Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I G e n e R o m ero ' s e-m o ola .c o m West Coa s t F la t Track S erie s R o u nd 5 : Valle jo-2 Spe e d way B y B ILL S PENCER VALLEJO, CA, JULY I ;Tl ou nd five of G en e Rom ero 's e - !J ,,,,m o o l a .c o m W e s t Co a s t Flat Track Ser ies added a new wi nner and had its fi r st repeat wi n n e r s on t h e bullring Vallej o -2 Sp eedwa y, as D ana Perri f o u g h t h is wa y th rough three restarts and four red flags for a wire to -wire win over defending ser ies champ ion Ronn i e Brow n and Rob D am ro n . Vi ntage Champ Jeff Johnson rode to Victory for t he seco nd ti me th i s season , as d i d S c o tt Rousseau in the 250cc Mo dified m ain event, the first two repeat wi nners of th e season , Th e sl i ghtl y b an k ed 1/1 Oth -mi l e hard pan pr oved slick, but very rac y fo r th e 15 -l a p A M a in , bu t t he ch eat er's box got full in a hu rry , with six rid ers eventually starting from row fo ur. B illy Ma rt in an d polesitter J eff J ohnson c am e off the front row t o be j oi n e d b y Bo b McDonn ell and Kenny Noyes before th e fi r st green flag. The or igin al st art saw D an a Perri t a k e h i s M ike Vail -prepped Hon d a from th e top of the track toward the pole, t ak ing the handleb ars right ou t of St ev e J ohn son's hands . Johnson slid all the way to th e hay ba les, prod ucing the first r ed fl a g . J ohn so n took so me time get ti n g u p, but he did , althoug h he retired wh en hi s thrott le began stick ing. Perri and J erem y Ch isum got good sta rts on the second , but try t ha t q u ickly end ed when Shaw n Raggio and Beau Brown beat on each ot her down the back straight, leaving Rag gio 's CCM/Rotax in a pile. Perri, on ce again , gated well, with Chisum putting th e rear of his YZ -F Yamaha into Beau Brown , who bailed while Ronnie Bro wn got under Perri for the lead. It wa s to no avail as the red reappeared. T h e rea l start saw Pe rr i , once aga in , get a good gate. Ch isum ran second, ahead of PIC Racing's Ronnie Brown, with Dann y Ritchi e in a hot battle for f o u rth w it h Rob Damron , who came out of the B Main along with Brown. Brown w ent right to work on the rookie Chisum, ta k ing second on lap t h r e e w h il e Ritc hie and D am r on swapped o utside and ins ide po siti ons, slow ing Brad Sp encer and J eff Johnso n, the ot he r B tra nsferees, who had moved p ast Noyes, B illy Ma rt in and Beau Br own. With 10 lap s gone, Brown halved the di st an c e tha t Perri had built up in th e first three lap s, wh il e Rit ch ie had pretty mu ch dis posed of the pressur es fro m Damron and was working on Chisum wh en Chisum bailed in the m iddle of turn fo ur an d bro ug ht o ut the fin al red fl ag. 56 JULY 26, 2000' e ye I e In the proce ss of Ch isum 's fa ll, Ritch ie had to go wid e to m iss th e bik e, and that allowed Dam ron to close up. Coming off the corner, Damron ro de h is Damart Spl past Ritchie and was sco red th ird at the line. The d iscussion now we nt t o wh ether or not to restart the rac e for wh at would ha ve amounted to a green-white -checkered event. Afte r some discussion , the race was left at 14 l a ps, with Perri the w inner over Ronnie Brown. The victory circle went well , but was orginally set up wit h Rit chi e as third and did no t go un corrected until aft er the co m pletion, with Ritchie th en giving his rewa rds to Dam ron in a sportsma n like gesture. A rest art co uld have p rov ed in t erest ing for Br own . "If I wo u ld h a v e b e a t h i m in a restart, I wou ld have fel t bad about th at, be cause h e d id a great job, " Brown said . " I had plenty of m y own d ifficulti es throughout the n ight, and I h ad e n o u g h l a ps in the r e , an d I w asn 't c at chi ng him that good , so I f e e l g ood about second p la c e. I gotta thank Kenny Remo Jr. for h is he lp ton ight. We were so out t o lun ch wh en w e got h er e , a n d h e wo rke d his butt o ff chang in g t ire s a n d g e ar s. And all tha t effort, and I st ill ha ve Dam ron rig h t b eh i n d in t he points." Perru was happy to sc or e h i s fi rs t W e s t C oa st Fl a t Track Series win . "I lov e i t ," Perri said . " I want to th an k Mik e Vail , all my frie nds, my broth er and da d are here, it' s ju st gr eat. Also , I ha ve to th an k B ud Ri d d l e Ra ci ng f or all h is help." n eVIls Dana Perri su rvived several restarts and to bag his first e-mooIa.com We st Coast Flat Track Se ries win on th e Vallejo-2 Speedway short track. Perri won the Open Pro A Main. (Above) Jeff Johnson (1 VI slid around Mearl Barnett (9 7 1 an d w ent on t o earn his second Open Vintage A Main victory of the year, thus padding his series po ints lead. (Below) Scott Rousseau (31 held off Ron Hinton (5) and the rest of the 250cc Novice Modified Production A Main field to become the first repeat winner of the entire series. Th e 250 main was held before the Open Vintage main. D amron was happy th at th e series is tak ing a br ea k until Ch ic o , August 5 , but wh en he fo u nd o ut about th e big bucks Lodi IT in tw o weeks , he stated , "I' ll be read y . I don 't want to have to race every wee k anymore. I won that nu mber on e plate enough , and I lik e racing still , but I have kids to rai se and fish ing to do ." A slig htl y smaller O pe n Vint ag e rid er co unt nec es sit at ed three heats and a B m ain , wi th Tom Ho rton fa st qu alifier and w inn er of th e Dash for Cash . The 48 - year-o ld former Ascot flash was hooked up early . "I gotta than k Shell Thuet ," Horton said . " He 's 78 now , and he built th is bullet for me." The fa me d tuner, who h a s h a d nu merous notabl es in his sta ble, had a nothe r as H o rt o n won his heat , w hic h was a crash fest , w h i l e Bob Cu nningt on was an easy heat wi nner, as was defendin g cha mp J oh nson . In th e A Main, Merle Barnett took the early jump, with Johnson quic k ly movi n g by f or the lead ove r B r ad Sp enc er and h is BS A , and Cun ni ng to n 's Kn ight Racing Hon da. Johnson wa nted to get his rac e over as he was to be th e p o l e s itt e r f o r t he Op en A ma in . Sp en cer moved by Ba r nett f o r sec o n d , w ith Cu nni ngto n sticking to fou rt h and Ho rt o n m ovin g by Gon zales . Sp enc er work ed hard trying to c atch and atte mpt a pass o n Johnso n , b ut t o no avai l. Joe Ca rr era he ld on for seve nth . Afterward , J ohnson ga ve a nod to Spen cer for his choice of equ ip ment.

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