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Nuclear Series R nd 2: B o yron Motorsport Pari! Hofmaster and Oettel, One More Time By M E RL E A CO RD BYRON, IL, MAY 14 n M o th e r ' s D a y , th e nat i on ' s n umb er - o n e m o t o c r os s tr ack host ed round tw o o f th e N uc lea r Seri es, and it was a roaring succ ess, with m ore than 300 rid ers racing for c ash and co ntingenci es. Tom Hofmaster from Pearl City, Illinois, on a Honda sponsored by Tuf Racing and Banzai Ra cing , locked hand l ebars, so to spea k . with Dav e Oettel fr om K en osha , Wis consin . in the 125cc A cl ass , c ontinuing th eir ba ttle from th e previous even ing at th e Meg acr o ss Shootout. This time , th e re ar tire on O ettel's Honda lost air . Hofm aster , !i terally bumpin g O et t el' s rear fender, m otored arou nd an d t ook the overall w ith 2 - 1 fi nishe s. O e tt e l g r a b b e d t he hole sho t in m ot o o ne and left th e pack to figh t over the remaining spots . Hofmaster an d Jerem y Bard o ner diced du ring t h e earl y la ps f o r se cond . wh il e Woodstock , Illinoi s, Kawasaki rid er Brad J eron in sk i , who h ad su ffered another m ed ioc re start , wo rked h is way th rough th e pack to fi nally take ov er th ird beh ind th e second -p la ce finisher, Hofma st er. McConnell , Ill i no is' Andy Thyberg was fourth . Hofmaster had the holeshot in moto two, and it took Oettel three laps to get around th e leader. The . race within the race was for third and fourth, between Jeroninski and Thy berg ; Thyberg challenge d , but J ero ninsk i held him off for the third spot and third overall. Now it was time for Hofmaster to camp out o n Oettel's fen der. Di saster struck for Oettel on the wh ite -flag lap , in the form of a flat rear tire . "I got a good start and set m y pace: said Hofmaster, "but he (Oet te l) got around . So I sta yed cl ose and che cked out h is lin es , and he h ad some good ones. When the wh ite fla g came out. I cranked it up - mayb e a little too much , for I took a tumble. I remounted qu ickly but figured it was all over, but then I saw he had slowed down some and I figur ed [ it was] a flat tire or something . So I just put my head down and went for it and got around . The whole ra c e was tigh t. I had installed a new i g n it i o n on my bike, and that helped." In th e 250 cc A c l ass, Hofmaster took the holeshot, with Kawasaki jo ckey Thyb erg in se cond pla c e . Jeroninski got ca ught in the traffic at the ch icane and exi te d midpac k o n lap one ; he worked hard to fi ni sh third in the first rnot o , behi nd Th yb erg . O 58 JUNE 2 1 . 200 0 ' cue I e Desp it e a so-so start in m ot o two . Hofm aster was lea d ing the fiel d at the end of the fir st lap. .Jeron in sk i, Thy ber g and N ate Esl inger from O ttawa , Illino is, were dicing fo r the next three po sition s. W ith t wo l ap s t o go. a nd d esp ite lapped traffi c , J er onin sk i closed on Hofmaster and Thyb er g go t around E sling er. H ofm as t e r i ntro - du ced t he la p pers to h is h ot -kn if e through -b utter st yl e and cra nke d it up a notch , g o in g f o r th e w in and the ov erall. J er oninski 's 3- 2 finish es were good fo r second overa ll. T hy berg and Es li nger ro unded out the top four. eN Byron Motnrsport P.... Byron, Illinois Results: May 14, 2000 [Round 21 60: I. James Garrett: 2. Cameron Lansing ; 3 . Jeff Rittner, 4 . J oseph Tarver; 5. Tyler B4ylis. JR 125: I. Brad Modj ewsk i ; 2. Ross Martin; 3 . Roy Horton; 4 . Kody Moli tor; 5. .Jedd Knox. JR SO: I. Durk Roper ; 2 . R;ck Nichol: 3 . Cody Joly; 4 . Jason Paris : 5 . Anthony Halstead . JR 80: 1. Robert Ch ede: 2. Jonas Morgan ; 3 . Jon Six; 4 . Alex Haa s: 5 . Zach Fulton. JR MEN : 1. David Oettel; 2. And rew Thyberg; 3 . Ja peth S uslee; 4 . Daniel Biba; 5 . Christo Wagn er. t 25 A: I. Tho mas Hofmas ter: 2 . Da vid Oette l: 3 . Bred Jero ninski; 4. And rew Thy berg . 