Wrapping It Up at Perris

Southern California Flat Track Series
Rounds 11-12: Perris Raceway

Story and Photos by Jamey Blunt
PERRIS, CA, DEC. 3-4. 2011

Saturday, December 3, was round 11 of the Southern California Flat Track Series, and Sunday, December 4, was the last round of the season, round 12. On Saturday there were 107 entries, despite the fact that it was cold – a frigid 39 degrees – as well as windy!

John Kocinski clinched the 250-360cc Two-Stroke, Air-Cooled Expert championship at the penultimate round.

Kayl Kolkman from Ventura, California, riding the Simi Valley Kawasaki, went wire to wire to win the 20-lap Pro main event, topping Alex Wood and stunt rider Aaron Colton after National number seven, “Slammin’ Sammy” Halbert, high-sided on the exit from turn two on the second lap. Kolkman’s fastest lap time of this cold and windy night was 14.82 seconds. Kolkman, who ran the number 42E for the 2011 AMA Grand National Series, earned his National number early this year and will sport National number 98 for the 2012 season, following in the footsteps of Joe Leonard and John Hateley.

Wood entered the Pro class under the pseudonym “Fred Finkelstein” and, despite having been out of the saddle for more than six months, still finished second in the Pro main event – impressive!

On Sunday, the wind went away, and temperatures were in the 60s.

John Kocinski won the 250-360cc Expert main event, but the most interesting thing about this race was that for the first time ever, he was passed after he had taken the lead! Nick Armstrong passed Kocinski back entering turn three and led the first lap across the stripe. Kocinski came back at him to retake the lead between turns one and two. Armstrong went down, and his race was over.

Jeff Apple put in a great ride (perhaps after being released from “pharmaceutical bondage”) in the Classic Vintage wars, taking the victory in the 500-750cc skirmish,

Vince Graves topped the Super Senior Over 60 class. He seems to garner more awards than anyone else, just by showing up.

Halbert looked like Superman busting out of a phone booth as he launched from the front row to lead the Pro main-event field into turn one, and he led it from start to finish. He put in the fastest lap of the day, at 14.58 seconds. He led all 20 laps of the Pro main event and lapped the field up to fifth place.

Kayl Kolkman, on the Simi Valley Kawasaki, kept the Woody Kyle Yamaha-mounted Halbert on his toes and followed him home in second place, only eight bikelengths back. Halbert also turned the overall fastest lap of the day on the quarter-mile oval, at 14.58 seconds.

“I like the track a lot better now,” Halbert said after the race, “and I like my newer Yamaha better now, too; we got it working pretty good! It took some testing, but I feel we’re headed in the right direction. It was a good race. Kayl was right there the whole time, keeping me honest; he was pushing hard and was right there the whole time. I love this Perris track; it’s a lot of fun, and I look forward to coming back.”

Also at Perris for the last round was 2011 AMA Superbike champion Josh Hayes, who rode the Pro class as well.

“This is my second Pro main here at Perris,” Hayes said after the main event. “I did one before earlier this year. I haven’t really ridden any dirt track since then, but it’s just so much fun to get on a dirt-track motorcycle, and the weather was perfect, and I think the track was better than the last time I was here. I had a lot of fun and I’ll be back for more.”

And coming full circle, dirt-tracker-turned-SuperMoto-racer-turned-road-racer-turned-dirt-tracker Frankie Garcia also contest the main event, and he did well.

At both rounds, David McNeeley stepped it up a notch and is now a threat to both Danny Perkins and Travis Petton II in the Bomber class.

Perris Raceway
Perris, California
Results: December 3-4, 2011 (Rounds 11 and 12 of 12)

Saturday – Round 11

50 YOUTH A: 1. Travis Petton; 2. Courtney D’Avignon; 3. Sara Cords; 4. Ava Bush; 5. Toby D’Avignon.

50 YOUTH B: 1. Evan Harich; 2. Grant Holmes; 3. John Miller; 4. Brad Downs; 5. Colin Petton.

65 YOUTH: 1. Grant Holmes; 2. Travis Petton ; 3. Alyssa Flores; 4. James Ott; 5. Noah Bush; 6. Frank Flores.

85 YOUTH: 1. Sean Heeney; 2. Allison Stacey; 3. Clayton Williams; 4. Jimmy Gillen; 5. Jaycee Jones; 6. Monica Gil; 7. Travis Petton ; 8. Alyssa Flores; 9. Frank Flores.

MEN’S 4-STROKE: 1. Billy Katkov; 2. Daniel Iha; 3. Ian Foulds; 4. Aaron Colton; 5. Kayl Kolkman.

OPEN NOV: 1. Nick Ottele; 2. Michael Wilson; 3. Corey Bauman; 4. Allison Stacey; 5. Chris Theis; 6. Sean Heeney; 7. Joseph Melton.

