Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Western Four-Stroke National Motocross Series Round 12 : Two Rivers Racing Leahy Fa m ily Far m By D O N S CHN EID ER P HOT O S By R O CKY P ACE MIlliKEN, CO, OCT. 22 - T M USA ' s K e i t h R . J ohn son c am e to th e fin al rou nd of t h e AMA Western F ou r -Strok e Nationa l Mot ocros s S er i e s , s ponsored b y Mot o world of E l Caj o n a nd Ya ma ha Mot o r Corpo rat io n , and captured his sec o nd overall in three rounds. T he ev ent was h ost ed by Ann , Pat and Da vid Lea hy o f Two Rivers Racing , j ust 40 mil es north o f Denver. With sup port fr om Ma xxis T ires , Maxima Lub ric an ts, Te am Breedlove, Pow er s tart , Big Gun E x h aust, Outba ck V id e o Pr o d u c ti on s an d H o o t e r s (Above) Spud Walters 1 1, Gert-Jan Van 4 Doom (8V) and Keith R. J ohnson 157) w e n t three-two -on e overall at the fi n a l rou n d of the AMA Western Four-5troke Na tiona l Motocross Series In Milliken, Co lorado. (Above and right) Van Doom 18V) and Johnson 1 7 ) battle for the holeshot In 5 moto two, and exchanged the lead at least 15 times throughout both motos. Restau ra n t s , the se ries has d rawn so me incredible competitors. Fi ni sh ing second overall via a 2 -2 tally was European Factory VOR503 rider Gert Jan van D o o rn . Maurizio Virtuani , the area representative o f the Milan , Italy -based manufacturer , and Mr. Antonio Rovelli , the engineer who industrialized the VOR503 , were also in attendan c e. Wh it e Broth er s / Ya m a h a USA backed Spud Walters had a 3 -4 score, which was good fo r third ov erall . In moto one , KTM 520-mounted M ike Ladner from Spearf ish , South Dakota , took th e B ig Gun Exha u st holeshot award , b ut The Rac ers Pit Shop-sponsor ed Cl iff C o o k , al so aboard a KTM 520 , too k ove r th e lead down th e sp eedway section, rail ing the f ar outs id e of the sw eep er soon after. Wa lters wa s right in th eir shadow , fo llowed by Col orad o Power sports ' Matt K ar l s en a n d Albu que rque , New M e x i c o ' s John son . KTM-mounted Keith Campbell of Fort Collins , Col orado , and Nathan Wo ods were sixth and seventh , respectivel y . Gordon Wa rd , runn in g eight h , ha d Yamaha Te sting 's Ryan Dudek and ZRacing KTM/Fa ctory R&D -sponsored Craig D avis in hot pursuit. ex chan g ing positions m o re th an 10 tim es befor e th e ch ec k ers. Ward was 32 e NOVEMBER 29 , 2000' cue I Ward , who rides for th e Los Ang les VOR USA im po rte r TWS , ca me with h is ext reme m echan ic , Mik e Hanley , in search of w inni ng the Ride rs Points Fund. Put togeth er by th e series organizer and all 12 tra ck pr omoters, th e fund w as th e m ost c ash eve r given o ut t o Four -Stro ke Pro /Am r id ers sin c e it s i nce p t i o n i n 19 96 $ 17,500 .00 t o the t op 20 rid ers. - F our r id ers - Josh K e llo gg , Kip Sandell , Lyl e Schrock and Brennan Baptist a - took m ajor soil sam p les in turn one . A ft er the firs t la p , Johnso n and Van Doorn were runni ng up fro nt , n e vv s runn ing ei ghth and Da vis in 10th after la p o ne . Three laps in , Dav is pushed pa st Du dek and was on Ward 's rear k no bb ies . Da v i s m ad e it past W ard on l ap f ou r , and they pa ssed each other back and forth . Johnson took the win , fo llowed by Van Doorn, Wai ters, Karlsen and Nathan Woods. Th e mote-two holeshot belonged to Van Doorn , but J ohnson ke pt it very interesting, rid ing just to Van Doo rn 's extreme left, with enough room for Cook on the outside . Wa lters , Karlsen, Kellogg, Ladner and Woods , all in the top eigh t , traded pain t n u merous times. Ward was in 10th. Van Doorn q uickly stretched ou t a six -second lead. Walters ma neuvered into second by the end of lap