Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cup Championship, and there was to be a $1500 Dash For Cash between the six heat-race winners. On Sunday, the Dash For Cash came just alter the heat races concluded, pitting the six heat-race winners against one another in a five-lap sprint; Kevin Varnes, Jimmy Wood, Jared Mees, Jethro Halbert, Stevie Bonsey, and Brown's Cycles' David Brown. Only the top three finishers would share in the $1 SOO purse. Wood led into turn one, followed by Halbert, Bonsey, Varnes, Mees and Brown. Mees got a slingshot drive out of turn two and rocketed past Wood into the lead. Wood seemed stunned and took a brief moment to recover, and Varnes, looking superb, put the Suzuki into third. On lap three, Halbert made a mistake and went to the back of the class. Mees. at the front, had three bikelengths on Wood. who was holding his own. Mees cruised on to the victory. with Wood second. Varnes third and Bonsey fourth though he was almost caught by Brown at the stripe. Halbert was sixth. A freshly groomed racetrack welcomed the best 15 riders to the Digger Helm Pro 600cc main event. Varnes. with the fastest heat-race time, sat on pole, next to Jimmy Wood. Mees. Jethro Halbert, Bonsey and David Brown. Mike Rush, Shaun Russell. Don Howard. Willie McCoy, Sam Halbert and Brandan Bergen made up row two, with Johnny Murphree. Jim Rosa and Henry Wiles. coming through the semis, in row three. Varnes nailed the start and led into turn one. Down the back chute they were three wide, with Jethro Halbert pushing Varnes wide into turn three and Mees alongside. Young Bonsey ran fourth, with Sam Halbert fifth and defending champ Wood buried in sixth. Exiting turn two for the second time. Varnes shot past Jethro Halbert to regain the lead. Not one to miss an opportunity. Mees followed through past Halbert as well lor second. By lap three, Varnes had a seven-bikelength gap over Mees, and McCoy had passed Wood for sixth. On the fourth lap. Varnes put in his fastest lap at 20.6S seconds, setting a new track record, besting Jimmy Wood's by fifteen-hundredths of a second. By lap seven, Wood was lading, and Russell got by. moving him to eighth. Meanwhile. riding at 100 percent was Saturday's winner. Johnny Murphree, coming from the third row up to 10th. By the halfway point, the order was pretty much set. with the biggest battle coming from McCoy and Russell, who closed in on Bonsey. At the front. Varnes inched away lap after lap, while Mees gave it his all. On lap 15, Mees found some new life and closed to within half a second of Varnes, and McCoy was showing Bonsey a wheel, applying pressure. On lap 16. Mees made a mistake between turns one and two, giving Varnes an eight-bikelength gap. At this point, Murphree dug deep and found a way around Rush and Wood to climb up to eighth. At the white flag. Mees was within striking distance. and upon exiting turn four he made a run at Varnes. hitting his rear wheel. This in turn stood Varnes straight up and caused Mees to back out of the throttle to save it. Varnes went on to win, with Mees second, Jethro Halbert third. Bonsey hanging tough for fourth, McCoy fifth. Russell sixth. Sam Halbert seventh, Murphree eighth, Wood ninth. Rush 10th, Wiles I I th, Brown 12th. Bergen 13th, Rosa 14th. and Howard 15th. "I will be back for sure:' Varnes said after his first time at Willow. "We had a ton of riders. which is a good thing. Track but-i:t-::w:as::-:a-:p:r:e:tty::--:W=IL:L:O:W=S:P:R:I:N:G:S:W=A=L:T:J:AM=E:S=S:TA:D:I:U:M==~~~V~ET~~C~'~I~.~Roo~~SI~ee~pe~"~2~.~JI~m~D~Uf~r"",,~.~3~.