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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128310
Californ ia Go ld Cup Motocross Series
Round I: Los Angeles County Ra ceway
LaPaglia Dominates
Gold Cup Opener
By GREG ROBERTSON
PALMDALE, CA, JAN. 11
uzuki. mou nte d Michael laPaglia proved to
be untouchable during the opening round of
t he sixth an nua l FMF/ Maxima / Race 5ignsl
GMO-sponsored Cali forn ia Gol d Cup
Moto cross Series, as he went six for six in
mote wins to top the I25cc and 2SOcc Inte rmediate classes and the Schoo lboy class. Lo s
Angeles Cou nty Raceway played host to a huge
crowd for the opener of the series , which travels to a different track for each event.
laPaglia started things off with a convincing
tw o-mota ro mp of th e 250cc Intermediate
class. laPaglia tu rned a pair of holeshots into
seem ingly easy victories. Kaulin Boggio finished
secon d in th e first moto after battl ing w ith
S
Caleb Goss elaar. Bryan Minte r had his hands
full with Goss elaar o n the last lap until a fall
dropped Minter to 15th. Gosselaar too k third,
ahe ad o f je ff Bell and Kyle jones. Goss elaa r
outran Boggio for second place in the secon d
mot o for second overall.
It really was n't much of a contest for the
lead in bo t h 125cc Intermediate metes. as
laPaglia put his RMZ250 into the point positlon
on the opening lap and never looked back. Bell
re tu rned on his Honda to go 4-2 for second
overall. w ith Dane Jackson. Brando n Brahm
and Kevin Hunte r finishing third through fifth
overa ll, respectively.
In Sc hoo lboy Ilrst-mc tc act ion, LaPaglia
turned his holeshot into a IS-second advantage
by the checkers. Anthony Chare tte pilot ed the
lo ne KTM in t he field up thro ugh traffic to
finish in seco nd , ahead of Den nis Jonon and
Jackson . B.J. Bo hre r was q uickest out of the
gate in mo to two an d led fo r almos t a lap
be fore laPaglia climbed from his fifth-place
stan to relieve him of the pressure of running
ou t front. C hare tt e came fro m eve n further
back for a well- deserved second-place finish
and second overa ll. Jackson's 4-3 score got the
be tt e r of [ono n's 3-4 finishe s for t hird, and
Curtis Malins (5-5) rou nde d ou t the top five
finishers.
Drew Gosselaar was equally impressive in
the 85cc O pe n and Superm ini classes, where
he posted fo ur straight mot o w ins on his
Suzukis. KTM-mounted Shawn Hayes ke pt
Drew honest throughout both Open motos for
runner-up honors. Dakota Gam er battled with
Travis Bake r and johnny jelderda en route to
his 3-5 finishes for third in the final stand ings.
Bake r returned for a pair of st rong secondplace finishes in the Supermini out ings. over
t he 5- 3 efforts of Nick Bro w n and t he 4 -5
score of KalaniWalsh.
Kasey Morris nab bed t he holes hot in the
o pening 2S0cc N o vice moto , but a hard charging Ricky Barge r got to the checkers first.
Kurt is Kae lin was a couple of seconds off
Barge r 's pace fo r second , followed by Cha d
Gores and Taylor Christianson. Morris proved
his first -mota holes hot was no flu ke by
duplicating it in mota two . Dustin Turner made
up for his disappointing 14th-place showing in
mota one by holding off Barger for the w in.
Barger's 1-2 rides captured the overall for the
day, topp ing the co nsisten t 3-3 tally of Gores
and the 2-6 efforts of Kaelin.
eN
Los ANGE ES COUNTY RACEWAY
L
PALMDALE, CAUFORNIA
RESULTS: JANUAR 11 , 2 0 0 4 (ROUND 1)
Y
Michael la Pa g lia (3 1 ) na bs the haleshot in the first 1 2 5 cc Intermediate
m o ta en route to six molo w in s and th ree cla ss vi ctorie s a t the Californ ia
Gold Cup ope ne r.
P!W ( 4 . 6): I. Bla ke Gre en (Co b); 2. Kay Stew art
(KTM): 3. Joshua Fea (PoI); .of. N icholasjone s (tem): 5. Dane
Crow er (KTM). P/W (7-S) 0 · 1: I. Gunnar Biggerstaff; 2.
joseph Re ynold s ( KT M); J . C od y Bake r ( Pol) ; -4 . Za c
Common< (KTM): S. Starr Sa.... (Pol). P/W (7-8) 0 -2, I.
lY Siminoe (KTM); 2. Brandoo Olivares (Pol): J . jovan Pulgar
(Pol); -4 . jacob Carlson (Pol); 5. N icholas Me rcie r (Pol).
SIP/W' I. Colby /\aha (KTH ): 2. lY Srninoe (KTM): 1. B