In th e se co nd m ote . Plagema n snagge d
another hol esh ot, with J effers an d Fran d s follo w in g . Pla gem an was r id in g v er y smoothly
ou t fron t , and he st arte d to exp and his lead .
J effer s tr ied to hold on to sec ond , wi th a pe rsiste nt Fra nci s glued t o th e rear fender. Jeffers
and Fra nci s approa ched a pair of j umps, and
Fr an ci s wa s abl e t o kee p th e p ower to th e
ground , whic h all ow ed him to m ak e the p ass.
Meanwhil e, Plag em an was h avin g fun out front
as he air ed o ut hi s KTM over th e fl nish -li ne
tab le. At t h e c hec k er s, Pl agem an to ok an
impressive win, with Fr an ci s sn agging sec ond
and J effer s th ird .
Merced Coun ty Fa i r
Summer Stad i um
Motocross : Jeff
Pest an a (179) won the
125cc P ro and 250cc
Pro cla s ses as well as
the Top G u n Shootout
in Merced, Californ ia_
'"
~
Q.
Birch Creek MX:
David Walls (115) w o n
t h e f ir s t 125cc C moto
a t the f irst round o f t he
B all zee Grand
Ch am p io n s h ip Se r ies
o v e r third-p la c e fi nis h e r
Heribert Newman (4 53) ,
b u t bot h lo st o ut in the
end t o Jere y C apps,
w ho t o ok the o v e ra ll , in
Danville, Vi r ginia _
50 (7- 8 ) STK : \. CrysUll l...oll yto n (KTM ); 2. OUlTlle Moor e (KTM) ;
Merced County Fa i r S u m m e r Stad iu m MX
3 . J arred Holt (HM): 4. Zec Andrade (KT M): 5. Chri s Arroy o (Cob) .
50 (0-8) MOD: I. Greyeon Swilt (Cob ); 2. Kyle Prmce (HM) .
60 BEG; I . Crystlll uylon (KlIw): 2. Jesse Holt ( K~ w ): 3 . Loqen
Cohen (KlIw ): 4 . Cory Beel ( K~w ) .
60 NOV: I. An drew Desll~gull (KTM) : 2. Brenden Reyno (KTM).
601N T; I . J ustin Eno!! (KTM).
80 BEG: 1. Camero n EWing (Vern); 2. Br ed Lmk (Hen]: 3 . Preston Mull (Yem): 4 . Mall Larsen (Yem ): 5. And rl:'w Desilagua (Hon ).
80 NOV: I . Zach Russell (Hon); 2. Tyler Freeman (Ka w) ; 3. Broc
Owens (Hon ); 4. Kurt is Betey ( YlIm ): 5 . Brandon Freemen (Kaw) .
80 INT: I . Casey Hinson (Suz).
80 OPEN: I. Brcc Owens (Hon ): 2 . Zech Russell (Hen): 3. T yler
Freemen (KlI w) .
125 BEG: I . Raymond Blake (YlIm); 2. Chris Letson (Suz); 3.
Bnen Brock man (Vem ): 4. Dele RUS!ie1l (Hoo ); 5. Ty lf!f French (Hon )
125 NOV: I. Trevis Enzweiler (Hon): 2. Nick TIlle! (Vom ): 3. Joe
Rodrig ues (Yam); 4. Tyson Enzweilf!f (Hoo).
125I NT: 1. Robert Harold ( Yam); 2. Mike Starkweathe r (Hon); 3 .
Donoven Styles (Hon) ; 4 . Dyla n Viche (Yern) .
12 5 PRO: 1. Je ff PesleOll (Suz); 2. Craig Truglio (KlIw): 3. Mike
Newnnem (Yem ): 4 . Auggie RodngUl!s (Yom); 5 . Kelly Quin n (Suz).
250 BEG: 1. oev id Cox (Kow ): 2. Trevor Smith (KlIw ); 3. ClIsey
French (Hon ): 4. RlIndy Th reM g lll (Hon ).
