Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

,-- - ----- - - - - ------- ------ ---- - - - - --, a: w w a: 8 :> § z -c z -c :I: III :I: III > ~ '" ~ 0. Moborsport Ranch: Ronni Lunsford of Northwest Honda (2) leads Team O nca Petro leum (44) and Devil's Children Rac ing at the final roun d of t he CMRA En d u rance Se ries i n Cresson , T exas. " We w er e ju st o u t he re f o r fun ," said Han er. " We didn 't have rain s . an d it j us t wa sn't fun any mo re , so we ju st decided to call it a day : With Red Rive r Racing sidelined. Northwest Honda retook th e lead. with Lunsfo rd at th e helm. At the time. Lunsford enjoyed nearly a o ne -m inute lead ov er Underdog Racing, but an une xpected trip into the grass added so me suspense to the final 20 minutes of the race. "Com ing up to Ricoc het. there was water running across the track," Lunsford said , "a nd I lost the front and slid around. I just thought. ·Oh . no:" Lunsford managed to right the bike. re enter the tr ack and get reteched on Pit Road . He re-ent ered the race with a 20 -second ma rgin over Und erdog Racin g and eased it hom e to th e ch eck ers. A t the finish, it was Northwest Honda with th e win . followed by Underdog Racing and Vil lage Idiots. "Th e rain pl aye d in our favo r tod ay." said Lun sford . "Th is was a great way to end th e seaso n . Thanks to J oh n O 'Donn ell, Mich el in rain tire s, every body wh o rode on bo th team s, Northwest Honda, and the scor e kee pers for help in g us out . We appreciate bein g ab le to co me to th e races and do what we do. Vin yl Ed ge Racin g took the series ' overall t itl e w ith 24 22 po ints. fo ll ow ed by Village Idi ots (2222). Desert-Rats.net (203 6 ) . No rth west Hond a Raci ng (20 14 ) and Team O' Don nell ( 189 5) . W Motorsport Ra nch C resson. Texas Re s u lt s : October 1 1 , 2003 (Round 71 O / A.: J. North~ Honda Racflg: 2. UnderdogRecmg: 3. Vill.-gt' Idiots: 4. ~sert ·Rats.nft; 5. Team O'Donnell; 6 . Lone Star Trac k Days; 7. Vinyl Edge Racing: 8. No H~less Rac ing: 9. Short Bus Racing: 10. Two Hufldl'f'd Club R.,cing: I I. One Way To Big Air Rec t ing: 12. Pit Rac ing: 13 . Team 4 Him End unmce: 14. Proj 'Cl Mayhem : 15 . Orio n RaCing: 16. Te am Anvil ' 2: 17, Two Finger Racing; 18 . .Crash Clinic; 19 . Nemelis Motorsports/R ideSmart; 20 . ETRn CMRA Championship Mini Endurance Series Round 6: Motorsport Ranch CRESSON. TX . OCT. 11 Team K&N riders Will Gru y , Ja y Deaton . and Sam and T yl er McDonald ha ve been team mates all year long, rid ing in var ious com bina tions thro ugho ut th e 2003 season , and th ey have dominated th e CMRA Mini Enduran ce Seri es, taking the ove rall win at every round of the cham pio nship in 2003 . At the sixth and fi nal round o f the series , held at Motorsport Ranch near Cresson , T exa s, the team dec ided to run two separate teams on two separate but identical K&N- sponsored Yamaha TZ 85s . To m ost obs ervers, the obvious outcome wou ld surely be another dominating win by Team KliN, but it wa s anybody 's g uess as to which K&N tea m woul d take the win - Tea m K& N #1 or Grude rm (Tea m K& N #2). It woul d tak e a full th ree ho urs of fairi ng . to -fairing racing to decide th at outcome , and eve n at th e end of three hou rs (m inus o ne lap ). th e out come was sti ll less th an a fract ion of a seco nd from bei ng determined . However, o n the fin al l ap . M cD on ald m ade the rig ht m ove s in traffi c to get to the lin e fir st. "I cam e into 'B ig Bend ' on th e last lap , and I had somebod y gi vi ng me th e big -hand s signal . telling m e I had a big lead . and I just 56 NOVEMBER 12. 