Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

any of the main eve nts . O ne of the most rightening incidents to occur in the heats !{>las when Suzuki pilot and former World Champ ion Kevin Schwantz and STTARS .number-one plate holder Mark Cemicky lIided off the exit jump from the dirt ction . Both riders went down har d, ith Schwantz appearing to get the orst of it. "Igot by him [Cernicky] earlier in the race, " Schwantz said. "Th e n, the last lap, my bike was starving for fuel, and he got back by me. Then, in the dirt, they allopted to take the same line, so I said, 'I'm gonna try something different.' a I went to the inside, and ark just gassed it up. It's just a dng incident . Mark's upset, ut it's rac ing. I'm all right, a it sore, but I'll be okay." With the conclusio n o f the heats and a semi, the first of fou r mains ro lled to the tarting grid at 2:45 p.m. For the 12-lap Novice mai n eve nt, W ilson's Mot o rcycle 's Chad Foster at on pole by virtue of the astest heat-race win. Foster ut that spot to goo d use , as e shot his Yamaha 250 to the fro nt ove r Three Brother's Andre Barbosa and Specialty Fastener's Eddie Tafoya. One and a half laps in, Foster already had a three-second gap on the field. On lap three, with a clear track ahead, Foster put in a 5B.92-secand lap. Del Arne's Steve Fortune, coming from midpack, was up to sixth. By lap five, Tafoya had closed in on Barbosa and was applying pressure. The dirt section claimed a victim, Robert Seay, on lap eight; it cost him six positions. However, he would recover and finish strong at 12th out of 28. At the checkered flag, Foster sailed home unchallenged , over Barbosa and Tafoya. The Minimoto main was a IO-Iap aff~ir, with three separate classes on the race track at the same time but scored sepa rately - a nightmare, but Canet's girls are up to the task . Roseville Cycle's Cameron Beaubier was the only Mini rider in the heat to go under the one-minute lap-time barrier and thus was favored for the main. However, entering the dirt section in the lead on lap one, Beaubier went down, allowing Rod Lake Racing's Frankie Garcia to take the po int. KB Home's David Sharkey III ran second, with Foster third . Garcia and Sharkey swapped the lead twice on the second lap, and then Garcia led until lap eight, when Sharkey took over for goo d . Foster also got by Garcia at this same time for second. Garcia, visibly slowing , held on for third. There was a break for th e Superbike race, and then it was back for the 450cc main event at 4:40 p.m. A light drizzle had started to fall by this time , but a quick check with the riders indicated they wou ld rather run now than take a 20minute tire-change break. Fairfield Cycle's Casey Yarrow led the pack around the wet asphalt and was first into the dirt, o nly to have Chisum Racing's josh Chisum take it away upon the trans ition back to asphalt. just after the completion of one lap, White Brothers' Steve Drew and Del Arne's Cameron Welsh fell victim to the slick track. Lap two saw Yamaha's Mark Burkhart from Ohio take over the lead from Chisum. Burkhart was visibly more at home racing in the rain, and by lap four, it was raining! By lap five of 12, with standing water puddles in the dirt/mud section, Burkhart had a three-second gap over Chisum , and Carmichael Honda's Cory Call had worked his way up to third . Yarrow was now back to fourth, and Troy Lee 's Gary Trachy was fifth. On the very next lap, Trachy went down, and Call was all over Chisum , fighting for second . Quietly start- Mark Burkhart (61) came all the way from Ohio to win the rainsoaked 4S0cc main event for Yamaha and Troy Lee Designs. ing from the back, Suzuki's Schwantz was now up to sixth. The harder it rained , the more Burkhart seemed to like it. By lap nine, Schwantz was up to fourth , and Del Arno's Pablo Veglia, riding a 250, was charging from midpack as well. On the final lap, Schwantz split the Chisum -Call battle, leaving Burkhart up front, followed by Chisum , Schwantz, Call and Veglia. What a difference a day makes : Sunday had clear, sunny skies, but more importantly a dry race track. Gone were the puddles of yesterday, and even the dirt section was dry. At I:20 in the afternoon, the highly contested 250cc main took to the track. Pete Bothwell 's factory Kawasaki Team was well-represented, with the addition of Maxxis' Trachy. This was only his sec ond ride aboard a 250, but having won his heat race and set fast time in the process at 54.04 seconds, he was the odds-on favorite . As the pack of 20 thundered into tum one, Kawasaki's jeff Matiasevich took po int, followed by Team Green's Brandon Currie, TLD's Trachy, and Suzuki's Bobby Fang. One and a half laps in, Trachy took the lead, while Fat Boy Racing's Matt Pursley was on the move and up to fifth. Veglia ran sixth, and Cernicky was seventh. On lap four, Trachy put in a 53.84-sec and lap as he started to check out on the field. This lap also saw Currie make a mistake and Purs ley charge into second. Veglia, who David Sharkey III topped the Minimoto SScc class. Ga ry Trachy (17), in only in his seco nd time on a 2 50, goes past Brandon Cur rie (4 14) e n ro ute to th e 2 S0cc ma in-event w in. www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • APRil 28, 2004

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