Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

California Racing Club Dunestown Ser ies Round 5 : Los Angeles County Ra ceway Burson Burstin' from Worst to First in Dunestown! PHOTO BV GREG ROBERT SON By GREG ROBERTSON PALMDALE, CA, MAY 31 The fifth and final round of the 27th annual I j .B. Memorial D une st o w n Series . the Du nestown Gra n Prix, held at Los Ange les County Raceway. saw Honda-mounted Nicholas Burson overcome a last-place start to decima te the California Racing Club's increasingty po pular Four-Stroke class. Ha rold Smith kept his re cent streak of Four-Stroke-c1ass holes bots alive as he pulled off another one . ahea d of Brandon Reina. Gabi Abayov and the rest of the field. It took Burson a handful of kicks to get his CRF4S0R fired up (rom the dead-engine start, an d he rounded the first tum dead last. Tanner Langham exited the first tum within the top five and was soon o ut fro nt as the pack nego tiate d t he Saddle Glen portion of the course for the first time . Burso n was using the power of his big Ho nda to full advantage, as he flew past a good chunk o f the class on the init ial run down the pavement section. With about hal f a lap completed , Burson was already up into fourth place . Burson shot arou nd Abayov fo r t hird , and just a few turns later he zapped both Reina and Langham to run out front. By the IS-mi nute mark of t he 4S-min ute race , Burson was long gone on his Ridgecrest Cyde/BRP/GS3/Simpson-backed Honda . While Burson checked out, a good race over second place developed between Langham and Reina, and it would last the e ntire 4S minutes . The two riders tra ded the runner-up posit ion back and for th numerous times, with Langham co ming t hro ugh w ith one last-lap pa ss t o prevail at the checkers. Bre ndan McConnachie, Mike Licitra, Tony Pulliam and Chris Ray each took turns holding down fourth place at one to sett le for third with his I· ) showing. The 85cc Novices did some back-and-forth racing as well. Ryan Worth starte d the eve ning we ll wi th a victory in t he first mota . Zane Tat um was right the re with him, how eve r, and it loo ked like it would go dow n to the wire in t he second mo ta. Wo rth got another good start, but Tat um had t roub le a nd fe ll o ut of co nte ntion . The doo r was wide ope n for Worth at that point, but he cou ldn't stop Honda ride r David Fee. Regard less, Wo rth 's se co nd-pl ace finish was eno ugh to earn the overall win. Worth followed up tha t solid pe rformance with a win in the single-mota as cc X class. The 12Scc d asses usually prod uce som e of the w ildest act ion . Tw o riders in partic ular locked horns in the 12Scc Novice class. In t he first race, Larry Vasquez got a grea t start on a Clawson Motorspo rts CRF2S0 . Dustin Pipe s ended up midpack in the first tum but mounted a charge on his KX125. Vasquez's advantage pr oved t oo m uc h fo r t he yo unger Pipes t o ove rc ome , but it seemed t ha t a great ra ce co uld o ccu r in th e final. In t he e nd , t hat 's 52 t ime o r another, wit h McConnachie coming through on the last lap to get the job done. Burson returned later in the day to prove his dominance of the Four-Stroke race was no fluke by ru nning away from everyone e lse in the c ombined 12Scc and 2S0cc Pro ra ce . Shawn Bus hne ll and Luke Or r d ice d over second place early in the 250cc class be fo re Bushne ll pulled away. Steve Colson finished fourth. Mike Meadows was the second rider to cross the finish line and thus earned the 12Scc Pro- class win, over Ronnie Gam ble. Tim Ritzi e r finished o ff the series - and probably his stay in the 2S0cc Beginner d ass wit h a commanding win . The Siam in Mo t orsports/White Brothers/N- Stylesponsored Ritzier qUickly put his KX2S0 into the poi nt posltlcn o n the opening lap and never looked back . Casey Clark ove rcame a back-of-the-pack start to get arou nd Casey Clark (a different rider with the same name) for a we ll- deserved second- pl ac e finis h . Dust in Pulliam and john Cox finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Randy Mose ley also concl uded t he series on a high note, by topping both the junior Vet Intermediate an d Vet Intermediate classes. Alain Lerner kept Moseley honest in t he Vet ranks to finis h in seco nd, ahead of Ni ck Santana and Bob Byrne. jason Tru be y was runner-up in Junior Vet ac tion, followed by O le Henden and Abayov. eN Los ANGEL! S C OUNTY RACEWAY PALMDAL!, CAUFORNIA RESUL TS: MAy 31, 2004 ( ROUND 5 OF 5! P/W HON BEG : I . Casey Lango sh (Ha n); 2. Sean Cantrell (Ho.,); 3. Austin Pecoraro (Hon). P/W HON AnV: I. Scott McGraw (Hon ). P/W YAM BEG: I. Case y Lango sh (Yam); 2. Austi n Monarch (Yam) ; J . John Riess (Y ); 4. Winston Chu rch ill (Yam). P/W B/BEG : I. Randall am Dubo is (KTM); 2. Jeremy Bryne (KTM); J . Kem Churchill exactly what eve ryone got: Vasquez and Pipes sta rte d one-two and immediate ly engaged in a ferocious yet friendly due l. In one co rner that led int o a w ho o p sectio n, Vasq ue z we nt underneat h Pipes, for cing him off t he t rac k. Pipes sped to the end of the whoo p section and re-e ntered the tra ck ahead of Vasquez . but the Honda rider e merg ed victorious w hen all was said and done. The night e nde d with high-fives, sm iles all the way around and , naturally lots of trophies. , O n to p o f th at , t he se rie s was o nly a bo ut halfway through, so there were ple nty of good times left to look forwar d to . RESULTS 50 FIT: I. Br and on She et s (KT M); 2. Bobby C lark (KTM); 3. Tristan Mock (So2); 4. Joshua Roe (KTM); S. Erika Ward (Ha n). 50 BEG: I. Bub ba Ward (KTM); 2. Chance Souza(Pol). 50 N OV: I. Dusty Nunes; 2. Tom my Stevens (Le m) . 50 (5-6) OPEN : I. Cathon McH ane y (Cob) ; 2. Ch ance Souza (Pol) . 50 (7 -8) OPEN: I. Dusty Nunes; 2. Bub ba Ward (KTM); 3. Bra nd o n She ets (KTM). 6 5 (5 -8) BEG: I. Dusty Nunes (!

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