Hejlek (Kaw); 3. WilliamGuffey (Yam); ... Bill Duffr.er (KTM);
S. Frank Levan (Yam). JR: I. Kiefer Rosier (Kaw): 2. Tyler
Ruckdeschell {!w ): 2. T;mothy H ealy (K>w):
1. Je r e my T hie le (Yam ); 4. Keith Von (Yam); S. Joe
Straatmann (Kaw). OPEN C: I. Aaron Smith (Hon); 2.
Derek Kemp (Hon); 3. Chad Clark (Suz); 04. Brandon Bock
(Yam); S. Glen Osia Sr. (Suz). BEG: I. Kent Chris topher
(Y
am); 2. Jesse Busk (Yam 3. Daryl Baremore (Yam); 4. Greg
);
Bopp (y",,): 5. leR Bartr eal (KTM
).
Black Jack Enduro Circuit
Round 9: Go lden Eogle End uro
-~-------------------------. U)
Ii'
~
CJ
~
Kirkpatrick
Plays Spoiler
in Stillwater
BY JOHN HUMPHREY
'l STILLWATER, OK, JUNE 27
~
o
"'0
:I:
c,
Tom Sephton eorned a berth in the AMA National Speedway
Champion ships by wi nning the AMA East U.S. National Speedway Qualifier
a t Champion Speedway in Owego, New Yark .
AMA East U.S. Natianal Speedway Qualifier
Champion Speedway
Sephton Tops Eastern AMA
National Speedway Qualifier
By JASON BONSIGNORE
OWEGO, NY, JUNE 27
S
ince the rebirth of East Coast Spe edway in
1997, the racers have gotten much faster and
have proved at tim es th at they can match th e
speeds of the Californian superstars. The top Eastern rider, three-time champion Tommy "Gator"
Sephton, will get a chance to test his skills against
the Californians in the 2004 AMA Nationals after
he won the AMA East U.S. Na tional Speedway
Qualifier at Champion Speedway.
T he Nationa l Qua lifier produced the best
fie ld so fa r o f the 2004 season. Two -time
U.S. National Champion Kelly Moran was o n
the card , as w e r e lo ngt im e Vete ran sta rs
George " La z o r b ea m" Lazor and " T V
Tommy " Burge. Mix th ose in w ith the rest of
the crop o f N ew Yo r k talents, and th e fan s
were in fo r a real treat.
In conjunction with the Na tional Qualifier, it
was decided that th e night 's events w ould also
be Omar Lightner Cup Night , whic h pays tribute
to former track worker Omar Lightner and is
one of the top events on the Eastern calendar.
The event featur ed an all -Scratch
Ch ampionsh ip format , in wh ich racers
com peted in four heat rounds, with th e top two
points scorers going to t he ma in eve nt and the
ne xt 10 heading to two five-man semis, from
whic h t he winners t r ansfe r r e d to the final.
T ho se placing second and t hird in the sem is
went to a last-chance dash for the final spot.
T he heat determined that jeremy "Dark
Horse " Parsons and Chris "Little Big Man "
Strong would transfer dir ectly to the final.
In the first se m i, "Mea n Gene" Bons ignore
made an unbe lievable start fro m gate five a nd
rocketed acr oss everyon e else to tak e the lead.
90
He w o n easily, over Casey Do n ho lt , Cra ig
Estelle, Lazor and Russ Cornell.
In th e se cond semi , Sephton w o n
comfortably, ahead of Burge , Josh Carr, "Flyin'
Brian" Ho llenbeck and Moran.
The LCQ was wi ld . The first try resulted in
eve ryo ne piled up in an ugly first-turn crash. O n
th e restart , Ho lle nbeck headed home for th e
w in, with Donho lt and Estelle se co nd and third .
Bo nsigno re took gate one for the final. wit h
Parsons in two, Strong in th ree, Sephton in four
and Holle nbec k in five . Bonsignore touched the
tapes and earned a trip to the penalty line .