2003' cue I n e Motorsport Ranch : T y ler McDo nald of Team K & N (20) leads Will Gruy of Grud e rm (44) at the fin al round o f t he CMRA Mi ni End u rance C hampionship Se ries in C resson . Texas. tha n o nce p er l a p. E K M o t o r sp ort s , o n a Honda RS80 . fi ni shed la p one in third place. foll owed by J&R Racing , on a Mori MH80. in second, and Tea m I Do n' t Kn ow, on a Honda RSBO. in thi rd . Nearing the three-hour mark . EK Mot or sports and T eam I Don't Know had eac h lo st val uable time in th e pi ts fo r var iou s reason s and didn't make it past th e 73 ·la p mark. J&R Raci ng . N R Raci ng a nd C FV 2 .0 had now m o ved into th e top thr ee po siti on s, though the fro nt -r u nning duo had estab lis hed a I 3 -l ap advanlage by the end of th e event. With 10 minutes left in the event, eac h of the front -running team s had pi tt ed for th e last ti me. and Te am K&N and Te a m Gruderm began a pai nt-s wapping run to th e fin ish . With two la ps to go, Sam got th e upper hand in tra ffic and pulled a sm all ga p. Th at was all the veteran needed, and he protect ed his lead to the finish . At the chec kers . it was T eam K&N finis hing 3 .8 seconds ahead of Grud errn , with each team co m pleti ng 116 laps. J&R Racin g (com pr ised o f John and Renee Sp en cer ) fi nished th ird w ith 103 la ps co m p le ted ; NR Rac in g (com p rise d o f N ic k Marcu c ci o and Ru ss Robinson ) wa s fourth with 98 lap s co m pleted ; and CFV2 .0 (c o mprised of D erek Delpero , Li n dsey L ea rd . Chu c k Ergl e a n d Ryan Andre ws) rounded out the top five w it h 95 laps co m pleted . Motorsport Ranch Cresson. Texa s Resu lts: October 11, 2003 (Round 6 of 61 0 /"': 1. Team Kt.N: 2 , Grudl!m1: 3 . J& R R.K'Ing: 4. NR Racing : S. CFV2 .O; 6 . Indeniallnc:.; 7. Team Sid_~r, 8 . Te am BUng; 9 . L..emmings: 10. STD Racing: 11. Silver Bullets: 12. The Lab Rats ; 13. ies: 14 . A 8 ectric:,s1 ~ic:e ; 15. Speed Demoru:: 16. Ti~ Track Bunn Raci ng: 17. Podunk Racing: 18. RPG Racing; 19 . 30 Racing: 20. NES. Texas Full Moon Series Round 6: Fourstates MX Park B y JAMES CUCOVATZ couldn't believe it, bec ause he had breath ed do wn m y neck every seco nd since I had been in the lead," said Sam , referring to the p ressure th at Deato n had been putting on him for m uch of the fin al hou r. The racin g was so intense and so hea ted that Deaton actually fo rgot to breathe on the final la p . and he co ll a psed afterward at th e entra nce to Pit Road. Earlier in th e eve nt , th e tw o yo ungsters, Tyler and Gruy. had gon e at it j ust as hard and just as for cefully as the two older team m em bers, wh o are both well into their 30s. "Th at 's as clo se as yo u're ever go nn a get," added th e eld er McDonald. referrin g to th e racing acti on between T eam K&N an d Grud erm during the even t. "T o wat c h W ill a nd Tyler's race was ju st ph enomenal. Th en Jay and I had th e same batt le going • all for th e fu ll th ree hours, There wa s a lot of paint -rub bin', and for all four riders to rid e that clo se for that long a ti m e and not have an incident is un believab le. I don't know if anybody can go m uch faster th an that on an 80." Gru y got away the q uickest at the start and le d the 32 ·tea m field in to tu