Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~: SUPERCROSS Perris Raceway GFI $10,000 INVITATIONAL S PERCROSS U . '. By Greg Roberts o n Photos by Kin ney Jon es PERRIS, CA,JAN. 3 ou would n't think that a rider racin g in his fir st a p pea ra nce since serious ly injuring his back would come out and beat most of the wo rld 's best supercross riders, but that' s exa ctly what French sensation Sebastien Tortelli did by claiming the hard-fought win in the 250cc Pro class at the ninth ann ual GFI $10,000 Invitational Supercross at Perris Raceway. The 1996 FlM 125cc Wor ld Champion, who had br ok en his back midway through the '97 seaso n during his assault on the 250cc World Championship, came out on top o f a three-way battle between himself, Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig and Honda of Troy's Mike Brown. While Tortelli 's win was uncertain until the last corner, his fellow Kawasaki rider, Team SplitFire /Pro Circuit / (Above) Frenchman Sebastien Tortelll made his return to racing (after recuperating from a serious back Injury) a successful one by winning the GFI Invitational SX. (Right) Mike Brown (100) continues to sh ow promise since returning to the Honda of Troy tea m. He holes hot the 250Cc class and eventually finis hed third . after some serious due ling with Tortelli (103) and Je ff Emlg (1). (Below) Emig rode well but cou ldn't find his way around Tortelliand settled for seco nd place. 00 0\ 0\ ...... 24 Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael, sty led his way to the 125cc Pro-class win over Primal Im pulse/ Bill 's Pipes / Suzuki Raeing-backed Robbie Reynard a nd YZmoun ted Greg Schnell. The cold and rainy wea ther we re in contras t to the dry and so mewhat su nny conditions that can usually be foun d at this ann ual eve nt, but this didn't dampen the spirits of the large conti ngent of Perris ' "Hill People," the 49 125cc Pros or the 37 250cc Pros wh o came ou t to do ba ttle at th e Ma zd a /Go at / GFI Eyewear/Circle K/76-sp on sor ed 1998 racing season opener. Honda of Troy's Casey Lytle led the hu ge field thro ugh th e sw eep ing lefthan d firs t tum as the 125cc Pros were let loose. Broc k Sell ard s, Sha u n Pe ro lio, Bader Manneh, Nathan Ramsey a nd cu r r e n t 125cc Nati onal C h a m p io n Ca rmic hael all trailed Lytle as the pa ck fu nneled its way through the first few tight turns . Lytle put a couple of seconds on Sellards as Carmichael quick ly go t around Per olio, Manneh and Ramsey. Carmichael pushed Sellards back to third and spent a lap following Lytle before using an inside line to move into the lead. Carmichael bu ilt a slight lead on Lvtle, wh ile Lytle kept out of the ran ge of Sellards in th ird. Jeff "Chicke n" Ma tia se vich and FMF Honda ri der Scott Sh ea k w ere climbing toward t he fro n t after being buried in the pack and were up to fifth and sixth, respectively, behind Ramsey. Lytle was be ing caught from behind by Sellards as Carmichael conti nued to slowly pull away. Sheak was all the way up to four th, with Su zuki-mounted Rusty Holland and Lytle' s teammat e, Stephane Roncada, tryi ng to make their way toward the front. Wit h the w hite flag ou t signaling the last lap before a five-minute rest period in the middle of the race, Carmichael pulled off a big can-ean off a large infield double to celebra te picking up a $500 bonus for lead . ing the race at the halfway point. It was a five-rider dash for the runner-up position between Lytle, Sellards, Ramsey, Roncada and Reynard, who was doing his be st a fte r a poor sta rt. Lytle carne out on top by the slimmest of margins. In what ha s become a trademark of th GFllnvitational races , both the 125cc· and 250cc races are stopped at the midwa y p oint for a five-minute bre ak . The riders are then lined up side by side in the o rder of w hich th ev received the checkered flag in the first half - the idea bein g to allow the me chanics to mak e any la st-m in ut e a djus tmen ts to the bikes, and also to bunch the riders back up together in an effort to provide closer racin g for the specta tors. When the rid ers hit the tra ck for the second half, it was Ca rmic hael assu ming th e lead from h is p o le p o sition . Carmichael quickly put four seco nds on Lytle, wh o had his hands full with Ramsey, Sellards and Reynard . Reynard was on the move, passing bo th Ramsey and Sellards within a lap and zeroing in on Lytl e. Reyn ard slipped past Lyt le in a tight tu rn and set ou t after Ca rm ichae l, who held a seven-second advan tage at this point. Lytle's run at the front see med to be going in the wrong direction as Sellards, Micha el Brandes and Schnell, who were working up from bad starts, go t around him. " A t th e resta r t, e very th ing g o t bunched up and Reynard passed me on a line I wasn' t using, so I tried to cha nge my line to hopefully match his s peed and I got passed by so meone else wh o was using my oid line, and I just started makin g mistak es fro m th en on," sa id Lytle, who eventuall y faded to eighth. 'When I was ou t ther e with Ca rmicha el, I was comforta ble and had a good pace going, but the sto p kind of scre wed me up a littl e bit." Ca rmichael w ould se e the checkers first, but not without Reynard co ming on strong in the final few laps and cutting his lead in half. "I got a pretty d ecent start and was able to ge t by the leaders quick a nd p ulled a little lead ," Carmichael sai d, "a nd then we got pulled over a t the halfway, and I pulled another lead and Robbie (Reynard) was catching me . I th ink he wa s ta king a better line than me over by the finish line, but oh well I'm happy to win. "Ya know, last year wasn't too good,

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