Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128374
video-screen scoreboard, extensive lighting, IO,OOO-watt sound system, paved well-lit parking and clean restrooms. The allweather arena can accommodate yearround racing. For more information on speedway racing at the Grand. call 714/232-2567, 951/323-8625 or e-mail ermospeed@sbcglobal.net. D acers attending the 2005 I'AMNProstar MTC Elmer Trett Nationals at Atlanta Dragway on April 3 were met with a fierce and persistent wind that threatened to cancel the event. With the wind being an almost direct headwind, Prostar officials decided to run all of Saturday's aetivi- • ties to the eighth-mile mark on the track. Pro-class riders were polled by class as to how they wanted to run. Top Fuel and Pro Stock riders opted to be seeded by points without qualifying. Funnybike riders chose to have Gene Romero's West Coast Flat Track Series has announced a new addition to its 2005 schedule, the Thrilla at Chowchilla, at the Barn Burner short track. located at the Chowchilla Fairgrounds in Chowchilla, California, on September 24. The event will be round nine on the IO-race West Coast Flat Track Series schedule. The Barn Burner offers exciting cushion short track racing at its best. This popular venue has played host to several of the top riders in California during its winter series. Joe Diaz. promoter of the Chowchilla Barn Burner, will host the West Coast Flat Track Series event on Saturday. September 24 in conjunction with his 2005 Grand Opening Two-Day Short Track Extravaganza, September 24-25, Diaz is committed to make this weekend the best of the best in the San joaquin Valley for professional and amateur racers and fans alike, The schedule wili include two events backto-back - professional racing on Saturday night and amateur racing on Sunday - saluting three years of short track events at Chowchilla, Sunday's Amateur Championship Short Track Finals will feature a host of classes, ranging from 50cc to 750cc motorcycles at the San joaquin Valiey's best cushion short track. Upon completion of Saturday evening's event, Diaz will also host a free barbeque for the event participants in appreciation of their support of this short track extravaganza. Chowchilla Fairgrounds also offers participants free parking, overnight camping and showers. For more information, call 559/706- I916. one eighth-mile qualifying session, while Pro Mod and Pro Street voted to have two eighth-mile qualifying sessions. On Sunday, the Top Fuel riders Korry Hogan (near lane) won the Funnybike final during the AMA/Prostar MTC Elmer Trett Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Hogan defeated Travis Davis (for lane) for the win. decided to run their eliminations to the eighth-mile mark. Top Fuel was all surprises as the top two dominant riders in the class, Larry McBride and Chris Hand. were eliminated in the first round. Ray Cason, riding the Oceans Eleven Motorsports Harley. took the final over Geoff Pollard. with a winning time of 4.478 at 171 mph. Defending Funnybike-c1ass champion Korry Hogan owned eliminations, with a and former champs Todd Doege and Paul "Fast by" Gast facing off in the final. Gast hit a perfect .000 reaction time in the final, taking out Doege. 7.18 to 7.21. There is a nice rivalry building in the Pro Street class, with the dominant Velocity Racing camp being challenged by the Chicago boys. The teams met in the final, with Velocity's Barry Henson facing the Mirror Image Hayabusa of Phil Stoll. string of 6.9-second passes. Hogan faced Henson, who had been struggling in elim- former champ Travis Davis in the final for inations, came alive in the final with the low e.t. of the meet of 7.48 at 190 mph for the win, while Stoll could only manage an 8.18. While it looked like the Kawasaki ZXlOs would be dominating the Zero Gravity 1000 Supersport class this season, the newly-uncrated Suzuki GSX-R IOOOs were the dominate machines in Atlanta. Former 600 Supersport Champion Chip Hunter took the pole on his GSX-R with the second straight and took his second win, running 6.607 seconds at 202 mph to the 6.70/195 by Davis. The Fast by Gast Pro Modified class was won by Codee Thomas on his exRandy Stevens Suzuki. Thomas had a single in the final when his opponent, Ashley Owens. could not make the call. The Lectron Pro Stock