Round # 2 

Tulare Cycle Park - Tulare, California

Saturday May 17th, 2008

Tulare Pro's on page two

Senior
 



Senior
1. 12e Jeff Lessley
2. 71z Bob Scally
3. 25d Steve Craft
4. 28d Ron Lessley
5. 27 Ron Alexander


Vet “A” Main




Vet “A” Main
1. 96l Mike Besemer
2. 16w Jeff Hiatt
3. 66v Steve Hill
4. 33 Wes Powell
5. 28z Tony Harrell
6. 571 Mike O’Neil
7. 77 Joe Suebert
8. 59 Dave Hill


Vet “B” Main




Vet “B” Main
1. 68 Paul Herman
2. 77 Jason Craven
3. 28b Gary Ritchie
4. 12x Patrick Hayes
5. 556 Steve Mihovil


Sr Novice/Super Sr




Sr Novice/Super Sr
1. 19z Joe Brown
2. 17q Herb Wolff
3. 52c Dave Cheney
4. 80x Bob Harris
5. 35e Chuck Walton


Classic 250

Classic 250
1. 71e John Frank


Classic 500







Classic 500
1. 50s Brad Holt
2. 87y Chris Rudy
3. 96a Jack Alexander
4. 14 James Kohls


Dino




Dino
1. 27 Roy Taboada
2. 3 Mike O’Neil
3. 33 Robert Koch


Youth 50

Youth 50
1. 80 AJ Alves
2. 5 Colton Stanley
3. 4 Hunter Stanley


Youth 80

Youth 80
1. 309w Bronson Bauman
2. 23 Jimmy Monaco
3. 333 Bruce Morris


Modern 250







Modern 250
1. 12e Jeff Lessley
2. 50s Brad Holt
3. 12 Paul Ott


Modern 500

Modern 500
1. 28d Ron Lessley
2. 45e Jim Lundgren
3. 11 Mike Besemer


Modern 750




Modern 750
1. 68 Paul Herman
2. 77 Joe Suebert
3. 27 Ron Alexander
4. 71z Bob Scally


250 Open







250 Open
1. 310w Briar Bauman
2. 309w Bronson Bauman
3. 28t Zach Lenhof
4. 10t Dennis Trentman
5. 28 Pauly Herman
6. 19 Jason Moulthrop
7. 86 Landin King
8. 111 Eddie Morris


500 Support




500 Support
1. 16w Jeff Hiatt
2. 571 Mike O’Neil
3. 84j Jeff Gonzales
4. 79 Joey Alves
5. 98x Bub Monaco
6. 10w Dave Simmerman
7. 44s Robert Bush


Open Amateur










Open Amateur
1. 22 Eric England
2. 342w Jesse Sleeper
3. 88 Dillon Allen
4. 18h Tony Davila
5. 65 Ross Gallaher
6. 28t Zach Lenhof
7. 87 Lindsey King
8. 77 Jason Craven
9. 25d Steve Craft
10. 55e Mark Davis


Eddie Mulder's W.C.V.D.T. Series
Round #2 Tulare, Calif.
May 17th, 2008
Article by Jamey Blunt