When th e tapes flew, Parsons bagged an early
lead that wou ld tak e Sephton three laps to
steal. O n lap three, th e Justi ce Brothers/Cole
Construction/Red Line O il/Progressive
Suspensio n-backed Sephton shot up the inside
of Parsons and made a great pass to win the
Eastern Qualifier! Parsons was second, follow ed
by Hollenbeck, Bonsigno re and Strong. The win
also marke d Sephton's fo urth O mar Lightner
Cup in a row!
In a postrace inte rview, Sephton stated that
he was very ex cited and ho nored to be go ing to
the AMA Natio nal Championsh ips out West.
In the Support A feature , Adam Mittl won
again from t he SO-yard line , over Shawn
"Steamboat" Engel, Mikey "Mad Dog" Buman,
Dave Richards and jay "Silverback" Casslebury.
The Support B ma in was won by crowd
favorite Katalin Davis, who was mak ing her first
appearance on a 500 cc mount.
or
wo uld have had an eas ier time washing
the Oklahoma red clay out of one's riding
ge ar than wiping th e sm ile off Cole Kirkpatrick's
face after his wi n at the Golden Eagle End uro .
The yo ung TSCEC competitor had an open
weekend and took a trip north to compete in
this qualifler- forrnat race, which was s o lely
BjEC-sanctioned . With de fendi ng champion
Steve Leivan racing a Missouri Hare Scrambles
race this same day, a handful of hungry riders
were gunning for the overall. Ho w e ve r, it
would be Kirkpatrick 's day.
Iron ically, Kirkpatrick got off to a slow st art
in the first of nine tests, as his time of exactly 16
min utes put him near 20th place after te st on e .
"Th e first tes t made my arms pump up bad ,
and I was not riding smooth at all," ad mitt ed
Kirkpatrick, who'd have to w o rk the rest of th e
day making up the deficit - and that 's exactly
what he did .
Allen Swartz clocked a 14:36 to set fast time
for the first te st , with BJEC fast guy Matt Lane
one second beh ind him on his Dick Lane's of
Grand Lake KTM.
The Moose/GPRlTwinAir/MotorexiRenthalbacked Kirkpatrick go t right back to w o rk in a
shorter te st two, pulling off a 6 :05 . Dre w
C hand le r w as nex t with a 6 : 13, follo wed by
Lane 's 6 : 15. Kirkpatrick wo uld co nti nu e this
pattern throughout the day and set fast time in
checks two through eight. Slowly chipping away
at the 1:23 deficit he had behind Lane afte r test
on e , he rode str o ng and consistently, work ing
his way into seco nd place after test six.
Kir kp at r ick went in to the final t est 14
seconds behind Lane. He needed to contin ue
r iding strong to pu ll off the win , and he d id,
record ing a time of 9 : 14, compared to Lane's
9 :38 . Only 10 seconds separated them at the
en d o f the day. After making up the lost ground ,
Kirkpatrick was e xcited.
" T he race was a lot of fun! " Kirkpatri ck
enthused. " I ke pt my head down and st ayed
positive for the rest of the day, and things we nt
my w ay. Th e club did a gre at jo b, and I hope to
be back next year to race again."
Alth ough it was a to ugh race for Lane , he
was his usual upbeat self.
" T he trail condit ions w ere perfect," Lane
said. "They had gotten abo ut four inches of rain
all w ee k, and that 01' red dirt was perfect. I had
a good day e xcept in the last test on the last
loop , w hen I washed out the front end twice. I
knew that w o uld probably cost me the overall,
and sure enough. it d id."
Drew Chandler, th e third -place finisher, was
init ially granted the o verall due to a scoring
error that was difficult to tra ck. Adamant abo ut
fin di ng the mista ke w h e n he could h ave
accepted the ov erall , Ch and ler, in good
sportsmanship, purs ued the problem with race
officials u nt il he proved that Kirkpatrick had
indeed won .
Swartz and BJEC veteran jo hn ny Rhodes
rounded out the top five, w ith BJEC's hardest
w o rking office r, Brian Jahelka, r ight on th eir
heels in sixth.
R ESULTS
O/A: I . Cole Kirkpatrick (KTM); 2. Matt lane (KTH); 3.
