Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Moto w o r ld of EI C a jo n /Yarnaha/M a xxis Tire s / H ooters W e s t ern 4 -Str o ke N a t ional M X S erie s R oun d 2 : M esquite RacewIW M X (Left) Spu d Walters leads Steve Drew at Mesquite Raceway in Neva da. (Ri ght) Donald Upton (91) competed in the series for the first time and finished third overall. with a o the over . em 4;StroK ro un d at Mesg Ttiie~tiite Bfo · Wise£ o: b71cked tage of -g oo d sta t luc k'for s ome of h t a ture the win. "I wa s pr epa red to go so fast on this cou rs e , p la y ing it safe with the c onditions we had , " Walters said. "The track is dusty, and when the field s preads ou t in the la tte r parts of the race, getting around lappers one at a time is hard to see in ce rta in sections." Se cond overall went to Husabergm ou nt ed Jimm y LaMa stus . He held on for fourth in th e first moto despite having a broken front br a ke, "T h e ca lipe r c a me o ff a n d wa s swinging by th e hose ," h e s aid . "I tried to hold it s o it wou ld not g et caught in th e s poke s ." LaMa stus c a m e from be hind in the second moto to g ra b th ird. Th ir d o ve rall wen t t o firs t -t ime four-strok e se ries rider Don a ld Upt on . He started th e firs t moto o uts ide th e to p 2 0 and wo rked up to e ig ht h b y the t ime it wa s a ll over. The second m oto saw Upto n in th e front g ro up , where he cla imed s econd place. C ra ig Da v is to o k fo urth ove ra ll wit h a 6 -4 , while T im Sharp, ra c ing th e VOR 503 fo r th e seco nd ti me , scored fifth ove ra ll with a 9-8 ta lly. By winning, Wa lters extended his championship lea d to 43 points over second -place Gordon Ward , 97 -54 , who went 7 -DNF on the day . Davis sits third in po int s wit h 49 , followed by Sh arp with 48 and Beau Baron with 47 . At the start of moto one , Nathan Woods jumped ahead of Walters as they funne led down a narrow straight. Rich Taylor , o n on e of o n ly two Suzukis in th e ra ce, got ou t of shape a n d drifted in to d efending c h a m p Dustin Nelson, who went d own hard . Ste ve Drew and Ryan Dud ek a lso got tog eth er a n d went dow n , a nd th eir bik es were tangl ed tog eth e r. Ra c e officia ls de cid ed to restart the ra ce . 34 M AY 3, 200 0 ' c ue I e Th e lea de rs, h ow eve r, we re not hap p y w ith tha t de ci s ion , and Waiters a nnounced his disple asure by pinning t h e th rottle w id e o pen t o capture e v e ry o n e ' s attention. The restart saw th e same resu lts for the leaders , with Woods ta king the lead ahead of Wa lters, Sha rp, Baron and Drew , who benefited from the restart. Baron bobbled , letting Drew and Taylo r get b y him . Drew and Taylo r t hen passed Sh arp, whil e Ba ro n wa s le ft in sixth , followed by Sc ott Myers, Chris Vendley , Grayson Ha rt and Cliff Coo k, By the start of la p th ree, T aylor passed Drew for third. Woods had , at one po int , a 10 biKe length a dva nta ge ov er Walters bu t lost it all in one la p . Wal ters showed a wh e e l to Woods a nd the n pa ss ed h im fo r th e po int. At t h e sa m e t ime , LaMas tu s start ed pu tting pressu re o n sev e nt h - pl a ce Ba ron . Nelso n , m e a nwhile , fe ll wh ile com ing be ck towa rd the finis h a nd ca lled it a day . "I h it the first of thos e two s ing le jumps a fter th e wh o o p section and got out of s ha pe ," he s a id . "T he n I Mye rs a ls o went down a nd cou ld no t get his bike to sta rt un til th e lead ers had al re ady co me back around. LaM astu s we nt b y Baron in t he wh oo p s , wh ile Ward wa s do ing t he same to pass Vendle y for nint h. Th en Ward pa s s ed Baron for e ig hth , while J ohn S ere ik a to ok o ve r 10th from Ve nd le y . N ex t ca m e Dav is and Upto n. Wa lters wa s s lowly pulling away from Woods , whil e Ta ylor was mov ing up in th ird. Cook s udd e nl y passed S harp bu t woul d h it th e ground th e next time (Above) Walters (4), who w on b ot h m oto s, chases down Nathan Woods , whose bik e w o uld lat er los e spark. (L eft) Jim m y LaMastus took second overall. slo wed up for th e s econd one and got hit from behind and went down. My ribs hurt ." n e vv sa ar ound a nd finish out th e ra ce in 20th. LaM astus was th e n e xt t o c ha lle n ge Sh arp a n d finally made the p ass fo r fifth. A la p la ter, Ward also went by Sh arp . By th is t im e , Wa lters h ad built up a s ix- s e cond a dva nta ge over Woods , and the n Da vis pa ssed Bar on ju s t a fter th e finis h line . Upton got alo ngs ide of Ba ro n , b ut Ba ron shut t h e doo r. Up t o n , h o weve r, made a nothe r p a s s attempt stic k sh ort ly th er eafte r. Woods was ha ving a toug her time thro u g h la p p e d tr affic , and T a yl o r wa s abl e t o cl o se th e g a p . Shar p s tall ed t h e m o tor an d th at a llo we d Sere lka , Da vis a nd Upton to m ove up a notc h. Woods ra n into so me bad lUC K la te in the m ot o when his KTM died a nd he was un succe ssful in his a ttem pt to resta rt the bik e . Ward was th en passed by S e re ika a nd Davis . "I trie d to go a rou nd a lappe r o n th e ins ide of the s ide hill sweeper a nd I hit two rOCKs in a row a nd lost m y front en d ," Wa rd sa id . Wa lters went on to ta ke the win by 12 seconds ov e r Taylor. Th ird went to Drew, followed by LaMastus , Sereik a , Da v is , Ward , Upton , Sha rp a n d Baron. Wa lters picked up wh er e he left off in the s e c o n d moto - in t h e lead. Behind h im c hase d Ward, Dr e w, Upt on , Myers a nd Ta ylor . Wood s sett led into seventh , fo llow ed by Kris Ke efe r, Sere ika , LaMa stus and Brian Sweany. Drew Kept hounding Ward , as Wai ters tried to make a brea k . Ser eik a stalled his m otor a nd was un able to resta rt the bike , end ing his cha nces for a top finish. S t a rt in g lap thre e , Ward ' s b lk e came to a sto p with a bro ken thr ott le ca ble. LaM a stus , m e anwh il e, pa s s ed My ers fo r fif th , w h ile Tay lor was strugg ling with m echanical pr oblems . Walt e rs c o n t in u e d leadi n g , bu t Drew wa s closi n g th e gap, wh ile

• Cover