Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128627
IAb ove) Veteran Chris Young (910), here dicing with Ni ck Metcalf (117), showed th at he stili has some tricks left up his sleeves. The 31-year-old rider ca m e ou1 of retirem en t dnd won both 2 50cc Pro classe s and w it h th em the M otorcycle title. (Ri ght) Mike Alessi won 12 consecutive motos en route to the Juniorcycle Ch a mpi onship. (Below) A now-healthy Jac ob Martin w on bot h 12 5 cc Pro classes. ed him from winning the class title. Instead , the titl e went to his Suzuk i t eamm at e Joshua Li ch tl e , fo llowed by Kawasaki rider Kyle Ch isholm and Suzuki -m o unted Riley Ku rosky. Lichtle nearly won th e 80cc Modi fied (1 2- 13) d ivision as wel l. He went into the run -o ff with a low one- poi nt score, but a first -turn g et -off in t he run -off ended his chanc e of a second title. Chis ho lm ended up winn ing the run -off and class champ ionshi p over Suzuki rid er Justin K e en ey a n d Kurosky . A ft er fi nis hing 1-2 in the Mod ified and Sto c k 80 cc (12- 13) d ivisi on s , Chisholm was hopin g for a win in theSupermini (T hru - 16 ) rac e, bu t he had problems and finish ed l Oth , This y ear 's M otorcycl e Champio n sh ip winn er doesn 't reall y fit into the fu ture MX st ars of America cate gory, because he 's " old " even tho ugh his last name say s he's Yo ung. Th ir t y -o n e - y ea r -o l d Chr is Young , who recently came out of ret irement, put his skills learn ed on the National and Su p ercro ss ci rc ui ts to good use at Ponca City . Young knows a thing or two about how not to get pass ed wh ile leading a race, and Suzu ki rider J acob Ma rtin f ound that out first hand. Bu t Martin showed that he has a few tricks of h is own, too . Fresh off the disabled li st , Martin got the better of You ng in their first en counter in th e 250cc Stock Pr o class , finishing ju st ahead o f Young and Suzuk i rider Cory Francis for th e win . Then th ey went head to head in th e fi rst 12 5c c St ock Pro m ot o wi th Ma rt in again g ett ing th e n od ov e r Young and Fran c is. Martin was on a roll when he won the fir st 12 5c c Mod ifi ed m oto over You ng and Su zu k i rid er Nick Metcalf, as w ell as the fir st 250c c Modifi ed Pr o m o t o . Ag a in Young fi nished second, but thi s tirne Kawasak i ride r Adam Mennenga fin ished th ird. After th e first round of Pro motos, M artin wa s p erfec t. But that wou ld soon c h ang e in th e ev er- important second and dec id ing round of mot os. Wi t h t he cl a s s tit l es o n the l in e , Yo u n g sim pl y w ou ld not l et Martin pass him in the second 250cc Sto ck moto , taking the moto win and cl ass cham p io nshi p . Martin g ot revenge , howe v er, in th e n ext tw o 125c c Pro m ot o s, w in ning b oth m otos a n d b o t h o f th e 125cc class cham pionsh ips. In their f i n a l meeting in t h e 250cc Modified race , t hings got a little too close f or co m fort. Yo ung 'was leading the race and was adamant about keep ing it that w ay, but Martin was j u st as deter m ined to make th e pass . Mart in finall y made his move late i n th e race and the two r iders ended up l o c k i n g h andleba rs. Martin we nt down a nd Yo ung we nt o n to wi n the ra c e. Fina l score : Young , two c l a s s win s ; Mart in , two class wins . But Young wa s credited w ith t he Motorcy cle tit le v i a h is b ette r 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 o vera ll p lacings , ve rs us Martin 's 2 -1 -1 -4 o verall p lac ing s. As always, the Intermediat e class es prov ided plenty of close and ex cit ing ra cing , usually inv o l vi ng riders Justin Smith, Turbo Reif, Jesse Casillas , Colt Humphrey , Steve Mertins, Daton Bea vers , Paul Perebinos and Richie Owens , among others . cu e I e On l y th e two 12 5 c c classes req ui re d ru n -off motos , which we re wo n by Yamah a ri der Me rt ins in the Modified cl ass and Smith in the Stock class , and b ot h r i d er s c ame a wa y with th eir resp ecti ve cl ass titles. In the 250cc c lass, Ho nda-m ount ed Reif was perfect in the tw o Modifie d m ot os , an d Yam aha rider Pereb i no s w as the m ost consistent in the Stoc k motos. Pereb ino went home to Fl orida w ith the number-one tr o phy afte r going 2-2, finishing on ce behind Kawasaki rid er Michael Sig mund and once behind Suzuki 's Humphries. T here w as p le nty of g oo d ra c in g ac tion in the sm all -bo re classe s, as well. Zackary Alvear (KTM) sco red a b ig run-off w in in the 60cc Stock (68 ) class over Tyler Bow ers ( K aw ). Colton Bailey (KT M) and Ian T rettel ( KT M ) , but it wasn 't enoug h to wi n the class championship. Instead, that hon or went to Bower s. He and Bailey w ent in to th e run-off tied with o ne point each , but Bowers fin ished one position ahead of Bailey to take the ti tle. Trette l to o k th ird in cl ass o ver A lv ear and Micha el Ha ll ( Kaw ) . Bow ers a lso wo n the 60cc Modi fied (6- 8) cla ss, which did not require a run -off m ot o . B owers w on bot h m ot os, wh ile Trettel took second with 2 -3 moto fin ish es . Ty Worthington ( Kaw) , Ch r is T hies ( KT M) and Hall rounded out th e top five overa ll. For Ba il ey , he came back on his sm a ll er Cobra to w in the Pee Wee n e _ 50 • A UGUST 23 , 2000 23