Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

w h ere they le ft off the night b efo re . Harder snared t h e h o l e s hot a nd briefl y paced the field before fall ing prey to Hittle. Ha rder proved much more difficu lt fo r Vanderkoo i to get b y . W it h the ra ce half-o ver , Van d erkooi got p ast the racer fro m Texas an d set out after Hi ttle , b ut time wa s on H ittle ' s side, and Vanderkooi could o nly get close at the chec k ers. Robert Pea r so n j o in e d the list of r id ers who w o n on b o t h days . T he O pen A m ateu r con test b elo ng ed to h im. Kn odel , W est a nd Ita l ia arg ued over the second t h ro u g h fo urth spots . Brown , Crai g Gris more and Jon Han so n f ill ed o ut th e field . Jason Good w in jo i ned Marsha ll , Ita li a , H ittle , Pearson , Vanderk o oi and Hu ss i n " T w o W in " club . Th e K e n - the 12-la p main event and pull ed clear of nationally ranked J.R. Schnabel and Experts Jos h T ou nge tt , Ch ris B o o n e and B r ian Th omas en rou te to a co nvincing wi n. Sch nabel. who was scheduled to race the Peori a TT the following day. rode as fast as he dared in an atte m pt to catch the fleei ng Pearson . "I ran it into the turns hard and trie d to get up there and run into Rob to maybe rattle his cage a littl e bit ," Schnabel joked. "The only proble m was, he was go ing so fast off the co rner s tha t I c ould never ge t close enough to him to do itl " A crash in turn s o ne and two on lap t wo took out Michael Oehler, who did not make the restart. After they lined up single file. it was more of the same for Pearson , wh o led every lap to claim the big money. Schnabel ran second, with T oungett cl aim ing third. It wa s all in a n ight' s work for Pearson , w ho ha s run the Petersburg track th ree times th is season . "That certainly helped,- Pearson said of his .experience at the faci lity. "I never felt anyone back there. and I looked back after while and saw that I had it with a few laps left. I'm still an A m ateu r, so it feel s pre tty go od to beat some of th ose Nat ion al guys. I j ust wish I was raci ng with th em in Peoria to morrow." o m e 44 miles so ut h o f the previ o us evening ' s e v e n t in Belle fontaine , O h io , almost everyone got tog et h er 12 hours late r to do b attl e again in Sp ri ngfield. Everyone had an agenda - to k eep th ing s rolling from th e n i g ht befor e , o r to g et s o m e reveng e . B ill Whee ler led th e 100cc Vintage class from start to f inish , extracting so me revenge for a get- off the night befo re that left h im d ead last at t he c heckers. Wheeler's sta b lem ate Da ve Wells sw itch ed places with him, su ffering a get-off that garnered h im an 1 1th-place finish . Ja ck W imer , Barry B a k e r and Wend ell Ware also di s played some g re at ra cing on a tra ck that was getting more grooved by the second . Steve Til l e y fo ll owed Ware for fifth. The Vanderkoo is , Jack and J erry , batt led with Chris Hu ss for th e Open Expert honors. Huss w as o n a roll . The likab le M ich igander no tched h is thi rd win in Ohio in t w o w ee k s . J erry g ot the best of th e fa mily fe ud w ith J ack. Ri ck y M a r sh all was a l so o u t f or some reven ge . Sol on , Ohi o ' s fast est rac er is not u sed t o be in g sh ut o ut, and th at' s w ha t h app ened at B ell e f o nta i n e . Marsh all had a great start and put on a groov e -ridin g c l in ic in t h e 12 5 c c mai n . Ju st in H ittle and B la k e Yo u ng fo ug ht wi th ea ch o t h er a nd the groove for the place troph y . H i t t l e had Yo emq, Jeff Harder and B ro c k Sc hwarzen bacher covered at th e fi nish. 64 S E PTEM B ER 6 . 200 0 ' c ue I e Donal dso n Sizzle s at Sun r i s e By BOB AllOY (Ho n) ; 3. Br ock Sc hw erzenb e ch er ( Ho n ): 4 . Jeff Harder (Hon); 5. Cesee McCam mo n (Hon ). tO OVINT: 1. Bill Wheeler(Kaw); 2. Jack Wimer Guns 'em DOV\Tn S Results 50: 1. Andy Butl er; 2. Jus tin Walker; 3. Syd ney Seuer: 4 . Robert Stroup. 