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Los Angeles Old-Timers MX Association Winternationals Los Angeles County Raceway at By GREG ROBERTSON (Above) Vance Johnston (17) swept all four motos In his domination of the Novice class. (Left) Charies Howell (2) flew at the L.A. Old-Time.. Wlntematlonals, winning three of his four motos for the Senior Amateur win. (Below) Mark Martin (144) leads Don Meiner (13), Ed Comish (34) and eventual overall winner Jeff Hawthome (7) In the Amateur class in Palmdale, Califomla. PALMDALE, CA, MAR. }8-19 eff Hawthorne and Charlie Howell emerged as big winners after two days of racing at Los Angeles County Raceway during the Thousand Oaks Yamaha/Race Tech/White Brothers/FMF /TRE/VP /N- Style/ TheEdgeSports.com-sponsored Los Angeles Old-Timers Winternationals. Hawthorne ran near the front of the pack in both of Saturday's motos and then backed it up with a couple of hard-fought victories on the Saddle Glen track on Sunday to claim the Amateur-class overall honors on the weekend. A crash on the J.B. Memorial track during the second moto on Saturday kept Howell from sweeping all four motos he entered, but he still managed to walk away with the Senior Amateur-class title. Mark Martin won the drag race to the first turn to lead Don Meiner, Hawthorne and Rick Bohannan when the first Amateur moto got under way. Meiner quickly displaced Martin for the lead, with Bohannan doing the same to Meiner by lap two to run out front. With a clear track ahead of him, Bohannan checked out with the easy win over Hawthorne and Meiner. Keith Chadwick settled in to finish fourth, ahead of Ed Cornish and Martin. Bohannan edged out Meiner for the second-moto holeshot and ran out front for nearly a lap before going down in the LACR sand and having to start all over aga in from last place. Meiner gladly accepted the lead and maintained it up until the final laps, when Bohannan made his way back into the top spot for a decisive win. Hawthorne, Chadwick and Jeff Petron rounded out the top five. Hawthorne and Rick Kanatzar went at it for the lead right from the drop of the gate in Sunday's first moto. Kanatzar was glued to Hawthorne's back fender for the entire 20 minutes, making him work for the win. Chadwick turned it up on the final lap to finish a close third, over Meiner and Nathan Kidder. The final moto turned into another battle between Hawthorne and Kanatzar. Hawthorne got around holeshot artist Meiner and looked like he might just run away, but Kanatzar 46 APRIL 19.2000' cue I reeled him in at the halfway point and dogged him all the way to the checkers. Hawthorne's two-moto sweep on Sunday was good enough to edge out Meiner for the class title. Howell nailed the Senior Amateur first-moto holeshot on Saturday, and then fended off the midmoto attack from Dennis Tooman to eventually pull away for the win on his YZ250. A tightknit battle for second came down to the wire between Richard Bealer, Mike Burnett, Gary Colbert and Tooman. with Bealer prevailing. In round two, Howell took the early lead, with Bealer screaming up through the pack on his YZ 125 to make a bid for the lead by lap three. Bealer kept the pressure on Howell until Howell went down toward the end of the moto and ended up a disappointing seventh. Bealer collected the win, over Tooman and Burnett. Howell was untouchable during Sunday's first moto, going wire to wire for a convincing victory. Tooman managed to work his way around Burnett's four-stroke Yamaha to finish in the runner-up position. Burnett used· his horsepower advantage to dominate the start and run out front for the first few laps of • n • _ s the final moto. Howell messed around with Bealer for a couple of laps before finally shaking him. Howell then reeled in Burnett, made the pass and marched away with another win. Burnett's 3-2 showing on Sunday was enough to edge out Tooman and Bealer for second overall. Vance Johnston was absolutely . perfect in the Novice class. Johnston turned four good starts into four runaway victories for a total domination of the class. Steven Alexander worked his way up into four runnerup finishes to top Art Jung, Steven Duncan and Leo Schaible for the second-place trophy. Fred Kalmick pulled his usual holeshots in the Senior Novice motos on Saturday, but KTM-mounted Barry Simon took the wins. Kalmick held on to go 3-2 to edge out the 2-3 of Ken Feulner for second on the day. Kalmick also showed everyone the quickest way to the first turn in both of Sunday's races. Mel St. John stopped by to run the second day's set of motos and easily took a pair of wins, but it was the 1-}-2-3 rides of Simon that earned the first-place brass. Kalmick hung tough for second overall, ahead of Steve Popjoy. Expert-class overall honors went to a consistent Gary Conner, who didn't win a moto all weekend long. Bob Dunham was the man on Saturday. smoking both motos, but he had a little trouble with the windy conditions on Sunday and finished midpack. Don Bizzy went I-Ion Sunday, while Conner plugged away with consistent top-three finishes to win out in the end. eN IIeSIIIb SUP: 1. Robbie Dunhtllm (Yllm): 2. Matt Drury (Kaw); 3. Chris Taylor (Yam); 4. Chris Purser (Yam); 5. Kent Purser (Yom). JR VET: 1. Mark Horton (Vern); 2. Mike Brinkley (Yam); 3. David Willillms (Hon); 4. Alan Lippie (Yam); 5. Rick Dvorllk (Yam). NOV: 1. Vance Johnston (Vern): 2. Steven Alexander (Vern); 3. Art Jung (Kaw); 4. Steve Duncan (Y21m); 5. Leo Schllibfe (Suz). SR NOV: 1. Berry Simon (KTM): 2. Fred Kalmick (Kaw); 3. Steve Popjoy (Kew); 4. Mel StJohn (Kaw); 5. Ken Feulner (Hon). S/SR NOV: I. John Webb (Hon): 2. Bob Klott (Kaw); 3. Asker l..llrnkjeer (Suz); 4. Richerd Orrill. AM: 1. Jeff Hewthorne (Suz); 2. Don Meiner (Yam); 3. Keith Chadwick (Yam); 4. Ed Cornish (Yom); 5. BBI Konotzor (Hon). SR AM: 1. Chorlle Howell (Yom); 2. Mike Bumett (Yam); 3. Dennis Tooman (Kaw); 4. Richard Bealer (Yom); 5. Gory Colbert (Yom). S/SR AM: 1. Ron C18wson. EX: 1. Gary Connor (Yam); 2. Bob Dunham (Yam); 3. Greg Robertson (Hon); 4. Ken Greene (Hon): 5. Lorry Hipp (Yom). SR EX: 1. l..llymen Gettis (Hon); 2. Gary Willison (Kaw); 3. Tim Cash (Hon). MSTR A: 1. Steve Williams (Kew); 2. Rick Johnson (Hon); 3. Willie Kennedy (Hon); 4. John Ferro (Hon); 5. Jim Diyorto (Suz). MSTR B: 1. Lerry Williams (Yam); 2. W.G. Wilson (Suz); 3. George Jimenez (Hon); 4. Lee Johnson (Yom).