250 NOV : I . Marc h Weym n (Hon): 2. Jimmy Scott (Yam ); 3 .
Jose GutJf'T'reZ (Kaw).
250 INT: I . Jon Replog le (Suz) ; 2. Cory Morll lS ( Yem) : 3 . Ger
Otedder (Hon) ; 4. J.R. Arc hutowski (Hon) .
s
250 PRO : I. Je ff Pestene (Suz); 2. CUIlQ Trug lio (Ka w): 3. Jess
Medley (Yam); 4. Mlke Newnhll m (YlIm ).
25+ BEG: 1. Steve Verrinder (Vem) .
25+ NOV: I. Marc Weym ss (Hon): 2. Joe Rodrig ues (Yam) .
25 + INT: t . J oe A lford (Hon) .
30 .. BEG: I . Scott Cully (Suz) : 2. Deen Hell (Vflm) .
30+ NOV: I . Dove Honcoch (VlIm) .
40. INT : J. Greg Dougill s (Hon) ; 2. Marc Prin ce (Yflm) .
A Fai r Night
for Pestana
B y J IM AND V ALERIE E NO S
MERCED, CA, J ULY 20
A trip to th e co unty fair usually m eans spendin g a wh ol e week ' s salary on rides, foo d an d
th e m idw ay . But J eff Pesta na , aboard a Cl aw so n M o t o r sp o rt s/Fox /S hi ft / A rn ette-ba ck ed
Suzuk i , had differen t int entions, and instead he
pock eted a cool $70 0 in the Ranch wood Co nstruction Top Gun Shootout. Th e Shoo tout featured all 125 and 250cc Pros co m bined int o a
o ne-m ot e, 15 -lap race fo r their share o f th e
$ 1500 pur se. Th e AMP /GFI ev ent, sponsored
by Merced Powersports and Ren chw ood Co n-
struction, we lcom ed a pa cked g ran dsta nd of
fairg oers w ith a ty pi ca l race program . from 50 s
to Vets . Nearl y 150 racers took to the tigh t sta d iumcr oss tr ack. w hic h featured a techn ic al
whoop secti on tha t pr o ved to be a c ha lle ng e
for the even the m ost-experienced racers.
Pes tana mad e a clea n swe e p of a ll four
125 and 25 0cc Pro rac es o n the ni gh t , wit h
Fox- backe d Craig Trugii o not t oo far behind .
Wh il e Pestan a consistently utilized goo d start s
to get o ut fr on t early, T ru giio struggled with
ba d st ar ts i n th e 12 5c c Pro ra c e s but st ill
m an aged secon d o n t h e n igh t. T rug li o h ad
better starts in the 250cc Pro race, aga in fi nishing out the night in seco nd.
T h e S h o otout started o ff w ith a t w ist.
Inst ead of a typica l sta rt, rac ers sto od facin g
bac kward, u sin g on ly th ei r throttl e ha n ds t o
kee p their bik es runn ing . A t the wave o f th e
gr een fla g, th ey jumped on th eir bik es , pulled
in th e cl ut ch , put it in ge ar an d took off in one
g ra ceful m o tio n . Kell y Quin n m ast er ed th e
unusu al st art th e qUickest and h ad abou t a
th ree-b ik e-Iength lead down th e start str aig ht
ov er J ess Medle y, Pestan a, Trugli o and M ik e
New nham . Pest ana had pr o ved in the earli er
Pro r aces th at he wo uld be the o ne to beat,
and Q uinn k new he was close behind. A few
laps into t he ra ce , as th ey ca me into a tig ht
ri ght-ha nd er , Pestan a for ced hi s way in side o f
both Medley an d Q uinn to take o ver th e lea d .
