Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

CMA/Simpson Spring MX Se ries Round 5: Hanford Fairgrounds demand ing Hanford track, t hey were going fo r r \j~!i!\elOff br oke to get every penny th ey could. HANFORD, CA, JUNE S E KTM rider Za ch Leach topped the 65cc and Novice 65cc (5-S) Open divi sion s and ca rd ed a th ird in the 65cc X class at round five of the CMA/5imp so n Spri ng MX Seri e s. 60 ve r y year, a t the end o f May, ma ny motocro ssers are rewarded (or their hard w ork when schools le t o ut for summer vaca t ion. For some kids . tha t means family vacations, extra time in fr ont o f the T'I, or o ther pursuits tha t may seem trivial when compared to the thrill of radng. MX kids look forward to night races, practicing on wha t would normally be school nights, and more track time in gener· aI than they get d uring the school year. Th is year, the racers involved in the CMNSimpson Spring Series had extra rewards to claim: The final round of the series meant that the scores wo uld be calculated and bonuses wou ld be awarded to those who had performed well . The bonuses came in the form of Simpson Bucks, wh ich could be used to purc hase riding gear and accessories from the Simpson catalog . Natural ly, any ince ntive above and beyond the JULY 14,2004 • CYCLE NEWS usual trophies (and bragging rights) gets the rac ers ' competitive juices fl owing. O ut on the Th e 125cc Beginner class is usually o ne of the wilder o nes at any race, but the (elias we re rea lly going crazy at the Simpso n finals. Ryan Craigo ou tlasted Chad Ormo nde and Michael Emers on i n m ot o one . In t h e Final, Bu c k Berkosky came out of relative o bscurity (seven th in the op en in g race) t o w in convincingly. That threw off eve ry one b ut O r mo nde . who put in ano ther sol id seco ndplace finish. His con sistency was reward ed wit h the ciass vic tory. C ra igo (1- 3) was second overall. and Emerson (3 . 4) earned a respectable th ird . Be rk osky vaulted to fo urt h overal l. Jared Aseltine rounded out the top five. In the 125cc Novice class. Ryan Leebel t and Nathan Broc k started well and battled for the lead for most of the first moto. Nicolas Bake r fought his way through the pack after a run -o fthe-mill start and found himself in third at about midway. With the white flag about to fly Brock , went down. surrendering the lead. Less than half a lap later, Leebelt did the same thing, and 40th Anniversary Baker fo und himself in the lead. He managed to keep his Clawson Motorsports yz 125 up right for the remaining lap and take the checke rs. Leebe lt salvaged third, wh ich paid off late r: He got o ut front in the second moto and made it st ick. Un for t un ate ly (o r him, Bake r st arte d better and finished second, stea ling the overall wit h 1-2 scores. Leebel t's 3-1 was good enough to be at Larry Vasq uez 's 2-3 e ffor ts for t he ru nner-u p spot. At a ceremony fo llowi ng t he ra ce, cla ss cham pions received plaques, and all racers who had earned Simpso n Bucks were able to peruse the cata logs and place their orde rs that night. It was another success ful end to a fun series , bu t it was just the beginning of what pro mises to be a great summer of racing. RESULTS 50 FIT, I. JWnmy Jeff (KTM); 2. Erika Won! (Hon). 50 BEG, I. Bubbo Word (KTM); 2. WoIIiom HeM....,. (Cob); r, Thompoon (Pol); 4. ..... c:..v.Jho (KTM). SO (5-6) OPEN, I. Callion McHaney (Cob); 2. Kyle Cvvd>o (KTM). 50 (7 . 8) OPEN: I. Bubba War d (KTM). P!W: I. Carty McCa ll (Hon) . 65 ( 5. 8 ) BEG : I. logan Baker (SUI); 2. William McHaney (SUz.) 65 (9. 11) BEG: I. Da lton Spjut . (KTH) . 6S NOV, I. Zach Lead> (KTH); 2. lYle<- Wymo (KTH) . 65 (5-8) OPEN, J. b ch l . .ch (KTM); 2. T....,., And~

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