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Don Canet's STTARS Moto-Connectlon Southwest Series
Round 9: Grange Motor Circuit
PHOTO BY JAMEY BLUNT
Bagnis Takes the Plate
By JAMEY BLUNT
APPLE VALLEY, CA, DEC. 12
S
ome 162 entrants made up the 10 heat
races at the closing round of the STTARS
Southwest Series. The weather at Grange was
perfect, and jim Granger even installed a water
tower and pump for the dirt section. showing
his long-term commitment to the motorcycles.
Entering this final round, two riders were
tied for the number-one plate in the premier
class, the Open Expert class. Gary Trachy and
Leonardo Bagnis sat dead even, so whoever
finished in front of the other would win the
coveted number one.
First. though, there were some outstanding
performances in some other classes. Ten Horse
Construction's Eric Anderson fought through
one of two Novice heat races just to get to the
main, and then went on to victory over the
field of 24. Del Amo Motorsports' Steve
Fortune, getting faster all the time, carne home
second. However, the biggest gainer was
speedway legend Billy Hamill, who was making
his supermoto debut: He fought from I Sth to
finish fourth.
In the Del Arno Motorsports 2SOcc class, all
eyes were on C.D. Howell, who had won the
last round's main. Howell led the heat race.
only to give way to Kawasaki's Trachy.
NMA Fall Championship
Oak Hill Motocross Park
DECATUR, TX, NOV. 14
American SuzukilTroy Lee/Oakley/Dunlop./""\sponsored Eli Tomac of Colorado garnered
four overall wins at the second annual NMA Fall
Championship, topping the 6Scc (9-1 I) Modified,
6Scc Open, 8Scc (7-1 I) Stock and 8Scc (7-1 I)
Modified classes. Tomac added more titles to his
already impressive resume. in addition to getting
in some valuable seat time before heading to
Florida for the Winter Olympics.
Joining romac was South Carolina's Austin
Root, who came west to participate in the older
50cc and younger 60cc classes; he scored four
championships, in the 50cc (7-8) Modified, SOcc
Super Pee Wee (6-9), and 6Scc (6-8) Stock and
Modified events.
Plano Suzuki's Scotty Wennerstrom stormed
to the holeshot in the 12Scc Modified
Intermediate contest. with New Mexico's
Bradley Graham in pursuit. Graham was ahead
of Wennerstrom throughout the first lap, but at
the top of lap two, Graham got by
Wennerstrom as they headed toward the back
section. Gated with the Intermediates were the
12Scc Novices and the lone 12Scc Pro rider.
Colorado's Travis Bannister, who gated third off
the start but was behind Graham by the end of
lap two; Bannister took the lead by the end of
lap four. Meanwhile, D&S Kawasaki/Pro
However, (or the main, Howell shot to the
front, with Trachy in tow. Trachy applied
pressure, even taking the lead away. only to
have Howell come back at him and go on to
score two in a row. Scott Hoffman of Super
Moto Racer Mag got accustomed to his
borrowed mount and finished second.
In Intermediate action, Sports West
Yamaha's Shawn Moore topped the podium,
over Mike Kelley and Eric Anderson.
Axo/Suomy's Frankie Garcia cut his little
brother Jessie no slack (even on his brother's
II th birthday) and spanked the Mini Mota class.
For the Open Expert class, Hahm
Motorsports' Trachy was favored by virtue of
his heat-race victory over rival Leonardo
Bagnis. The green flag flew, and it was GP
Motor Cycles/Husqvarna's Bagnis who led into
turn one, followed by joker Machine's justin
Ross, on the KTM, with the Honda-mounted
Trachy in third. In the right-hander just before
the dirt section, Trachy put a wheel up inside of
Ross and took second away.
Two and a half laps in, Trachy made a
mistake that allowed Ross back into second
and jake Holden to advance to third. By lap
four, Trachy had regained second, but Bagnis
now had a seven-second gap, turning his fastest
lap at one minute and 4.48 seconds. Cameron
Welsh pushed past Holden and Ross to run
Circuit/Dunlop's Vince Monteleone was on
Wennerstrom's back tire, looking for am
opening, with Minnesota's Ryan Dungey in the
wings. Dungey then passed both Wennerstrom
and Monteleone on the final lap to finish second
in class, behind Graham. Wennerstrom held off
Monteleone for third. Richard White, making his
official debut aboard a 125 after retiring from
the minibike ranks, rounded out the top five.
Colorado's Kyle Summers nabbed the
holeshot in the 12Scc Schoolboy class on his
Team ATR Racing/MSRlPro Circuit Kawasaki,
but he was passed down the start straight by
Team Green/Scott/FMF/D&S-backed Graham,
who immediately set the pace for the class
while establishing a good lead, leaving Summers
to deal with Dungey, Monteleone, David Wood,
Wennerstrom, White and Kelly Brown. A barto-bar battle developed between Summers and
Dungey that lasted three laps before Dungey
took an inside line at the top of lap four for
second and held it all the way to the end.