class featured the "modern classic" matchup of current an eighth-mile time of 6.16 but lost in the semifinals to Stuart Hamby on the MSP GSX-R. Hamby met Vince Woska in the final. Woska. riding the Brock Davidsonbacked GSX-R, got by Hamby in the final and took the win, 9.43 to 9.65. The Yamaha Hot Rod Cruiser class was once again the Patrick Racing show. Team riders jeremy English and reigning champ Rick McWaters held the top two spots in eighth-mile qualifying, and they met in the final. McWaters took his second straight win. with a 9.32 time at 138 mph. In the exhibition Super Street class - a junior Pro Street class for nitrous bikes Dean Sabatinelli took the win on his ZRX I 100 over the Hayabusa of Darren Burnett. Other winners included Doug Peterson in Top Gas, james Teasley in Super Comp, Rob Schenz in Super Gas, Mike Konopacki in Pro ET and Stanley Russell in Street ET AMA Supermoto Opener Postponed AMA Pro Racing and Troy Lee Designs have announced that the AMA Supermoto Championship event scheduled to be held on May 14 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, has been postponed. In making the announcement. Troy Lee Design's Bob Weber said that his company was just made aware that a special state permit was necessary but that it would be impossible to secure the permit prior to the date. "Our pre-event planning was on schedule and things were in good shape for the event," Weber said. "Unfortunately, we then learned about the requirement for this permit, which came as a complete surprise to us. We had no choice but to postpone the event due to timing. The good news is that the fairgrounds are enthusiastic about Lafferty Day in New Jersey Mike Lafferty and his brother Rich Lafferty finished one-two at the Greenbrier National Enduro, the fourth round of the AMA FMF Racing National Enduro Series. held in the lafferty's backyard of Port Elizabeth. New jersey. on April 10, Russell Bobbitt, who finished third. made it a KTM one-twothree sweep. this race, so we're going to work with AMA Pro Racing to secure another date." AMA Pro Racing's vice president of commercial development john Farris concurred. "ObViously, we're disappointed that we can't proceed with this event as originally scheduled," Farris said. "However, we're looking forward to working with everyone at Troy Lee Designs to find a suitable replacement date. We both agree that Southern California is an important market for supermoto, so we're hopeful that this race can be rescheduled." The event scheduled for june 4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, will now be the opening round of the 2005 AMA Supermoto Championship. Honda rider Kevin Bennett and Gas Gas-mounted Fred Hoess rounded out the top five. Sixth place went to KTM's David Lykke, followed by Gas Gas rider Wallace Palmer. Kawasaki-mounted Steve Hatch, KTM rider Anthony Geraci and Yamaha pilot Brian Carden. After nabbing his second win of the season, Mike Lafferty now enjoys a healthy points lead over Hatch. 97-76. The 200S edition of La Ducati Day will take place in the Santa Cruz Mountain town of La Honda, California. The Ducati MH900evoluzione Owners Club. Doc Wong and Ducati North America present LDD2005 in Downtown La Honda (renamed "La Ducati") on Saturday, October IS from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Events of the day include: the Meguiar's sponsored Concorso Ducati. the Ducati Garage Challenge, the Etymotic Research-sponsored Ducati Music Challenge, Technical Seminars. the Aftershocks and Lindemann Engineering Sponsored Sportbike Suspension Setup Clinic, a vendor court, food, raffles and charity auction. Admission to the event is free. All proceeds from entry fees, auctions. sportbike suspension setup clinic and raffles will benefit the La Honda Fire Brigade - men and women who rescue crashed motorcyclists on that side of the mountain. Celebrities expected to attend and sign autographs include Ducati Austin's Eric Bostrom and Neil Hodgson, former World Superbike Champion Doug Polen, and long-distance record holder Gary Eagan, who will also be giving a seminar on his sport touring adventures. For more information. visit the event website at www.ducatiowners.com/LDD2005 or contact john Clelland. lDD2005 chairman. at johnc@ducatiowners.com. Continued on page 13 CYCLE NEWS • APRIL 20,2005 11