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/127595
GM orDeROSS 26th Annual Mammoth Mountain MX,,---,-_---r-----.-----:rw: ~ - Ryan Hughes showed hi s competitors his backside as he raced to the wins in the 125 an d 500cc Expert classes. Hughes also fin ished th ird in th e 250cc Expe rt class . Ty Davis thrilled the spectators that lined the track en route to the 250cc Expe rt class win. Davis also won both Open Pro Four-Stroke class motos. Hugh es,Davis share HighSierra honors By Donn Maeda MAMMorn LAKF5, CA, SEPT. 9-12 now may have postponed the 26th annual running of the Mammoth Mountain MX, but the racing actio n wa s as hot and heavy as ever. And after four actio n-packed days of racing, it was Rya n Hughes and Ty Davis wh o led a green -b ike sweep of the top classes a t w hat is perhaps the "greenest" track in the coun try - the mile-lon g cou rse that w ind s through the pi ne trees in the She rwin Cre ek a rea of the Sierra Nevada Mo untains. Hu ghes, who finished nin th in the re centl y co ncluded Na tio nal Championshi p 125cc MX Series as a member of Team Kawasaki, raced to the wins in the 125 and 500cc Expert classes, w hile motocrosser-tu rn ed off-roader Davis returned to his roots and romped home the winn er in the 250cc and Open Four-Stroke Expe rt classes aboard his Tea m Green- backed Ka wa saki machin es. Davis ' win in the Four-Stroke Expe rt class came during the Sou nd of Thun der Four-Stroke Series finale . Normally he ld in late June, the 26th runn in g of th e p opu la r ev e n t was delayed because of unexpe cted ly h igh snow levels tha t lasted well in to July. "The track was s till u nder abo u t 10 feet of snow in June," said event director S 24 Debbie Chapman. "This yea r's en tries are down by abou t 300, but that's to be expec ted w h en th ere ' s a da te cha ng e like th is. A lo t of kids ar e alread y in schoo l, and many families have already taken their su mmer vacations." Thi s yea r, 1041 a n xio us e n t ra n ts filled the fou r-d ay program. Vets and Seniors competed on Thursd ay; SODs, Minis, Women and Four-Strokes o n Friday; 125s on Saturday; a nd 250s on Sunday. For the first time, a supercrossstyle race format was inco rporated. In classes that ha d a large nu mber of en tries an d multipl e d ivisions, tw o m o tos were run in each d iv is ion in order to narrow the field down to a 38rider ma in event. The first moto served as a "heat race," with the top finish ers transferring di rec tly to the main, while th ose who did n ' t fare w ell in the firs t go -round com peted in th e "sem i," or moto two . The top finis he rs in moto two filled out the final positions in the main event, while the rest were sent back to the p its to watch . In classes that didn 't have an abundance of en tries, a tradi tional two- mote for ma t was use d. Su rprising ly, the Vet Expe rt and 500cc Expe rt classes weren' t full enough to require a main event.