~-------------------~-CMC Golden S t at e Na tiona ls So ut h
Round 3 : Starwest Motocross Park
Villopoto Unvanquished!
By JOHN BETHEA
PERRIS, CA, FEB. 1
The re was another changing of the guard in
I t he Pro and Inte rmediate divisions at the
CMC's th ird so uthern roun d o f the CMC
cc
Golde n State Nationals, but BO Sportsman
blitze r Ryan Villopoto continued his unbeaten
strea k.
For the third time this year, a different Pro
bagged the I25cc and 250cc single-moto wins,
35 Sean O 'Connor scored the hon ors this
week , just as Josh Grant and Jimmy Nelson had
previous ly at the first and second rounds.
respect ively. Though t he John Bur r Cycle s
Honda rider skipped the opening two round s,
O 'Connor got a strong second-place start in
the 20-minute 125cc event , behind Chaparral
Suz uki' s Ge rrit O rd elman. The pair stayed
within a few seconds of each other well into
the secon d half, whe n a lapped rider cau sed
the leader to back off the throttle momentarily,
and O 'C o nnor snatch e d the o pp ort uni ty.
O 'Co nno r wo n, followed by O rdel man and
Ne lson .
In the 250cc contest , Utah 's Gray
Davenport moved his South Valley
Mot~ports Kawasaki into the early lead, with
Nelson holdin g seco nd o n his FMF factory
Ya ma ha . Near halfway, Davenpo rt bega n
moving backwa rd (e ve ntually to fo urt h), and
N elson found himself battl ing Ordelman fo r
the lead . Howeve r, O 'Connor passed th em
both with about five laps to go. From there, it
was a showdown: Nelson clung to O'Connor 's
tail unt il late in the cont est when he stalle d
after bumping into the leade r in a tight hairpin wh ich cost him two spots, as O rdelman and
Dave nport quickly too k advantage.
KTM's Derrick Mur phy and Ame rica n
Suz uki 's Da nie l Sani too k turns thwarting
Jarred "Jet" Browne's attempts at a triple bigbike Intermediate win. After pulling off a finallap pass of Murphy for t he first 125cc moto
w in, Browne was leading t he secon d stanza
when, ac ce lerating o ut o f a turn late in the
race , he suddenly looped his Suzuki.
"They 'd just watered the t u rn," sa id a
slightly em barrassed Brow ne later, "and the
rear tire started spinning. I leaned back to give
it traction , and whe n it hit t he dry area, it
hoo ked up."
Before he could react, he was knocked on
his butt , eventualty remounting to finish fourth .
Browne won the first 2S0cc Inte rmedi ate
mo to as well , w ith Sani runner-up. In moto
two , Sani snared the holeshot while Browne
spent two laps try ing to pass Kawa sakimo unte d Donnie Weber for sec o nd. Playing
catc h-up, Browne gained one bikelengt h per
o r the seco nd year in a ro w, the Doc
Petersen family, along with MidAmerica
MotoPlex, promoted the Midwest Supercross
races at th e Sw ifte l Center in Brookings ,
South Dakota , and again sold out the facility.
The Friday night races marked the beginning
of a do ublehead e r weeke nd of racing that
dre w riders fro m all over the Midwest. The
evening's events ranged fro m the Pee Wee
class to the 250ce A class, along with a 50cc
Adult exhibition race.
KTM -mounted Wyatt livi ngston won the
Pee Wee heat race, over Dillo n Cloyed, who
rebounded in the main to take the win , with
Livingston seco nd.
Mid Am erica MotoPl e x-backed Austi n
Andersen too k t he 65cc (7-9) heat w in,
over Co by Oc ke nga and jerico Ga ertner.
Unfo rtu natel y for Ande rs en, he was m ired
F
48
3)
so BEG:
I. Jona than Soliz (Cob); 2. Fausto Vaknzuela
(KTM ): 3. >kyleo- Seifert (Pol): 4. Jake Hemande, (KTM ): S.
John Cabrera (KTM). 50 (4- 6): I. Maxwell Tedm) : 3. j.,,;
M:ogra (lUw): 4. Uno Ganlner (KTM ): S. K,.. O ·NeaI (Suz).
60 (0. 8): I. Anthony De Fazio (5u%): 2. Michae l Maze
(Cob) : 3. Ryan Goodwin (Kaw) : m ): 3. La")' Reese (Su,): 4. Marl< Samuels
(SU 1); 5. Tomm y Ramir ez ( Hon) . 125 PRO : l. Sean
O'Con nor (Ho n); 2. Gerrit Ordelm a.n (SUI) ; 1 . Jimmy
Nelson (Yam); .... Scott Davis (Suz): 5. Andy Bakken (Yam).
250 BEG : I. Andr ew Ham ilton C
Hon }; 2. Chris Mila C
Hon) ;
1. Earl Penny (Yam). 250 JR: I. Scott Martin (Suz): 2. Danny
Hart (yam): 3. Matt Cleveland CHon); ... Erik Coleman (Suz);
.