125 B: 1. Roy Hort on; 2. Ross Martin; 3. Bred Modjews ki : 4. Kyle Carro ; 5. Kod y Mol ito r. Byron Motorspo rt Pa rk: Brad Jeronlnsk i (925) and Tom Hofmaster (83, on the inside) lead Nate Eslinger (B59) and the rest of the 125cc A field through the first tum In Byron , Illinois, AHRMA National FlatTrack Willow S prings R aceway When Dinosaurs Rule B y D ENNIS S UTER ROSAMOND,CA,MAY6 ill ow Springs Rac ew ay wa s th e site o f AHRMA 's second W est Coa st National flat-track race in two weeks. The fifth annua l ra c e at th e thre e - eighths -m ile cu shion tr a ck attra cted 150 entrants and a g o od crowd of spe ctators. A large field of D in osaur - c la ss bikes was led by Rick Hock ing on th e Dodge Brothers Ind ian - until the sixth lap , when it ex pired. Midwest AHRMA sta lwart Cra ig Breckon, on a Triumph, inh erited th e lead and cruised to th e win o v e r Go rdon Menz ie and Tom Hens ley . Perenn ial Cla ssic 250cc foes J eff Lessley and Tom Horton aga in head ed the field , but Horton's Suzuki could not run with Lessley 's Bultaco . J im McMurr'en and .Jeff L e s sl e y ' s broth er Ron fought o ve r third , with McMurren fi na lly grabbing th e spo t. E lev en C las si c 500/7 50 c c bi k es took t he g re en flag fo r thi s po pul ar W ne'IIVs large -bore . brakeless class . A 1966 Honda 450cc twin ridden by Bo b Cunnington jumped to a big lead and was going away at c h ec k e rs. Jeff Apple c aug ht Brec kon midra ce but was un able to pass fo r second . Clark Edg ington was fourth . All we re on T riumphs. H or t o n won th e Class i c Open ma in o n h is stock -framed Triumph 650. Fourth-place starter Dav id Harness passed Stu Ca rd ott on th e sec ond lap and Chris Apple on the third but was still a long way from leader Horton. Last ye ar' s western region 250cc Sportsman ch am p, Ken Netto, b lasted int o th e lead ov er J eff Lessl ey 's Bultac o i n this very comp etitiv e Modern Vintage 250c c class . Brad Holt passed Joe Steffen for third on the second lap and Lessl ey fo r sec o nd on t he th ird lap . On l ap f o u r, Ho lt pa ssed Can -Am p il ot N etto fo r t h e lea d . Ra c e pr om ot er B rian Coakley d ropped his Bultac o in turn 125 C: 1. J ohn Steiner; 2. Ky le Vanderwerff : 3. Ryan Erickson: 4 . Dan O'Neil: 5. Cody Freutschy. 250 A : I . Th oma s Hofrne stet : 2. B ra d Jeroninski; 3 . And rew Thyberg: 4 . Nate Eslinger. 5 . Ji m Weber . . 250 B: I. Jason Schiller; 2 . Daniel Btbe : 3 . Daniel Caldwell; 4 . Daniel Gruenewa ld: 5. Chad Johnson. 250 C: 1. Joel Fonseca ; 2. Lu k e Harwick; 3 . Brett Weis; 4 . Tim Lesak; 5. Richa rd Tucknott. 25+ A : I . Andy Sta cy; 2 . J eff Hill; 3. Brad Jeroninski ; 4 . Eton Ezerm s: 5 . Norman Lerose. 30. A: 1. Roy Nafzger; 2. Vince Costello; 3. Cart Besch: 4. Chr is Shky ria: 5. Dave An tolak . 30 + B: 1. Timothy Filippi: 2 . Pete Reitsch; 3 . Dave Degelau: 4. Steve Kluga : 5. Wade Cook. 35 + A: J. Andy Stacy: 2 . Roy Nafzger; 3 . Erik Ezerins: 4 . Ron Dow nen. 40 . A: I. Ron Downen: 2. Willia m Phee; 3 . Jeff Dodso n; 4 . Jeff Patel; 5. Dave Thomas . 50 . A : 1. Glenn Knox: 2. Don Hec hme lste r. ' OPEN : 1. Buddy Brown : 2 . Tim Fi lippi; 3 . Scott Balla rd: 4 . Jaso n Coleman ; 5. William Phee. SR 5 0 : 1. Jose ph Tarver; 2. Drew Yenerlc h: 3. Darrick J ackson: 4 . J on Willi am s; 5. Jos hua Paris. SR 80: 1. Tad Ty rell: 2. Ry an Poulter; 3. Matt Stokes; 4 . Ryan Gilbert; 5 . Dere k Whitney . VINT: t . Neil WilJiam son: 2. Neil Black bu rn; 3. Ed Peterson: 4 . Paul Gerke; 5. Mike Prett ym an. one 'a b o u t m id r a ce wh ile running fifth . L essl ey c au g ht a hay bale in turn two and f in ish ed e i g h t h . The top four were Ho lt, Netto , Steffen and Ho rt on. In the comb ined 12 5c c Sportsman and 250cc Novice rac e, 125cc Ho nda four-stroke pilot Darren Pritchett ran ahead of all the 25 0cc Novices exce pt t he winn er , Craig Johnson. Doug Na tion , th e 600cc Novice win ner, led the who le race ov e r Larry Melton , and Dave Cheney came through th e pa ck to fin ish th ird. Fred Berger took th e holeshot in the 750cc No vice cl ass and led until Richard Held pow ered by at the finish li n e on the fi rs t l ap . A st ead y r ide through the fiel d br ought Ray Hens ley up to second at th e final flag . Manny Crummett bolted into the lea d in th e 600 c c Sportsman con test. Horton w ent high in one and two , which gave him th e lead going down the back straigh t. Pau l Herman pressured Horton in turn four and had first by th e finish line. Rick Hocking passed Horton on the seco nd lap when Ho rton 's Honda developed a mi ss. Ho cking passed Herm an on t he h igh side of t h ree and fou r on the fi f t h l ap , but H erman c a me b a ck u n d e r Ho c k ing i n the next se t o f co rn ers . Herman sta yed l ow u nd er Ho c k in g ' s A&A Bultaco for the nex t lap, but he w as unable