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/128388
California Racing Club Dunestown SEries
Round 4: Los Angeles County Raceway
Dunestown Motocross to Murphy
BY GREG ROBERTSON
PAlMDALE, CA, MAY 29
Y
amaha-mounted Derreck Murphy turned iii pair of good
starts into iii two·moto sweep of the 12Scc Intermediate
class Los Angeles County Raceway during round four of the
annual running of the California Radng Oub/Riden' Choice Performance-sponsored J.B. Memorial Durlestown Series.
Murphy put his J. Jones RacingfThorl Renthal-backed VZ250F
into the point position at the drop of the gate in moto one, ahead
of Ben Lamay, Mark Brewer and Robert Memoli. The moto was
all Murphy's, as he incl1ed away Irom Lamay for the win, while
sticking with Pros Ryan Villopoto and Sean Collier, who were on
the same gate. Lamay finished a lonely second. with Memoli
pulling about 10 seconds clear of Brewer for third.
Moto two saw Murphy put a comfortable distance between
himself and Lamay by the midway point. A bobble on Murphy's
part allowed Lamay to close to his back fender. Murphy upped
the pace during the final few circuits to sew up the overall on his
I-I showing. Brewer spent most of the race battling with Benny
Breck and Garrett George en route to his "-5 tally for third
overall, behind Lamay. George (7-3) and Breck (6-") earned
fourth and fifth, respectively.
Lamay and Murphy returned to do battle in the Schoolboy
class, with Murphy getting to the checkers first in moto one.
Chappy Fiene and Matt Dowell were all over each other in a
battle over fourth, which saw Fiene prevail. Lamay got the jump
out of the gate in moto two, with Murphy camped out on his
back fender until he put his front wheel over a berm, dropping
himself back to a fifth-place finish. Lamay celebrated his I"th
birthday with a win on a 2-1 score. Murphy still salvaged second
overall, topping Hunter Hewitt (5-3) and Dowell (4....).
Kawasaki Team Green riders Austin Politelli and Michael
Leib did damage in the Mini ranks. Politelli was perfect in the
85cc (7-11) field, going I-I for the win, over Tan..... Lovgren
(".3) and Colby Raha (8-2). Leib was impressive in the 12-13 age
class, where he won both motos. Steven Tokarski made sure
Leib's victory wasn't a cakewalk, as he kept him honest each
time out. Jake McGuire carded a pair thirds on his KfM, ahead of
Chandler Quimette and Cody Eastman.
American Honda/ShoeVShift-backed Trent Pugmire cleaned
up in both the 85cc (1"-16) and Supermini classes. Pugmire
went four for four en route to some pretty convincing victories.
Conner Penhall finished second to Pugmire in both 1"-16
motos. Leib and Parker Eckman each picked up a runner-up
finish, behind Pugmire, in Supermini r3Cing, with Leib's coming
In the tie-breaking second moto. Steven Tokarski (5-4) and
Penhall (6-5) rounded out the top fove.
GI
Los ANoIus COUNTY RAcEWAY
PAlMDAlE, CAuFoINIA
RlSULTS: MAy 29. 2005
(ROUND 4)
e-
e-
Big Time Hlllcilmb
Halter Motorsports Ranch
Beer Time at the Big Time
BY BUD NORTHRUP
FORT BENTON, MT, MAY 29
hn and Mindy Halter hosted the Big Time
Hillclimb at the incredible Halter Motorsports
ch near Fort Benton, Montana. The 30 top
NAHA Pros were automatically placed in the
700cc and Open classes to run for a share of a
$15,000 purse. Then the top ..0 riders in each
class from Saturday (non-prequalified Pros and
Amateurs) were added to the Sunday Pro
races. Not all the prequalified Pros and Saturday qualifiers rode, but 65 riders competed in
the 700cc class, and"S ran in the Open class.
The Pro hill wasn't as long as the
qualifier hill - it was "only" 300 feet. But
it was a steep and extremely challenging
300 feet! Only 13 riders managed to top
the hill in the 700cc class, while 18 were
able to post times in the Open class.
Nearly all the successful riders were
running nitro· or alcohol·burnlng firebreathers; the Amateurs on gasolineburning bikes did not do so well.
The hill started with about 150 feet of steep,
low-traction climbing, and then there was a
breaker of hard stuff at the lBO-foot level that
the riders needed to jump off of onto a nearly
vertical, hard-packed face of 50 feet; then they
had to pogo over the ridge and motor the last
SO feet to the timing lights. Things didn't look
too promising as the first 14 riders in the 700cc
class failed to top the ridge, most running less
JE
48
JULY 27-2005 • CYCLE NEWS
than 170 feet up the nasty hill.
Bret Petersen, the 15th rider in the 700cc
class, was the first to top the hill, and he did it in
a very respectable 8.686 seconds. That time
held up for a time, with no more riders topping
the hill until the 22nd rider, Jason Smith, literally
blasted out of the hole on his fire-breathing,
nitro-burning 700cc Vamaha twin built by Jeff
Thomas. Smith flew over the soft stuff and high
in the air over the breaker at 180 feet, landed
on the top face, and shot over the top in an
astounding 7.784 seconds! Many thought that
would be the winning ride, and it nearly was.
Dusty Beer was riding just two spots behind
Smith and was a prime candidate to beat
Smith's time, but he crashed at 243 feet on his
first ride. On his second ride, however, he was
picture-perfect, blasting over the top in 7.750
seconds to snatch the class win by only thirtyfour-hundredths of a second. The only other
riders to top the hill in the first round were
Thomas (9.664), Don Beer (11.906) and Dave
Watson (B.854). Eleven riders managed to top
the hill in the second round, with Ryan Dick
moving into the third spot with a 7.796-second
run, pushing Watson (who had improved his
first-round time with an 8.S41-second time) to
fourth, and Petersen to fifth.
The Open-class riders didn't take long to
conquer the hili, with the third rider, Travis
Whitlock, topping it in 7.561 seconds on his first
ride, only to see Thomas fly his nitro-burning
s.
(Yom);
s.
C"""'" PenNll (K.w). 150 4-STRI(, •. Ben Lamay (Suz); 2 Hunter
l. T..-.......".., (Han): ~. Gamott Getqe (K.w); S. Nod< _
(K.w). 115 BEG: I. Shawn Ca