Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

two Premier heats participating. T ensio n ran h i g h - so h i g h , i n fac t, t ha t V ert em at i ' s Leonardo "Pucho" Bagn is jumpe d th e start th ree times and was relegated to the back of the grid . Whe n the gr een fl ag finally dro pped , wily vet era n Pau l Orlandi got the holeshot , fol lowed by his CHM Exhausts teammate Ricky Pearce. Stev e Drew and Casey Yarro w. Orlan di was b ut te r-s m o oth as he le d th e pack through the tigh t course. Early on, Dr ew an d Yarrow came to gether and went down hard, leaving Pear ce as the o nly real challenge to Orlandi' s run fo r the money . Th ey ran nose to ta il f o r t h e en t i re t y , but the o r d er didn 't change, and Orlandi proudl y grabbed th e big buck s. On Sunday, 14 classes ran, and one of the m ost exciting was th e Vet Open contest. Lo cal fast ve ts such as Dave Dev eau a nd All en Yarrow sha red the tra ck with Hall of Farner Ch uck Sun in an enter taining contest. Sun tr aded his usual " uno bta ni um " KTM 660 fo r a m or e staid 525 SMC, but th e orange bike was in no way sho rt on po wer . The top Vets ran a cl o se ra ce , wi t h Vert emati - mounted Shawn Bl ack battling w ith Darr ic k Lucchesi , o n his Pinit Hond a CRF45 0R. Black has been stea dl Iy im p ro v ing , a nd Sup er m oto ins iders p ick h im to be the Vet Open n umb er -o ne p lat e holder in 2004 . Bu t Lucch esi paid Black no suc h respect, grabb ing the lead from hi m and nev e r lo ok in g b ack . B eh in d L ucchesi and Black , Brok McAll ister grabb ed the last position on th e pod ium, with A lle n , O rla ndi and Pearce rounding out th e to p six . Practice m akes perfect, and nobody on the Northern California Supermoto scene prac tices more than Do n Hart. He's a regular fixt ure at Stock to n Motorplex ' s weekly open track day, and his ded ication pa id off in the O pe n Expert race at San Mateo. Hart dom inat ed the field, beati ng the likes of Cory Call , Cas ey Yarrow, Bagn is and Dr ew . Hart's dirt track experie nce paid off on the slippery park ing -lo t surface. He diced with Call, as Casey , Bagn is and Drew fo ught it out behind th em, but he held it together. Th ere were few places to pass, so a good start and a m istake -free race almost guaranteed th e w in . Hart d id a great job of keeping som e bi g. nam e superm o to riders behin d him . Those big-nam e supermoto riders fill ed the field in the Prestige cla ss. KTM, Hond a and Vert em ati rid ers and a lone Yama ha pilot gri d ded on th e narr ow, twi st y t rack. The gra nd stands were full of spectators. Welcom e to the "Pucho Sho w" J ust as he has don e in nu m erou s races thi s year, B agn is ran away with the Prestige race. Rid ing hi s Mot ostrano -sponsored Vertemati 57 0 , Pucho railed into th e first co me r in front of the pack , and he built an insurmounta ble lead. The m ain event rao 20 laps, and Bagn is b ui lt almost a on e -sec ond -p er -Iap cushion over a d istant Drew , in sec ond . T eammates Call and Ca sey fought for th e last pod ium po sitio n, with Ca ll finally grabbi ng th ird fro m Ca sey . At th e c hec k ers, B agn is had almost half a lap on th e pack. As things wrap up fo r th e 2003' Northern Cali forn i a Superm ot o Se r ies , r a ce r s lo o k towa rd 2004. With AMA Pro Raci ng buil ding the popu larit y of supermoto across the nati on , va rious A mate ur se r ies a re sp r ingi ng up eve ry where. AM A Amateur sanctioning seems inevitabl e, and in m an y reg ion s, it will be weicome . Th