Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ MOTOCROSS Kawasaki Volunteer State MX Championship_s ~ Mike Brown topped the 125 and 250cc A classes to score his third consecutive title. • • Brown WIns agaIn By Barbara &: Loren Williams r BLOUNTVILLE, TN, JULY LJ·12 26 eam Peak/Pro Circuit's Mike Brown blasted the competition at Victory Sports' 8th Annual Kawasaki Volunteer State MX Championships at Muddy Creek Raceway. When the dust settled, Brown walked away with his third title in a row, as he topped both the 125 and 250cc A classes and earned $1050 in purse money and $600 in Honda contingency cash. Under a blazing Tennessee sun, 645 riders from 21 states and South Africa battled for five-foot-tall trophies and contingencies from Scott USA, Gear Racewear, Dunlop, Bell Helmets, 100%, Oury, Pro Circuit, Renthal, Phillips 66 Racing Fuel, Sam Thomas Racing, Coca-Cola, Citgo, Boyesen, Motul, Gatorz, Neeley Racing and Hammerhead Graphics, plus a Pro class purse of $5000. Jeffrey Hooks of Rural Hall, North Carolina won a Scott Mountain Bike that was raffled off by Scott USA and Team Green. Hooks grinned, "I didn't do much in 250 C or 25 Novice, but a bike is better than a trophy anyhow!" Former National 500cc MX Champion Kent Howerton came all the way from Texas for the event, and competed on a borrowed Kawasaki KX250. Howerton has recently gotten involved in road racing, and he was easily distinguishable by his snow-white riding gear. "This is pretty warm," allowed Howerton, "But it's nothing compared to sitting on an asphalt starting grid in the summer with a hot 600 under you. That's why my boots and leathers' and helmet are white to try to reflect as much heat as possible. " In the first 125cc A class mota, Suzuki's Ezra Lusk won the drag race to the first corner, but quickly yielded to Team Green's Timmy Ferry, who in turn was replaced by Chad Lough. A short uphill later, Brown ducked inside and grabbed the front spot from Lough. Blasting down the stalrsteps, Brown began to stretch out a lead that would grow to 22 seconds before the nine-lap moto ended. Behind leader Brown, Lusk, Ferry and Lough came down the stairs three wide in an invitation for disaster, and wound up in a heap at the bottom of the hill. Lough came out the worst, with a mashed throttle hand that he nursed for the rest of the mow, firtishing at the back of the pack. Lusk and Ferry began the long climb back up through the field of 22 riders, coming past the checkers in sixth and eighth, respectively. By lap three, Ferry had advanced as far up as fourth, but faded towards the end of the mota, which ended with :Brown in first, followed by Neese and Chester. Team Green's Neese muscled his way to the front 9f the pack at the start of the second moto, and held onto the spot for one lap before Brown powered past on his Honda. He easily outdistanced all challengers, turning in twominute, 20-second lap times on Muddy Creek's 1.3-mile course. By lap three, Childress had moved into second behind Brown, leaving eese and Lough to argue over third while Davey Yezek, Jr. tussled over fifth with Surratt. Early in the fourth lap, Neese's KX took a bad hop on a backstretch jump and threw him to the ground, ending his chances for a topfive finish, as he limped home well down in the field for eighth. Lough filled in the gap left by Neese's departure and drew up behind secondplace Childress. Surratt was on the move, and a couple of laps later came up to challenge Lough, who bobbled and let Surratt slide into third, where he remained until the finish. Lough then slid out, allowing Lusk, Ferry, Yezek and Chester to breeze by. "My hand still hurts from that crash in the first mota," explained Lough. "The bike hit a bump and all of ':l sudden I couldn't hold on." Brown won the second mota, followed by Childress, Surratt, Lusk and Ferry. Lough grabbed the