Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

white flag was unfurled for the fourth and final lap, while Leivan had fallen back to a 59-second deficit. Busenbark still maintained fourth, another minute back but 40 seconds up on Jerry Hemann. A couple of miles into the final lap, Forrester suffered rear-brake gremlins and crashed. Leivan picked up the position, while Forrester headed baerk to the pits. Leivan started to reel in Thiele. Near the 5-mile mark, Leivan was informed by course workers that he had closed to within 20 seconds. With only a couple of miles, Leivan caught his first glimpse of Thiele since the opening lap. Thiele, hearing the thundering four-stroke closing in, did all he could to stay in the lead. "I could hear him long before he caught me," Thiele said. "I tried to take all the good lines and take up most of the trail. I knew we were getting to the open stuff and he would have more room to get by." Thiele was still in the lead when the riders came within sight of the pit area. Leivan made his move in a fast lefthand sweeper, taking the inside line and pushing Thiele wide. Then Leivan slid out. With only a 100-yard straightaway and a fast section of creek bed to go, Thiele was back in front. Entering the creek bed, Thiele chose an outside line around a group of lappers. Leivan dived to the inside and again took the lead - and the win. Thiele claimed runner-up honors. Busenbark rounded out the podium, five minutes behind the leading duo. Another minute back, Hemann came home fourth, while the winner of the A class, Ken Yount, rounded out the ~pfive. ~ Missouri Hare Scrambles Championship Series Steelville. Missouri Results: March 19. 2000 (Round 11 O/A: 1. Steve Leivan (Yam); 2. Chris Thiele (Kaw); 3. Chad Busenbark (Yam); 4. Jerry Hemann (KTM); 5. Ken Yount (KTM); 6. Bobby Duncan (Yam), 7. Dan Burgard (Yam); 8. Tim Gibson (Yam); 9. Aaron Shaw (Yam); 10. Charles Thiele (Kaw). AA: 1. Chris Thiele (Kaw); 2. Chad Busenbark (Yam); 3. Jerry Hemann (KTM); 4. Bobby Duncan (Yam); 5. Dan Burgard (Yam). A: 1. Ken Yount (KTM); 2. Rick Kinkelaar (Yam); 3. Chris Huff (KTM); 4. Matt Coffman (KTM); 5. Brad Barnett (Yam). 125 B: 1. Jason Dill (Kaw); 2. Zach Mabery (Han): 3. Nathan Gladback (Yam): 4. Jeremy Wisecup (Yam); 5. Casey Hinkel (Yam). 200 B: 1. Michael Hamilton (Kaw); 2. David Von Holten (KTM); 3. Dale Griesinger (KTM); 4. Matt Jameson (KTM): 5. Randy Wagahoff (Kaw). 250 B: 1. Aaron Shaw (Yam); 2. Charles Thiele (Kaw); 3. Derek Zinchuck (G-G), 4. Lars Valin (Hon); 5. Jake Bishop (Suz). 250 C: 1. David Danz (Yam): 2. Gary Wetherell (Kaw); 3. Dustin Mathis (Hon); 4. Marvin Clouatre (KTM); 5. Steve Fischer (Yam). OPEN B: I. Jeff Kuechenmeister (ATK); 2. J.R. Hansen (KTM); 3. John Stichnoth (KTM); 4. Marty Smith (Hon); 5. Bill Richardson (G-G). 4-STRK B: 1. Danny Heberlie (Yam); 2. Les Busenbark (Yam): 3. Brad Crain (Yam); 4. Danny Overturf (Yam); 5. Nick Crawford (Yam). JR: 1. Nate Lane (Yam); 2. Patrick Myers (Han); 3. Chris Hinkel (Kaw); 4. Travis Nelson (Han): 5. Stephen Simmoneau (Kaw). VET: I. Greg Johnson (Hon); 2. John Banes (Kaw); 3. Kevin Ruckdeschell (Kaw): 4. Tom Eidem (5uz); 5. Wade Hall (Yam). SR: 1. David Dillingham (KTM); 2. Everett Shinault (Han); 3. Jay Williams (KTM): 4. Keith Kibort (Yam); 5. William Guffey (Yam). S/SR: I. Lee Glenn (Han); 2. Rick Whelove (Hus); 3. Dale Rector (KTM); 4. Frank Leivan (Yam); 5. Gerald Frericks (KTM). WMN: 1. Amanda Lappe (Kaw); 2. Michelle Eidam (KTM); 3. Naheed Irani (Yam); 4. Kellie Crawford (Kaw). BEG: 1. Mark Spurgan (Yam); 2. Shawn Fowler (Suz); 3. Jason Tongay (Han); 4. Justin Kirsch (Kaw); 5. David Crouch (KTM). AMA USA MegaSeries Round 3: Muddy Creek Raceway dance by themselves. Shipley turned in a top-five finish here, before his untimely get-off in the 250cc A contest ended his day. Chester outgunned Walker on the second Over 25 A star, setting a blistering pace and taking up a lot of track to block Walker from passing. After a lap and a half of looking over Chester's shoulder, Walker decided to try unusual lines to get around the Suzuki leader. Blasting around the right-hand corner to set up for the tower sweeper, Walker took the far outside, intending to rail the berm. However, the berm was just loose stuff, and Walker simply slid down, allowing Chester to rocket out of reach. "I tried something different because nothing