Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

.EYE PHOTO BY JAMEY €ddi€ Muld€r's W€st Coast Vintag€ Dirt Track Series Round ?: Tular€ Cgcl€ Park Avilo's Not Averse to Victory TUTARE, CA, I}iAY 7 I ike a well-o'led machine. Eddie l4ulder's Lw"rt Coast Vintage D,rt Track Series rolled into Tulare Cycle Park for round two. ln hopes of mild temperaaures, this was a day race, and it did no[ disappoint, though more attention to track preparation was r€quired, which l"lulder made sure was done. The 158 participants an attendance can attest to this fact. By l: 30 in the afternoon. 20 heat races had been completed, settinS the stage for the l5 main events. The K&N Filters/l4otion Pro 250cc OPen main event is largely a Youth event. This is not to imply the racing isnt intense. t'lichael Avila led the field int6 turn one. Behind him. Devin Booher threw it away, taking Landsey Kint and Ross Stuckert with him. King, taking the hardest hit, bravely made the full restart, thouSh Stucken didn't. This time, Kayl Kolkman nailed th€ stan, followed by KinS and Avila. Going down the back .hute, Avila displaced a still-shaken KinB for second a.d set his sishts on Kolkman. Tony Davila got away in fourth but also made short work of KinS to take over third. Exiting turn four on the second lap, Avila rook over the lead, wrth Davila follownS him through to second. Up front, Avila put his head down and turned a ?o.o7-second laP that Davila just couldn ! match, and that was good enough to hold on for the victory. Davila, Kolkman and King followed closely. Twenty-nhe riders made up the C&l Racrng Frames/Berkeley Yamaha Vet class, for riders over the age of 35 on machines of any year or size. The top 12 made it to the A final. Joe Steffen and Mike Vital hit turn one side by side. Headin8 down the back straiSht for the Iirst rime. Steffen took point. with Vital second. Tony Harrell senled in at third, with CraiS Johnson fourth and Mike O'Neil fifth. On lap three, Steffen posted an 18.42-second time as he tried to get away from Vital. Harrell was like raw meat and iohnson a pit bull all over him for the third-place spot, while O'Neil slipped backward to sixth, allowinS Anthony l'4itchell up to fifth, and thaCs how they would finish. The DigSer Helm Pro 600cc main was a ls-lap affair, with 14 riders makin8 the final from a field of 21. Stevie Bonsey hit turn one firsr, with Jimmy Wood by his side, and Mikey Rush wal right on their tails. Down the back straight, Wood ran it past Bonsey to take the lead a\/ay entering turn three. Davila ran fourth, with Alex Wood in frfth. Once up front, .Jimm), tried to tet away, but Bonsey super- glued himself to Jimmy's rear wheel. On laP Ilve, Alex found his rhythm and picked up the pace, easily passing Davilafor fourth. Meanwhile. Garrett Stout's march forward would eventually net him sixth, while the front- runni S order was limmy Wood, Bonsey. Alex Wood, and Rush. Eonsey could match limmy's fastest lap ol 18.20 seconds, but finding a way past was another story fu they came uP on lappers, a 8limmer of hope aPpeared in Bonsey's eyes. Bonsey closed to within a bikelength as the white flag came out. With four lapp€rs in frona of them on the final to- around, the tension was palpable. Exiting turn four, Bonsey made a run on Wood that came up jusa inches short of th€ victory Alex Wood finished third, with Rush fourth. CN RE5uEs: MaY 7, 2OO5 (RouND 2) YTH 50: l. Tyler Shelter; 2. Al. Alvesr I Tyler Kdkms. YTH a0: l. Evan Sblfordi 2. Znch Lehno,fi l Andre Ochs 250 OPEN| I tai.h&lAvilai 2. IdY Oavrla: 3. K:y' Korkhln 5oo sUPr I Je sr.fien.2.Ja/ Gweno' I M'1. O Ne OPEN l}l A: I Dirlon Arl.n: 2 6rre( *ouri l. Tony Daeila. OPEN Alrl B: L l*yAlvs;2.J&n CraEn. I loe Meys. PRO 6lX,: l.Imr' wood, I st@e BoNEyi l. Alex wood. vET Ic l.loe Stefisi 2. l'1ike vital; l. Tmy HMdl VET Sr l. Gary R*chie:2 hck Alexander: l. Bnd Rudy. SR: I. Ton Hononi ! ren Thiebaud: l Bdb S6lly. SR NOV/ S/SR: l. Mickey Alzola: 2. l'1ark sru.ked: l. Clff NaB.6r. DINO: I l.ike O'Nei CLSC 250: l. lw Thelin. CLSC 500: L Chns Rldr 2. Ftut Kohlsi 3 Drve Cheney. HDnN 250; I M'"e Con.rlet. 2. Toh Horton: l.lohn Lundsreh MDRN vlo: L. Tom Horton; 2. Ker Th'ebaLd: 3. Clfr Nasatani HOiN 750: I Toh Hofton:2.Jim