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W est ern Regional Cross Country Championship Series Round 9: Shasta Dam Grand Prix By M ICHE LLE LEE AN D CHRI S GH IO NE PH OT OS BY MI CHELLE L EE REDDING , CA, APR. 9 ocal rider Ron Naylor, 37 , too k th e o ve ra ll win a t the 18th a nnual Sh a sta Dam Grand Prix. He c a m e o ut of hid ing to ride wh at he says will be h is final ra ce . Th e Shast a Dam Grand Prix wa s t h e ni nt h round of District 36's Moos e Western Reg iona l Cross Country Ch ampionship Series , hosted by the Re dding Dirt Riders. Th e night befor e the race, thundersh owers were a c c omp a n ie d b y a specta cular show of lig htn ing th at lit up th e dam . How e ve r, the lig ht ra in d idn 't dampen th e ground enough to keep the d us t do wn. The main event br ought o ut some 1 12 Intermedia te a nd Exp e rt ra c er s re ad y to tak e on the du st y conditions and rocky terra in of the Shasta OHV a rea . T he de ad - en g in e , o n - y o u r - b ik e start wa s sign a led with a s top /start light. Wh en th e g reen light fla sh ed , th e riders funneled down a 1DO -yard da sh to a h ard right turn arou nd a bu sh fo llowed by a nothe r sharp left, a nd the n a s t ra ig hta way took th em out onto th e course . Sen ior A. rider Da ve Wood grabbed the hol e sh ot a nd led t he rest o f the field o ut o nto th e 23 .7 -mil e cou rs e, which co nsiste d of fas t fire roads a nd tech nica l single-track that kept riders twis t ing the ir thro ttl e s a nd slidi ng ha rd with the ir bra kes. On Wo od 's ta il was Tea m Green rider Craig Wesner a nd Naylor. Midwa y thr ou gh la p one , Wood wa s hitting th e dow nh ill when tro uble hit. "I just got m y sho ck rebuilt, a nd a ll of a s udden I'm up k issing th e front fender , and it k in d o f sca re d me to death : said Wood. Wesn er and Nay lo r pas s e d h im , a nd Wood then ba c ked off a bit fro m charg ing m od e a nd rod e the rest of the day o n c ruise co ntro l. By the end of la p o ne , Naylor held t he lead, with Wesner followi ng less tha n a m inu t e b e h in d . Yamahamoun ted Cole Ma rsh all wa s riding c los el y beh ind in third , despite a te rrib le sta rt th at ha d forced him to m a ke his wa y up thro ugh the dust. "E ve ryo ne was going really s lo w on the first lap in the dust," said Ma rs hal l. "That 's how I got so far up . I we nt wide open thro ug h the dust." Wh ite Broth ers /9 09 /Ta g Me tal s b a ck e d Ro d Kre iss cam e around in fourt h , wit h F ault line Su sp en s ion / G£,B Ka wa s ak i-b a ck ed Damien Gal ford followi ng closely in fifth . At the e nd of lap two , m ost of th e t op pos it io ns re mai n e d t h e s a me except fo r Wood , who was abl e to retake a position , gett ing by Ga lford for fifth . H owever, Galford stepped it up a nd retook the pos ition . On lap thre e , Kreiss m an a g ed to o ve rtake Marsha ll fo r third , but th a t wa s s ho rt-liv ed , as Ma rs h al l ag ain be gan his cha rge forward . After getting by Kre iss , Marsh all co ntinued his move fo rwa rd, ne ar ly taki ng the second s po t away from a su rprised Wesner. After c ha rg in g ha rd on th e t h ird lap , Nay lo r held a la rge le ad and wa s a ble to pace himself for his fina l la p. "T he n , go ing out on the fo urth la p , I basi ca lly just took it e asy the whole tim e : sa id Naylor. Nayl or came into the finish 30 seconds in front of the runne r-u p. . "This is probably the last ra ce I'm going to race: said Nayl or , who had his final