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/128636
B ig S G P S e r-ies : V ie vvfin d e r-s GP Iy grabbed the lead from Steve Fry. One lap into the rac e, Maxwell's biggest chal lenge was a racer from the second ga te, Willy Simons, who is also in a series points race with Maxwell. The two racers battled for the lead , with Simons passing Maxwell during the white -flag lap. Simons lost control a nd wadded it up. "He pa ssed me a nd then he ate it, maybe 50 ya rds in fro nt of m e," sa id Maxwell. A ride r who co uld have stood better luc k d u ring th e we ek end wa s Scott Myers. Myers, on a brand-new KTM 520, sta rted in the num ber-one pos it ion fo r the Open AJI/250 All race. In hot pursuit were Ca selli , who had just won the O· 200cc Expe rt race, and Honda 's Johnny Campbell . Myers and Campbell battled for se veral laps; the last two laps Myers had a flat rear tire. Campbell, while attempting to pass Mye rs on the outs ide of a fa st swee per, hit a breaking bump and ended up in a ditch. Myers attempted to finish the race riding on the rim until his tire wra p ped up in th e b ike ' s swi ngarm. Caselli, fatigued from the previous race, ex perienced heat exha us tion a nd wa s unable to finish the eve nt. Therefore, Kawasaki-mounted Oak ley Lehma n se ized the first-place finish overall followed by Luca Trusard i, on aTM. The 251- 0 pen clas s win went to Montclair Yamaha -backed Krause. Myers ' luc k finally turned around in the last e vent of the weeken d , the Vet 251 -0pen Expert Class . Myers again led the field of riders thro ugh the first tum, Trusa rdi, Willy S imons and Krause in B y B ETH L AR O C K SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT. 30-OCT. 1 "I 'll take racer luck ove r race r skill any da y of the week," 25 1-0pen class winne r Paul Kra use sa id fo llowing the 27th Annu a l Viewfinde rs Grand Prix at Glen Helen Raceway . Luck a ppeared to playa big part in the racer's succ ess over th e two -da y e ve nt, bu t temperatu res push ing up into the 90s and no rain for several weeks meant that endurance in dusty conditions was a key component for survival, as well. Th e we e k end ' s p ra ctice run , th e Unclassified race , exposed course cha llenges for many of the less-expe rienced riders . Expe rts Scott Myers , Kurt Case lli and Bob Maxwell led the first line of rac ers up into the ridgebac ks of the eightand-a -ha lf-m ile track. Behind them, a jumble of riders found a steep, na rrow, silty uphill to be more than the y co uld handle. Se vera l riders went down, leaving no room for the rest of the bikes to pass . The leaders cru ised through the first lap unencumbered and then encountered at least 100 bikes blocking the trail. The co urse was clea red a nd the Viewfinders scuttled to find an altemative route into the Glen Helen Regional Park. The 24 Hours of Glen Helen course was chosen, and the rest of the wee kend ran flawlessly. "After the Unclass ified on the second lap, I was really tempted to load my bike and go home ," sai d Senior (0 -250c c ) Expert winner Bob Maxwell. After friend s an d fam ily e ncou ra ged h im to race, Maxwell decided to hang in there . Maxwell , in th e firs t ga te , ca m e through the first tum in second but quick- 42 O C TO B ER 25, 2 000' c ue I e n e vv s Kurt Caselli (0111 takes the early lead In the Se m i-Pro Team Race a1 the Viewfinders GP a1 Glen Helen. Fzrst off the gate and into the hills was Case lli, who wa s te amed with Oakley Lehman. Close behind was Mike Healey (tea m e d with And y Grider ) , Mike Kiedrowski (teamed with Rodney Smith ), Ty Davis (te a med with Terry Fo wle r), and Myers. The He a le y/G rid e r team came thro ugh first lap scoring in the lead by 35 seconds. Caselli , who hadn't raced the course s ince the Unclassified. said, "It was pre tty slick . They changed it from the Unclass ified , so I wasn 't ready for it." Caselli/Le hman were in second. Third place Davis was pleased he survived the first lap following a trip through a juniper bush , adding, "I thought I was done." At t he halfwa y po int in th e race , Healey/Grider were still only 35 seconds front of Ca selli /Lehman. in Kiedrowsk i/S mith came into the pits in third for the rider exchange and received assistance by their pit crew in changing the ar m ba nd , a viola tion of the race rules . They were disqualified . Coming thro ugh scoring in fourth was Myers/Beatty. The Myers/Beatty team lost time on the following lap as the bike's number plate wo re a hole in the hydraulic clutc h line. Crossing th e finis h line in first was the Hea ley/Grider team , fo llowed by Caselli/ Lehma n and Dav is/ Fow le r. CN &Ien Helen Raceway San Bemanlina, Califomia Results: SepL 3D-Dct. I , 200 0 pursu it. Trusardi had wheel-bearing failure du ring the se cond lap, e ndin g his d ay . While Myers e xte nded his le a d , Simons and Kraus e battled for second. Simons eve ntua lly waved Krause by him during the last lap , as Simo ns was tiring and knew he was holding Krause back. Mye rs ca pt ured the overa ll a nd th e cla ss win. Krau se finish ed second with Simons in third. The premier event for the weekend was the Semi Pro (two member) team race. A multitude of top talent assembled for a 90minute battle for the Pro purse. Davis topped the Four-Stroke class. SEMI PRO TEA M RAC E: I. Mik e Heoley/Andy Gride r (Kaw); 2. Kurt Caselli / Ollkley Lehma n (KlI w); 3. Ty Devia/T erry Fowler (Yam): 4. Scott Myersmm Bee ny (KTM) : 5. Ric h Taylor/S teve Hatch (SU1): 6. Bob by Bond a/.Jona th on Dav i s ( Kaw) ; 7. Johnny Cempbell/Tod Scle cqu e (Hon); 8 . Peu l Krlluse /Steve Hengeveld (Yom) . MINI B EG : 1. Ne t he n Wood ( K aw); 2 . Brett Moscrop; 3 . Ni ck Ham ill (Yam) ; 4 . Cory Ev enson (Kaw); 5. Michll el Steele (Han) . MINI NOV : I. Andy v endenbe rp (Hon) : 2. Moscn Par t ain ( K a w); 3 . Ja m ie La nza ( Ha n ) ; 4 . Ryan Marshall ; 5. Tom McElhenney (Han) . MINI INT : 1. Brock Ha rden (Yam) : 2. Corey Wolff (Kew). M. NI EX: 1. Ry an Mcinty re (Han); 2. Daniel Cagle I Jr (Hon); 3. Travis Wagschal (Suz). 0-200 BEG: I. Nate Arboq a st (Yom) : 2. Derek Garla nd ( Yam); 3 . Lo uis Chamberland (Yam): 4. Jaso n Stevens (Yam) ; 5. Mark Gerloff . 0 -200 NOV: 1. Ty Renshaw (Kaw); 2. Mik e Davis (Yam) ; 3. Dustin Murphy (Ya m) ; 4 . Col e Cates; 5. Brten Dick ey (Han) . 0-200 INT: I. J a<:ot> Comet! (Kow): 2. Mott Eddy;