Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I F ormul a USAlWrenchhea d .c o m P r o S ingle D irt Track S e r ie s Round 7: Castle Rock Raceway Par k Winner Brett Landes (c ent er! is flanked by runner-up Eli Price (left) and third-place finisher Kurt Hawk (right) on the podium. lead wou ld quickl y va n is h, as Price , last yea r' s AMA Nation a l Hot Sho e winn er here , put a m ov e on th e teenager to ste al th e lea d a t th e e nd of lap one. It was Vernon , a Pro -Sport lic ensed rid er from Ol ymp ia , Wa sh ington , that mad e a m ov e o n the ve te ra n Pr ic e to nab a lead late r, one th at th e form er AMA Na tional 80 c c Champi on woul d h old for th e n e xt e ig h t ci rcu it s a b oard t he C ycle Mart/ATK America -s upported ATK. Vemon o pened up a s lim -lea d , bu t co uld ne ver quite s ha ke off th e lo om ing t rio o f Ha wk , Pr ice a n d fina lly La n d e s , who joi n e d in a four-wa y s q ua b ble o n lap eight. Price , ridi ng the Ro n £, Ca ro l KeJl / Mo to rcycle Work s of Re nt o n -s p o ns o re d Rotax , held the p o in t po s it ion a mong the th ree rid e rs vy ing for seco nd, a n d wa s right th er e to nab the lead o n la p 10 whe n the young Vernon bobbled , allowi n g th e c rafty vete ra n to take contro l. Hawk , th oug h , h ad other id e as , taki ng Pric e 's lead aw ay, a nd would hold th e lead fo r thr ee laps , although his lead wou ld be m u ch like Price 's brief run ahe ad o f th e fiel d . Landes moved up to first overtake th e fading Vern on wh o , on ce yield ing to Price , a lso fell prey to Hawk and th en fina lly to Landes ; but ju st afte r taki ng the point position , local rider J .P Simons en fell and th e ra ce wa s qu ickly stopped. Landes ' advanta ge wa s th en lost , a s the race was reverte d to th e o rde r of the lap prior , p lacing Hawk at the head of th e fiel d. Ha wk he ld the adv anta ge on th e restart, while Lan - S T O RY AN D P HOT OS BY C LA Y L IGHT CASTLE ROCK, WA, SEPT. 7 rett Land e s ha s fo nd m em o rie s of h is in fre q ue n t v isits t o th e Castle Roc k Raceway Par k's n . And th ey keep getti ng fonder for the rider from Los Ga to s , California , as he c a n now deposit his re c en t win in th e For mula USA /W re nch e ad .c om Pro Sin gle s S e ries into his m emory bank. La nd e s ' las t visit h ere in 19 96 clin ched his AMA 600c c National title with a second -place finis h to th e late An d y Tre s s er , a nd no w fou r y e a rs late r , Land e s a gai n lan ded on th e p o d iu m , alth ou g h t his ti me it wa s at op t he ro strum a fte r a st irr in g com e -from -b eh ind win in th e 20 -la p Pro S ing les final. Lan des overc a me a m ed io c re start to the n for ge thro ugh traffic a nd catch th e lead trio jus t pa st th e m idw a y po int. Landes th e n ha d to o ve rc o me tw o resta rt s be fo re his round -six win wo uld come to pass , n a rrowl y e dg ing Wa shingto n ' s Eli Price at the finish line . "Those guys [Price , third-place finish er Kurt Hawk, and Scoot e r Vernon, the fourth- place finishe r] re ally had this tra ck dia led ," La nde s sa id . "I co uldn't get off the line at all. Then , to mak e it wor se , I go t s hoved off the tra ck co m ing out of the dogleg an d had a lot of ground to ma ke up. Luck ily, I go t the lead with a la p left , ev en th o u g h I thou ght I still had three [la ps 1to go. " B 16 S E PT EM B ER 2 7 , 2 0 00' cue (Above) Landes' win at Cas tle Roc k was his fi rst of the series. (Right) Price fi nished a close se cond to Landes. Th ings didn 't start off as smoothly fo r Lan de s , a lthoug h he posted th e s ixth -fa ste s t time d uring q ualifying (Del S chnitzer se t fast time a t 22 .35 ), he strugg led initiall y in h is first rid e a board the rest ricted 60 0c c ATK. Landes did , howe ver, co me bac k strong to to p the first of the thre e he at races to ea rn a front -r ow s ta rt ab o ard t he Audi ovox/ Ou a ker State -ba ck ed AT K. Hawk, a first- year Exp ert from Pre sto n, Wa sh ingto n , led Pric e a nd po le sitte r S cooter Vernon a t th e un le a sh ing of the 18 -ride r final , but Haw k 's • e n e vv s

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