Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Utah-Alaska-Canada- Northern California-Northern N Dave Mungenast's NORTHERN DATELINE North trounces Sou h; Aston, Rebuck, Berluti: California State MXChamps By Charlie Sexton MARYSVILLE, CA, ocr. 9-10 It was the North versus the South today at the AMA California State MX Championship and the North soundly trounced the South on the rough Marysville sand track. The outcome was not surprising, though, as the South brought only 50 riders to do battle with over 400 of District 36's finest. Southern Woman Pro Kim Douglas (Suz) was serious enough to show up three days early for a little unneeded practice. Kim clearly outclassed all the other women in both of her motos to become the Women's State Champion. The 60cc Minis were started 30 seconds behind the wave of 85cc Beginners, but that didn't hamper 60cc rider Jimmy Clay (Yam). By the end of each 25 minute moto, Clay had caught and passed 10 of the 16 85cc riders to take the 60cc class win. In the 125cc Pro class, 28 riders put on a good show. Timmy Aston (Kaw) thrilled the crowd with his highflying "look, Ma, no feet" antics over the new stadium-style jump. In moto one, Aston charged from midpack to take the lead away from Steve Richards (Yam) by the second lap. Then it was goodbye Aston the rest of the moto. Richards was left far behind to battle for second with Greg Michalec (Suz), Jim Cressa(Pre), Brad Bruns (Suz), and Mike Johnson (Suz). The race for second provided some close and exciting racing with position swapping going on the entire 13-lap moto. Cressa ended up second, Richards third, Bruns fourth, and Johnson fifth. Michalec, after working his way up from 12th place at the' end of lap one, then to second by lap six, experienced trouble on the 11 th lap and ended the mota in eighth place. The second moto was another scorcher. Aston got centerpunched in the third turn and was half a lap down before the Kawasaki would start. It took Aston three laps to catch the rear of the pack and start working his way through. Aston finished fifth in the molo after his pitcrew had signaled that that was good enough for first overall and the State Championship title. Ahead of Aston in moto two, at the front of the pack and really moving was Mike Johnson, Ed Minton (Suz) and Steve Vlahos (Hon). Johnson led the first three laps before Minton took over and stretched it out. Then trouble in lap 10 dropped Minton to almost no lead and he began to be hounded by Michalec, Vlahos, and Johnson. The four ran neck and neck for several thrilling laps, but it was Vlahos who took the checkered first, Minton second, Johnson third and Willie Miller (Suz) fourth. Michalec dropped from second to 13th in the last several laps. Johnson's 5-3 was good enough for second overall and Cressa (2-7) finished third. In the 250cc wars, Dave Coupe (Mai) seemed to be the man to beat as he came from 18th place at the end of the first lap to take the lead away. from Ken McKenzie (Hon) by lap seven. This must have put McKenzie in a state of shock as he began to drop back and retired completely four laps later. Brian Jodry (Suz~ worked his way from midpack to third place and then fell back to finIsh 10th. Doug McRae (Yam) put in a fine ride to finish second behind Coupe and Scott Rebuck ran third most of the moto to the same finish. In the second moto, J odry found the throttle and g-assed it to the moto win and fourth overall. Coupe was sidelined while leading the second lap when his coil wire broke off.. Rebuck, on his Works Performance Honda, put in another consistant near-the-front ride to finish the moto second. This was good enough to take the overall and the 250cc Championship, along with the extra $100 Works Performance contingency. Doug McRae finished fifth this moto for second overall. Richard Sands (Suz), one of the few southern . California speedsters,. finished the moto in third, but DNF the first moto and was out of the final standings. Third overall went to Pat Weber (Suz) with a 5-4 finish. In the Open Expert' class, Dave Coupe came out again and was on the gas, but Allen Berluti was there on his new Husky to give him a run to the wire in both motos. In the first moto, Coupe got