Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I G ene R o m e r o 's e-moote .oorn W e st Coas t F lat T r a c k Serie s R oun d 7 : F a s t Frida y s S p e edway whic h ha s yet to ha ve a ll of th e bu gs so rte d out o f it a nd conseque ntly is qu ite a ha nd ful to ride . "This is just wha t I wa nted to do ," Br own sa id . "I wa nte d t o come in her e a nd let th e s e g uy s know tha t I had th e number- on e plate , a nd that I'm so rry to be givin g it up . Th is is wh ere m y h eart is , bu t I' m loo k ing forward to goi ng to do th e Na tiona ls be caus e th er e is a lot of m one y an d prestige on th e line th e re . But I've got to take m y hat off to Ge n e a nd th e guy s for th is g rea t se ries . Th e y' v e made a great home for a lot of peopl e to come racing her e and ha ve a good S T O RY BY S COTT R OU SSEA U P HOT O S BY D EN NI S vou, AUBURN,CA,AUG.19 h e t h e r o r not rei gn in g We st Co ast Flat Track S eries Cham pion Ronn ie Brown a chieve s greater heights as he shifts hi s att ent ion toward th e National c irc uit whe n the Formul a USA /Wren ch e ad . com Nation al Dirt Tra ck S e ries s wi n gs west, two things a re fair ly ce rta in: 1) Getting th e call from one of the top team owners in th e s po rt to ride th e west coast Nationa l swin g ha s c erta inly helped to val idate bo th Brown and the series; and 2 ) Th e Paso Robles , Cal ifornian has be en a hell of a good champion for it. Brown proved just th at a s h e stormed to what may well be his fina l West Coast Flat Track S eries win on a beautifully prepared ra cing s urfa ce at one of the prettiest ~r a c k s in the country, Fast Fridays Speedway o n the Gold Country Fairg rounds in Aubu rn . The win a dded to his serie s po ints le a d , but with two rou nds left to be run, and only a 20 -point gap between himself and current second placed man Rob Damron , it is clear that Damron will be the heir apparent to a series crown which has be come quite coveted during th e 2000 ra ci ng season. Just th e sam e , Brown le ft his mark , and he truly e arned thi s win , handicapping himself by choos ing to rid e his Rod La k e -o wn e d Yamaha YZ400F-b a s e d short-tracker, a bike W 30 SEPTEMBER 6 , 2000' cue tim e." Br own m ade it lo o k easy in th e m ain e vent , stuffing t h e Brown ' s Cycles-ba cked entry unde rn e ath S er ran o Ra cing ' s Anth on y Giamm an c o at th e sta rt of the 16- la p per and the n finding th e dri ve to pull awa y to an easy win on th e c us h io ned Auburn tra ck tha t is th e home to s ome of the top weekl y speedway motorcycl e ra c ing action in the country. "We ' ve h ad th is YZ400F o f Rod La ke ' s s itt ing a ro un d all year long , and the thi ng is a really good bike ," Brown said . "The re have been a few tracks that we ran that wou ld have been good for it, but we brought out the Rotax inste ad . Bu t I knew that th is was go ing to be my la s t ra c e , so I decided to leave th e Rotax at home and ride thi s bike inste a d and tr y to win the m ain event on it. I'm glad to give the bike a win for Rod ." Brownd idn 't le a d the orig inal start I e n e vw s Brown (i) ski pped pa st e arly leader Anthony Gla m manc o (7 5) w hile Ra ndy Be re man (5y) l o oked on in third . Bere man w ound up following ru nnerup Gla m manco across the li ne. of th e m a in e ve nt , th e rac e being ha lted aft er Danny Richie we nt down in turn on e and wa s th en run ove r by th e res t of th e pa c k. Rich ie wa s down for s ev er al mi nutes , but he did make th e restart. "It beca me a re al th inker's track in th e m ain eve nt th er e, " Brown s a id. "It slic ked off just a little bit the re com pa red to earl ier in the night, s o it was a just a lot o f thrott