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OM Sports Women'sWorld C hampionship Series Round 4: Jolly Roger Motorsports Complex Thompson Stomps 'em By D E BBIE M ATT HEWS LEMPSTER, N , JUNE4 H o u n d fou r o f th e DM Sp ort s Wom e n ' s World Ch a mpi on sh ip S er ie s - s po n so re d b y Am er ic an Honda , Kaw asa ki Motors , Americ an Suzuki, Moti on Pro , S cott, VP F ue ls , a nd Eng ine Ice - came to th e shores of the New England coa st for the first R Jolly Roger Motorsports Complex: Julie Thompson (28) st omped the compe tition at round four of the Women's World Championsh ip Series in Lempster, New Hampshire, in her return to racing after a layoff of several years. time in the history of women 's racing . With $20,000 in additional prizes up for g rabs in the Women's class (donated by FMF , Ceet, Mothe rs , White Brot he rs , Ct i, Bridgestone, TRP S ta rt Gat e s , Answer, AGP, Maxi ma, Boye s en , RK, Excell , Fox, Un i, Tho r, Be ll, BRP, Tom Mo rg a n Ra cing and Pro Circ uit), t he ra c e ac tio n was especia lly inte nse. A lar ge contingent of Ama teur ride rs, hungry for a n event of th is magnitude to rea ch th e Ea st Coast, made th eir way to o ne of the nat ion 's most beautiful t rac ks, th e famed J ol ly Roger Motor spo rts Complex , ne stl ed in th e back woods of New Hampsh ire. The fa cility boa sts Th e Intimidator - a IIO-foot downhill jump that only th e brav est a nd most s killed riders e ve n attempt. Own ed by Marco Gagnon , th e facility is well -known to s uch AMA Na tion a l Moto c ross sta rs a s John Dowd , Doug Henry , Ezra Lus k , Mike Treadwe ll and Ke ith J ohn son . Seve ral of th e world's top Pr o s were absent due to injury (incl ud ing S t e fy Bau , Angie Keuntjes , Tan ia 36 JULY 12. 2000 ' cue I e Satchwell and Shelley Hickman ) or illne ss (incl udi ng Jessica Patterson ) o r plain old m echan ical problems (incl udi ng Tiffany Reed and J ennifer S chultz ) , but this d id very litt le t o dampen the sp ir it and e nt h u s ia s m demonstra ted by those present at th e e ve n t. In front of more than 1000 spectators and under clear s kie s , th e gate fell for moto one. J ulie Thompson , a form er top10 com p etito r at Lorett a Lynn's , was jus t getting back into ra cing af ter severa l years off a n d was anx ious to see whe re she stood. The Ho nda -m o unte d Th ompson wasted no time sightseeing; s he grabbed th e holeshot right o ut of the gate. Tina Biello ga ve chase in s e c on d , follow ed by Nic ho l Ba lboni a nd Laura Yenik in tigh t form at ion. Suzanne Norcross slid b rie fly in to th e top five with a pa ss on Mega n McD ermott , only to h a ve McDe rm o tt return the favo r in the following turn. Th ompso n stretched her lead ea rly, eas ily clea ring the step-up and dou bles, setting he rse lf up for a fut u.re tr ip to the Pros. On lap t h ree , Ba lb o n i moved int o s ec ond , dropp ing Bie llo to thi rd, with Yen ik right be hi nd . Hot on he r ex ha ust was McD ermott, follow ed by Kerry Mah on e y, Sonya Ha ll, No rcross, Bonn ie Tho m pso n a nd Jocelyn Ne who use. O n t he foll o win g lap , Bi ell o d ropp ed bri e fly to fourth , wh ile the battl e b e tw e e n Bal bo n i and Yen ik intensified. Yen ik made a move on Ba lbon i for second , only to ha ve Ba lboni counte r immediately and retake the position. Biello took advantage of t h e s ituation and pass ed Yen ik a s well, with McDermott staying c lose to the batt le in fifth . At the halfway point, Julie Thomp son continued to lead comfortably, with Balboni in second and closing ever so s lightly on the leader. Yen ik rebou nded ba ck into th ird , challenging Ba lb on i fo r sec on d . Moving th rou gh th e pa c k - virtually unno ticed - in to fou rth w a s YZ p ilot Sh e r r i Hutch ins, who then fe ll unde r attack by McD ermott, who was feel ing the he at from Ka wa s aki joc key Mahon e y in sixth. Biello dropped to sevent h. With o ne la p t o go , T h o m p s o n re ta ined th e po in t pos ition. Ba lbon i cont inue d to ba ttle with Yen ik a ll th e way to the c hecke rs , with Balb on i finishing in s e cond . Hutchin s cam e in fou