e Nor-Cal Series is a good exa m ple of a well -run and professtcna l co llection of races run at var ied and challengi ng ven ues. Northern Californ ia race rs hop e that th e wav e co nti nues to bu ild , and tha t next y ear m ore ra cetra ck s will host m or e supermoto eve nts li k e the 2003 San Ma teo superm oto rac e. San Mateo County Fairgrounds: Don Hart (5 6) b ac ks it In at t h e en d of t he straight o n his wa y to t he Open Expert win at the f ifth a nd f inal round o f t h e No r-Cal S upermoto Se r ie s , i n San Mateo, Ca li fo rn ia. S/LIW: I . Garmt Willis; 2. Pll trkk McNll mara; J . Frankie Garda; 4. Cameron Bc!aubier. 5. Gabe Ets-Hok in. lJW : I . Carnt!ftJfl Bc! ubier, 2. Gil Norman; J . Patrick McNamora : a 4. Garmr, Willis; 5. C.D. Howell. M/W I . Casey Yarrow; 2. Paul Orlandi: 3. Cory Cell: 4. Chris : Saylor Navigates to Fall Classic Win B y G ARY CR IDER MONTEAGLE, TN , NOV. 2 The pro moters at TMT M otocross Park wor ked hard to m ake the ir seaso n -c lo sinq , sec on d annual Fall Cla ssic MX a memorable eve nt. Th e usual cas h pu rse was increased to a ge nero us $2 500, attract ing a tough crowd of Pro rid ers from the four surrounding states. Th ere were also special dec orati on s for the eve nt , including everything from go al· post -styl e ban ners over the big jumps to a pa ir of pumpkins m arkin g the fini sh line. A fil m crew was on ha nd , ma ki ng a pro m otion al video fo r th e tra ck , and their job was perh a p s m ad e eas ie r by th e ab unda nc e o f close raci ng thr oughout th e day , pa rt icu larl y i n t he tw o A cd tvtston contes ts . H ol e sh ot awards were pr ovided by Castle Powersports and Fox rep resenta tive Mike J ohnson. Track prep was excellent, and the raci ng was du st free all day . One of the day's bright spots was the pres ence of Keith Da vidson, a to p local rider who , just two weeks earlier, had suffered a broke n neck at Mu ddy Creek MX. Da v idson will be wearing the elaborate " halo" head /neck bra ce for the next six m onths and i s expecte d to m ake a full recovery . Alaba ma's Drew Askew show ed the way in the ear ly la ps of the opening 125 cc A mo to , while Ke ntucky's Jacob Sa ylo r wo rk ed h is way up from a six th-place start. The Vamaha / BSY / Fo x/Pro Circuit -b acked Saylor was soo n in thi rd spot, and he set his sig hts o n Chad War d , in seco nd. Ward suffered a roug h landi ng ove r the " Leap of Faith" ju m p , slowing ju st eno ugh for Say lor to m ove into seco nd. O n the nex t lap , A skew stepped off his bik e in a ti ght turn , surrendering th e lead to Sayl or, wh o held on for the m ota win , ahead of War d. As ke w recovered fro m his spill and reg ained tw o pos itio ns, fin ishing in fourth, behin d M att Shue, who wa s p ilo ting the lon e tw o -st roke entry in this cla ss. A t the sta rt of m ot o two , more than ha lf the field went down in the fir st tum, prompting PRESTIGE: 1. Leonardo Bagn is; 2. Steve Drew; 3. Cory Call: 4. Casey Yarrow; 5. Man Proto. OPEN EX: 1. Don Hart 2. Cory Call; 3. Casey Yarrow; 4. Leeeerdo Bagnis; 5. Steve Drew. VET OPEN: 1. Derric k Lucchesi; 2. Shawn Black; J. Broil McA llister; 4. Allen Yarrow; 5. Paul Orlfl ndl. D EC EM B ER 3 , 2 0 0 3· e ye Tyler Snow 5. Tyler Pullen. : Fall MX Classic TMT Motocross Park S a n M ateo County Fairgrounds S a n M a t eo. California Resu lts: Novembe r 8 ~9 , 2 003 (Ro u n d 5 o f 5) 40 5. AU Yarrow. en 1'UNI-MOT ARD: I. Garrett Will is; 2. Steve Pullin ; J . Rick y Colin

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