le co n t ro l and ke e p yo ur head on , keep yo ur cool. It was fun , bu t now, it's onwa rd ." Gia m m a nco tried ga mely to ha ng with Bro wn over the cou rse of th e ra c e , but the re wasn 't much t ha t he could do as Brown rode off into th e sunset. "You ha ve to hold that inside line b e c aus e if y o u m ak e o ne b obble they 'r e gonna pass yo u," Giammanc o s a id . "O nce Ro n ni e goes b y , he 's toug h to catc h , s o I jus t trie d to be conservative , hold my spot a nd ride good . I hope I didn't ho ld any bo dy up . It wa s great. The surro und ings a nd th e fa cility he re are th e be st I've ever been to in my life , , t hin k." While he m a y no t ha ve nec ce s a rily he ld a nyo ne up , Giammanco s uccessfu lly h eld off the a dvances of Fo x Ra c ing / Bits £, Piec es Motorcycles/Ron Bere ma n-back ed Ra ndy Berema n, who s tarted thi rd , loo ked hi g h a nd low for a wa y a round Giammanco for th e fir st 10 la ps a nd th en s ettl ed down a nd he ld o n to the third s pot throug h th e finish . "I'll tell yo u wh at , this is a gr eat ra c etra c k ," Ber eman s aid . "I love th is stuff. Th e s e guy s did a great jo b putting it tog ethe r. I just tried to relax and not g et to antsy. Anthony rode a gre at rac e . I wa s hopi ng he wou ld m a ke a bobble , but he just put in 16 cons istent la ps . I tri ed to stay rig ht th er e in case he did ma ke a mista ke so that I coul d ca pitalize on it. " Rob Damron go t by Bob Cunnington late in the race to grab the fourth spot, while Cunnington he ld fifth and Dan Hart ran sixth , but the man on the move in the A main was definitely Richie, who cha rged like a wounded bear from the ba c k of the pack and clawed his wa y th rough the traffic on the tight ova l to land se venth at the finish. '" was real surprised," the Brown's Cycles-sp ons ored Rich ie said . "I didn 't thi nk that I wou ld do that well , bu t I was motiviated . I was p iss ed off. Me and Randy [Ber ernan] just ho ok ed handlebars going into tu rn one , and I got th e sh ort end of the sti ck." fd@@' [J{}@\!l5@@ f1i}@@]5(]5@@ [fJrJ@@(If]&f15@[JD uDD@ [PD!J0li @[fiJ@ [PfiJDDfB Just when 250cc Novice Modified Production class point leader Scott Rousseau was preparing for a bitter points battle with friendly rival Ron Hinton for the class number-one plate, Hinton played a big part in helping to decide the outcome of the title early. Previous commitments left him as a no-show at Auburn. With that , Rousseau only needed to finish fifth or better to guarantee the championship. He did, but it cost him a little skin. Jason Chisum got the holeshot in the main event, leading J immy Abrams and Rousseau along with the rest of the l l -rlder field into turn one. Rousseau then worked his way past Abrams off of turn two just before the halfway point, setting his sights on the lead. It all went wrong when Rousseau was forced to lay it down to avoid some fallen riders who had crashed in tum three on the previous lap, and was then run over by a backmarker. To add insult to injury, the Cycle New s associate editor was then told that he would have to start in the back of the pack for cau sing a red flag. Chisum went on to lead the field for the rest of the distance after the single-file restart, giving the Kawasaki brand its first win and ending the dominance of Yamahas in the class. Bradley Spencer went on to finish se cond, with J immy Abrams just barely beating Roussea u - who had charged back through the back in the last five laps ~ for third. After double-checklng the point tally, it was learned that Rousseau had done enough to clinch the title, holding a 48·poi nt lead with 46 points left in the series. Bud Nelson

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