lead at the beginning of the first 250cc A class mota on the Bare Bros. Suzuki, only to have it snatched away as Brown leaped down the stairsteps two at a time. From that point on, there was no catching Brown, who blazed to a solid win. Lusk, Childress, Lough and Chester completed the top five, while . Surratt's machine refused to cooperate, quitting early in the mota. It's said you should save the best for last, and the second mota adhered to that rule. In the last mota of the day, Team Green's Jason Edwards jumped the gate to take the lead, followed by Lough, Surratt, Brad Clark and Chester. Brown was caught in the first-turn crunch and crashed. Remounting quickly, he banzaied down the stairsteps, vaulting into eighth spot within the first half-lap. By the time the field entered the woods section, Brown was right behind Chester, who was hounding Clark. Clark hit a rut the wrong way, and all three wound up on the ground. Brown and Chester were up and away in record time, but Clark was not so lucky, suffering a broken leg. "When I went down, there was nowhere for them to go because they were so close," explained Clark from the stretcher. "They both ran over me." In the meantime, Surratt made his move on Edwards for the lead. Yezek and Neese quickly advanced, moving up six place in one lap to third and fourth and dropping Lough to fifth. Brown was riding extremely well, picking off the competition two and three at a time. In two laps he was on Childress' rear fender, and on a downhill jump, they were side by side. Going into the hard right turn at the bottom, neither rider backed off, and Childress ended up on the outside.in the weeds, but managed to salvage seventh in the mota. Brown hunted down and passed Neese, Yezek and then Edwards. As the laps wound down, Surratt's 12-second lead over Brown slowly evaporated and less than half a second separated the pair as they approached the finish line. "Boy, lucky for me that was the finish," panted Surratt, who had held on to win, "Another hundred yards and he'd have had me." Surratt was followed across the finish line by Brown and Yezek. Edwards actually crossed the line in third, but was docked a lap for jumping the gate, and listed as the 19th place finisher. "I knew I'd done wrong when it happened, but I just let off the clutch a hair too soon," explained Edwards. "At least now I know I can keep up with these guys here." Except for Brown's 1-2 mota finishes, the results from the two motos fluctuated wildly, and no rider finished in the same position twice. Brown was awarded the overall, with Lusk second and Childress third. Rolling his bike to the starting line for the first Unlimited Amateur class moto, Howerton said, "This should be interesting. I've gotten used to smooth riding on asphalt, and haven't done much jumping lately." Howerton got off the packed line fifth, following Curtis Urps, Chris Shortridge, Chad Leigh and Terry Ware. As Shortridge took over from Urps, Howerton dropped Leigh. to fourth, then a lap later brushed past Urps to take over second. A surprise block-pass put Howerton around Shortridge for the win. _ Howerton was unable to provide a repeat showing for the second mota, however, as his bike's clutch cable malfunctioned during the 25 Master race, and he was unable to start the second Unlimited Amateur mota. Shortridge easily won that mota, holding off Urps and Brandon Powers. Mike Nutter earned the victory in the 250cc B class, but not in the way he expected. utter holeshot the. 27rider field in the first m.oto only to have the lead taken away by newcomer Nathan Ramsey, who led Nutter to the finish. Bobby Stovall placed a strong third. Nutter again demonstrated his skill at the start, taking the lead in mota two and showing the way to Urps, Stovall and Ramsey. Urps took over the lead on the second lap and began to pull away. He