else worked," explained Walker, with a chuckle. "That didn't work, either." Early in the same race, Jamie McCoy of Kingsport, Tennessee, tried a pass on Liles going into the woods section. Liles went down, smacking his hand against the barrel, marking Walker Takes 'em to the Mat at Muddy Creek By BARBARA WILLIAMS Timmy Milligan, a rookie A racer from Chapmanville, West Virginia, BLOUNTVILLE, TN, MAR. 19 evin Walker had a good day - not a perfect day, but good nonetheless. The Kingsport Yamaha rider won five out of six motos and ended up with victories in the 125cc A and 250cc A classes; he was also the Over 25 A runner-up. The only jarring note to Walker's Sunday symphony came in the second Over 25 A moto, in which he finished third to Jim Chester and Shawn Prather. Atlas Honda-Yamaha Weekend at Muddy Creek was round three of the 2000 AMA USA MegaSeries, paying $3000 in Victory Sports Pro purse and $43,020 in contingencies to Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Husqvarna riders. Despite dire prognostications of rain, nearly 600 intrepid riders came out to the perfectly prepared Victory Sports track. Not only did the rain hold off until after everyone had gone home, but the sun even peeked out at odd intervals during the afternoon. Walker took command of the first 125cc A start, with Suzuki of Gastonia's Chester, Honda-mounted Prather and Nicholas Burns in tow. They finished in exactly that order, with France's Leigh LaReservee filling out the top five. LaReservee popped out in front on the second-moto start, although Walker was first to the bottom of the stairsteps, owing to his greater familiarity with that section. Coming across the rough bottom stretch, Prather and Chester put La Reservee back to fourth. Tennessee's Jon Boruff ran fifth. As Walker and Chester pulled some distance on Prather, they stepped up the pace. Coming up the long starting hill, Walker almost came off the back of his YZ 125, with both feet off the pegs. Smelling blood, Chester dived for the inside of the corner, but he ran into Walker's rear tire, causing him to drop the Suzuki. Walker skipped away down the stairsteps while Chester, obviously disgusted with himself, picked up his bike and remounted, still in second. After Walker and Chester took the checkers, Prather came across all alone in third. Burns made a last-lap pass on Boruff to take fourth. Boruff was fifth. Walker waltzed through both 250cc A motos, marking the dance floor with steps and arrows for Chester and Burns. followed Walker's lead with a first- K moto third-place start. Burns passed him along the bottom straight, and Shane Shipley of Indiana, Pennsylvania, tried to follow the same line but ended up plowing a furrow instead. Shaken up, Shipley was forced to return to the pits for the rest of the day. Milligan managed to hang on to fourth until the last part of the last lap, when Boruff passed him and Milligan ran out of time for a comeback. Muddy Creek Raceway: (Left to right) Kevin Walker, Alan Alford and Jim Chester charge down Muddy Creek's stairsleps after the Over 25 A start. Walker placed second to Chester but won both the 125cc A and 250cc A classes in Blountville, Tennessee. the turn as he fell. Scrambling to recover, Liles (who runs a motocross school, mainly for young racers) poured on the gas and was able to notch a fourth-place finish by sacking McCoy in the last couple of turns and then he proceeded to fall over after taking the checkered flag. Liles shook his head in wonderment at his gracefulness. "After taking the flag, I realized I couldn't feel anything with the hand that got hit when I went down, so I was looking at it and shaking it to get the feeling back into it," laughed Liles. "My bike got into the wrong rut and Walker produced his customary 250cc A holes hot on the secondmoto start, with Burns looking good on his rear fender. Burns held off Chester until the first time past the announcer's tower, when Chester went all the way to the edge of the sweeper turn, ;;quared off the berm and shot past Burns into second. From that point until the finish, the positions remained Walker, Chester, Burns, Milligan and Joe Prather (Shawn's brother). The first Over 25 A moto was a Walker showcase, leaving Chester, Shawn Prather and Billy Liles to cue. e n e .... S • APRIL 19. 2000 55

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