Dre w C handler (Hon) ; 4 . Allen Swartz (KTM); 5. Johnny
Rhod es (Hon): 6. Brian Jahelka (KTM); 7. Zack Newman
(Ya
m); 8 . Rob bie Johnson (KTM); 9 . Will Perry (Yam); 10.
Mark Alston (KTM). AA: I. Cole Kirkpatrick: 2. Man lane;
3. Drew Chandler; 4. Brian Jahel ka; S. lack Newman. A: I.
Allen Swartz ; 2. Johnny Rhodes ; 3. Robbie Johnson; 4. Will
Pe rry ; S. Mark Alston. A VET: I. Richard Kirkpatrick ; 2.
Aaron Roberts ; 3. Darryl Smith: 4. Craig Chapman .; 5. Mike
T. yIor. A SR: I. J..", c.m.n.: 2. John w..de; 3. John Myrin:
4. Bobby Sout hard ; S. Rick Owens. B: I. Scott Vater; 2.
Kelton Miller; 3. Trent Hoffman ; 4. Travis Fugat e; S. B.J.
Armstrong. B VET: I. Kevtn Betts; 2. David Barclay; l . John
Cowd rey; 4. Damn Oliver, 5. Rick Miller C 200: I. Brett
.
Yother, 2. Josh McBryde; 3. Kerrie Swam. C 25 0: I. Shane
Martin: 2. Eli Patterson: 3. Mark Michaels; 4. David Paschal;
S. Ray Masse y. C OPEN: I . David He rnande z; 2. Chr is
Blanco ; l . Michael Hullinge r; 4. Mark Magers; 5. Collin
Huffman. C V£T: I. Woody Hearn ; 2. Dan Jacobson; 3. Tim
Campbell: 4. Charles Casper. S. William Undsay. C SR: I.
Ray C ampb ell; 2. Robert Stiles ; 3. Charles Black; 4. Tim
Hawkins; S. Steve Moffett. EX SH O RT: I. Patrick Hickle; 2.
Bobby Paschal; l . Stephen Knutsen ; 4. Dale Atterberry; S.
Greg Sims.. A MSTR: I. Michael Ward; 2. Ken Hetherington;
3. Keith Johnson ; 4. David Burleigh; S. Phil Norman. B SA:
I. Paul Pendry, 2. Wes Boles ; 3. Curtis 'Nhite ; ... Dan Kell r,
e
5. Danie Hurlben. SlSR: I. RonaJd Walten ; 2. Earl Schnell;
3. Kevin Young; 4. John being; S. Raymond Hogan. SlSS:
I. Dwain Marple; 2. Dane Marable; 3. Jerry Bohannon . 5160:
I. Zahn l ewis; 2. Bob Harris; 3. jack McCutcheon . WMN:
I. Fra nces Glass: 2. Maddie Gins; 3. Che ri Suthe rland ; " .
Barbara. Zehner, 5. Arryn Stacy. JR EX: I . Travis Wiedbra uk;
2. Michae l Pitts ; 3. Evan Wi lliams; 4. Clint Woodard; 5.
Ste phen Pit ts . J R NOV: I . Je r e my Massey; 2. l oga n
Haw kins; 1. Jose ph Sut herland. YTH : I . Kale Henslee; 2.
Jacob Ze hne r; 3. Ch ris Alley; 4. Matt Hoffman ; 5. Michael
Millington .
RESULT
S
AHA QU A L/OHA R LIGHTNE R CU P : I . To m
Sephton; 2. Jeremy Parsons: 3. Brian Holle nbec k; 4. Gene
BonSignore ; 5. Chris Strong. S U P A: I. Adam Min i; 2.
Shawn Engel ; 3. Mikey Buman ; 4. Dave Richards; S. Jay
Casslebury. SU P B: I. Katalin Davis; 2. Ivldy Pandich; 3.
Shawn EngeJ; 4. Jame s Langland : S. MikeTompkins.
AUGUST 4,2004 • CYCLE NEWS
Cole Kirkpatrick makes up time a boa rd his KTM at the Galden Ea g le End uro
in Stillw a ter, Oklahoma.
40th Anniversary