85 : 1. Justin Hittle ( K8 W); 2. Br ed va nderkoci Marshall SPRINGFIELD, OH, JULY 23 Sun ris e Cycle Park eN Springfield Fairgraunds Springfield. Ohio Results: July 23. 2000 AMAAm ateu~ Semi-Pro and Youth Championships Springfield Fairgrounds Bv B ERT AND T VLER S HEPARD OPEN exmAW; I. Rob Pearson (RUt); 2. J .R. Schnabel (W-R); 3. Josh Toungett (Rtx); 4. Nich olas Willia ms (Rtx): 5. Chris Boone (O lxl· Bret Pa nk e a nd J ohn Vanderk oo i. Springfield Fairgrounds: Ricky Marshall (53M) and Blake Young (67) battle it out In the 250cc Amateu r and 125cc classes at the AMA Amateur, Semi-Pro and Youth Championships in Springfield, Ohio. Marshall came out on top of both co ntes ts ; Young placed th ird in the 125s and fifth in th e 250Cc Amate ur event. tu ckian p ac e d A ar on Sc he id a nd L au r se n t o t he c h e c k e r s . T h e r e al d eba t e wa s fo r fourth place . K e v in H iler ca me o ut on to p of N ick Evans , ADELANTO, CA, JULV 22 Fueled up on Gatorade. cold drink s and hot (Vam); 3. Barry Baker (Suz); 4. Wendell Ware (Suz); 5. Steve Tilley (Hon). 125: 1. Rick y Ma rshall (A TK ): 2. Justi n Hitt le (Kaw); 3. Blake Voung (Hon); 4. Jeff Harder (Hon); Ma rshall kept things ro ll ing a n d dominated the 250cc Amateur event as wel l. K .C. Knodel put in a steady rid e to end his Amateur career with a secondp lace fi nis h. Cory West earned th ird, in front of Wes B rown and Yo ung. I n t he 250cc Pr o -Spo r t co n t est . Ro n K im me l wa nte d to repeat his w in from t he night before, b ut it was not to be . The g roove was developing quick ly . B ra ndon Lau rsen reel ed Kimmel in as Klrnmell 's m ount refus ed to st ay o n th e bla ck part o f the fa irgrou nds. Brett Panke was th ird . Justin Walker took the holeshot in th e 50c c main , but the ra c e belong ed to th e e v e r - i m p ro vi n g A nd y Butl er , who o utdi sta nc ed the fi eld for his fi rst win o n a ha lf m il e . Cha rli e Italia and Young faced o ff again in th e 500c c fi nal. The res u lt w as th e sam e as the previous n ight's. The 14 -yea r-old Italia mastered the groove as Young made o ne sli p th at cost h im a shot at the Oh io ra c er . Andy Heise and A llen Harrington fill ed in th e fie ld . The Senior O ver 40 fiel d wa s filled w ith exception al ta lent, an d they m o re th an enjoyed th emselves. Larry Zum brun du sted off his leathers an d w ax ed the field o n Tim Humphries' Rot ax . " It h as b een f ive or si x yea rs sin c e 5. Brock SC h.....eraenbac her (Hon) . 250 I'J'\: 1. Ri ky Marshall (Hon); 2. c K.C. Knodel (Hon); 3 . Cory West (Hon); 4 . Wes Brown (Hon); 5. Blake Young (Hon). 25 0 PRO - SPT : 1. Bra ndo n Laursen (Ho n) ; 2 . Ron Kimmel (Hon ); 3. Brett Panke (Hon) ; 4. Chad Anthony (Yam); 5. Scott Lowery (Vam) . 500 : 1. Charlie Italia (Rtx ); 2. Blake Young (Hon ); 3 . An dy Heise (Yam ); 4 . A llen Harrin gton ( Yam) . 6 00 PRO -S PT : 1. J a son Go odwin ( Rtx) ; 2 . Allton Sche id (Rtx) : 3. Brand on La urs en (Rt x ); 4 . Kev in Hiler (Rtx ); 5. Nick Evans (Rtx). OPEN: AM : t . Rob e rt Peerson ( Rtx) ; 2 . K .C. Knodel (Rtx) ; 3 . Cory West (A T K) ; 4. Charl ie (Rtx); 5 . W Brown (Rtx) . es OPEN EX : 1. C h r is Hu ss ( Rt x) ; 2 . J err y Vanderk ooi (Rtx) : 3. J ack Vanderkooi (Yam ). SR 30 +: 1. Mike Butler (Rtx); 2. Mli tt McC:u illin (Rtx); 3. Craig Gri smo re (Rtx); 4 . Jerry Stel tke m p (Rtx) ; 5. Tim Hum phries (Rtx) . SR 40 +: J. Larry Zumb run (Rue); 2. Mike Moore (Hon) ; 3. Wendell Wa re (Rtx) ; 4 . James Beck (Rtx ); 5. Marv in Long (Yam ). neue M enard County Fairgroun ds Pearson Pounds Petersburg HM By ScOTT R OUSS EAU PETERSBURG. IL AUG. 12 With the Coziahr Harley-Davidson/Memphis Shade s ca m p aigni ng of G ran d N ati on a l Experts Kevin Varn es and Johnny Murphree , you would th ink that team owner TIm Coziahr should not be concerned about a lack of talent with which to carry his co lors . Ju st the same, Coziahr has seen fit to keep an eye toward the future by backing 14·year -old Amateur racer Rob Pearson of Chillico the. Illinois. on the local and regiona l circ uits in th e Midwest. It paid off big at the