~C~h~'rl~"'~ got a little bumpy. decent track." A nd about t hat Iast-Iap Iove tap from Mees? ROSAMOND, CAUFORNIA RESULTS: OCTOBER 22-23, 2005 (ROUNDS 7-8) '" felt it, for sure," Varnes said. "I could see his shad ow. Th e sun here is great. because I could see his shadow. I thought Saturday YOUTH 50: I. Pascal .. he went down, but Iuc k iIy he save d it. "The sun was blinding me a bit," Mees explained. "and I hit his back wheel and almost ripped the handlebars out of my hands. Hey, that's racing. It took everything I had to catch him. but catching him and passing him are two dilferent things. Kevin was flying! I just couldn't do anything more." "I've never been to Willow before, and ·t'S a lot 01 fun." Jethro Halbert remarked. l "Jared and Kevin have this track really dialed. and I couldn't really keep up with them, but I held off all the guys behind me, so I'm happy with third." So. to return to the original question; Who was the big winner? Was it Mees, with a Dash For Cash win and two seconds in the mains? Or was it Varnes, with a third in the Dash and a first and third in the mains. and the new track record? How about Bonsey. who won the Maxxis Tire Pro Point Fund with an eighth and a 7 P fourt h in t he mains. erhaps Jethro Halbert. who won the California Cup and put in fourth- and third-place performances in the mains? Actually, the big winner was the audience in attendance. as this was the closest · N· I h W C t hIng to a atlona on t e est oast. and the best dirt-track racing this state has seen in a long time. eN Roberts; 2. l"e, Shel..,. T' YOUTH 60, I. And'e Ochs: 2. F,bl",l. SENIOR: I.Jim Monegan; 2. Bob Graves; 3.Joe Pape. SENIOR NOV/SUPER SENIOR, I. Mickey Alml>; 2. Ken BMmw; 3. Roy Bum'. Cory Malony; 3. DINOSAUR: I. Mkhael O'Neil. CLASSIC 250: I. Bruce Reynolds: 2. Julian Arthur; 3. tvan Thelin. CLASSIC 500: I. Jeff Lessley; 2. Chris Rudy: 3. George lArry Sm'h: 3. Geoff Shelter. YOUTH 80: I. Andre Ochs: 2. Ross Stuckert; 3. Joe RobertS. VET A: t. Mike Vital; 2. Joe Steffen; 2. Marshal Lapp. VET B: I. Craig Estrada; 2. Jeff Eklund; 3. Uoyd MODERN 500: L Rod Lake; 2. Shaun Larkin; 3. Ken Thiebaud. MODERN 750: I. Joe Hoogerhyde: 2. Jim Ottele: 3. McGV,egETo,c·.. I. Randy v-eml,cek·. 2. Rob '-noy·. 3. Steve r....Fe'i"'on. SENIOR: I. Tom Honon; 2. Jim Monegan; Rubin M>1'guMne,o. SENIOR NOVICE/SUPER SENIOR, I. Mickey RobezrtsoHO""PEenN· I v_y1 K Ik 2 3 M· h oman;. ChadCose;.lcae I Av;I,. 500 SUP A: I. Paul Hennan: 2. Joe Steffen: 3. Tommy c.mge,. SOO SUP B, 1. B",d Rudy; 2. Jim Steet; 3. D,n Sh>w. L..d Abola; 2. Ken Barrow; 3. Jim McMurren. DINOSAUR, I. Andy Dodge: 2. Mlch,el O·NeH. CLASSIC 250: I. Julian Arthur; 2. Ivan Thelin. CLASSIC 500: I. Jeff Lessley: 2. Tom Horton: 3. Chris Rudy. MODERN 250: I. Mike Gonzales: 2. Tom Horton; 3. Jim Steet. MODERN 500: I. Jim Monegan; 2. Rod Lake; 3. Shaun Larkin. MODERN 7S0, I. Joe Hooge,hyde: 2. Jim Onele; 3. Je,'Y G"e,. Will,. MODERN 250: I. Mike Gonzales: 2. Bruce Reynolds; 3. John Lundgren. : ....... OPEN AM A: I. Brandan Bergen; 2. Joe Hemandez: 3. Bill Kolkm>n. OPEN AM 8: I. Marshall Lapp: 2. Dave Ehrhart; 3. Dillon Allen. OPEN AM C: I. James Rispoli: 2. Scott Baker; 3. Eric Pinson. PRO 600: I. Kevin Varnes; 2. Jared Mees: 3. Jethro Halbert; 4. Stevie Bonsey: 5. Willie McCoy: 6. Shaun Russell; 7. Sam Halbert; 8. Johnny Murphree; 9. Jimmy Wood: 10. Mike Ru,h; II. Hen'Y WII",; 12. D,v;d B,own; 13. B""d", Be'gen; 14. Jim Ro,,; IS. Don HOWMd. 250 OPEN: I. James Rispoli; 2. Ch,d Co..; J. l<.yl Kolkm",. soo SUP A, I. Joe Sterre" 2. P.ul Herman: 3. Frank Hardman. 500 SUP B: I. Jim Steet: 2. Don Danner; 3. Dan Rowland. OPEN AM A, I. B",nd", Be'gen; 2. Joe Hernandez: 3. Kevin Knudsen. OPEN AM 8: I. James Rispoli; 2. Bill Kolk"",,; 3. M",h,1 L1pp. OPEN AM C: I. Michael White; 2. Eric Pinson; 3. John McArthur. PRO 600, I. Johnny Mucphree; 2. Jared Mees; 3. Kevin Varnes; 4. Jethro H>1bert; S. Willie McCoy; 6. Mike Ru,h: 7. Bryon Smith; 8. Stevie Bonsey. 9. Steve Murray; 10. Alex Wood; II. D,,,;d Bmwn; 12. Nicole Cheu: 13. Jimmy Wood. Sunday YOUTH so: I. Kevin Alcorn; 2. Pascal Roberts: 3. Kole Hansen. YOUTH 60, I. And,e Ochs: 2. Larry Smith; 3. Kevin Alcorn. YOUTH 80: I. Larry Smith; Andre Ochs; 3. Geoff Shelter. 2. VET A, I. Mike Vit>1: 2. Joe Sterren; 2. John Lundg,en. VET B: I. John Ekhelbaugh; 2. Craig Johnson; 3. Robert Hansen. National number 89, Kevin Varnes, led all 20 laps of the Digger Helm Pro 600(( main on Sunday. Varnes also posted the single fastest lap of the weekend, at 20.8 seconds. CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 9, 2005 37

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