Ottelerl. Bob S..lly. Mirhoel Avilo (33) outrode Jusrin Petr (2), Tony Dovilo (I92H) ond the rcst ol the 25occ Open rloss of round two of Eddie Mulder" west Coqsl vintoge Dirt Trock S,eries. TuhRr CYcu PaRX TulaRE, CAuForNl.a EY JA, EY BIuNI Hitachi AMA,/WMA National Motocross Championship Round l, Gl€n H€l€n RacEwag Park PHOTO BY STEVEN BONNAU The Quick Krwr SAN BERNARDINO, CA, itAY 14 Fdenteen-vear-old Katherine Prumm made ),h. ,.ip f-. New Zealand to test herself against the fastest women an fte world, in th€ Al'1A/WMA National Motocrors Champi- onship. She proved to be a major th.eat. Southem California's Glen Helen Faceway Park hosted the first round of the six-race !erh., with the support ol KawEsaki. Th€re w€re aome new faces $is year, sorn€ yourE g'rns ready to prove themsekes against a steady Sroup of race- proven veterans of the series. Thouth the standout European women were not Pnesent, with 33 riders p.e-entered in the event, it promised to be one of the most comPetitive, actioo-pad(ed sories openers in W\4A hi5tory Jessye Davis took the holeshot in the first moto and showed she has the speed to run with the best, makint it hard for h€r opponents to pas3 her. Aubriana Dunn got a decent $an and held the lead for two laps- Prumm 8ot a dismal loth-place start but worked her way toward the front. By laP seven, she was in the lead, and she never looked back. Mariar Balbi. another newcomer to the series, started in fourth and held her own until she passed Dunn on the last laP to take second. Sarah Whitmore started rn seventh and also worked her way toward dte a tront. passing Dunn in the last corner for third. Dunn finished fourth. and D.vis ended the moto in fifth place. Jelsica Panerson had a horrable time in the first moto. By the lime she crorsed Ehe finish line at the end o{ lap two, she was in I6th place. She rode hard. but by the time she worked her way through the pack and sew a clear track ahead of her, the leading six riders were long gone. Patterson had to settle for a seventh-place finish. Hoto two showed rhat Prumm has the talent to take the title. She started in fourth place but again moved up throuSh th€ field. With about 20 seconds left in th€ last lap, she once aSain took rhe lead, the moto win. and the overall for the event. Al,sa Nix is one of the young guns rvho ts ready to win some races. she had run as high a5 second in moto one but then suffered thre€ crashes and eventually finished in llth Place. f,loto tv/o wa! much better for Nix:. She took che holeshot, only to lose the lead to Tanra Satchwell early on the firsr lap. Satchw€ll went down on lap two, givins th€ le-ad back to Nix. who held the lead for the most of the rest of the moto, only to get passed on the last lap by Prumm and Patte6on. Whitmore 8ot an eighth-place start this time out and was only able !o work her \^ray uP ro fifth by the efld of the moto, but that was Bood enoLrBh for second ovemll. Balbi staded the moto in third and held off rhe hard-.har8in8 Patterson, Le-ah Cantrell and Whitmore for several laps. Eventually, though, they all managed co get around her, and Balbi finished a respectable sixth, bur rhat earned her third overall. Patterron 8or a much better start in the se.ond mo.o. in fifth. She rode well. but the lead group proved to be extremely fast. Pa(erson finally made a pass on Nix on the lasr lap and took second in the moto, and wich that. she took founh overallfor rhe weekend. Davis got a poor l2th-place start and frnrshed the moro in eiShth. The good news ,s that after an iniury-riddled year, it looks like she is back and will be a true contender. Dunn also 8ot a poor start, but she moved forward and finished in ninth pla.e. That put her in seventh overall. Tarah Cieger was back in action after a bad iniury last fall. She proved this weekend chat she has the spe€d to run up fronc, leading the first four laps of moto one- She crashed in both mo(os, losing several positions- ln moto one. she was able to move back up to sixth. ln moto two. she crashed on lap lwo whrle runninS seventhi she got up in lgth place and char8ed back up ro l0th by moto's end. CN sevenleen.yeor-old Kiwi Kotherine Prumm shocked the

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