Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Mid-South Hare Scrambles Series Cross Country Motorsports Championship Round 8: Lost Creek PHOTO BY DEBBIE ALLEN Shea Finds Victory at Lost Creek BY DEBBIE AlLEN SPARTA, TN, JAN. 23 ormer 2S0cc A GNCC champion Andy Shea F changed colors and rode into the winners' circle at the eighth round of the Mid-South Cross Country Motorsports Championship. At Lost Creek, he had Lady Luck on his side and captured his first win at a Mid-South race. ''I'm back and feeling like myoid self again, riding my KTM 2S0," Shea said. Shea was dead last off the start, and he took his time getting the lead. On the scarting line, he kicked his bike, and it lunged forward and died. He followed the six other AA riders into the woods. After that, he lay low, trying to keep his hands warm. Once heated up. he was hot on the Mid-South trail, battling with MidSouth's current number-one guy in points, Dustin Gibson. On the second lap. the Plessinger Cycles/I M SIMS R/S mith/Si Ikolene-su pported Shea just came out of nowhere and took off. Gibson didn't want to let him get too far ahead, so he pushed through a couple of people. passing front-runners Jeff Cregg and John Machino. Shea and Gibson pulled away, battling back and forth over the lead until the last iap. Fortunately for Shea, Gibson forgot what sport he was participating in, because he did a triple flip going over the bars, diving 15 feet into the air and landing off of the course. Since this was not a swimming event, it hurt. Without even knowing it, Shea moved into the lead, while the Sarge's Cycles/KTM/Endura Engineering/Pro Action of Kentucky/Maxxis- backed Gibson picked up his bike and secured second, and the Off Road Group/Gas Gas/Leader-backed Maschino slid into third place, riding a new Gas Gas. "Thanks to the promoter [Steve Gordon], it was a good day," said Shea. "It was kind of cold, but the track was great. We got lucky that the ground wasn't any more frozen than what it was. This was the coldest race j've ever raced." "I had him, but it happens," Gibson said. "It's just not worth busting bones. I decided to slow it down after that. II Jake Young weathered the cold, snow and ice and took the 2S0cc B class by storm, coming in an impressive ninth place overall. Thirteenth overall went to Jared Whitaker, who manhandled his Suzuki into first place in the 2S0cc A class, while Nathan Alering and Josh Scott battled for the nest two positions. Alering finished in second and Scott got third. Phillip O'Dell topped the 200cc B class, but it was a hard-earned win. He started the race in third place and then went over a hay bale, hit neutral, and couldn't go anywhere. After that, he got stuck in a mudhole. By the end of his second lap, either he had shaken off his troubies, or everyone else had far worse problems, because he cruised into first place. Jacob Patterson and Tyler Phillips followed. eN LOST CREEK SPARTA, TENNESSEE RESULTS: JANUARY 23, 2005 (ROUND 8) AA.: I. Andy Shea (KTM); 2. Dustin Gibson (KTM): 3. John Maschino (GG): 4. Jeff Cregg (Suz): 5. PA. Allen (Kaw). 250 A: I. Jared Whitaker (Suz); 2. Nathan Alering (Suz); 3. Josh Scott (KTM); 4. Clay Hedgepath (KTM): S. Jeremy Ketchum (KTM). LT A: I. Jon Buckner (Yam); 2. Matt Findley (KTM); 3. Harvey Whitaker (Kaw)': 4. Weston Rocky Mountoin ATVfMC World Off-Rood Championship Series Round J: Speedworld MX Pork Webb Spins RM-Z450 to Its First Win in Off-Road Debut BY MARK KARIYA PHOENIX, AZ, JAN. 15-16 T hough designed and marketed as a motocross racer, you just knew that sooner or later someone would turn Suzuki's new RM-Z450 into an off-road competition machine. And it turned out to be sooner rather than later, as Suzuki's off-road team manager. Mike Webb. used Speedworld MX Park. site of round one of the Rocky Mountain AlY/MC World OffRoad Championship Series, to debut the world's newest thumper. Not only that, he also made its maiden off-road voyage a winning one, easily topping the Senior Over 50 division. Of course, it wasn't all fun and games for Webb, as he ostensibly used his races on Saturday (in the Unclassified class. as well as the Senior Over 50 class) to provide information that Pro rider Mike Kiedrowski could use in Sunday's Pro race. 58 "When we raced the DR-Zs, i would do the same thing," Webb said. "I might run a different tire. maybe a little different gearing; then we can compare notes when we come in. Plus, we don't know mileage yet [out of the RM-Z4S0j, what we can do [on a full tank]." Defending class champ Chariie Marshall and his KTM gave Webb a run right off the bat, but he would later run into problems that put him back in the field. While Webb and his new bike powered away from the pack in what turned out to be a solo fun, three-time AMA 250c( MX champ Gary Jones worked his way into second place on a box-stock (down to the noisereducing exhaust insert) WR4S0E Former iSDE racer William Perkins claimed third on his KTM. Another defending class champ who ran into problems was Andy Jefferson, in the Masters Over 40 class. The master link broke on his Montclair Yamaha/Zip-Ty Racing YZ4S0F on the first lap. Fortunately, it happened close enough to MARCH 2, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS KTM rider Andy Shea made all the right moves at Mid-South Cross Country Motorsports Championship in Sparta, Tennessee. Wallwork (KTM); S. Michael Barnick (KTM). 4~STRK A: I. Alan Westerfield (Kaw); 2. Brae Sims (Suz): 3. Jeffrey Welch (Yam): 4. Mark Jones; S. Kenny Judd (Kaw). VET A: I. Robert Patterson (Kaw); 2. Greg Elrod (Suz); 3. Taras Massey (KTM): 4. Jason Elrod (Kaw): S. Timmy P'Pool (Suz). SR A: I. Rick Ward Jr. (Kaw): 2. Steven Middlebrook (KTM); 3. Randall Hilligas (Suz): 4. Robert Kirchner (Suz): S. SCOtt Martin (Suz). 250 8: I. Jake Young (KTM); 2. Seth Summers (KTM); 3. Thomas MItchell (Suz): 4. Damon Prince (Suz): S. Ryan Patterson (!

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