Pestana pro c eed ed to c heck o u t. T ru gl i o
p assed Medley and ca ught up to Q uinn . The
two b attled bri efl y; then T ru gli o sc oo te d by,
outbra ki ng Quinn after th e long stra igh t sec tion . M edl ey al so p assed Q ui n n, bu t N ewnh a m , wh o sta r t ed o u t i n fi f th , was on th e
m o ve, and afte r m aki ng hi s wa y past Q uinn,
he got right o n Medley' s rear fend er . How ev er, Newn ham go t out of shape in a ti ght rig ht hander and went down. A t th e che cke rs, Pestana gave the c ro wd a wa ve. Trug lio finishe d
sec ond , fi v e seco nds ba ck. Medley held on for
th ird. ov er Q uinn and New nha m .
" I think m y spee d th rou gh the whoop sect i o n m ad e t h e diff erence. " s a id Pe st an a .
"Quinn got a great ju mp on th e start , bu t th e
tr ack was fairl y easy , and I m ad e m y way up
t o t he fr ont pr etty fast. It was good; I made
some money a nd had fu n out th er e."
Altho ug h Tru glio o nce ag ai n got a less than -fa vorab le start , he kept a co nsi sten t pa ce
and eamed $4 00 for his effort .
" By the tim e I go t aro und eve ryone. Pes·
tan a wa s go ne." T ru gli o sai d. "I'U tak e second,
.
though . It's sti ll pr etty go od m on ey ."
Bi rc h Creek MX
Futrell Flames Up
B y JAY H AUSER
D A NVILLE , VA , JU LY 15
Ridin g a pa ir o f KTM m inic y d e s, Clinto n ,
North Car olin a' s T a ylor Fu tr ell c am e to the
op eni ng ro un d o f the eig hth annual Ball zee
Agg ress ive Wear Grand Champion shi p Series
on fi re and bu st ed out a fo ur -moto swee p o f
the 60cc (7 -9) and 80 c c ( 7- 11 ) cl asses.
Th is ye ar, the series will ru n four of the fir st
fi v e r a c e s o n Saturd ay n i ghts o n v a r io us
Sup erc ross·style tr acks. Runni ng at n igh t al so
h el p s b eat th e h eat, so th er e wa s a str o n g
tu rnou t of ri ders .
As did m ost of th e rid er s, Fu trell seeme d to
like th e n ew tra ck , wi ck ing hi s littl e KT M o ver
j us t abo u t e very thin g. In the 60 c c div ision ,
Fut rell ha d h is ha n d s fu ll w ith t he li k es o f
A u st in F itz wate r and Rya n S m ith. b o th o n
KTMs. Fitzwater and Smith tra ded m ot o fi nishes o f sec ond and third out o f a 12 -ri de r fi eld ,
wit h Fitzwat er taking sec ond ov erall . T hom as
Rob erts br ou gh t his Cob ra hom e in fourth o ve r
Kawasak i· mounted J u stin Co ley, who ro und ed out the to p five . •
Futr ell was j ust as styli sh aboard his KTM
80 , as wa s evi denced by his two-mot o swee p
of th e class. Ridge Da vis, aboard his Yam aha ,
di d a good job of keepin g Futrell in his sig ht s
bo th m ot os, recording a pair o f second-place
fi ni sh es. Ric ha rd Cup pe l m an sq ueaked int o
th e t op three with a strong third in moto two
and m aki ng the fina l ste p on the podi um .
Th e b ig ges t d a ss o f t h e n ight w a s t he
125 c c C cl ass, w ith 18 r iders. J erey Cap p s
wa s the m an of the ho ur, taking the overall
h on ors w ith a 2 -3 sco re . M oto -one w inner
Dav id Wall s had trou bles with his nig ht visi on
and fail ed to fo ll o w up on his day ti m e moto
wi n, fading to fo urt h du ring th e ni ght race and
p la ci n g sec o n d o ve ra ll. D av id B au er ' s 4-2
sc o re h el p ed h im m ak e th e p od ium . J o sh
T er ry foll ow ed h is d ismal six th -p la c e run in
m ot o one wi th a sec ond · m ot o w in, wh ic h put
him at fourth ov era ll . Kawasaki -m ou nted Her bert Newman rounded out the top fi ve overa ll.
Results
SHOO TO
