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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128309
Chaparral Pro-Am Challenge
Glen Helen Raceway Park
Grant's Four Grand
By JOHN BETHEA
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, DEC. 2B·29
he highly ant icipated eighth annual Chaparra l 12Scc Pr o -Am C halle nge - alw ays a
good way t o end the se aso n at Gle n He le n
Raceway - was marred by a tragic incident.
A g iga ntic r a inst orm hit t he area o n
C hr ist mas Day, wa shing down th e hillside s
re ce nt ly black en ed by So uth er n C aliforn ia' s
worst fire e ver, m a kin g th e en try ro a d
im passa ble fo r Fr iday 's 12Scc Sup ercross
showdown. Lost was the international field of
riders who were to hit the SX trac k; left over
was the $1 0 ,000 purse, which was inste ad
issued as a present to the GP and motocross
Expert riders of Saturday and Sunday. Rookie
Pr o j osh ua G r a n t too k up t he s lac k and
enj oy e d th e b igg e st pa yd ay o f h is s hor t
professional career, hea ding hom e about four
grand richer after dom inating both the 12Scc
and 2 S0 cc G P and MX ac t ion aboard his
factory Honda.
"We we re all geared for supe rcross.' said
Grant after his Sunday sw eep of the 12Ss. "We
had to hast ily change the suspen sion over to
GP styfe and never had a chance to practice or
test it."
It didn't matter. Grant carved out easy wins
every time out, exce pt for a hor rible incident
on Sunday.
Th e firs t 2S0cc Expert/Inte rmed iate MX
moto st a rt ed off w ith a spectacular bat t le
between Grant and Kawasaki's justin Keeney.
For several laps, t he two were imme rsed in
t he ir sid e-by-s ide skir m ish . T he n t he
sp e e dst ers were sud den ly ya nke d back t o
reality w hen they bo th smashed into an e lderly
fem ale specta to r standing on the tra ck. Keeney
hit her first and was spit off his bike, injuring his
shoulder.
"I couldn't miss her," said Grant, who the n
ran ove r her legs , re sult ing in c om po und
T
Stevens. Cam eron finished third, ahead of Ter ry
Matto x, Nick Howard and Brayde n Watson .
The Open Ama teur class was all Kevin
Ellingsworth. The Tulsa ve te ran styled to a
runaway win aboard his Ho nda. Heat winner
B.j, Armstrong kept Ellingswo rt h in sight, but
that was about all he could do . Dylan Marlin
took third, ahead of J.R . Ott and Tyler
McDonald.
Mike Bauer controlled the Vintage class all
night, with convincing wins in his heat and in the
final. Jerry Hinds looked very good returning
from a bad back injury last year to finish a
strong second. De re k Marlow was third after
Mark Gatlin stalled his Os sa trying to stuff-pass
Hinds .
The ever-pop ular Mad Dog Mini riders
were, as always, the hit of the show. These guys
take the ir litt le bikes seriously. and a slimmeddown Mike Hinds took command and held off
all comers. Brandon Cartwright, on a borrowed
Honda, held on to second, over rising factory
Suzuki star Danny Eslick. Russell Marlin took
fo urth , over Randy King and jerry Cartwright.
36
fract ures for th e 8 2-ye ar-ol d gra ndmother
who'd been crossing the track to w at ch a
relative 's race . "Justin w as sickened by it, "
Grant added; Keeney didn't race the rest of th e
day. [As of press ti me , the spectator w as
recuperating at a nurs ing facility.]
Th at wasn't the only horrendou s spill o f the
day. Gr an t' s fo r m er Int er m ediate foe M ike
Al essi was also involved in a t um bler. eve n
t ho ugh he was e n ro ute t o two cla ss
cha mp ionships. It was in the same class , this
time on the resta rt , whe n he bailed at the to p
of Mount Shoe i and endoed down its face - a
dro p of about frve sto ries. He didn't move for a
short while. but he did manage to shake it off
and went on to win the Schoolboy and FourStroke Intermediate titles.
Alessi also won both 250c( MX races on
Sunday, but his failure to race the GP the day
before preve nted him from winning his th ird
class . Aless i's inc on s ist e nt perfor manc es
ope ned t he door for Kyle Ku bit sch ek and
jo shua La Fountaine to gamer their own titles.
Midd leton, Idaho 's Kubitsche k rode his Suzu ki
to a GP win on Saturday and the n matched it
wi t h a fift h overall o n Sunday t o ga in t op
po in t s . La Foun ta ine top ped the 250cc
Inte rmediates afte r Alessi's endo gave him two
thi rds to add to his GP runn e r-u p finish to
Alessi on Saturday. Kubitsche k won both 2S0cc
races but place d nint h on Satu rda y and was
denied his second title .
eN
65 (4- 8): I. Austin Politelli (!oo Ny. (Yom 2. J
):
ohn
Elton (Hon); l . Mike Bor'owski (Hon); .... Herb Seflers (Yam
);
5. Joe Bein (Yam VET INT: I. Kris Martin (Yam 2. Rick
).
);
Cortelyou (Hon); 1. David McCord (KTM). S R N OV: I.
Tony Nic ks (KTM); 2. Jim Masters (Ha n ); 1. Jim Bo re n
(Yom 4. Brian Wo/ff",d (Yom 5. Roben Ripl