Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128238
Fred dy W ie che r s Memorial Race Honey La k e Motocross P a r k Matt Knesek performs a one-handed Hart Attack during the Freestyle portion of the weekend 's festlvltles In M ilford , Califomla. was the tea m o f N ath a n Tiearn ey (wh o i s spo nso red b y FMF , Axo, Varn er an d Scott USA ) , avid ES PN announcer Adam Portue , and Nevada fr eest yl e rid er D erek Burlew. Not t o be outd on e , the tw o-m an te am o f DH I / De lta Motorsports/Moose/Maxi ยท ma /GPR /S c ott USA/Maxxi s-ba ck ed J u s t i n S oul e (yet ano t he r T ea m Green me m be r) and Mi ch ael's C ycl e Works' J .L. Bitz was hot o n th e heels of th e o lder rider s. E sp osito mad e sho rt wo rk of th e loop , co m plet ing it in less tha n fo ur m inu t es and pass ing o ff to J eff N orthrop, who responded with a lo ud cheer and took off up th e stra ighta way to c onqu er the comb i - By m ore , be c au se he left yo u with the feeling t ha t yo u h ad j us t m ad e an honest-to-goodness friend for life." The weeke nd s tarted off with Sa t urday ' s tea m rac es, an d it w as destined to be a fun day . T he h ighli ght of the da y was the 125 cc cl ass. Off -ro ad Team Gr een 's Sha ne Esp osito fo und himself pa ire d in th e "d rea m t eam - with J eff Northrop , sponsored by T eam Green , Fox Racing , Pro Ci r cu it , Wo rks Conn ections , Sc ott USA , Dunlop and M ax ima O il s, and M ik e N o rt h ro p, sp onsored by Fox Rac ing an d Con c ord Yamaha /Ka w asa k i. In one of th e m ost impressive holeshots of th e da y , th e shotgun blasted , and Espo sito ran a lm o st as fas t as he rode ! (Comp etitors w er e t old th e y wo u ld be run ning f rom behind the st art lin e a sh ort d istanc e to wh er e t hei r te am m at es w ou ld b e h o l d ing thei r bikes for th em. ) If anyth in g, this added an extra element of fun to the whole da y . Fo ll owing cl os el y beh ind CAS HE L H A CK LA N D P HOT OS BY T IM@MOT O SHOTS . COM AN D G REG S T EVE NS MILFORD, CA, OCT. 4-5 rlfft er the fo u r t h a n n u a l Fre d d y ~ Wiechers Memor i a l Race , th e amount of $7840 was written on th e chec k pr esented to th e Wi ech ers fam ily for the F reddy Wi ech er s Mem orial Scholarsh ip Fund, whic h is set up at the I Can Do An ything Charter Sch ool in Reno, Nevada. Freddy was an upand -coming Pro rid er wh o was struck by a c ar while out tr aining for a rac e wh en he was 17 ye ars ol d. J udgi n g by th e number of fam ili es who trav eled from Colorad o , N ev ad a, Sou thern and No rthern Californ ia, Oregon , Was hington and Utah , it i s evi d ent that F reddy left everyon e with warm m em ories. " Whe n you got don e talk ing t o him: sai d on e rid er wh o knew Fred d y , "yo u w ish th at yo u hung out eY- 42 O CTOB ER 2 9 , 2003' eye e neVIl's nation of off -road and (the ine vitably challeng ing) m oto c ro ss portion s of Ho ney Lake . Soule chose to be rid er number two , and as he mounted his b ik e , h e f o cus ed his attention on Portue. Both ar e Int ermediate rid ers , and Portue h eld o ff Soule f or th e first portio n of the re gul ar track , bu t as th e two exited o nt o the off- ro ad sect io n , So ul e checked o ut and set his si g h t s on se c u r i n g t he seco n d po sit ion. Thi s wa s co n f i rm ed at t h e next sw itc h-off wh en Mik e Northrop quick l y to ok t o the track wi t h Bitz m er e seco n ds b e h ind h im . N o team s sh owed sign s o f t iri n g during th e