Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/District 36 W estern Regional Cross Country Championship Series Round 1 2 : Prime Time Hare Scrambles " By for seco nd with Tea m Green 's Wesner that lasted for s e ve ra l laps . "Me a nd Robbie wer e rea lly close fo r the first couple of laps ." said th e T eam Gr e en /C y c le Pro o f S a nta Rosa /Dunlop Tires- s po nsored We s ner. "Then ' think he sto pped on like th e third lap or someth ing ." After Zimmerm an 's p it stop , Wes ner found h im se lf in se cond , but Zim merman qu ic kly came back t o c h a lle nge h im . T h e n , while try ing to get around a la ppe r, Wesne r had a small crash , and Zimmerman got around him . Meanwh ile , FMF/ Mo o s e Ra c in g / S u o m y Hel m et sspons or ed Kre iss wa s moving fo rwa rd th r ough th e pa ck afte r a s low sta rt . "The first couple of laps, I didn 't r id e very we ll , " Kreiss admitted . '" crashe d a cou p le of t im e s , bu t I m a n a g e d not t o lose any p os it io n s , and the n, about th e second o r thi rd la p , I started riding re a lly we ll." Th e to p ride rs re ma ined C H RI S G HI O N E AND M ICH E L LE LEE PHOTOS By M IC H E L L E L E E ... .JJ. SAN JOSE, CA, OCT. 1 aving been m a rried jus t one week e a r lie r , Su zu k i- m oun t ed Col e Ma rshall co ntinu e d t o c e leb rate by tak ing fi rst o ve ra ll a t th e seco n d annual Prime Time Ha re Scramble s in Sa n J o s e . Th e e ve nt k icked off the secon d h a lf o f t h e Moos e Weste rn Regi ona l Cross Country Series , sanc tioned by District 3 6 a nd hosted b y the Time kee p ers Motorcycl e Club. The first race of the fa ll had 1 15 ra cers line up at the sta rt to c ha lle nge the mostly dry, s lick a nd dusty 8 -mile co urse laid out within the Santa Clar a County Motorc ycle Pa rk . Aft e r fin is hi ng t he mudd y m ot oc ross s ection , ra c ers rod e do wn a lo n g, dust y stra ig ht. T a k in g t he hol eshot was Suzu ki rider T im Sto we, fo llo we d b y Ma rsh all a nd Ya maha m ou nt e d Ro b Zimmerma n. Be fo re exi ti ng the motocross track, Woodland C y cl e /B enn e t Lt d ./Sp ro c k e t Specialist-backed S to we bobbled in the m ud , and both Marshall and Zim merman made their way around him . "I had a third-place sta rt rig ht off the bat, a nd the re was a lot of mud ," Zim mer man repo rted later. "It was p re tty painful, bu t then [Stowe] bob b led , and th en it was Cole and m e , and we k ind o f to o k of f fo r a little wh ile ." A little further back we re Ka wa sa ki rider s Crai g Wesner and Rod Kreiss. Wes ner started out in seventh but q ui ck ly moved u p to third . Kreiss , who had a re cent ankl e inj ur y , was not as fort una te . "I got a te rrib le start, " lam en t ed Kre is s . "We ll, it wasn't ter rible , bu t it wa s p retty bad , th ough. Th e first lap, the moto cr os s tra c k was so muddy, it was rid ic ulous . At the en d of th e first mi le , I wa s c o m plete ly co ve re d in mud . And th en it would go from tha t to dus ty ." Afte r taking th e e a rly le a d , Ma rsha ll worked hard to pu t s ome d istance o n the rest of th e p a ck . "I had a good sta rt," Ma rshall s aid . "The re was this o ne guy who go t in front of me at first , but he m e ss e d up whe n it c ame to the mud a nd ' g ot aro und him , and t he n it wa s p re tty muc h go -as -fast -a s-I -can -go-andho pe-no-o ne -wou ld-c atc h -rne ." His strategy paid off. He pulled away from Zim m erm a n an d main tained h is lead for the e nt ire rac e. Aft e r riding with Ma rs h all ea rly o n , th e Ra c ete ch/MS R/Ar a i-s p on s o red Zimme rm an fou nd himself in a battle 58 NOVEMBER 1 .2000' c u e (Right) Rod Kreiss pla ce d third, right behind Zimmennan, at the 12th round of the AMA/District 36 Western Regional Cross Country Championship Series. (Below right) Robbie Zimmennan was runner-up In Sa n Jo se , California, after batUing Rod Kreiss an d series points lea der Craig Wesner. (Bel ow left) Newlywed Cole Marshall won his fi rst overall w in of the year at the second annual Prime Time Hare Scrambles - the second consecutive time he has overalled the event. (Left) The ev ent gets off t o a