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/128640
White Bro t h e r s W o r ld Vet C h a m pions hip and made a clean pass on Da vis the follo w ing la p . Da v is wou ld lose another position to Young during th e fourth lap . Dubach continu ed to s tre tc h h is le a d with Kehoe , Fowler, Young a nd Da vis battling beh ind him . Kehoe and Fowle r were bar-to-ba r through many turns , bu t Kehoe ma inta in ed a slight ad v antage until la p s ev en. A litt le o ver ha lfway thro ugh th e moto , Fo w ler s q u e e z e d p a st Keho e . By th is t im e , Du b a ch had de veloped a 14 -s ec ond lead. Keh oe b ided h is t ime b ehind Fowl e r un til th e wh ite flag lap . He th e n found one last s urge of a drenaline and shot to th e inside of Fow le r a nd into second. Dubach , un chall en g ed , cla ime d first, with Kehoe , Fowler , Young and Da vis finishing second th rough fifth . "l g ot th e s tart I wa n te d," s a id Duba ch . "I knew those gu ys would be re a ll y a g g ress iv e. I d idn't want to bum p a nd gri nd with them too much. I rea lly put m y he ad down to put in some fast la ps . I don 't th ink the next o ne will b e so easy, those guys are goin g to be hungr y." A slig htly disa ppoint ed F o w le r admitted , "It was a good ra ce . The 2001 Yama ha [YZ426F] ha ndles re a l- By BETH AND BOB LAROCK SAN BERNARDINO, CA, NOV4-5 . . s th e ye ars g o b y and more ..... yo u n g rid er s ( t ho se in their early 30s ) sh ow u p for t h e Wh ite Bro th e rs World Ve t Ch ampionsh ips , the old er rider's c ha nces of winn ing sh ould b e d im inis hing , y o u would th ink . Not so for Doug Dubach . Defyin g his 3 7 -y e ar -ol d body , Duba ch again swept the prestigious 30-34 Pro class at Gle n He len Race way with I- I fin ish e s , ea rn ing h is seve nt h win in e ight ye a rs , and the s ixth in a row . Wh it e Br o th e rs / Yam aha /Ensl ow S uspension /O 'Ne al /Sc ott/Dunlop/me chanic Alan Ols en -supported Dubach st art ed th e fi rs t m oto in t yp ic al Dub ach fas hion, right o ut in fron t. Hot in pursuit were Montcla ir Yamah a 's Ty Da vi s , Ya ma ha o f Tro y ' s Er ik Keh o e , Cr ai g Da v is , Chris Yo u ng , Te rry Fowle r and Jeff Wa rd . Also typic a l for Duba ch , o nce he is ou t in fro nt , he is ne a rly im possible to c atch. Dub a c h stretched his le ad during t he 27 - m in ut e m oto to 16 sec o nds a nd th en c ruised t o the finis h line . Beh ind Duba ch , Da vis , Kehoe a nd Fo w le r were dicing it u p . Ke hoe passed Da vis du ring lap two . A determ ine d Fowle r fo llowed Ke hoe ' s lead 20 NOVEMBER 22 , 2000' cue • e n e uv s Doug Dubach Is ma king a habit of winning th e White Brothe.. Vet World Championship. He 's done It seve n times In the last eight years. n Iy wel l. The last lap was the only part I d idn 't like . I kne w th at wa s th e corne r a nd th at 's what he wa s going to do [Kehoe 's la st -lap pass]. I th ought I had a little more of a le ad on him. I s a w him out of the corner of m y e ye . I would ha ve don e the s a m e thing had it been m e ." Keho e la ug hed as he exp la ined his la st- lap p ass, "I think it wa s th at rock th a t Te rry threw at m e . I couldn't follow him , it hurt to o bad." YZ4 26 F -mo un te d Davi s j u m pe d out in front to lead the pa ck thr ough t h e first turn in m o t o two . Fowl er , Young , Keh oe , Wa rd , Cra ig Da vis and Dub a ch pursued. Yama h a / J o h n Bur r C yc le s /Tro y Lee Des ign s ' Fowler qu ickly too k the le ad from Da vis a nd led the field into the ba ck section of th e tra ck . Fowl er reta ined th e lea d com ing out of Bud 's Cree k , Young had take n over se cond , a nd Da vis , Keh oe and Duba c h were thi rd through fifth. Keho e and Du b a c h bot h p a s s e d Da v is during lap two . Dubach t he n pa ssed Kehoe and moved up into th e number -three position the following lap . Young c halle nged Dub a ch for one lap , and th en re linq u ished the nu m be r - tw o p o s it ion t o t he willfu l Duba ch. Fow le r h eld o ff Dubach fo r tw o laps , but Duba c h fi nall y o ve rt o o k Fowl e r o n t h e in s id e o f t h e t roph y tum . Duba ch held th e lead for the last fou r la ps to the fin is h lin e . Fow ler , Keho e , Yo u n g an d Da vis cl a ime d second through fifth . A triumphant Duba ch s aid , "Eve ry yea r s ometh ing is th rown a t m e wh ether it' s a bad s ta rt or an ot her rider or a cras h or s o m e t hi ng . Last ye a r, I ha d an inju ry jus t prior to the ev e nt. It' s a lways a go od c ha llenge . It' s great to be stand ing up here . My ha t ' s off to Eri k [Ke h o e] a n d T e rr y [Fo wler]. It' s a lot of work to ride a t t hat p a c e at t h e a ge w e all a re . Everyo ne h e re d e s erves a ro und of a pp lause fo r putting it o ut t her e e ve ry \ year." "I' d lik e to t ha nk my fa mily fo r putting up with m e th e last c o u p le months ," s aid a sm iling Fowl e r. He then la ughe d and s a id, "' have to take my hat off to Dou g [Dubach] for winning for th e la st 30 or so ye ars : Yama ha of Troy 's Kehoe said, "I had a lot of fun . All of those guys that are riding out there , it' s kind of different bec ause everybody ' s got th eir jobs and they 're a ll trying to pr epare. Riding with Do ug and Terry it m ight loo k like you ' re out of c o ntro l, but you c a n ride rea l clos e to those guys and know the y 're not go ing to do anything d irty. I h ad fu n, it was a great time. ~ Ap pro priate to its' na m e, the World Vet Championship drew over 450 riders from nin e countries and 16 states fo r the two -da y e v e n t. One state that was high ly re p re s e nted , othe r than Ca lifornia , was Texas . Th is was largely due to Honda of Houston who brought "2 7 o f our best customers a nd rid ing bu ddi es " and s et up their s emi in the p its for the week prio r t o th e com pet it io n . La st ye a r th e y didn 't hav e any winn ers , but this yea r, riders from Houston were more s uccessful, with Mic ke y Pizzitola ta king firs t place in th e 40 -49 Inte rm ed iate class. Two ride rs from J apan dominated t he 5 0 -59 E xp e rt clas s . Hond a mounted Koj i Ma suda an d Hid e a k i Suzuki (riding a Yamah a ) battled for th e number -one position th ro ugh a ll four motos. Masuda was dominant on S aturd a y , win n ing bo t h race s . He return ed o n Sunda y to ta ke th e first -' m oto win and a p pea red to ha ve th e second moto s ecured, whe n the a ge o ld prob lem of not h av in g e no ug h s tr e ng th to p u ll in t he cl utc h le ve r re s ulte d in h im sta lling his bike 40 feet from the finish li n e . S uz u ki cla imed t he win a n d the O v er - 5 0 class championsh ip. Even ra ce promote r To m White of Wh ite Brothe rs got into racing a ction