by Berluti halfway through the moto and held on to take the win. Third place went to Brian Jodry (Mai) and fourth was southern rider Mark White (Yam). The second moto was a different ballgame with Berluti near the front from the beginning and Coupe working his way slowly from midpack to challenge Berluti from the eighth lap on. Challenge he did, as both riders raced wheel to wheel for lap after lap while pulling away from third place rider Duane Joice (Hon). At the fini.sh, Berluti won by a wheel over Coupe and also took the overall to become the Open class State Champion. Coupe took second over- all, Joice's third in the second moto was good enough for third overall and White's 4-5 placed him fourth. Next year's State Championship and North versus South challenge will be held in southern California. Results 125 EX: 1. Tim Aston; 2. Mike Johnson; 3. Jim Cressa. 125 JR: 1. Keith Fox; 2. Andy Tresser; 3. Steve Nauman. 125 NOV: 1. Tom Macklin; 2. Marty Cooper; 3. Scott Cummings. 125 BEG: 1. Phillip Saldivar; 2. Kelly Andris; 3. John Willard. 250 EX: 1. Scott Rebuck; 2. Doug McRae; 3. Pat Weber. 250 JR: 1. Howard Ross; 2. Robert Day; 3. Mike Stirling. 250 NOV: 1. AI Rolls; 2. Glen Sabol; 3. Melvin Bauman. . 250 BEG: 1. Brad Hetherington; 2. Greg Hydorn; 3. Steve Dean. OPEN EX: 1. Allen Berluti; 2. Dave Coupe; 3. Duane Joice.• OPEN JR: 1. Richard Boe; 2. Ron Naylor; 3. Robert Stone. OPEN NOV: 1. Dave Behnke; 2. Terry Luker; 3. Russ Boehm, OPEN BEG: 1. Eric Kermond; 2. Keith Whitlock; 3. Steve Nunez. , B5 EX: 1. Tyson Vohland; 2. Frankie Brundage; 3. Don Church. B5 JR: 1. John Hicks; 2. Nicky Pounds; 3. Eric Sandstrom. B5 NOV: 1. Terry Bostard; 2. Lance Homer; 3. Jeff Capt. 85 8EG: 1. Steve Saling; 2. Darin Slack; 3. Dennis Kershner. WOMEN EX: 1. Kim Douglas; 2. Mercedes Gonzales; 3. Jeanie Morgan. WOMEN JR: 1. Jenni Miles; 2. Natalie Stuebner; 3. Pam Wahl. WOMEN NOV: 1. Dawnita Farris; 2. Patti Quinn; 3. Bonnie Collins. WOMEN BEG: 1. Julie Poly; 2. Lizz Taylor; 3. Caron Thompson. VET EX: 1. Charlie Smart; 2. Steve Ferroni; 3. Scott Davis. VET JR: 1. James Richardson; 2. Randy Hansen; 3. Damond Lee. VET NOV: 1. Jean Joly; 2. Bill Virga; 3. Marty Begell. 60: 1. Jimmy Clay; 2. Todd Hicks; 3. Don Piantanido. OT EX: 1. Dick Mann; 2. Jim Saitone; 3. Joe Hathoway. OT JR: 1. Bob Collins; 2. Gary Lane; 3. Mel Hendrix. OT NOV: 1. Jerry Griswold; 2. Jim Rapini; 3, Erv Rifenburg. ,""ORTH/SOUTH CHALLENGE: North 96 - South 18, rn~rnTI rn~m~ rn~illrnillillillmU~OJ~ J:I;t 0~'parts. Sales til @~ Service Husqvarna Sun, Tyler, grab Washougal Finale By Brian Barnes WASHOUGAL, WA, ocr. 10 The final event of this year's summer racing·season at Wash· ougal went into the books today on a perfect fall day that couldn't have been any better. Along.with the end of the season came series championships which found one name at the top of the list in both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes. Robby Watillo (Yam support/Yamaha of Salem/R.W. Racing) who is a Salem, Oregon native proved that consistency and determination really payoff, as he won the Washougal! Mulkey/Mt. View three-track championship. Watilo may not have been in the winner's circle many races, but his consistent second, third and fourth place finishes always left him in solid contention for a top three overall position. Watilo's main competition in the 125cc class came from good friend Mike McCormick (Fred's Cycle City Suz) who was always a very consistent finisher. Larry Hofenbredl (Suz) and David Hettinga (Yam) finished the series in third and foiJrth. Watilo edged Tim Michlitsch (Kaw suppo~t/D.G.lBel-Ray) by only 25 points for the 250cc championship with Suzuki-mounted Jerry Wilson third and Hettinga finding himself again with the fourth place honors. Shoppert Logging/Maico mounted Lyle Shoppert was the Open champion. Maico-Husky N.W. ace Scott Tyler wound up the big winner of this year's final event, taking both the Just like flying!' A M'I'IOII miu . . . . . ._ . (714) 686-6624 SOLID STATE MOTORCYCLE ELECTRONICS RIVERSIDE. CA. M/C The Motorcycle Tire TIREWORKS and Wheel Specialists San Fernando Valley Tomnce-South B 9025 Sepulveda Sepulveda, CA 26023 S. Western Lomita. CA /2131 893-7806 /2131 639-4160