rth. Maho ney desperat ely se ar ched for a way a round McD e rm ott , but she fell s ho rt at the flag and had to sett le for s ixth . In the 60-105cc (9 - 15) cla ss , Hall - who had to be encouraged to race n e _ s swept t h e class for t h e first - place honors, followed by New hou s e , Cindy McDermott and Lauren Two me y. Foll ow ing the first set of motos , a heavy storm thundered into the area that stopped the ra ce s for more than an hour and a half, and eventually the event was called for safety reasons. CN JDIIy Roger MDtorspOrts Comple. Lempster, New Hampshire Results: June 4, ZOOO (Round 41 AM : 1. Julie Thompson (Han) ; 2. Nichol Balboni (Suz); 3 . Lauren Yenik (H an ) ; 4 . Sherri Hutch in s ( Yam) ; 5 . Me gan McDerm ott (Y am): 6 . Kerri Mahoney (Kaw) ; 7 . TIna Biello (Yam ): 8. Suzanne Nor cross (Kaw ); 9 . Bonnie Thompson ( Han) ; 10. Dawn Flagg (Han) . 60 -1 0 5: 1. S onya Hall ( Ya m) : 2. J oce lyn Newhou se (Suz) ; 3. Cindy McD ermott ( Yam); 4 . Lauren Tw ome y (Yam ). Temecula Speedway McMUllen Mastels Temecula Finale By FR ED WIN DU M TEMECULA,CA,JUNEIO his was a sad day . Not be cause of inj ur ies, or memor ies o f t ho s e we 'v e lost. Saturday ma rked the last S outh ern Ca liforn ia Fla t T ra ck As s o ciatio n e ve n t a t Te mec u la Sp e ed way 's quarter- m ile ova l. Hundreds of enthusiasts a nd thousands of hours went into m ak ing th is a co me back track for the s port of fla t -tra c k raci ng, with mo re than a hu ndred entries at most races. T Bradford slid into tum three side by side all the way a round to the front straight, whe re Bradford crossed beh ind Steffen to run up the inside into o ne, still side by s ide. Steet rode a rou nd Adams for third. Steffen was on the throttle first co ming onto the front stra ight, but Bradfo rd had the tra ction to grab the lea d. Bradford, Steffen and Steet settled in a nd began to pu ll awa y from Ad a m s a nd Byron Kukla , on the lone Honda , and tha t was the finishing order. In the Classic Vintage co ntest, J im McMurren to ok the lead on his little ,...- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - ---, " 5 z jt o w a: u. S ; - - -":;;""..::.. - -l i;; 5 :I: Q. Temecula Speedway: Ron Gould (45) and J im McMurren (95) take the lead in the Super Seniors contest at the last event ever at the quarter-mile oval in Temecula , California. McMurren took the win and Gould was a close s econd. The 250cc Novice riders launched into turn one with Rory Fis he r on the outside a nd Gabe Slatton running up the inside for first a nd second. Robert Pe rez, S tev e Ba ldwin a nd La rry Ric e fell in be hind . Fisher an d Slatton we re b oth run n ing in ha rd , with S latt on loo king for a little cushion a round the longer h igh line. Baldwin to o k over thir d in turn two o n la p four. At th e c hec ke rs , Fisher took th e win , with S la tton clos ing and Ba ldwin third . Per ez and Ric e com plete d the top five . Dave Adams took the lead in th e Bomber class in on e of his last So uthem Califomia a ppeara nces befo re heading east. J oe Steffen m ade q uick work of him, slipp ing up the inside to take the lea d in turn one. Steffen and Adams we re joined by Keith Bradford and Ji m Steet, running their Ya mahas four wide onto the b a c k straight. Steffen and Sprint. Gor don Menzie , Clark Edgington , Joe Pa p e and Lenny Rod riguez followe d . E v e n t houg h McMur re n seemed to keep the throttle pinned all the wa y a ro u n d t he t rack, Men zie managed to get enough st eam up on his Roya l Enfie ld to ta ke th e lea d at th e s tart o f la p two. Pape tossed his b ig Harl ey tw in aro und Edgington ' s Triumph to tak e th ird. McMurren kept th e throttle wide open ,' catching Menzie on th e back straight. In turn four , Menzi e slipped up high , and McMurren squa red th e corne r, still WFO , to take back the lead. McMurren 's line was so tight that he had to lift his foo t to clear the ins ide be rm . McMurr e n m ana ged to pu ll out a few bike lengths on Menzie at the flag, with Pape th ird, Edgi ng ton fou rth and Rodriguez fifth. Wood -Rota x rid e r Ron Gou ld a nd McMurren, on a borrowed Trium ph, led