OPEN AM: 1. David McNeely; 2. Jim Lundgren; 3. David Reinhard; 4. Jess Flores; 5. Nick Gil; 6. Bill Wrighty; 7. Ray Hensley; 8. Harly Legowski; 9. Eric Ryke.

PRO: 1. Kayl Kolkman; 2. Alex Wood; 3. Aaron Colton; 4. David Bush; 5. Brandon Rothell; 6. Joe Winston; 7. Robert Bush; 8. Sammy Halbert; 9. Nick Armstrong.

BOMBER: 1. Travis Petton; 2. Danny Perkins; 3. David McNeely; 4. Jim Steet; 5. Jim Lundgren; 6. Ken Bradford.

VET 35+: 1. Jon Nunes; 2. Jim Rosa; 3. Paul Ott; 4. Gary Williams; 5. Brad Rudy.

SR NOV 50+: 1. Larkin Wight; 2. Corey Bauman; 3. Fred Berger; 4. Shell Borden.

SR VET 50+: 1. Jim Wood; 2. Vince Graves; 3. Jim Ottele; 4. Larry Earhart; 5. Kyle Lessley; 6. Jeff Lessley.

SUPER SR 60+: 1. Vince Graves; 2. Dennis Kanegae; 3. Dewayne Jones; 4. Douglas Lupo.

PREMIER SR 70+: 1. Allan Girdler.

CLASSIC VINTAGE 250: 1. Fred Berger.

CLASSIC VINTAGE 500-750: 1. Jeff Apple; 2. Tom Ferguson; 3. Joe Pape; 4. James Kohls; 5. Lenny Rodriguez; 6. Matt Ronnells.

VINTAGE 250 2-STROKE NOV: 1. Steele Freidrich; 2. Michael Fritz; 3. Matt Runnels.

VINTAGE 250 2-STROKE EX: 1. John Kocinski; 2. Nick Armstrong; 3. Jim Wood; 4. Jeff Lessley.

VINTAGE 360 2-STROKE NOV: 1. Rick Logan; 2. Gary Lane.

VINTAGE 750: 1. Jim Ottele; 2. Shannon Adams.

Sunday – Round 12

YOUTH 50 A: 1. Travis Petton; 2. Courtney D’Avignon; 3. Sara Cords; 4. Toby D’Avignon; 5. Ava Bush.

YOUTH 50 B: 1. Grant Holmes; 2. James Ott; 3. John Miller; 4. Brad Downs; 5. Colin Petton.

YOUTH 65 A: 1. Evan Harich; 2. Travis Petton; 3. Courtney D’Avignon; 4. James Ott.

YOUTH 65 B: 1. Grant Holmes; 2. Alyssa Flores; 3. Frank Flores; 4. Noah Bush.

YOUTH 85: 1. Allison Stacey; 2. Sean Heeney; 3. Clayton Williams; 4. Monica Gil; 5. Jaycee Jones; 6. Evan Harich; 7. Alyssa Flores; 8. Jimmy Gillien; 9. Travis Petton; 10. Frank Flores.

OPEN NOV: 1. Nick Ottele; 2. Corey Bauman; 3. Chris Theis; 4. Allison Stacey; 5. Sean Heeney; 6. Wayne Pina.

OPEN AM: 1. Larry Earhart; 2. Paul Ott; 3. David McNeely; 4. Eric Ryke; 5. John Perez; 6. Jess Flores; 7. Bill Wright; 8. Harly Legowski.

PRO: 1. Sammy Halbert; 2. Kayl Kolkman; 3. Aaron Colton; 4. David Bush; 5. Nick Gil.

BOMBER: 1. Danny Perkins; 2. Keith Bradford; 3. David McNeely; 4. Jim Steet; 5. Jim Lundgren; 6. Travis Petton.

VET 35+: 1. Jim Rosa; 2. Paul Ott; 3. Paul McLane; 4. Gary Williams.

SR NOV 50+: 1. Corey Bauman; 2. Larkin Wight; 3. Fred Berger; 4. Danny Manthis.

SR VET 50+: 1. Jim Wood; 2. Larry Earhart; 3. Vince Graves; 4. Jim Ottele; 5. Jeff Lessley; 6. Kyle Lessley.

SUPER SR 60+: 1. Vince Graves; 2. Dennis Kanegae.

CLASSIC VINTAGE 250: 1. Fred Berger.

CLASSIC VINTAGE 500-750: 1. Jeff Apple; 2. Joe Pape; 3. Matt Ronnells; 4. Johnny McClure; 5. Lenny Rodriguez.

VINTAGE 250 2-STROKE EX: 1. John Kocinski; 2. Jeff Lessley; 3. Jim Wood; 4. Nick Armstrong.

VINTAGE 250-360 2-STROKE: 1. Gary Lane; 2. Duke Pina.

VINTAGE 750: 1. Kenny Thiebaud; 2. Jim Ottele; 3. Robert Bush.

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