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/128630
22nd Annual Suzuki East-Coast Amateur Nationals Broome-Tioga Sports Cente r BINGHAMTON, NY, AUG. 25ยท26 Broome -Tioqe Sports Ce nt er, co m mo n ly refe rre d to as the "Greatest Spectator Cou rse in Am e rica: and To m Hurd Promotions hosted rou nd I I of th e Ch e vy T ruc ks / AMA 125/25 0cc Pr o Na ti o nal s on Augu st 27 . As is tra ditio na l with m ost tracks on th e AMA Pro circ uit, two da ys of amateur rac es were held prior to the Nat ional. The 2000 Suzuk i East Coast Ama te u r Nationa ls attracted o ne o f t he larg e st turnouts of riders in its 22-ye ar history. Just unde r 1000 riders s igned up to ra c e the 24 classes slated fo r th e two -day ra c e progr am. Nine classes wer e s plit into two groups (A and B) so that all racers would get to ride two fu ll motos rathe r than run qua lifiers to reduce each class to 40 gates , thus a llowing some ride rs only one moto . T om Hu rd Prom o ti o n s be liev es in g iving ea ch and every ride r as mu ch track time as possible. Product c ontinge ncies fro m Boye sen , Twin Air, Gatorade , Thor, Pro Action Suspensio n , Acer bis, FMF , Scott USA, Moto Te e s , Dun lop , Pro -X Piston s , SBS, Ballzee and Klotz were aw ard ed to t he t o p ride rs in their respective classes. O n Saturday , Broome-Tioga also h os te d the final round of t he fivero u nd ser ies of t he Wo me n's Motoc ross Leag ue / AMA Na t io n al S e rie s . T he WML runs an Amateur class and a Pro class at each of their five Nationa ls. The WML's Amateur class ran two flve -Iap motos , wh ile the WML's Pros raced two full 20minute-plus-two-lap motos . Th e WML/AMA crowned a new Pro ch a m pion on Saturday . Ka wa s a k i p ilot Jessica Patterson a bsconded with the holeshot in the first moto and led for several lap s but crashed hard, injuring her a nk le. Patterson still man a ged a respecta ble 13th -place finish . Even with an injured ankle, Patt erson went out and won the second moto. The WML/AMA also crowned their Am at e ur-clas s champion. .YSA/North land Motorsports' Tarrah Johnson took home the class championship trophy. T h is year's event was by far the best to date. Unde r a strict time pres sure to get through the Amateu r prog ra m and the WML ra c es and still prep the track for the Saturday's Pro p ra c t ic e a nd prelim inary quali fiers , whic h started a t 3 :30 p.m ., Hurd and his ded icated track personnel d id what some might consider the imposs ible . Track conditio ns for the weeke nd were aweso me . The Amateurs ('"jhe IU 58 SEPT EMBER 1 3, 2000' c ue IAbove) Nick Evenno u won the first Mini (9 - 15 ) moto and w as le ad ing the second moto when he cra shed on t he last la p, ha ndi ng the mot o w in and th e ove ra ll t o M itch Dougherty. (Left) M itch Do ug herty (5 3) won the overall with a 2-1 score 9in the highly com pet itive M ini 1 15) cla ss at the Suz uki Ea st Coast Nationals, held prio r to ro und 1 1 of the Chevy Trucks /AMA 125/250 c c Pro Nationals at th e Broome-Ti oga Spo rts Ce nt er. (Be low left) Nick Evennou (47) nails th e holeshot and takes the early lea d over Phil Nic ol etti (71) and Se an Wallace (3 9 1) In the fi m Mini (9-1 5) moto. (Be low right) Phil Nicoletti (7 1) na ils the holeshot over Nick Evennou (47). Sean Wallace (391 , behind Nicoletti) and Brandon Meir (201) In the second M in i (9-15) moto. Nicoletti earned second overall In the class. finish ing 3-2 on the day. run an abbreviated ve rsion of the full Na t iona l track , bu t th is year, for the first time , the WML's Pros ran the full National Broom e -T ioqa racecourse . The ve ry first moto of the program was the extremely competitive Mini (9- 15 ) class (us ua lly referred to as "S upe rm ini" in other AMA Districts ). Nic k Evennou piloted his KX to th e fro nt of th e 'pa c k , cl aiming holeshot honors as well as the earl y lead. Trailing him were Phil Nicoletti, Mitch Dougherty , B.J. Smith and Sean We lla c e . Dougherty q uickly relegated Nicoletti to th ird , a nd J ohn Lawrence pas sed Wa lla c e fo r fift h . Evennou pulled a s mall lead of five seconds on Dough erty by the e nd of lap two. Nicoletti was seven seconds behind Doug herty in th ird.. Th e .to p five were a lready pretty well s p read out by the s tart of la p three. By the la st lap, the I e n8 UV S top three had la pped the field of 34 riders. Evennou too k the first-moto win with a five- s e c o nd advantage. Dougherty finished second; Nicol etti , Smith a nd John Giantonio rounded out the top five. Nicol ett i snared the second Mini (9 I S) holes ho t but couldn't hold on for the lead . When the leaders came off the s upe rc ro s s section , Evennou had the point position, with Dougherty close behind. Nicoletti wa s th ird, Giantonio fourth an d S cott S ears fifth . Mik e Angerman passed Sears for fifth just after the start of lap th ree. Eve nnou had a five-secon d lead , but Dougherty began to chip away at it and reduced it to three seconds by lap four . The only battl e left was for the moto win and the overa ll, as th ird th rough fifth wer e very spre ad out. The leaders disappeared into the supercross section dealing with la pped traffic . T he lappers helped Do ug h e rt y close the gap , but then Eve nn o u went down and ha nd e d the moto win and the overall to Dougherty; Evenno u could only manage a seventhplace finish after remounting . Dougherty took the checkers for the win, trailed by Nicoletti, Gia n to n io , Smith and Lawrence. Dough e rty earned the class' overall with a 2 -1 score . Nicoletti e a rned the runner-up spot with a 3 -1 tally , and Gianton io rounded out the podium , carding a 5 -3 finish . Th e first Over 30 Nov ic e A moto got under way with Richa rd S a xby rounding the rig ht- ha nd switc hback first tum in the lea d , with Brian Botts, Matt Fleischer, Lee Fake an d Rick Ta trault in tow. Botts pa ss ed Saxby for the lea d in th e tre e tu rns pr eceding t be Broome-Tioga Dinner Table . Fleisch er