Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

s-r ~ d.n k ~J:kJr~ I Gene Romero's e -moo la .com W e s t Coast F la t T r a c k S e ri e s R o u n d 8 : P la c e rville Speedwa y experie nced the joys of a great night o f raci ng on a g rea t track b ut also had to re alize t h at , fo r 2 000 , th ei r series was ove r. It was a fitting finish for Brow n . ho wever. " We k new t ha t w inn i n g w o u ld ta k e care of the p o ints," Br own said in v i ct ory ci rc le . " We bro ugh t o ut o u r ' Ol d F aithful ' [TT660] Ya maha t on i ght. Thi s w as th e bike th a t J ohnny Mu rphree won th e first rac e of th e ye ar o n , a nd no w i t h a s wo n th e last rac e of th e year with m e o n i t. I' ll t e ll y ou wh a t . I 've jus t go t to take my hat off to G en e R o m e r o an d ' t h e who le e m o o l a. c om W est C o ast Flat T rack Ser i es. T he t rack s have bee n good all year , and the ra c es ha ve run on t ime. " Brown la nded on the pole to st art t he m ai n event, w it h Lonnie Pauley , Randy Be rem an , Bill y Martin . Dam ron and Jesse San chez all sprea d across the line to his r i gh t. When starter Brian Burg in threw th e g reen lig ht, Brown bol ted into th e lead . fol lowed by Sanchez, Pauley , Berem an , Martin and seco nd-row starter Jeff J oh nson . J ust beh in d J ohnson , they we re three w ide, ra ci ng hard for the seventh spot. B r o wn imm ed i at e l y b e g an t o check ou t o n the fiel d , which mi gh t like l y have mad e f or a bo ring race were it not for the fac t that th ere was pl enty o f fier ce ba tt ling g o in g on beh ind h im . Last week 's w inn er, Dan Hart , was lo c k ed in a struggle wi th J ohn so n and Ri ck Ho c ki n s fo r th e seve nth sp ot. But Br own continued to S T O RY BY S COTT R OUSSE A U P HOT OS BY D E N NIS vou, PLACERVILLE. CA, SEPT. 30 n a nigh t alrea dy full of emotion, defend ing West Coast Flat Track Seri es Ch amp ion Ronn ie Brown rose t o th e o c c a si on up on h is retu rn t o competition at the fi nal round of the series at Placervill e Speedwa y to cl aim the win and retain the series number one plate fo r the 200 1 season . The Brown ' s Cycl es/PIC Rac in g ba ck ed Brown fro m Paso Rob les, Cal ifo rn ia , c am e in to th e n ig ht w it h a sl im six - p oint l ead o ver m a in rival Rob Damron , setting the stage for a class i c battle in the m arq u is Open Pro cl ass. Wi th both ride rs transferring through to the A main. it was left up to the Bob Da mron /Bud Riddle/Buffa lo Numbe rpl at es-bac k ed Damro n to win and hope tha t one ride r would finish between Brown and him, making for a seven -point d ifference, enough to g ive Damro n the title by a single po in t. A s things tu rned out, however, Brown was in co m mand from the start o f th e A m a in , a n d he never loo k ed ba ck as he c ut 15 near -p er fect laps on a bull et -fa st cl ay Plac erville quarter m ile that was groomed a lmost to th e poi n t o f p erfect i on , leav ing man y of the riders in atten dance to wish th at all the ra c es had been 100 laps instead of th eir sch ed uled distance. Damron fini sh ed thi rd with a her oic , co m e- from- beh ind ri de that left a grin on hi s face from ear to ear . It wa s a bi tt ersweet night of celebration , as th e riders in attend an c e O 32 O CTO BER 18.2000 ' c u e I .. nevvs No Doubt: Ronnie Brown (1) returned f o r the final round of the West Coast Rat Track Series and successfully defended his series title via a win In the Open Pro A main event at Placerville Speedway. Jesse Sanchez (58) was second. Rob Damron (f a r right) came from behind to finish third. keep the fie ld co vered by at leas t fi ve bik e lengths out front . Just before th e ha lfwa y fla gs, Dam ron started to co me alive. Di c ing on th e low line with Bereman and Martin while running in sixth bu t fig hti ng for the f ourth sp ot , D am ron su d den l y kicked up th e pac e. Wh en Berem an slipped