Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1039781
VOL. 55 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 16, 2018 P65 WINNING WEY Former factory supercross and motocross racer Nick Wey had a great night at the Monster Energy Cup, as he got to watch his son, Vincent, go out and lead every lap of the KTM Jr. Supercross Chal- lenge. Young Vincent took the win over Florida's Carson Wood, who tried very hard on the opening lap to pass Wey, only to let Wey slip away just enough to get rid of the pressure Wood was putting on him. On the podium, Wood showed he has the heart of a champion as, in describing his race, he actually teared up after saying, "I tried really hard to win, but I couldn't." MAXING OUT Max Vohland absolutely dominated the Supermini class, running his dad's (Tallon) former number 711 on his KTM as he swept qualifying and both motos. Tallon spent a lot of years as a top racer in the U.S. and in the GPs, and gave Ricky Carmi- chael fits in the 1999 125cc National Motocross Championship, even beating Carmichael to win the 125cc National at Budds Creek that year, but up until this point, Max has been predominantly trained by Tallon's old- er brother, Tyson, who was a multi- time Ultracross Champion who also had success in AMA Supercross, motocross and the GPs. Tyson and Tallon to this day still hold a record as being the only pair of brothers in history to make it onto an AMA Su- percross podium on the same night in the same class, at the Houston Supercross in 1991, when Tallon won the main event over eventual Western Regional Champ Jeremy McGrath, with Tyson coming in third. JOKER LANE WOES For the first six years of the Monster Energy Cup, the Joker Lane was slower than the main racing line, and each racer had to take the lane at least once in each main event. This led to a few guys (such as Jason An- derson and Ryan Dungey) forgetting to take it and then being penalized for it, drastically affecting the race results. In 2017, the Joker Lane was, for the first time, made faster than the main line, and the racers were only allowed to take it once. This year, it was back to being slower again. There are many possible strategies for timing the use of the Joker Lane whether it's faster or slower than the rest of the track, but last year, when the Joker Lane was faster, almost everybody took it on the opening lap. And this year, with the Joker Lane being slower, almost everybody took it on the final lap. RV'S RETURN Yamaha shocked the paddock at this year's Anaheim I Supercross when they announced that they had signed Ryan Villopoto to a deal as their spokesperson, considering that Villopoto spent every single race of his entire, very successful pro career on Kawasakis. But Villopoto has never seemed happier. He's raced a few of the 125cc exhibition races at this year's MX Nationals, and he showed up to the Monster Energy Cup on a YZ450F and actually raced professionally for the first time in four years in the U.S. He did it with minimal testing time, having ridden one day on the factory suspension that adorned his YZ450F, and having tried a total of two shocks. On top of that, Villopoto said his engine was Briefly... Eli Tomac became the first two- time MEC winner (2016/'18), this time he won all three feature races and the $1 million.