Menard County Fairgrounds as the dim inutive Pearson, wh o might ti p th e scales at 100 pounds soaking wet and with a bowling ball in each pocket, stomped a hole in the m idd le of several Grand Natio nal ·ra nked Ex pert s duri n g th e Pr a iri e T h u n der MC ' s I have r idd en , " Zumbrun ad m itte d. " Yo u kn o w you c an do it , bu t th e co nfid en c e lev el is not ver y h igh ." M i k e Moo re a n d Wa r e a ls o d i s pl ayed some ta lent fo r the p la c e and sh ow spots. J im Be ck c ontinu ed to be the fu n in dy sfun ct ion al," th e Prairie Thund er MC labo red to produ ce a very ra ceable sur- com p eti t ive w ith a fo u rt h- p lace ri de . In the 85cc d iv ision , Justin H ittle , Jeff Harder, Brock Sc hwarzenba ch er that stretched between the extr emely ti ght and Brad Vanderkoo i picked up n .. vv s SI OOO-to-win Outlaw Pro half mile. Billing themselves as the "club that puts face on what has to be one of the oddestsha ped half mi les in m otor cycle racin g . Featu ring lon g strai ghtawa y s o n the fro nt an d back stretc hes , th e co urse throw s a twist to the racers, in th e form of a th ird straig hta way desire, Riv erside OTMX riders at Sunrise Cycl e Park didn 't let temp eratu res of ov er 100 degrees deter o r slo w them down much, but went about the ir busi ness as usual , burning up the tra ck with their red- hot pe rfo rm ances . Larry Williams super-charged his Vamaha into an early lead and led the Masters class for two laps. despite being hotly pursued by Steve Donaldson . However, Don ald son ende d the cha se wh en he for ced his way past Williams and sped awa y , stretc hing his lead all th ree rema ining laps to wrap up an aweso m ely fast first-p la ce rid e. Williams hung in for seco nd. Donaldson blasted out with the lead and kept it fro m sta rt to fi nis h in the seco nd m ot a to pick up the overall win. Williams collected ano th er second -place fini sh. Lots of speed and doub le-jumping put Vamaha-mounted Chris Cumbo ahead of the pack in all five laps of the Expert contest. and he ra c ked u p a n ice fi rs t -p lace finish . Paul Heckman plowed through the group from his midpack start to score a speedy and well deserved second place. Bill Schultz nagged in with third. Jim McConnell set the pace of the second action-filled moto with a terrific start, followed closely by fast Kawasaki jockey Randy Bruce. who attacked on lap two and ruled for a lap until Cumbo shot past on lap three and continued at top speed for first at the finish. wrapping up hi s fi rst overall . Heckman ' s last -pla ce start wa s j ust a m ino r i nconvenience; he ch ased awa y all the com petition for his sec and overall w in. Bru ce stayed in the winner's ci rcle with th ird . Jimm y Lev ere! wasted no time getting to the front of the pack and led all 13 Amateurs for four fas t laps unt il a faster Ray Dru ry sl am med his Ya ma ha in to full pow er and forced his way past and then went on for the big win . Lavorci stayed close and crossed over second. follow ed by Dan Wallace. and then Ted Je nk ins in fourth. D ru ry prove d to be t he most impressive Amateur in the second mota as he rocketed away with the lead, led all the laps. and took away th e win . Walla ce' s fast pace all owed him to co me in with th e num ber -t wo spot, fo llo wed by Lavorci and J enk ins. John Webb certainly loves to win. He has been the ace of Novices lately, and today's perf ormance, with hi s fast and fu riou s raci ng , was no exceptio n. He took away both vic to - ries. Bob All oy took second both tim es out and th us earned the seco nd- overall status. Re s u lt s NOV; 1. Joh n Webb (Hen) ; 2. BobAll oy (Kew) . M:. I. ReyDNry (Y am): 2. Don Wallace (Suz); 3. J immy Levor- turns on e and two. cl (Kew); 4 . Ted Jenk ins (Su I) . Pearson had no trouble finding the fast way around the joint, as he rocketed off the line in Bruce ( Kew). EX; · I. Chris Cumbo (Yern): 2. Peul Hec kma n (Ka w); 3. Rand y MSTR; J. St~ I>cntIIdson (YiIm).

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