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/128239
: ~I Dodge Amateur National I I ,l ... ~. _ • _ . ~ _ ~ ~ _ ~ By JIM AND JU STIN E NO S P HOT OS BY JIM EN O S RANCHO CORDOVA, CA, OCT. 2·5 o r th e p ast sev eral y ears, AMP Rac ing, on e o f the prem ier MX promoters in N ort hern California, had quietly pla nned the promotion of a N ation al -c a liber event in one of the most logical locations in the co untry North ern California! Wi t h i ts year round m ode rat e weath er , it only made sens e to invite th e rest of th e co untry to enjoy it as well , and th e AMP National Track , home o f the an nua l AMA Ou tdoor Nat iona l " Hangtown Classic ," proved to be th e p er fect lo cation. W ith ma jor back ing from Corpo rate D odge, the inaugu ral running of th e 200 3 Dodge Amateur N at i o na l became a reality as Parts Unlimited , Alpi n est ar s, S cott USA, FMF/ 90 9 , Th or and m an y othe rs attended in full forc e. Fo r b ein g an in augura l event o n th e West Coast, the ri de r base was p redomina ntly f rom t h e West an d Mi dwest , w ith rep rese nta tio n fr om as far no rth as A nch o rage, Ala sk a , and as far east as Idaho and Ut ah , along w ith a hug e showing from So uthern Cali fo rn ia. And the genera l co nse ns us in th e p it s fro m the racers , as we ll as from th e spo nsors, was a n ove rwhelm ing " thumbs up !" Th e m aj or f o rc e be hi nd th e su c cess of the eve nt was AMP 's Ja ck "Corky " Azevedo and AMP 's marketing and promotions directo r, Valerie Enos . Through-~the ir efforts , al ong with many others, the event ran smoothly and o n sch edule. F 30 AM P National T rack at Pra irie City ~1 • __ .i NOVEMB ER 5 , 2003 ' eye "W e n ever th ought this would all co me to geth er , and although we put on ov e r 40 r ac e s a y ear , this o ne obvio usly requ ired a lot m ore eff o rt," said Azevedo . " I w a nt t o th ank a ll those th at support ed th e eve nt, th e racers and t h e i r fami lies and , o f co urse, everyone tha t worked so hard all week to m ake it happen." One of the off-track highlights of the - event was the fashion show on Saturday night, em ceed by the flamboyant Lil ' D o f FMF. Fash ions an d ac c es sori es from Th or, FMF, A lp in est ar s, Scott USA a n d On eeigh ty D e c als were p ara d ed across t he stag e by several of the riders and fam ily mem be rs , fo ll owed by a hug e raffl e. A s ex pected , Lil' D kept the crowd well entertained throughout th e festivities. An o th e r high lig ht was th e 90 0 acre s of tr ail -rid ing a rea for all to enjoy, as the facili ty is set wi th in a St at e Off -H ighw ay Ve hicl e Park , al ong with an exclusive D odge 4 x4 test -driv e co urse. On th e track, the four-day event started off with a fu ll day of class practices on Thursday . Each class got a 20 -minute practice session on a track that fea tured a fres h l ay e r of sa nd through out; th e day before, a constant parade of sem is bro ught in the mois ture-hold ing substance . Th e resu lts wer e an abse nc e of d ust and tra ck conditio ns th at were second t o none. Justin Ke eney won the 125cc Pro and Sc hoolboy Modified co ntests on th e AMP National Track at Prairie City. Ie nevvs Th irty-thre e qu a lifier motos were run each day on F riday and Saturday in o rde r to determin e g at e picks for the finals on Sunday . Gate pi cks for th os e finals w er e determined based on th e ra c ers ' combined scores in th e qua lifiers. Un like some oth er Amateur events. racers ent ered Sunday 's fin al with no points carried in, so , alth ough consistency on Frida y and Saturday earned rac ers bragging rights for the best gate pi cks (a s well as a mental -~ edge), Sunday 's races wer e one m ot o, wi n ner-take-a ll affa irs . W ith that fo rm at ca me th e su spe nse o f seeing i f eac h c lass' " p ac e setter" could pu ll off a good start and come through one more time. In the 50cc ran k s, Bra ndon Leith made t he tre k from Provo , Utah , a ver y wo rt hwhile one as he chalked up a pair of wins in th e 5 0cc (4- 6) Stock a nd ( 4 - 6) M odi fi e d c lasses . Whil e Leith ace d both h is q ua li fie rs in the Mo dified cl ass, ea rn ing fi rst gate pi ck, th ings di dn't go as we ll for him in the St o c k class, as his 11 t h gate p ick (via a 5 - 16 score in th e quali fiers) m ay have g iven some of his co m petiti on a little edge. Nevertheless , at the drop of th e gat e, Leith put an y such doubts to rest as he shot o ut to th e fron t , wi t h So Cal's M ik e Victori an and Co n nor Pea r son in tow . Lei th , aboa rd a K inc a id Ra cin g /M i c heli n/ O ber g -b ac k ed Polin i, hel d on fo r th e w in , w h il e V i ct or i an a n d Pe a r son remain ed in formati on ac ro ss th e finish lin e. An oth er doub le - clas s w inner o n the day was Powerho use KTM/M2R/