factory ride aboard his brother Donn ie's borrowe d KX500 . This was th e eig h th t im e Na yl or won the race at Shasta , an d th is final ride wa s for his grandfather, who ha d rec entl y p a s s e d away . Na ylo r com ple te d fou r laps with a time of 3 :02:29. Finishi ng s e c ond and increasing his lead in the series points was Wes n er , who m a n a g e d to ho ld off the Afte rs ho ck s /Smith / E rnie's Motor (Above) Local Ron Naylor took the overall at the Shasta Dam Grand Prix. It was his e ighth overall at the event. (Far left) Craig Wesner was second overall and first in the A 250cc class at round nine of the Moose Western Regiona l C ro ss Co unt ry Championship Se ries. (L eft) In Red di ng , Ca liforn ia , A FourStroke ri de r Co le Marshall took the c lass victory and placed t hird overall . Shasta Dam Grand Prix Redding, California Results: April 9, 2000 [Round 9 of 19] O / A: I. Ron Na ylor; 2. Craig Wesner: 3. Cole Marshall : 4 . Rod Krei ss: 5. Damie n Galford ; 6 . David Wood: 7. Eric McKenna : 8. Robert Fouts; 9. T ravis Sluder: 10. J ake Him phitl. A 20 0 : 1. Robert Fouts: 2 . Tr a vis Slude r: 3. M atthew Wa llace . A 250 : I . C raig We sner : 2 . Rod Kr ei ss; 3 . Demien Galford. A 4 ·STRK: I. Co le Marshall ; 2 . Russell Pereira; Sports -sp o ns o re d Marsh all b y j ust four seconds. T aking the fo urth s pot was Kre is s , who made his wa y to th e finis h just ahead of fifth-pl ace finis he r Ga lford. Ear ly rac e lea de r Wood wa s s ixth , fo llowed by fell ow Sen io r rider Eri c McKenna . Fini shing in the e igh th a nd ninth spots were 12 5cc riders Rob ert Fouts and Travi s S luder, whi le Jake Himph ill rounded out the top 10. Topping the B cla s s was four st ro ke rid er The ron Miller , wh o a lso finished 13th ov e ra ll. Ear lier in the d a y , th e Cra ce brought o ut some 10 8 riders, with Jeff Bauer gett ing the ove ra ll win, co mplet ing two la ps in one ho ur a nd 4 4 m inut es . Currently , Wesner le a d s the s e rie s with 178 poi nts, followe d b y Ma r shall with 158 and Rob Zim merman with 143 . eN cue I e 3 . Rex Bauer. A VET : 1. Ron Naylor; 2 . Bill Jarvis; 3. Jaime Wheeler. A SR: 1. David Wood: 2. Eric McKenna: 3. Mark Maldonado. A S/SR: I. Fred Sumrall: 2 . Peter Pritchard; 3 . Brent Dixon. S 200: 1. Se a n Ber rym an ; 2 . Ma tthew Teegarden: 3 . Brent Dixon. B 250: 1. Greg Ghione; 2 . M ichael White: 3 . Grant Glenn. S 4 -STRK: l. Theron Miller; 2. Paul Park: 3. Troy Daniel. B VET : 1. Steve Claar; 2. Jerry Gage: 3. Randy Johnson. B SR: 1. John Wells: 2 . Wesley Kyle: 3 . Dana Reed. S S/SR : 1. Joel Boucher: 2. Jeff Hollfelder; 3 . Jam es Long Jr. C 200: 1. Sam Galford: 2. Billy Ray: 3 . Matthew Stephens. C 250: 1. Randy Batt ; 2 . Clint Gu ibergia ; 3 . Jeremiah Gurley. C O PEN: 1. Jeff Bauer; 2. Joe Ogulin; 3. Jon Warren. C 4 · STRK: 1. Michael Miller; 2. Douglas Hooten: 3. Martin Mosley. C VET: 1. Mark D avis: 2 . Brad Joh nson; 3 . Robert Chavez. C SR: 1. Gary Remmen: 2. Kirk Feyerabend; 3. August Balistreri. C S/ SR: 1. Donald Chase; 2. Joe Butler: 3. Brad Bird. WMN: 1. Cindi Roberson; 2. Amber Jok ela; 3. Jenny Pedersen. MOO SE WESTERN REGIONA L CROSS COUNT RY CHAM PION SHIP SERIES (After 9 of 19 Rounds): I . Craig Wesner ( 178/ 1 win); 2. Cole Marshall (1 58 ); 3. Rob Zimmerman ( 143 /2 ) ; 4 . Rod Kreiss ( 135/ 2); 5. Damien Galford ( 13 1); 6. Travis Sluder (83 ): 7. Brian Gar rahan ( 81/2) ; 8 . Brian Butle r ( 7 2) : 9 . Aa ron Youse (67 ) ; 10. Steve Silvestri (66). n e vv 50 M AY 17 , 2 0 0 0 51