Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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.M Mini Grand Prix O OCROSS Las Vegas Speedway T World By Tony Alessi LAS VEGAS, NY, APR 13-14 eam Yamaha' s Justin Buckelew seem to have filled the void left by forme r Mini sensa tion Ricky Carmichael after capturi ng th ree class championship s at the 25th Annua l NMA World Mini Grand Prix held north of Las Vegas near'Nellis Air Force base. Buckelew swep t all four motos in the Stock and Mod ified (14-16) divisions in his firs t N ational as a 14-y ea r-old. " I turned 14 in December which is good for th is race and Ponca," Buckel ew sai d . "But Loretta's is in the process of changing the age cutoff to Janua ry, so I will have to race riders a year older there." Bucke lew al so won th e Supermini event, which pits racers from variou s age gro ups on almost u nlimited equipment and is the best test in proving who really is the fastest of all the Mini racers - at least at this race. Buckelew joined nearly 1600 other entrants who made the journey from 41 T differen t states and four countries to take part in a time-honored tradition which has been in existence for a qua rter of a century. This year's course was mu ch more motorcycle-friendly than last year's wheel-breaking track. '~We reshaped the jumps th is year," said NMA president Ron Henrickson. "We also added tho usands o f tons of new dirt together; we made a course that was not as tough on the machines." Only two broken wheels were reported this year wh en two Super Pee Wees came up short whil e trying to clear the trip le jump . The weather saw warm, sunny conditions du ring the weekend , wh ile Friday's race left racers sand blasted after winds in excess of 50 mph kicked up late in the day. Travis Elliott pos ted the first Supermini moto vic to ry on his Team Greenbacked Ka wa sa ki, w h ile Bu cke lew worked up to second . "1 just wasn't riding like myself in that one," Buckelew said. Team Green's Billy Payne finished a (Top) Ju sti n Buckelew (58), leads Travis Elliott (11), Sean Hamblin (26), Billy Payne (95) and Chris Rogers (60) at the start of the Supermini race at the Las Vegas World Mini Grand Prix. (Above) Winner Chris Wheeler (586) and Rusty Holland (71) mix It up In the 125cc Stock Pro class. Holland won both the 125 and 250cc Modified classes. (Left ) Oscar Valdez (61) and Jlrl Dostal (21) had a good battle In the 125cc Modified Intermediate class. Dostal came out on top . respectable third in his first Natio nal in almost two years. "I broke my leg twice, then my ank le, then 1 tore ligaments, so I kept missing all of these big races." Payne looked right at hom e among the leaders and finished in front of Chase Reed and Team H ond a ' s Bri an McGa vran. Heavy favorite Travi s Pastrana had a crash-filled race which he later blamed on being overly aggressive. He finished a d isappointing sixth. The second moto saw Buckelew an d his Dean Dickensian R&D Racin g