Tomac absconded with the holeshoc in the
combined 8Scc Modified (7-11), (12-13) and
(14-1 S) gate, but Matthew Lemoine passed
Tomac on the first lap and never looked back.
Lemoine easily took the win in 14-15 division,
with Thousand Oaks Yamaha/Pro Circuit's Chaz
Holliday claiming the 12-13 win, leaVing Tamac
to headline the 12-13 division.
Tomac returned to the gate two mot05 later to
headline the 6Scc (9-1 I) and (6-8) Modified race,
taking the lead in short order and never looking
back. Blake Dungey chased Tomac from start to
finish. Texan Beau Hudson gated third but was
challenged heavily by Coloradoan Cody Doerfler,
with Doerfler making the pass on lap two. Hudson
third by lap seven, but
Ross wasn't throu&h, as
he put his head down
and turned a oneminute-and-4.92second lap and took
one final shot at Welsh.
At the white flag,
the order was Bagnis,
Trachy, Welsh, Ross and
Holden. Then, with
four turns remaining,
Ross shot past Welsh to
take third away making the final order
Bagnis, Trachy, Ross,
Welsh and Holden, thus
Leonarda Bagnis came into the final snARS round tied
giving the number-one
with Gary Trachy for the Open Expert championship,
plate
to
Bagnis.
but he left Apple Valley, California, with next year's
Number two for the
number-one plate.
series went to Trachy.
with the number-three plate going to last
65 MINI: t. l.arTy Smith (Kaw); 2. Justin Duc:ut (KTM); 3.
Randy Kaiser (Hon). 85 MINI: I. FranlOe Garcia (Hon); 2.
year's number-one rider, Mark Cernicky. eN
GRANGE MOTOR CIRCUIT
APPt.E VAWY,
CAUfORNIA
RESULTS: DECEMBER 1 2,
(ROUND
9
Of
2004
9)
BEG, I. R. 8')'3" lAnd (Hon): 2. Shane Gint.. (KTH); 3.
Juan McCombie (Han). NOV, I. Eric
(Han); 2.
Steve Fonune (Yam); 3. Jason Hyde (Hon). INT: I. Shiawn
Moo<-e (Yam); 2. Mok. Kelley (Han); 3. Eric AndeBon (Han).
And."""
came back, though, and reclaimed third.
RESULTS
50 (4-6) STK: I. Parker- Fleming (Cob). 50 (7-8) STK:
I. Jack Sheppard (Cob); 2. Austin Root (KTM); 3. Caden
Lovell (KTM); 4. Kristian w.ao" (KTM). SO (7-8) MOD, I.
Austin Root (KTM); 2. Krist!an Watson (KTM); 3. COlden
Lovell (KTM). 50 S/P/W (6-9): I. Austin Root (KTM); 2.
Caden lovell (KTM). 65 (6-8) STK: I. Austin Root (KTM);
2. Sawyer Vodry (KTM); J. Jack Sheppard (KTM); 4. Cade
Moore (Kaw). 65 (6-8) MOD: I. Austin Root (KTM); 2.
Sawyer Vodry (KTM); J. Cade Moore (Kaw). 65 (9-11)
STK: I. Blake Dungey (Suz); 2. Todd Bannister (KTM); 3.
Klay Stephenson (KTM); 4. Cody Doerfler (Kaw); 5. Chase
Vodry (KTM). 65 (9-11) MOD: I. Eli Tomas (Suz); 2. Blake
Dungey (Suz); 3. Beau Hudson (Kaw); 4. Todd Bannister
(KTM); S. Cody Doerfler (Kaw). 65 OPEN (0-11): I. Eli
Tomac (Suz); 2. Beau Hudson (Kaw); J. Blake Dungey (Suz);
4. Austin Cox (Kaw); 5. Austin Root (KTM). 85 (7-11) STK:
I. Eli Tomac (Suz); 2. Blake Dungey (Suz); 3. Cody Doerller
(Suz); 4. Tracy Morgan (suz); S. Chase Vodry (Yam). 85
(12-13) STK: I. Terren O'Dell (Yam); 2. Dylan Webb (Han);
3. Ricky Swan (Kaw). 85 (14-16) STK: t. Tony Demarais
(Suz). 85 (7-11) MOD: I. Eli Tomac (Suz); 2. Todd Bannister
(Han); 3. Klay Stephenson (Kaw); 4. Tyler Guinn (Kaw); 5.
Tyler Heemsbergen (Yam). 85 (12-13) MOD: I. Chaz
Holliday (Yam); 2. Dylan Webb (Han); J. Seth Jones (Kaw).
85 (14-16) MOD: I. Matthew Lemoine (Kaw); 2. Cory
Jessie Garcia (Han); 3. Cristian Olguin (Kaw). 159 MIN': I.
Dan Atamangos (Han); 2. Brad Rudy (Han); 3. Sean
McDougall (Han). 250: 1. C.D. Howell (Han); 2. Scott
Hoffm'" (CZ); 3. Ga