Let's put a new moto-cross track on top of the dirt oval, then put a new dirt oval on top of the old moto-cross track. What? Yep, that's what happened at Tulare Cycle Park in Tulare Ca. The new short track was smaller, with a different mixture of dirt, but the racing, well build it and they will come, even in 109 degree temperatures. Thankfully by the time the nights program was underway the temperature was dropping and a slight breeze cooled the riders that made up the eighteen heats and fourteen main events. As long as your motorcycle was made prior to 1975 it is eligible for the Motion Pro/Barnett Senior class. Riders though must be fifty years of age, minimum. Jeff Lessley chose a Bultaco as his mount while Bob Scally picked a triumph twin. Lessley lead from the start with Scally close behind and Ron Lessley, Steve Craft, and Ron Alexander all playing catch up. Scally showed Lessley a wheel a few times in the opening laps but by lap four looked to have settled for second. Craft meanwhile pressured Ron Lessley into a mistake allowing him to move into third. The order would stay Jeff Lessley, Scally, Craft, Ron Lessley and Alexander to the finish. Nineteen riders made up the Maxxis Tires/A&A Racing Vet field with just eight transferring to the "A" main. Fastest heat race winner Mike Besmer sat on pole and launched into the lead off the line. Jeff Hiatt from Everett, Washington ran second with Steve Hill making a stellar move from fifth to third before the end of the first lap. Tony Harrell and Wes Powell were going at it for the fourth place position while Mike O'Neil who was buried off the start, sat back in sixth. At the front Besmer put his head down, turned a 13.92/100 second lap that no one could match and moved on to another time zone. Hiatt was pretty much alone in second, but Hill had Powell who had taken over fourth from Harrell to contend with. Powell was putting crushing pressure on Hill, but Hill never wavered and didn't give Powell any opportunity for a pass. While O'Neil was up to Harrell and now fighting for fifth as time was running out. At the checkered flag Besmer won with a four second gap Hiatt was a lone second with Hill holding Powell off for third, Harrell fifth and O'Neil sixth. Joe Brown is the guy to beat in the JRC Engineering/Brown's Cycles Super Senior/Senior Novice Class. Brown aboard his 250cc two stroke Yamaha didn't disappoint as he lead into turn one followed by Herb Wolff, Steve Baker, Dave Cheney, eighty four year old Bob Harris, and Chuck Walton. Wolff showed Brown a wheel in turn three on the second lap which only made Brown pick up his pace. By the end of lap three Brown with Wolff glued to him had put a full straight gap on the rest of the field. In spite of his smaller displaced machine Brown kept increasing his pace until he shook Wolff, and with two and a half laps remaining Brown was into lappers. As they finished the order was Brown, Wolff, Cheney, Harris, and Walton, as for Baker, a DNF. The Bartels H-D/Megacycle Cams Classic 250, 500, & Dino field was a museum quality race with some very expensive equipment on the race track. All of which ran together but were scored separately according to displacement and age, Brad Holt on one of the most potent H-D Sprints ever seen couldn't have gotten a better start if he would have paid starter Fred Allen's kids tuition to college. Chris Rudy on the H-D KR-750 machine ran second with Jack Alexander, Roy Taboada, Mike O'Neil, John Frank and James Kohls. With three laps in the books Holt had opened up a three second gap at the front and posted a 15.39/100 second lap that no one could match. With two to go Taboada took third away from Alexander, who now also had O'Neil to deal with. At the stripe Holt put his stamp on it with Rudy a solid second. Taboada held third, with Alexander fourth, O'Neil fifth, Frank sixth, and Kohls seventh. The San Diego off Road Youth classes are the future of the sport, one rising star to come out of the 50cc class is A J Alves. Not only is he the current series point's leader in the class, but took the main event victory in convincing style on his Cobra. Colton Stanley and Hunter Stanley rode as hard as they could but when it was all said and done Alves was the class of the field on this day. The rough and tumble AGV Helmets/Vizzo Racing 500 Support class is always one to watch as most of the equipment is evenly matched. Mike O'Neil pulled yet another of his patented starts to lead into turn one. Jeff Hiatt, Jeff Gonzales, and Mike Gonzales all dropped in behind. On the exit from turn two on the second lap Mike Gonzales took third away from Jeff Gonzales while Joey Alves ran in fifth. At the front O'Neil was in protection mode as Hiatt was pressuring for a way around. By lap five Mike Gonzales was gone from the race and Hiatt made his move on the exit from turn two pushing O'Neil wide to take over at the front. The order would be set from this point on to the finish with Hiatt victorious, O'Neil second, Jeff Gonzales third, Alves fourth, and Bob Monaco moving up to fifth. The talent pool is deep in the Rod Lake Racing/K&N Filters Open Amateur class. At the start Jesse Sleeper was the quickest and led through turns one and two, Eric England settled in at second and Dillon Allen showing signs of his past speed ran third. Ross Gallaher was away in fourth with Tony Davila charging hard up to fifth from a poor start by the end of the first lap. By two laps completed Davila had moved up a spot to fourth while Zach Lenhof ran sixth with Lindsey King making her way up to seventh. On lap six Sleeper ran wide on the exit from turn four which allowed England to get a wheel under Sleeper going into turn one, thus giving England the lead by being in the right place at the right time. Sleeper came back at England down the back straight only to have England right by his side as they crossed the stripe for the white flag. England took the lead through one and two and held it to the checkered, Sleeper had to settle for a close second with Allen all alone in third, Davila fourth, Gallaher fifth, Lenhof sixth, and King seventh.  The Digger Helm Open Pro twenty lap final had fifteen riders staged through three rows as starter Fred Allen waved the green flag. Garrett Stout nailed the start to lead with Jared Mees in tow only to find the red flag waving as they came to the stripe for the first time indicating a full restart. This time Henry Wiles lead the field into turn one only to have Mees take the lead away upon the exit from turn two. Completing the first lap the running order was Mees, Wiles, Kris Bunch, Chad Cose, Stout, Jesse Sleeper, and Steve Murray. A lap later Mikey Avila passed Murray for seventh with David Brown moving forward now up to ninth. Exiting turn four to start the fifth lap Cose slipped past Bunch for third while Eric England moved into the tenth place position. With five laps complete Mees had a three bike length gap over Wiles as he inched away at the front. Lap six Mees turned his fastest lap of 13.79/100 seconds while Cose a lap later put in the fastest lap of the race at 13.52/100 seconds giving him the new track record (Mees & Cose were the only two in this race to break the 14 second barrier).By the half way point Mees was into lappers which he handled without any problems. At lap thirteen Cose made a mistake that allowed Bunch to close the gap and smell blood in the water, a lap later on the exit from turn four Mees hand went skyward as he looked at his mount. Something was wrong; as it turned out he had lost a chain which cost him the race. Wiles was our new leader with Murray and Bunch both picking up their pace. Cose was also now having some problems with turn four with Bunch looking to set him up for a last lap pass. This happened as Cose exited turn four as Bunch took over second. Murray marched all the way up to fourth, Stout stayed put in fifth, England was up to sixth, Sleeper in seventh, and Avila was back to eighth. Wiles had this to say after the race, "I think this is a racy track, a few ruts here and there. I had a good bike under me, a Rod Lake bike, RHC motor, I'm glad to come out and have some fun. I caught some ruts and crashed in practice and didn't know if I could ride, but it worked out. Jared's chain popped off or something so it was a little gift to me, but I've given some gifts too to other people so it's good." As for second place Kris Bunch, "Oh man Chad was pulling away from me and he had an awesome line, his bike was working really well but then towards the end his bike started blubbering and he started losing ground to me. So on the last lap we got around him for second, it's good for us." Catching up to a Disappointed Chad Cose he still took time to talk about the last lap pass, "It was about half way the bike started having problems, it was sputtering real bad but I got into third and pulled away quite a bit but Kris was riding a real good race and caught me, so overall with the way things were it was a good race."

Tulare Pro's on page two



The other photo old guy, Jimmy Wray.



Scorers



Jamey