Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

A MA Amateur Nationa l M otoc ro s s Cham pior.lsh ips L o r e tta L y n n' s Dude Ra n c h Stew a rt s mo ked the m. The I4 -yearold gra bbed e a rly lea ds and - despite blazingly fast la p tim es (s ee Brie fly... ) - ne ver even bobbled o n h is way to a pe rfect week . "I wen t out on top - s ix fo r s ix ." S tew a rt ex p lai ned matte r-o f- fac tl y. "T h a t' s how I ki nd of wanted t h e weeke nd to go, and I think that's the bes t way I c a n e nd it." In th e 250c c class, Riddl e went off co u rse a n d h it a hay bale near the end of his m oto -th re e hot lap. "J ust testi ng th e tra ck out," lau ghed Ridd le , w ho ad m itte d that t h e excursion ma de him "maybe a little ne rvo us ." It n eed n 't ha ve ; Riddl e wo n the moto and the title. GAVIN GRACYK 1 2Sce [12-15) STOCK Marl e y recei ve d ke y ass istan c e from Pro C ircuit in g ettin g h is bi k e go ing a fte r so me poss ible elect rica l t ro u b les in o ne o f th e e arly m ot o s . Th e s na fu wa s solved by repl a cin g a ll of th e e lect rics , a nd didn 't prevent a 1-1 - 1 sw e ep o f the c la ss , no doubt aid ed by Ma rley 's h abit of t ra inin g with fell ow Ok lahom an Robb ie Re y na rd. "At 5 :3 0 in th e morning I g et up and go with Re ynard and mount a in bike 10 to 15 miles ," sa id the Ya m a ha rider of his ro ut ine . ""Afte r th at we go to th e gym a nd lift and d o som e ca rdio st uff. Afte r th at 1 go my wa y and ride my BMX b ike all da y in th e heat." .JOHNNY MARLEY 1 2 5 A/PRO SPORT Gracy k took th e first two m oto s , but a Friday c ra s h left him with a sore shoulder heading into th e fina l ra ce , which turned o ut to be int eresting . "I didn 't get th e sta rt I was loo king fo r," Gra c yk sa id , "Fo r a minute , a doubt crossed my m ind a cou ple times, bu t I knew if I just put my he ad down a nd rode smart a nd tried to sta y up right, I could pull it off. " MICHAEL BLOSE 1 2See [1 2-1 5) MOOIFIEO Things didn 't start off s o well for Blo se th is we e k , as he got stuc k in th e gate in m oto one a nd could only recover to th ird. That was ok a y a s it turned out, as Blos e wen t 1-1 in th e last two motos and secured the title . "I wasn 't th at worried because I kn ew I tra ined really hard this summer , and I k new it wou ld pa y off if I j u s t charged rea lly hard ," Blose sa id. TURBORE IF 1 2See B STOCK Th e weekend 's sole Honda -m oun te d c h a m pio n pu t tog e t her a 1-2 -3 tall y to to p the t iddler ran ks , which helped ma ke up for a flukish DNF in the qu arte r-liter class. "In 250, I wa s work ing m y wa y to th ird and the drain plug came out - lost the bot tom end ," said Reif, who we nt on to comment on the pa rity of the 125cc cla s s: "The top five gu ys we re all tog ethe r, m a king a bre ak on th e sta rt. It was a go od race. You've got to hav e a start." Re if prov ed hims elf righ t wh e n a poor m ot o -three getaway forced h im to tu ssl e for a n e ve ntual th ird -pl a c e fin ish. Th e bad s ta rt a ctua lly jeo pa rd ized th e title , as Reif strugg led with lappers and h ad to fight off a late c h arge fr om ru nn er- up Stev e Mer te ns . BEN RIOOLE 12SeeA 2S0ee/OPEN A Wh a t ride r bre a ks h is b a c k and brui s es h is he a rt in the winter, then c omes ba ck in t h e s u m mer t o wi n three moto s , fin is h seco nd in thre e m oto s , win tw o titl e s a n d ta ke th e AMA's Ho rizo n Award ? Th e a ns wer to th e ridd le is Ridd le. It wa s good to see luc k finally go ing Riddl e 's wa y, with a mote-two I25cc c rash by th e Suzuk i rider bein g negated when the le ading Johnn y Marle y ' s b ike brok e . Ridd le a lso slid out in moto thr e e , bu t was content to let Marley hav e the m ot o win. " I rea lly di dn 't n ee d to c harge har d, bec a use I knew I a lrea dy had it wra p ped up, a nd in th e bag ," Riddle said , BILLY LANINOVICH 1 2See B MOOIFIEO When Friday's final class lined up o n th e gate , La n ino vic h and Sh a ne For the past few years, the AMA has recognized an amateu r rider who the organization feels is on the verge of making a successful trans ition to professional racing. and its choice for 2000 was Suzuki rider Ben Riddle. Riddle collected his fourth and fifth career championships at Loretta Lynn's topping the I25 cc and 250cc A classes. Though Riddle made it look easy , he suffered a serious setba c k not long a go whe n he c ras he d a t t he Mini Olympics in November, breaking his back and collarbone, and bruising his heart and lung. "It set me back for some of the nat iona ls," sa id Riddle. "I didn't do as good as I wanted to. Then I went out to Mammoth and had some bad luck. My bike broke. and I got some bad starts. I wanted to come here and just dominate like I did." Though the AMA and many others are confident in 17year-old Riddle's ability to make it as a pro, he's still not sure what he'll be doing. "I don't know yet," he says. "I'm just kind of waiting. I'll be with Suzuki: I just don't know AMA Horizon Awa rd wi nner Be n Riddle. what [events] I'll be riding." 