rn o ne , b ut it was T yler who exited tum one with the lead, and wi th that pa ss th ere began a rac e-l o ng excha nge t ha t woul d see the lead c hange han ds no less th an 40 times, sometim es m ore Ie r Two Firsts for Flores at Fourstates TeamK&N Heads 'em Off at the Ranch B y S HAN M OO RE ~ it vv s HO OK S, TX , OCT. 1 1 Round six of the T exas Fu ll Moon Series wa s held at Fou rsta tes MX Park on Saturday night. Though 272 race rs grozed the sand y loam of Hook s. Texas. on ly 25 o f th em wou ld w alk away with overall vict o ries. With rid ers co m ing in from four different sta tes, and some travel ing fro m as far as Stephenv ill e. T exas , erno lions ran high as th e series began to w ind down . With only on e rou nd left after this o ne , ri ders strove for perfection, as a single mis take on this night co uld cos t them the cha mpion ship . Plan o Kawa sak i/Suzuki rid er Da kota F lo res new his Suzuki into fi rst pl ace in the 8x c (7 - 11) and 85 cc Open cl asses. Fl ores ca me o ut of th e fir st turn in the fi rst 8 5cc (7 - 1 1) m ot o in seco nd , beh ind KTM -mounted J erem y Hudd leston. By th e second lap . Flores had m ade his way into th e lead . and he then pulled a way fro m th e fi e ld . In m o to two , Fl ore s ab scon ded wi th th e hole shot, and he led th e race to th e finish . Following Flores in second w as Jayme Br istow. Huddleston battled his way in to third , an d Di ll o n Ziton and Cody Vau ghn rou nded out the top five . The best race of the nig ht was the 12 5cc Nov ice class . KTM of Texa s ri der B e nton Arn old wa s victo rious in both motos, b ut it was his journey to first place th at was so spec tacul ar. Afte r he had led th e 2 50cc No v ice cl ass for fo ur la ps, bike tro ub le ended h is hopes of a perfect nig ht. In th e first 125cc Novice m o to, how ev er , Arno ld came out of the firs t tum in fourth . After rac e leade r Bran don Th omas went do wn hard in th e wh oops , A rno ld had th e crowd roo t ing fo r the underdog , as he c ha rg ed his way past Th omas, Kev in M u rph y and Bla ke Icenhower for the m oto win . Moto two went the sam e way. Arnold came o ut fourth and th is ti me breeze d by Rick y Grosj ean . Icenhower and Murphy by the end of lap one . He pu ll ed hard all the way to the finish an d showe d grea t tal ent en route to the wi n . He won the second m oto of the 250cc Nov ice class as well . The Ov er 25 class pr oved very interesti ng. Du sti n Hoppe. Andy Reynold s and Matt Thweatt changed pos itions all through m oto one, but at the end Hoppe had the m oto victory. In m oto two. Reyn old s got th e hol eshot and l ed it all t he w ay to vi ctory . Thweatt and Hoppe go t a lucky br eak when James T en ny son stalled it in the tum before th e fi nis h line, leaving secon d ope n for Hoppe. Thweatt too k th ird for the night. and Mik e Vargas and James T enn yson rounded out the top fiv e. Th ere was great racing in the 250cc Beginner cla ss. Ca leb Stephens and To mmy Cow ley batt led it out fo r bragging ri ghts. Co wley did everyth ing he co ul d to get around St ep hens but fell when he bu m ped Step hens' rear wheel in th e wh oop s. wh ich left fir st wide open for Ste phe ns . Cowl ey ma naged second in th at m oto , but he walk ed away with th ird ove rall. J am es W est sq ueez ed hi s w ay into second overa ll. Alan Walk er of Gran d Prairie finished

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