start at the Santa Clara County Motorcycle Park, with Tim Sto w e gra bbing the holeshot. He would ev entually finish sixth. in th e same positio ns until the end of t he fifth la p , whe n Wesner made a p it s to p for gas a nd th e hard-c harg ing Kreiss m ov ed into th ird . Kre is s then set h is si g hts o n Zimm e rm an , but with only a few laps left, he couldn 't m ake up en ough gr ound to cha llenge for second . "I th ink I wa s c a tc hing him [Zim m erman] a littl e b it - n ot a lo t . th ough ," Kre iss sai d . '" needed a lot mor e lap s for m e to pa s s him . I wa s defin ite ly riding a lot bette r towa rd s the end." T h e J im ' s Cy cl e s /Ern ie 's Moto r Sports/Shift Gear-spon sored Mar sh a ll never looked bac k and took the c he ck e re d flag just about a minute before runner-up Zimmerman , mak ing th is his s e cond c onsecu tive win at this an nual race . Mars hall ov e ralled last year's race 4 1/2 minutes a head of second p lace. I e n Ii! VV S "J u s t ev eryt h ing was with me to da y , fo r sure ," Ma rsha ll sai d a fter taking his first ove rall win of th e year. '" ma de it wo rk rea lly good . Pe opl e p ut on a great course. " Kreiss c a m e in jus t a few seconds behind Zimme rm an . Wesner c ame in fo u rt h , j u s t s lig h tl y off t h e p ace . Ka wasa ki ride r Dam ien Ga lford wa s fift h , fo llo we d by ea rly ra c e lead e r S towe . Ju st four s econds s epa rat ed s e ve nth and e ighth place, with Suzuki rid e r Bri a n Sp e rle be sting Honda mounted Robert Fo uts . Rounding o ut t he top 10 we re Honda rid er Steve Bonita and Husky man Travis Sluder. With Marshall' s win and Wesner's fourth -p lace fin is h, the battl e for the ch amp ionship has become c ons ide rab ly cl oser , with Wesner a head o f Marsha ll by only five po ints . Zim merm an a nd Kre iss are n ot far b e hin d , currently in third and fourth in t he series standings . Topp ing the B class was Off Road Ri d e r - backed G reg Ghio n e , who edge d o u t Sp en c er Pierc y for t he c la s s w in . Later in the a fternoo n , Kawasaki -mounted Kelly Purdy too k I:N the C-c1ass win. Santa Clara County Motorcycle Park San Jose, California ctober 1, ZOOO [Round 1Z1 Results: O O / A : 1. Cole Marshall (Suz) ; 2. Rob Zimmerman (Y am ); 3 . Rode rick Kreiss ( Kaw); 4 . Craig Wesner ( K a w }: 5 . Da mi en Galf ord ( Ka w); 6 . Tim Stowe (Suz); 7. Brian Sperle (Suz) ; 8 . Robert Fouts (Han); 9 . Steve Bonita (Han) ; 10 . T ravis Sluder (Hus). A 200 : 1. Robert Fouts (Han); 2 . T ravis Sluder (Hus); 3. Theron Miller (Han). A 250: 1. Rob"Zimm erma n (Yam) ; 2 . Roderick Kreiss ( Kaw) ; 3. Craig Wesner (Kaw) . A 4 ·STRK : I. Co le M a rshall ( Suz) : 2. Brian Sperle (S uz); 3. T erry Biel (Yam ). A VET : 1. N ick Thom (Kaw) ; 2. Jaime Wheeler (KTM); 3. Garrett Binns (Ha n). A SR : 1. J ohn We lls ( Ha n) ; 2 . Pete Han sen (KTM) ; 3. Cliff Bagot (Hon). A S/SR; · 1. B . Peter Pricha rd ( KTM) ; 2 . John Hampton (Yam) ; 3. Fred Sumrall (KTM). B 20 0 : 1. Steve Ag u ila r ( Ya m ) ; 2 . Ke nne y Malpus (KTM ); 3. Dan Melvin (Kaw) . B 250: 1. Greg Ghiane (Kaw); 2. Spencer Piercy (Kew) : 3. Jason Frei (G·G) . B OPEN: 1. J eff Bauer (Han); 2. Greg Bianchi (Hon) . B 4 ·STRK: 1. Du stin Sal da na (Yam) ; 2 . Brad Lynn (Yam ); 3. Brian Chase (Yam ). B VET: 1. Russell Duarte (Kaw); 2. Shawn Black (KT M); 3. Tim Collins (Kaw). B SR: 1. Michael Bou (Yam ); 2. Gerald Johnson (Hon) ; 3. Ron Al en (KTM) . B S/ S R: 1. J eff Hollfeld er (Can ) : 2. Don ald Chase (KTM) ; 3. Jim Peacock (KTM). C 20 0: 1. Michael Miller (KTM) ; 2 . Nick Hatano (Han) ; 3. Ryan Bird (Han). C 25 0: 1. Kelly Purdy (Kaw); 2. Chris lito (Kaw) ; 3. Dennis Barone (Han). COPEN : 1. Donald Cham blee (Ha n) ; 2. Mike Mape (Hon) ; 3. Paul Danrich (Yam) . C 4 -STR K: 1. Pete Brown (Han); 2. Christopher R. Buckley (Hus); 3. Bob Devonshire (Suz). SR : 1. Don Me lvin ( Kaw); 2. Phil D e lucchi (Hon); 3 . Daniel A. Blum (Hus). C S/ SR: 1. Joe Butler (Suz); 2. Brad Bird (Hon); 3. Robert Henle (Han). C GENTS : 1. Bob Colli ns (KTM). C WMN: ·1. Marla Strez (Kaw ); 2. Danielle Garcia (Yam) ; 3 . Shawn Summers (Kaw). e

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