22 A U G U ST 30 , 2000' e ye I EO n e VII So Be s s each ha d a m o to win and a second- p lace finish, a nd Be ss took the ear ly lead with La ninovich secon d. Lan i novic h went und erneath fo r the lead e a rly on la p two , the n held on for th e win . Th e Yamaha rider s ays his p lan s for n e xt year are to "ho pefully get a fa ctory rid e a nd get on a good te am ." MIKE CHIUOIONI 1 2See C STOCK Yamaha -m ounted Chiud ion i won all th r e e m ot o s in this class , th ou gh he did receive an earl y c ha llenge in the last out ing : " Nu m b e r 45 [Mark Bunker J r. ] gav e me a good run a t first ," he said. "But a s soon as I got by him , it wa s pr etty easy. Th e track 's a little rough , but I just s tayed smooth and consistent." AARON SMITH 1 2Scc MOOIFIEO Sm ith an d Da v id Tarnow s pl it moto wins and runner-ups in the first two o uting s , and as m ight be expect e d , th e fi nal m o t o p ro v id e d so me great ra ci ng . S m it h got a m ed io c re start, a nd Tarnow soon took ove r the lea d, but with h is KTM hav ing lost a rad iator cap a nd smoking noticeably , he gave it up a few la ps la ter. Still, he was a head of title -rival S mith un til the last la p , wh e n th e Yama ha m a d e a la te c ha rge th a t re s ulted in a ph oto finish for third p lace. Smith was g ive n the pos ition , a nd th e title. "I didn 't g et tak en o u t - he ju st kind of cu t me off," exp lain ed Smith of his start . "The n I just had to com e ba c k u p a nd ch arge t hr o ugh eve ry o ne as hard a s I co uld . I came a round th at last tu rn ju st wide o pen, a nd I we nt th rough that se ction and passed him a t the last sec ond." BRYAN MCGAVRAN 2S0ee/OPEN A PRO SPORT Mc G av ra n , w h o rod e for J e ff Em ig's Strateg ic 3 squad ea rlie r this ye ar , convinci ngly topped the first two motos , but he incurred a flat tire o n th e hot lap before moto th ree a nd ha d to figh t for a s econd-place finis h and a class title . "I was jus t hop ing my tire wo uld come through," said th e Yamaha rider, who was still a b le to c le a r eve rything he ha d jumped be fore . RYANOAVIS 2S0ee/OPEN B STOCK Dav is had t rou b le w it h s t a rt s , wh ic h ca n be a d e ath se nte n ce in t h is h igh ly co m pe t it ive c lass, bu t h is 1 -2 -2 was pl en t y good for t he tit le . "I rod e a ll s u m mer, t ra in ed as h a r d as I co ul d, " t h e Kawas ak i ride r said. "It see ms to h av e p a id off, a nd I' m h app y . We 'r e all a bo ut th e sa me s pee d . It j us t d ep ends Mark Bunker 145) and Mike Chiudioni went at it in 125cc Stock racing, with the latter racer winning all three molos and the class title. wh o gets th e b e s t s ta rt a nd wh o ' s hungrier. " .JUSTIN SMITH 2S0ee/OPEN B MOOIFIEO With two moto wins and the lea d in moto th ree , all look ed we ll fo r Smith , but the Ka wa s a k i rider got out of sha pe in a rh ythm s e ctio n and we nt off t he tra c k , th en we nt a rou nd the Gato rade ju mp befor e g e tti ng ba c k on , "I just tried to doub le up o n the m, a nd when 1 did , it sort of threw me s ide wa ys . I woul d h ave h it th e ha y bales if I'd ha ve trie d to go ba ck on , so I went around ." Smith's off-trac k adventure re s ulted in his being doc ked one pos ition, but his e a rlie r perfection a llowed him to retain th e class title. B ..J. HUNTSINGER 2S0ee/OPEN C Hun ts ing er was ti ed for th e le a d go in g into the final mo to , bu t he almost lost it when he got p inched off on th e s ta rt and exi ted turn one out of the top 20. "I found myself ba c k in th e p a ck o n th e first la p," the Suzuki rid er sa id . "I was just t hi n ki ng 3 6 [runn e r -up And rew Cla rk] a nd 48 [third -plac e Mike F innega n] th at I had t o ca tc h . I k n ew we wer e ti ed o n points . I wa s t rying to get as far up thr ou gh th e pac k as I could without mak ing m a ny m istake s. " Huntsing er m ade it a s far as secon d , wh ich was good e no ug h to win the c ha m p ions hip. ASHLEY WHEAT W O M E N [ 1 2- 1 5) 80-1 OSee This Kaw a s aki Te a m G re en ride r was dom in an t in her second a nd third m oto s , b ut ex pe rie nc e d p roblems in th e first ra c e . "I go t th e hole s hot, a nd I we nt in the ba c k a nd h it a po le ," the Mississ ippi rider s a id . "It gra bbe d m y fro nt b ra ke, a nd 1 fe ll. I got beh ind and had to come up ."

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