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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127990
Round 13: Pontiac Silverdome TOYOTA TRUCKSITHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA U.S. SUPERCROSS SERIES (Left) FMF/Honda's Brock Sellards scored his first Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross win. (Above) Ernesto Fonseca saw his win streak come to an end, but he still finished second. AMA Eastern Regional125cc SX Series Round 5: Pontiac Silverdome Fonseca doesn't _in By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Karl Ockert .. PONTIAC, MI, APR 10 es, FMF's Brock Sellards won his first-ever Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross, but perhaps the bigger news was who ctidn't win. Yamaha of Troy's Emesto Fonseca; who had won each of the series' previous four races, fell victim to the same sort of overenthusiastic riding that he'd exhibited on his way to winning the St. Louis Supercross, and he had to settle for second. SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Nicholas Wey, who overshot a comer and knocked Fonseca over early in the race, and who led the first five laps before being passed by Sellards, took third. "I got the holeshot and I should've IY !IIi IIIii III I!II II i Q N 'E Q. et 12 pulled away, but it's one of those weekends," Fonseca said. '1 didn't win, and Brock is a really good rider. Nick (Wey) kind of did a block-pass on me and I crashed. That was a good race, and hopefully I can come back next week and retaliate and get another win. It was a block-pass and I fell and he came a little too hot in there, and I guess tha t's racing. Last week I did the same thing and Kelly (Smith) crashed. This week it's my turn. So that's part of racing." "I never haven't even been running up front all year," Wey said afterward, "and I saw that lead spot, and I tried going inside of Ernie, and I tried making . a nice pass but I was going too fast in the turn. I was overexcited. I do apologize to Ernie for that. I led a couple of laps, and that was the first time I ever led in front of the hometown Pontiac crowd, and I want to represent the (Michigan) Mafia here tonight." Sellards, who lives in New Philadelphia, Ohio, about four hours from Pontiac, felt that he, too, was representing local interests. "I was wondering when the breaks were going to occur, and I've had some really bad luck this year, some of it riding, some of it other things - crashing or something," Sellards said. "Finally, things worked my way tonight." Joseph Oehlhof, the AM/Leonard/ KRW-backed KTM rider, was· fourth, riding alone most of the race well in front of Excel Motorsports' Josh Demuth, aboard a Yamaha. Demuth started in fifth and ended in fifth, bu t he moved back and forth along the way before settling in for good with four laps to go. To get there, he had to pass Team Moto Planet's Robbie Horton, on a Yamaha, who passed Suzuki-mounted Robbie Skaggs on the final lap. Heat-race winner Jiri Dostal, of the Primal Impulse Suzuki team, was eighth. Then came Excel Motorsports' Jason Thomas and KTM's Kelly Smith. Despite finishing second, Fonseca increased his championship lead to 37 points over Wey, 122-85, with Sellards moving into third with 83. HEATS Nine riders would advance directly to the 125cc main from each of the two six-lap heats, and Dostal made certain he'd be one of them. The Suzuki rider got the jump on the 20-riqer field at the start of the first heat and never looked back. lf he had, he'd have seen a battle for second that involved three riders, though the order never changed. Demuth was at the front of the rest from the start, and that's where he stayed. Sports Cyc:les Racing's Mark Burkhart made an early run at him but couldn't sustain it and eventually got passed himself. In the end, it was the Yamahamounted Demuth about 1.75 seconds behind Dostal, with Horton taking third . late on the final lap. He passed Burkhart in a treacherous whoop section, and then fended off Burkhart's reply. Fifth went to Oehlbof, with Suzukimounted Tyler Evans sixth. The second heat turned out to be 11 seconds faster than the first, and for good reason. Fonseca hooked up with Sellards, and neither was willing to relent. Fonseca ctidn't gate particularly-well, getting away second but dropping back to third early on. He reclaimed second from Planet Honda's Jason McCormick two turns from the end Of the first lap and set out after Sellards. Closing right in, Fonseca kept the heat on, but he ctidn't make his move until the fourth lap, when he pulled even with Sellards in a series of jumps along the east side of the stactium. Sellards didn't roll over, challenging Fonseca and taking the lead back in the left turn leacting to the jump section, which Fonseca used for his first pass, and which he would use again on this lap. The pair ended the lap side by side, racing to the steep finish jump, with Fonseca just ahead. Sellards had one move left. On the final lap, he overjumped the last set df triples, running hard into the l80-degree left-hand berm and powering out just behind Fonseca. After the pair went side by side through the whoop section, Sellards took the inside line for the lead. But Fonseca wasn't done. On the short approach to the finish-line jump, Fonseca powered on, while Sellards bobbled

