I don't feel we failed at all, only that m aybe we tried to grow east too fast. Short of doubl ing rider turnout in the Eastern rounds next year, I felt we had to make some adjustment or risk losing support. "For 2004 we are sti ll going to have a 13-race series with events in Arizona (2), Texas (2) , Washington (2 ), Utah (2) , California (2) , Colorado, Nevada and Ok lahoma . T wo regions will be created for amateurs with 7 of g rounds determ ining regional charnp i-: onships, 9 of 13 determi ning overall amateur championships , and 11 of 13 determin ing the newly developed Sem i-Pro class cham pionship, whil e the Pro cl ass will race the entire 13-race series with all round s counting towards the championship: Gusse said. More inform ation on next year's schedule can be found at www.worcsracmq.corn s ta rt a nd d e cid ed t o f o l low J arrett w hen h e pa ssed m e. He seem ed to be making his w ay up , so I ju st k ey ed off o f h i m . Th a t wo rke d g o o d until w e ca m e u p o n Sma il , an d J arrett w a s ab le to get by , an d I cou ldn't. I finally g o t by [S mail ], bu t I di dn 't c atch u p to J arr ett ag ai n unti l lap six . When I ca ug ht hi m , I j u st w ent back to keyin g off h im . I k new I had so m e good lines go in g o n th e MX tra c k , so I j u st wa ite d fo r th e last lap . " A s we e nte re d the track o n t he last lap [a bo ut 2 miles from th e en d ] , any t ime o n th em . Eventually I m ad e I made my m ove: Ka n ney sa id . " We it up t o fo u rth [behi nd DavIs, But ba nged bars for a cou p le of c orne rs, w a s stu ck there. Ea ch ti m e I came a rou n d [on th e MX track], T y a n d I and then I set him up when I w ent w id e o n o ne of t he last co rners and w ou ld m eet at th e sa m e p o int , a n d was a b le to d oub le w hen he had to th at' s the way it went." sing le . F ro m th ere he p us he d m e for W hile Watts ran aw ay wi t h the lead th e last m il e. " - fo ll owed by W oo d s, D avis and G ar r a h a n - a n i n t e r e s t i n g ba ttl e was Jarrett said, " N ate and I we nt back and fo rt h a c ou p le o f t im es on the last deve lo p i n g betwe en J i m m y J a rr ett motocross section , a nd he ended up and K anney. Jarrett had gotten off to m a k i n g th e l a st p a s s. The course a bad start when he g ot c a ug ht u p in th e st a rti n g g ate . B ut th e ha rd-cha rg- went ba ck in to the trees and then into two short g rasstra ck se ctions, b ut I in g J arrett ev e n t ua ll y e st a bli s h e d was never ab le to make a pass ." h imself in fi fth p la c e, push ing Garra h an for the la st fou r laps. eN Moonshine 100 Kahoka, M isso uri Results : September 28, 2003 [ Round 61 " I got ca ug ht i n the sta rt i ng gate an d was the la st gu y o ut, " Jarrett. " It O / A : I . Shane Watt s (KTM) : 2 . Nat han Wo ods (Yam); 3. Ty De v!s (Yam) : 4 . Brian Garra han ( KTM ); 5 . Nathan Kann ey (Yam ): 6 . Jimmy J arrett ( KTM ) ; 7. Josh Weisen fels ( KTM) : 8 . To ny Joine r (Yam ); 9 . Ky le Ne lso n (KTM ); 10 . Charles Mu lli ns ( KT M ) : 11. Scott Sum m ers ( Ha n) : 12. Hom ero Diaz ( KTM ); 13 . Dave Neume ister ( Kaw ): 14. Steve Leivan (Yam ) : 15 . Matt Ste vish ( Han ) : 16 . Lan ce Sma i l ( Ya m ) : 17 . Br yc e O ls on ( K T M ); 16 . E r ic Ba iley (KTM ) ; 19 . Charlie Deutsch er ( Yam); 20 . Ch uck Garetson ( Han ). t ook m e tw o l a p s to c a t c h u p to Sma il [who wa s running si x th in the seco nd g ro up b ehin d G a rraha n a n d Joiner]. " I h ad tro u ble ge t ti n g a round Sm a il , and b y the ti me I did, Garra - c y n eVIlS O CTOB ER 1 5 , 2 0 03 41

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