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/128628
(Abovel Bryan McGavran airs it out In th e 125cc Pro class, with Jon at han M arley (9 01 giving distant chase. Marley recovered t o w in all three motos an d the overall, w hile McGavra n took the overall w in In t he 250cc Pro cla ss. (Bel owl ln a tradition started by Ra cer Prod uctions patriarc h Dave Coo mbs, race organizers give fi rst -class treatment to the 50cc riders, dra ggi ng the track before their races an d allow ing them fu ll motos on the complete track. Bradley Bake r (2 8 1. here racing w ith Cameron Re as, sh ow ed his grati t ud e by tak ing all three motos In the 51cc (4 - 61 Stock Shaft class. The 85cc (12 - 131 Sto ck cla ss gets off the line. le d by Lance Hiser (2 61, Chris Blose (521 , A.J. Hattery (2 71, Robert Loi re (5 01, Jose Fernandez (8 71, Shaw n Clark (3 01, Josh Lichtle (8 11, Kyle Pre st on (3 7) and Justin Keeney (201. Lichtie got th e overall. " I cam e o u t seco n d and wo n the c hampionship , just st ay ing smart an d ri d ing c o n servatively.' The you ngster's " W h en you live by th e ru l e s , yo u d i e b y t h e r u l es' as sessment elic ited some bo o s fro m p art ia l sp ectators , b ut h e ex p lained th at it was i n re spo nse t o wha t h e i n t e r pre t e d a s c o m pl a i n i n g on th e part of Millsaps. The 65cc clas s was a bit more mundane , w ith Ales si easil y w inning all three motos in a convincing dis play of speed and talent. .JOSH L ICHTLE BSee [1 2-1 3) STOCK (Abovel There was no stopping Jessica Patterson In the Women's division. She ha ndily won all th ree motos for her second-straight championship. When winners are chosen for the Cycle News Brass Brain Aw ard, which recognizes talent both in the classroo m and on the track , the bulk of the em phasis is placed on grade point average, and with a 3 .89 GPA, Shawn Clark pretty m uch had that base covered coming into Lorett a Ly nn's. After all, simply qualifying for the event is an admirable feat . But Clark, ] 4, wanted further insurance of his taki ng the award, so he turned in strong perfor man ces in both of his classes, finish ing second overall in 85cc (] 2- ] 3 ) Stock and third overa ll in 85c c ( 12 - ] 3) Modified . He even went as far as to win his final moto. Suffic e it to say that despite the larg est number yet of highly qualified Brass Brain applicants, Cycle New s didn 't have much trouble choosi ng a winner this tim e around . Clark, who will be a high school freshman this school year in Montgomery, Indiana , says that "motocross is just fun . School is so much mor e imp ortan t. If you don't have a good educati on, you 'r e not going anywh ere." As is normally true in these cases, Shawn's views were passed down from his parents, Kerry and Tanya, who have always given education top priorit y. "A lot of ti mes we can 't go to the big races, because I' ll m iss a test or somethi ng," Clark says. "Dad and Mom think that's more im portant," Nonetheless, Clark doesn't feel this necessarily gives him a disadvantage when the gate drops : "On the track, you're always thinking , Inside, outside - what should I do here? So I think [the creativity gained from education ] definitely helps.Clark , who values the social aspect of his school at least as mu ch as the education, says he wouldn 't be happy with the homeschoo ling route take n by some of his colleagues. "I cou ldn't do witho ut school,' he says . A participant in Suzuki 's Good Scholar Program, Clark receives sponsorship from India napo lis ' Dreyer's Cycle, MSR, FMF, IMS, CTi, Lidz by Fid, Max im a and Scott. He says his favorite subje ct, "besides P.E. and lun ch , would probably be history or m ath ," but despite his good manners and stro ng study habits, he's not above a bit of wagering. Prior to Loretta Lynn's he bet his b lack -haired father that he c ould win a moto, and declared that the winner would have to hig hli g ht h is hair. " In the las t Bra ss Brain w inner Sha wn Cla rk poses mo to, I knew I had to win, just for that rea- with Suzuki 's Cole Gre s and parents son," says Shawn. Ton ya and Kerry. A blown bike in th e m odifi ed cla ss d i d n ' t bl o w Li chtl e ' s w e ek , as t h e Suzuki ri der po st ed th e fi rs t two m oto w ins in the St o c k class, Cycle New s Brass B ra in w inner Shawn Clark ran RICKY RENNER 6See [7-11) MODIFIED away w ith t he the third moto, b ut th at d idn't dampen the sp ir its of LichUe. "I Thoug h he 's only 11 years o l d , Renner has been coming to Loretta L ynn's for seven years, and h e was h u n g ry for h is first t itle. W ith three m oto w ins , that's exa ctly wh a t t he Yamaha rider g ot. " A fter the first m oto , yes ," repli ed was j ust trying to k eep with Shawn do good and sta y up, so I don 't get th ird ,' h e sa id . "I was real surprised [by Clark], He was going re al fast and d oing real good. ' OAVI MILLS A P S BSee [ 9-1 3 ) M O DIFI E D the m ell o w Renner when asked if he exp ected to do this we ll. " I just got out fro nt, got the lead earl y , and just pulled awa y .' Despite some m isfo rt une in th e 7 I 1 categ o ry , Millsa ps road his Suzu k i to a con v incing w in in th e 9 -13 cl ass. Mill sa p s' p e rf e c t t hree -m oto swee p M IK E ALE S S I 6See ( 10- 1 1 ) STO CK BSee [ 7 -1 1 ) STOCK was i n j eo p a rdy w h e n h e killed h is bike an d lo st the lead in t h e final o utin g , but it all w ork ed out in the end. " I c a me a round the c orner, and I A lessi had two t itl es g o in g in to t h is ev ent , a nd fou r t itl es lea ving , but th ey didn 't com e w itho ut a b it o f a hubbub . In the second 85c c rac e , Al essi ' s riva l D avi Millsaps went off th e tr a ck in m oto tw o , a nd rej o ined th e track in a d ifferent spot, which resul t ed in h is b eing d o cked o ne position . That g av e A l es si two w ins and a conse rv ativ e stra te gy in m oto t hree. was in the wrong g ear ," M illsaps said . '" w ent t o sh ift d o w n , and I stalled . Kyle w ent by m e , a nd h e fell b efore t h e 10 C omm andm ents , and I went by him ." .JAM E S S T E WART .JR. B S ee (14-1 5) M O OI FI E O 1 OSee [12-15) S U PER M I N I " I got a sec o nd - pl a ce s t a r t , so I j ust let h im go ," the Ca liforn ian sa id . cyc . ... There 's not much to sa y of these t wo classes oth er than the fact t hat n ... _ S • A UGUST 30 , 2000 21