5. Mark Stulu. (Yam) . 250 INT : I. Daniel Sani (5u2o): 2.
Midwest Supercross
Swifte l Cenrer
By BRAD LETCHER
lap, pulling alongside Sani severa l times on the
last lap - only to be de nied.
Browne 's th ird attempt came in the 125cc
Schoolboy contest. in which he managed to
back up a first-mote last-lap pass of Murphy for
the win with a strong second -race victory for
the ove rall.
Team Gre e n Kawasak i's Villopoto again
top ped the 80cc ( 14-16), 80cc O pen and 80cc
Superm ini classes in swee ping fashion, though
he came very close to ending his win streak in
t he second Supe rmini moto . Afte r garnering
the holeshot, he nearty wen t headfirst over the
ha ndle bars w ith a momentary ta nk-slappe r.
Some how he regained control of his KX, held
second , snatched the lead back four turns into
the race and was never headed again.
eN
mi d pac k in t he ma in eve nt . Oc ke nga an d
Gaert ne r, along w ith Gae r tn e r ' s b ro t her
Jere my, battled up fro nt; Ockenga took t he
checkers first, followed by Jerico and Jerem y.
Nebraska natives played a big part in much
of the night's festivities. Tekamah, Nebraska's
KyleOlson swept the heat and main in both the
65cc ( 10- 12) and 85cc (7- 11) classes. O lso n
isn't afraid to air it out or shred a berm or two .
Thirt een-yea r-old Be llevue , Nebrask a, rider
Ricky Draper shocked the crowd with his highflying antics, clearing every jump with veteran like prec ision . Drape r wowed the cro wd as he
consistently cleared ob stacles that many of the
125cc and 250cc riders were not attempting.
The 5t o r m La ke Honda/S mit h Sp ort
Opncsr jtenthal-backed rider lap ped m uch of
th e field a nd st ill had t ime to style for t he
cro wd .
T he fastest Nebraska riders took to th e
track in the 125cc A and 250cc A co nte sts.
Norfolk, Neb raska's Brandon Hoff swept all of
MARCH 3, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
Jarr ed Browne (Suz); 1. jeff Loop (Hon) ; .... Be ni Williams
(SU1); S. Don nie Webe r (Kaw) . 250 PRO : I . Se an
O 'Co nno r (Ho n) ; 2. Gerr it O rd el ma n (SU%) ; 3 . Gray
Davenport (Kaw) ; 4. Jimmy Nelson (Yam) ; 5. Ch ris Young
(Suz). 500 A M: I. Jon Hall (Hon). 500 PRO: I. Mat
Bate man (Hon) ; 2. Man Mebane (Hon ); 1. Tony Schuler
(Yam): 4. Joe Heald (Yam). 4-STRI(, I. Austin Boyd (Yam) :
2. Ton y Espos ito (Suz) ; 1. Ricky O liver (Yam) ; .... Steven
Hem bree (Yam) : S. Eric ""~ (Yam) . W MN: I. Elinbeth
Ba.h (Kaw ): 2. Sherry Cruse (Hon) : 3. Tatum >ok (Suz ): 4.
Jadcie "'" (Yam): S. Tanya Eiben (Suz). SQlBY: I. [arred
Brown e (SU 2. De rreck Murph y (KT M); 3. Je ff l oo p
1);
(Hon ): 4. D.n;eI Hend rix (Kaw) : S. Chad Andenon (Yam).
BnI ( 11-24): I. Erik Coleman (Suz); 2. Justin Reese (Yam).
25 + AM : I. Ma.tt Cleveland (Hon ). 25 + MSTR: I. Jon
zahrt (Kaw); 2. Mark Mosc. op (Kaw); 3. C hris Smith (Sul ).
r
25+ PRO: I. Ch ris Youn g (Suz); 2. Matt Tedder (Kaw) .
VET BEG: I. Jeff Hall (Suz); 2. Dell Posey (Yam) ; 3. Jon Hall
(Hon) . VET I"' I. Chuck Penny (Yam): 2. Joe Heald (y "",).
VET INT: I. Greg Pierce (Yam). VET MST R: I. Jon lahrt
(Kaw); 2. Mark Moscrop (Kaw); 3. Chris Smith (Suz). VET
PRO : I. C hris Young (SUl ); 2. Matt Tedder (Kaw) . Orr
AM : I. C h uck Pe nn y (Yam) ; 2 . Spe ncer He ss (Suz); 3.
Michael Nash (SUl) ; .. . Maurice Diam o nd ( Ho n) . OfT
MSTR: I. Jon ZWt (Kaw); 2. Tony Schuler (Yam); 3. Matt
Tedder (Kaw) ; .. . David Zahrt (Suz) ; S. Mar k Mos crop
(Kaw).
wasted no time jumping out front again in the
main. Koch, who had struggled to a sixth-place
heat -race finish, found himself up front, trying
to batt le Hoff dur ing the main. Hoff took the
main-e vent w in, fo llowed by Koch, Peterson
and Orr.
Jesse Peterson airs it out during the 250cc A main event at the
Midwest Supercross in Brookings, South Dakota.
4 0th Ann iversary
