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/127956
MOTOCROSS NMA GRAND N TIONAL A C 'SHIP OF M TOCRO S O S Pn C o ca ity I I By Matt Draper Photos by Jeff Cox PONCA crrv. OK, JULY28-AUG. I f yo u looked closely aro und the pits at the 23rd annuall\'MA Grand Natio nal Cham pio ns hip of Mot ocross, you may ha ve not iced quite a few peop le crossing their fingers as they looked skyward . Thu nd erstorms, which ro lle d in for two co nsecu tive d a ys prior to the event, dum ped several inches of rain on the Pon ca City area, and the chance of additional storms was better than 50 percent each ensuing day. N MA presid ent Ron Hen ricksen called in his "cavalry" and the track crew scraped , shaped an d chisele d each turn, s tra ig h taw ay a nd obsta cle with amazing skill. In fact, after half a d ay of prac tice, the circuit - coupled wi th the crew 's hard wo rk - provided su p re me racin g cond itions for the hundred s of rid ers (which added u p to approxima tely 1300 entries, claims Henricksen) from 41 states and five countries, in cl ud ing A rge ntina, Ne w Zea land, Chile, and Ca nada . As the rain s tayed away, cloudy skies helped keep the tem peratures in check the entire week, hovering around 90 each d ay . Apparently, the cond itions met with the approva l of Pennsy lvania's Branden Jesseman . The Cem ic's Suz u ki-backed rid er was the top fin ishing Pro at Pon ca for the wee k, taking home class cham pionships in 12Scc Stock and 250cc Mod ified classes . [ ess erna n finished ahead of NCY Yama ha's Keith Johnson and YZ-moun ted Donovan Mitchell in the 125cc Stock class and be sted Cha pa rral Ya ma ha' s Da nny Car lson and Suzu ki rid er Jason Partridge in the 250cc Mod ified class. Mit chell, fro m Or an gevale, California, how ever, turned the tab les on Jesseman in t h e 125cc M odifi ed class. Mitchell' s 3-1 finishes topped the 1-3 turned in by Jessema n for the overall vic t o ry . Team Gr een r id er T r a v is Hod ges took thi rd overa ll w ith a 5-2 score. Th e final Pro class, the 250cc Stock di vision, was won by Hod ges' Kaw asaki teammat e Tra vis Riley. The Bur leson, Texas, resid ent edged Carlson with a 1-3 score , w hil e Ca rls on carded a 3-2 for second overall . Again on the pod ium was [essernan , fillin g ou t th e top three w ith 5-1 finis hes. In all, Jessem an wo n six of the eig ht mot os he entered . Anothe r Su zuki rid er, Sha ne Bess, sco red big a t Po nca, winni ng th e 80cc 02-13) Modi fied and Super Mini classes. In th e Super Mi ni class, Bess top ped Kawasaki-m ounted James Ma rs hall of Texas and Yamaha rider Michael Blose of Phoe nix, Arizo na. In 80cc (12-13) Mod ified action, Bess battled w ith fellow Suzuki rid er Gen e Stu ll. Eac h won th eir respecti ve divisions, and the ru n-off wi n went to Bess, just ahead of the Yamaha of Jimmy Nel son. Third ove rall went to Stull. Stu ll, from Gibsonia, Pennsylva nia, rebounded to take the Champion ship in the SOcc (12-13) Stock class, topping Bess and New Zealand's Ben Townley. In what were perhaps the most hotly co n tes te d events , Ya mah a ' s Iv an Tedesco came away w it h tw o titles in -In terrned ia te-level racing. Ted esco took hom e the go ld in the 125cc Open NonPro d ivi si o n ove r h is A lb u q u e rq ue ne ig hbo r a n d fe ll ow Yama ha pil ot Kevin Johnson. Bobby Bond s made it a Yamaha sweep by filling the final podium spo t in that class. Ted esco also won the 125cc Stock Intermediate class, again getting the best of Bonds, and also Team (Left) Suzuk i's Brande n Je ssema n capt ured tw o titles at Ponca City , winning both the 125cc Stock and 250Cc Modified Pro cla sses. (Above) KTM rider Cole Seely relaxes before winn ing two cham pion ship title s in Pee Wee racing . G reen r id er And rew Short. Johnson came back to ta ste v icto r y in 125cc Modif ied Intermed ia te a ctio n over the Suz u ki o f N ick Metca lf a nd Kaw asak i' s Sh o r t. John so n was rewarded for his consistency, while the two d ivision winners, Bond s a n d Tedesco, fa ltere d in the fin al. Bon d s DNFed a nd Tedesco struggled to a 14th-p lace finish . Bond s secu re d a by cha m p io ns h i p go ing 1-2 in the 250cc Modified Intermediate class. H is score edge d o u t Wiscons in ' s Cha d Johnson , who posted a 4- 1 tally . Ulysses, Kansas, re s iden t Met ca lf ro unded ou t th e top three wi th a 3-4. Sh o r t b rou gh t hom e a tit le for h imself, wi n ning the 250cc Stock In termedia te class with a perfect 1-1 score. Johnson settled for seco nd, followed by Bonds. In additi on to [ esserna n, Bess an d Ted e sco, KTM ' s Cole Seely was a double class wi nner, as well. Seely ro cke ted his pumpkin- colored pee-wee to class wi ns in 50cc (7-8) Mod ifi ed an d Su pe r Pee Wee ac tion . Seely ou tgu nned the Co bras of Kenny Hen ry and Sean Hackley Jr. to take the Super Pee Wee titl e. See ly h ad mor e where that came from, again pu tting it to the Cobras in the 50cc (7-8) Modified class. Seely finished just ahea d of Zach Osborne and Brand en Miller.