one . Johnson, Kellogg and Woods zoomed into third through fifth. Walters watched in disbelief as both Johnson and Kellogg freight -trained by him on lap tw o. Van Do orn was lo o ki ng c omfort ab l e o n t h is w e ll - laid -out , thre e m in ut e, fo u r - st roke -fri en d l y track. However , as the halfway signal came out, Johnson sped past the l ead e r through the long whoop section for the le ad. T he two front -runners slowly beg an to pu ll a slight lead on Kellogg, wh o in turn h ad a few se conds on Wa lters and Wo ods. A s th e battle raged on, Ward m oved up to eighth on lap two . Davis started in 14th, but he had picked off J o sh Ch isum , Campbell , Yamaha Pow erh ou se -backed Beau Baron , Ladn er and Co ok by lap six. Davis pa ssed Ward b y lap se v en as they new up th e back speedway section . W ar d r etali ate d in the in fi e ld area , and from tha t po int on th e two rid ers w er e n e v e r m or e than two b ike l en g th s apart a ll the way to the checkers. Up front, J ohnson and Van Doom passed on e anoth er seven t imes in five laps after th e halfway mark. The chec ke rs came out fo r J ohnson , with Van D o orn trailing ag ai n by a b ike length in sec on d . Kell ogg held tou gh for third , w ith Walters and N e ls on taking fourth and fifth , respe ctively . W a rd w as presented a c heck f or $30 00 fro m th e Ride rs Po ints Fund for attend in g every round an d fi nis hi ng consis te ntl y i n the top 10 . Craig Davis, second . rec eived $2 000 fo r his fin e efforts . Nathan Woods recei ved $1750 , Beau Baron $1500 and Cliff Coo k $ J 250. Riders who placed sixt h through 2 0 th re c eived a com bi ne d t ot al o f $80 0 0 . Th e re w er e 124 Pro /Am rid ers in the serie s. Ea ch of the to p 20 riders in th e Rid ers Points Fund rec eived a free Direct Dig it al TV Satell it e Dis c , co urtesy o f AMA Dis tr ict 25 represent at ive Greg Koms , as w ell as contin g en c y p rodu cts fr o m Maxima, Mill enn ium Lubricants, Pow erstart Electronic T iming Systems and Big Gun Exhaust. Maxxis T ires also presented cash to the riders who fin ished in the top 10 in each round. eN Twa Rivers Racing Leahy fa mily f arm Milliken, Colorado Results: October 22, 2000 (Round 12 a' 121 O/A: I. Keith Jo hnson (KTM ); 2. Gert-d en Van Doorn ( VO R) ; 3. Spu d Walt ers ( Yam ) ; 4 . Na than Wo od s ( Yam); 5 . Matt K a rl sen ( Ya m ); 6 . J o sh Kell ogg (Ya m) ; 7 . Go rdo n Ward ( VO R) ; 8 . Keith Cam pbe ll (KTM) ; 9 . Craig Davis (K TM ) ; 10. Mi ke Ladn er ( KT M ) ; I I. Cliff Co o k ( KTM ); 12 . Ryan Du dek (Yam ); 13 . Josh Chis um ( Yam) ; 14. Mat Ba t em an ( Ya m) : 15 . Kip S an d ell ; 16 . Ryan Morte nsen ( Yam ) ; 17 . Rya n Nel son ( Ya m ); 18 . J am es Rim er (Ya m) ; 19 . De rek Curr ie ( Hus) ; 20 . Beau Baron (Yam ); 2 1. Ly le Schroc (Yam ) ; 22 . Brian Sha rp (Yam); 23 . Brennan Baptista (Yam) ; 24 . Justin Covello (Yam ). AMA Western F our -Stroke Nat i on al Mot ocr o s s Ser i es Fin al Poi nts Sta nd ings ( Afte r 12 o f 12 ro un ds ) : 1. Cra ig Deck er (3 49 /5 w in s) ; 2 . Sp ud Wa lters (327/ 5 ) ; 3 . Gor don Ward (299 ); 4. Craig Da v is (29 4) ; 5 . Na than Wood s (286 ) ; 6 . J im my laMastus (2 45); 7. Beau Baron (2 07) ; 8. CUff Cook ( 192) ; 9 . Rusty Holl and ( 182) ; 10. Scott Myers ( 170); 11. Rya n Dud ek ( 168 ); 12. Rich Tayl or (157) ; 13. Keith J ohn son (13 7/2 ); 14 . Jo sh Chisum ( 128) ; 15. Mat Batema n ( 127); 16. TIm Beatt y ( 125); 17. Tim Sharp ( 111 ); 18. Dustin Nelson (88) ; 19. Don Upton (70 ); 20 . Ja son Matthews (65). (Below) Walte rs 1 1 finished third on 4 the d ay at the Two Rivers Raci ng Leahy Fa m ily Fa rm and placed sec o nd overall in the fi nal points stan ding s f o r the series.

• Cover