Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

B r a n s o n U S A A mateu r N a tional Motocross C h a m p io n s h ip B r ans on U S A Bento nville, Arka nsa s' Terren O'Dell made th e trip t o Branso n USA a succe ssf ul one, as he co nq uered eve ry class he e nt e re d and was easily th e m ost domina nt rider of th e week. O'Dell too k five first-place awards ba ck home to Arka nsas to add to the trophy case. S T O RY AND P HOT OS BY C HUCK B A L L GALENA, MO, OCT. 2-5 ea r l y 1200 racers and famil i es made the j o urn ey t o the m idd le of A merica for this year's runn ing of th e Branso n USA Na t io nal. Lo c at ed j ust o utside of Ameri ca's en tertainm en t and f un center , th e Branson tra ck is constructed o nce a yea r to accommodate riders from all parts of th e co untry. More than $92 ,000 in fa ct ory co ntingencies , o n -site te ch support from several c o m p an i es, plenty of m o t el r o o m s , a n d access t o so m e o f th e w ild est go- ka rt tracks in th e Midwest se t th is rac e apa rt f ro m all oth er s. With cooler temperatures, new -m odel rac e b ik es. and new nam es t o focus on , Brans o n US A had all the excitem ent one co ul d dream of. As pr a cti c e r oll e d a ro un d o n Th ursday m orn in g, it didn't take lon g to get the onc e-a -yea r tr ack into race sha pe . Mak in g heads tu rn in pract ice w e r e som e o f th e usua l sus pects : Bell , O sb o rn e , Chatfield, Cunning - N h am, M ay n ar d , St on e , Skinne r and others. A s practic e wound down and t he fi rs t 10 m ot o s o f th e week got under way , th e only remainin g ques t i on was wh eth er or not M oth er Nature wo uld co operate. It a ll ca m e d o w n t o sta rts , and t hat' s exactly wha t D&S K aw asa k i mounted Terren O' De ll had pl ent y of throughout the week. Starting o ut the week in the 85 cc Stoc k (T hro ugh 1 1) c lass, O 'De ll sh ot o u t t o th e ea rly l e a d , a he a d o f Yama ha -mount ed Shawn Rife Jr. Th e duo immed iat ely pu lled away from th e rest of th e pa ck and put o n a dazzling show of spee d aro und the tr ack. Rife nev er see med t o find his rh ythm aboa rd the bigger b i k e an d c ou l d never reel i n th e leader, O 'De ll. As the two crossed th e li ne in their di vision's o pe ni ng moto, Bentonville, A rk ansas' Todd Bloxham f ou nd hi s way th r ou g h the p ac k t o co me hom e third. Th e seco nd division of 85cc Stock (T hroug h 1 1) race rs were led up the lo ng uphill start by Dyl an Cox, Sean C unningham, D a n i el Rock e an d Havana, Flori da 's zach Be ll sc ored w ins in t he Pee Wee Modif ie d (7 -8) a nd 65cc Stock (6 - 8) c lasses an d a th ird in the Pe e Wee Stock (7 -8) class. OCTO BER 29 ,2003' cue len e _ s Shawn Rife (7 0 0) made O'Dell earn every win he got by staying close. Rife looks like a legitimate contender for 2004. J o seph T a rv e r. Cunnin gh am mad e his way into the point po sition on th e second revo lution . Ro c k e an d Co x battled for second, with Tarver closing in . Wh en the checkers fell , Cun ningham was comforta bly in the lead. W hen the fi nal runoff sta rted, O'Dell and Rife set th em selves apart fro m the rest of the field and never look ed back . A t the end of th e m oto , th ey crossed the line one and two , ah ead of Ind iana riders Ro c k e a nd Mit ch Hou gh . O'Dell al so swe p t t he m o t o s e n route to the titl e in the Mod ifi ed cla ss, th i s t im e ahea d o f KTM rid er C unni ngham and Rife . Pee Wee riders fr om all ov er th e co untry to ok their turn on the tra ck . Br adl e y Taft p ut h i s Cobr a a t th e front of th e pack in the Pee Wee (4 -6) Stock class , but Pol ini rid er Mi ch ael W right got arou nd him for t he first m oto wi n, with T aft second. Taft agai n got a good sta rt, ahead of Wright, as th ey began t he ir sec o nd moto. Just out of the gate, Wri ght had pro blems and let off the th rottle, and he ended up on the gro und, well beh in d his looping Polini. Taft led th e field, rid ing flawl essly , as Wright played catch up . Ta ft won the m oto, as we ll as th e overall . Wrigh t ended up third in the moto and seco nd overall , ju st ahead of th e con sistent Austin Bru ckshaw from nearby Ubert y, Missouri. T aft a lso m ad e a sp lash abo ard h is modified Co bra , t ak ing both motos in th e Pee Wee (4 -6) Modified class for ano the r overall . Bountiful, Ut ah ' s Caden Had ley used his spee d and jumping prowess t o tak e ho m e wins in t he Pee W ee (7 -8) Stock class and the Super Pee Wee class by w inning all four m ot os. H a v a n a , Florida 's Zach Bell took home the overall in the Modified division by taking both moto wins , ahead of th e ha rd -cha rg ing Hadley . A hard g et -off in th e M o d ified-class runo ff p rev en te d Hadl ey from t ak ing ho m e three t itles instead of two. B el l a ls o t o ok th e ov era ll in th e 65 c c St ock (6- 8 ) c l as s , a hea d o f Had ley . In 6 5 cc ac tion, O 'D ell agai n show ed his dominanc e as he co rnpeted in both t he St o ck a n d M odifi ed c las ses in the 65c c (9 - 1 1) division. Good starts were once ag ain ke y , as O 'D ell stayed ahea d of Rife for m ost of th e weeken d. In the St oc k run off, H ou g h and Cu n n i n g ham sw app ed po sit ion s numero us times, with Hou gh ta k ing third in the Stock po rtion and Cunningham t a k i n g sec on d in th e Modifi ed portion , j ust ahead of Rife. Fl oriss ant, Colo rado 's K yle Summ er s had a gr eat weekend , as he won thr e e o f th e f o ur N o vi c e c lasses ab oard his assortment of KT Ms . His on ly los s of th e weekend ca me in the 125cc Modi fied Novice class, as H. McMillan used c onsistency in his divisio n ra c es and placed seco nd in th e runoff , behind Summers, to take th e ove rall . Summer s to ok sec o nd overall , despite winnin g the runoff. In on e of th e m o st a ntici pat ed races o f the w ee k , Honda 's Adam Chatfield and KTM's rising star Zach Osborne had a showdow n in the

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