maintained his lead until the flagman held out the white flag, which Urps mistook for the checkers, and, to the astonishment of Nutter, pulled off the track. Nutter and Stovall both got by, and Nutter cruised in for the win. "I saw Nutter go by, kind of slowing a little, but not as much as you normally do after a race is done," Urps said sheepishly. "He looked at me like he thought I was crazy. Then when he didn't pull off, I knew I'd screwed up, so I got back on the gas, but I couldn't catch them again." (;N Results 50 STIC I. Isha wood (Yam); 2. lach Rutledge (Yam); 3. Adam Beeler (Yam); 4. Jeffrey Fields (Yam); 5. Chase Roberts (Yam). 50 MOD: I. Jason Bault (Yam); 2. Isha Wood (Yam); 3. Jacob Saylor (Yam); 4. Adam Beeler (Yam); 5. Jeffrey Fields (Yam). 65 7-11: I. Paul Karle (Kaw); 2. Aaron Lindsey (Kaw); 3. Josh Scott (Kaw); 4. Joshua Summey (Kaw); 5. Allen W. McLaughlin (Kaw). 80 BEG: l. Joshua Golden (Kaw); 2. Travis Richardson (Kaw); 3. Chad Edwards (Hon); 4. Adam Doran (Kaw); 5. John Calhoun (Kaw). JR MINI: I. Chris Considine (Kaw); 2. Matt Walker (Kaw); 3. Paul Karle (Kaw); 4. Paul Justus (Kaw); 5. Josh Scott (Kaw). SR MINI: I. Brock Sellards (Kaw); 2. Richie Honon (Kaw); 3. Shae Bentley (Kaw); 4. Travis Langston (Suz); 5. Paul Currie (Kaw). S/MINI: I. Richie Horton (Kaw); 2. James Evans (Kaw); 3. Brock Sellards (Kaw); 4. Robbie Horton (Kaw); 5. Shae Bentley (Kaw). SCHBY: I. Kenny Yoho (Suz); 2. Scott Graves (Hon); ~. JoSh Sweat (Suz); 4. Jimmy Briggs (Hon); 5. Anthony Pocorobba (Hon). 125 A: I. Mike Brown (Hon); 2. Steve Childress (Suz); 3. Willie Surratt (Suz); 4. Ezra Lusk (Suz); 5. Jim Chester (Suz). 125 B: l. Nathan Ramsey (Suz); 2. Mike Nutter (Kaw); 3. Todd Huffstetler (Kaw); 4. Jimmy Briggs (Hon); 5. Ramsey Bulkeley (Hon). 125 C: I. Brian Thornburg (Suz); 2. Jason Grier (Hon); 3. Ryen Duff (Hon); 4. Bryan Smith (Kaw); 5. Kris Swaney (SUl). 125 D: I. Robert Green (Kaw); 2. Chad Frazier (Hon); 3. Jackie Doyle (Kaw); 4. Jonathan Langworthy (Yam); 5. James Neece (Kaw). 250 A: I. Mike Brown (Hon); 2. Ezra Lusk (Suz); 3. Steve Childress (Suz); 4. Todd Bennick (Suz); 5. Joshua Steel (Kaw). 250 B: I. Mike Nutter (Kaw); 2. Bobby Stovall II (Kaw); 3. Nathan Ramsey (Suz); 4. Curtis Urps (Kaw); 5. Marcus Cannon (Kaw). 250 C: I. Marty Williams (Kaw); 2. Clint Pilgrim (Kaw); 3. James Adams (Suz); 4. Tim Polston (Suz); 5. Paige Hilliard (Kaw). 250 D: I. Travis Clark (Hon); 2. Gary Mumpower (Kaw); 3. Dan Cooley (Hon); 4. John Ward (Hon); 5. Jerry Presley (Kaw). OPEN AM: I. Chris Shortridge (Hon); 2. Ron Jones (Hon); 3. Jeff Dodgen (Yam); 4. Wallace Fincher (Hon); 5. Rodney Cavender (Hon). 25 MSTR: I. Alan Andreu (Hon); 2. Ron Jones (Yam); 3. Kip Bigelow (Yam); 4. Gerald Wood (Yam); 5. Kerry Jones (Kaw). 25 INT: I. Wallace Fincher (Hon); 2. Bobby Gilbert (Kaw); 3. Gary Graham (Hon); 4. John Havens (Yam); 5. Timmie Bowman (Hon). 25 NOV: I. Marty Williams (Kaw); 2. Marc Cleveland (Hon); 3. David Whitson (Hon); 4. Don Venable (Hon); 5. Ronald Nelson (Hon). 30 MSTR: l. Alan Andreu (Hon); 2. Kent Howerton (Kaw); 3. Ron Jones (Yam); 4. Kerry Jones (Kaw); 5. David Mack (Kaw). 30 INT: I. Gary Grabam (Hon); 2. John Havens (Yam); 3. Denis Hilton (Hon); 4. Henry Weir (Kaw); 5. Donny Graham (Yam). 30 NOV: l.Randy Johnson (Yam); 2.Ronald Nelson (Hon); 3.Jay Eastham (Yam); 4. Doug Harvey (Hon); 5. Guy Hall (Kaw). S/SR (40): I. Steve Lewis (Yam); 2. A.C. Bruce (Yam); 3. Danny Eller (Kaw); 4. Johnny Gibson. (Yam); 5. Terrell Welborn (Suz). U/L AM: I. Chris Shortridge (Hon); 2. Curtis Urps (Kaw); 3. Homer Woolslayer (Hon); 4. Robert Stock (Kaw); 5. Brandon Powers (Kaw). N/C 0-500: I. Robby Dyer (Hon); 2. Benjamin Williams (Kaw); 3. Guy Hall (Kaw); 4. James Kinoo; (Hon); 5. Joseph Hopson (Yam). ENDURO: I. Brian Hess (Kaw); 2. Jeff DodRen (KTM); 3. Rodney Williams (Suz); 4. David Walker (Yam); 5. Earnest Ward (Kaw).

• Cover