a little hi gh in turn one , Martin tr ied to poke it und er him in tu rn one. and Damron came with Martin . Dam ron then executed a perfect double pass of both rid ers through turn s three and four to take the fo urth spo t. He quickly got aw ay from them , and it appeared as though he was cutting the fastest laps of anyone on th e track . Meanwh ile, Sanchez and Pau ley were maintaining their ga p of abo ut two or th ree lengths fro m one another in second and thi rd resp ectively , bu t tha t changed when Dam ron pulled up to Pauley 's back tire w ith j ust a few l aps left. On th e l as t lap , D amron stuffe d it undern eath Pauley off of turn two to t ake th e third spo t away . Pauley wicked it up on the outsi de down th e back straight, but he could not pu ll off a pass in turns three and fou r, surren der in g th ird to Damron as th ey took th e checke red flag . Despite having lost the ch ampion ship , Damron was clearly sat isfie d with his own performanc e. " Wh at a wa y t o finish the race," Damron said . "I was hoping to get the holeshot bec au se I k new that I could win this thing. but I spun the tire really bad , and it was like. 'Oh no!' Then abo ut three laps went by. and I st arted pourin g t he coals on. and I caught the m guys and m ad e som e big pass es on some great riders . I proba bly passed more rider s than an ybody else in the whole m ain event. We were j ust a mediocre fourth - o r fi fth -p lac e fin ish every race, but we made the top f ive every week , and when it came do wn to it . you cou ld see that the veter ans w er e up front in t he poi nts . Ronn i e w as co nsisten t all year lo ng too, and it shows in th e po ints, but we came from a lon g way ba ck ton ight. I'm happy ." Da m ron m ig ht hav e been able t o pass Sanchez fo r seco nd if there were a few m or e laps left , but Sanchez had done well to run a clean ra c e and cl ai m the runner -up spo t. " I was in t he re , man . bu t I j u st started c a tc h ing u p a little b it too l at e," Sanchez said . " B ut th is trac k was beautiful all night lo ng . The track crew d id a beauti fu l job set ti ng it up, but what el se c a n I s ay ? G ene Romero has done an awesom e j o b all year long." Bu t t he race , and the ti tle, belonged to Brown , w ho was on ly too happ y to b e back raci n g the W est Coast Fl at T rack Ser ies afte r an ilI fated stin t aboard a Har ley XR750 in th e Formu l a U SA /Wren c h e ad .com Nat ional Dirt Track Series' run up the West Coast . He pla ns t o defend the c h a m p i o nsh ip f ull -for c e in 2001 , leav ing nothing to cha nce. " I fe el li k e I ha ve found a home here w ith th is ser ies," Brown said. "I j ust wanted to th ank my crew - Den nis Camp, Kenn y Remo and PIC Rac ing, for bu sting the ir butts every week. This is a well -d eserv ed win for th em . The crew did suc h a g rea t j ob w ith the track , and I think that it reall y favored th e high line. so I j ust decided to stick wi th that and run it to the end. It was a bea utiful racetrack . a great fin ale . Like I said. Gene and his crew di d a spectacular j ob all seaso n. And I want to thank Cycle New s for the publicit y that they gave us . A ll of tha t stuff is wh at is making this series compete with the big ones. T here are a lo t of other avenues to go, bu t I feel like I h a v e fo un d a home he re , a n d I'm comfortable wo rking fi ve days a week and then co ming o ut here because I feel like we can stay pr ep ared and still lead a normal life. Gen e ha s got a great ser ies going here." That sent im ent w a s sh ar ed b y Open Vi nt age w inner Ric k Ho c king . th e former AMA Grand National campaigner fro m the '70 s. Fin ding him self o u st e d b y AHRMA o ve r rep uted rough -riding incidents that app ear to have been brought abo ut as part of a political pow er play instea d of bec ause of anything that actually happened on

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