Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOONE ~ =- 10 Based on the recent success of Ramseyand the highly anticipated return of Carmichael to a KX12S, it was no surprise to see a SplitFire/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki reach the first turn in the lead at the start of the first moto. However, the lead bike did not belong to either party. Instead, it was their teammate Wey who led to the newly formed first turn at Glen Helen. Wey's closest competitors were Carmichael, Lytle, Johnson and Antunez. Many other riders were sorting themselves out after a pileup that occurred a few turns into the race. "l railed around the first turn and I was in the top five, but Robbie Skaggs went down and I barely missed him," said Pingree. "My rear-brake pedal caught his bike and it got wrapped around my footpeg, so I rode the whole moto basically with my foot off the peg, because if I set my foot down, it would lock up the wheel. I actually started in fifth and only faded back to 12th, which wasn't bad for having that problem." Sheak and Vohland were also bystanders in the Skaggs incident. "In the third corner, Robbie Skaggs fell in front of me and I had nowhere to go," said Sheak, who got up and continued the moto in pain. "I hit him and I hit my elbow pretty good and I thought I dislocated it but I ended up just tearing a ligament." "The first moto, I was feeling really confident and I picked a place on the gate outside of everybody," said Vohland. "I really felt that it didn't matter where I started and that I would have good results anywhere on the gate. It was a bad decision by me, because the ground here is so soft. There was a pileup and I had nowhere to go, so I got smashed and went down." Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, things began to sort themselves out and Carmichael was the main reason behind the lead change. "I was pumped to be in the lead for the first lap and 1 just tried my hardest," said Wey. "Ricky (Carmichael) passed me and 1 stayed with him for a little bit. Then he pulled a lead and Casey (Johnson) came up behind me and 1 got a little nervous and he got around me, but third is pretty good for me." Before Johnson made his way around Wey for second, he had to pass his teammate Lytle, who was running third behind Carmichael and Wey. "I got a pretty good start," said Lytle, who is known for his good starts. "l came ou t third and stayed out there for a little bit. Johnson came by me and I kind of hung in there a little bit longer. Later Brandes passed me. I'm happy because that's a good start for the first moto of the season." Lytle was one of m~y riders that the poor-starting Brandes passed during his moto-long charge through the pack. '1 got off to an all-right start and just rode tight the first couple of laps because it was the first outdoor," said Sellards, who was running just outside of the top five at the halfway point of the moto. "l got off to a pretty good pace and just tried to hang with the guys ahead of me. 1 caught a couple of guys; Antunez and Pingree, I got by them. Brandes got past me after that, though. I was pretty happy to avoid that pileup at the start. I almost went down in it but somehow 1 avoided it. I did everything but crash." When the white flag came out, Carmichael had a IS-second lead over second-placed Johnson, via consistent 2:42 lap times. Wey was a distant third, no threat of becoming another one of Brandes' first-moto prey. Lytle ran a close fifth behind Brandes, the only rider to stay on his pace once being passed by the rapidly moving Suzuki. All five riders finished the opening moto in that order. Sixth went to Vohland, and Sellards held on for seventh. Antunez dropped out of his top,five start but still managed eighth. Carmichael was glad to take the ch.eckered flag after a dry spell during the supercross season. "This win feels great," said Carmichael. "l got a good start and I was second for the first two laps. I worked my way past Nick (Wey) on the seccimd lap and pulled out a good lead and took it home from there."· .MOTOTWO Carmichael could not have asked for a better first moto, but Vohland could. Before the opening moto was even over, the FMF/Honda hotshoe was already sizing up the competition for the start of moto two. "I rode my butt off to sixth and I was very close to fifth," said Vohland about his first-moto march through the pack. '1 saw that I had very good speed. I just wanted to get close to Carmichael so 1 started right next to him on the gate. He started a little bit ahead of me but when 1 saw him, I got in behind him." Even further ahead of Vohland at the start was Wey, who grabbed the holeshot agaln. Skaggs and Fonseca avoided another first-lap disaster to gate second and third behind Wey. Sellards and Carmichael rounded out the lead six at the start. Vohland was back in ninth, behind Sheak, McCormick and Yamaha-mounted Matt Walker. Buried back in the pack were Lytle, Johnson and once again Brandes. Much to the dismay of many competitors, a fair amount of water was dumped on the track, increasing the chances of another first-lap pileup. "The track was pretty good except for they watered it both times before our motos, which made it a little muddy," explained Brandes, who was hoping for a better start in moto two. "They shouldn't have, but whatever." Johnson began to stage a climb through the field, bu t he fell victim to postrace drenching. "In the second moto, they watered it pretty bad," said Johnson. "Coming down the hill, my front end washed out and I went down pretty fast." The crash left Johnsqn with an 11 thplace finish. Despite the water, many felt the track was holding up well. "In the second moto, I didn't get off to as good a start," said Lytle, comparing it to his first performance. "I rode hard and ended up 10th that moto. I kind of just picked people off as I went on. The track got rougher but the rougher the track, the better." Yamaha of Troy's Stephane Roncadil was not liking the track conditions, due to his injured wrist. "I had to brace my wrist, and the brace broke," said Roncada about the first moto. "It was really sore and I Tallon Vohland was the victim of an earlymoto-one pileup, but in moto two the FMFlHonda rider passed Carmichael to take over the lead briefly. Shortly thereafter, Vohland slid out in a corner, falling back to finish second in the moto, third overall on the day. couldn't finish the race because of that. I pulled off. I taped my wrist really well in the second moto. It started getting real sore at the end so I had to back off a little bit. It's been like this for two months and it's just taking very long to heal. It's pretty screwed up right now and it's going to take a while to be 100 percent." Brandes, too, was having difficulties with the rough, watered track even though he staged another come-frombehind rally sill the way up to fifth. 'The first moto, I got around most of the guys pretty easy," said Brandes. "The second moto, I didn't start very well again. I was back in like 15th again. I had a little bit more trouble getting around some of those guys. The track was rougher, the lines were a little bit harder to set people up because it was rutted. I got behind Sheak, Fonseca and Sellards with about five laps to go. I got around all of them but Sheak." Brandes got around Sellards, but it as not easy, as both riders clung to one another for many laps. "I rode a little slow the first two laps and then I got my pace going," said Sellards. "From there I rode real fluid and got behind Ernesto (Fonseca), and me and him ba Wed forever. Sheak got by us both. Finally I got by Ernesto and then it was me and Brande~ battling forever. With like a lap and half to go, he got by me." • As Sheak, Brandes, Sellards and Fonseca fought over "fourth place, Wey once again sat comfortably alone in third. It was Carmichael, however, who was in danger of losing his position on lap six. "He was a couple of positions ahead of me, so we worked through the pack and then he got into the lead," said Vohland, who went from third to first in three laps. "I passed ick (Wey) on the second lap and kind of pulled away a little bit," said Carmichael. 'Then Tallon Vohland caught up to me and he passed me." Luckily for Carmichael, Vohland's lead was short-lived, lasting only a lap. "He made a mistake and slid out and I capitalized on it and got by him and came out with the win," said Carmichael. '1 knew he was going to be strong. [ saw him in Europe when I was over there. He was riding really good." Carmichael continued the last few laps uncontested as Vohland picked his CRl2S off the ground to finish the moto in second, carding third overall. "I'm happy with how I rode," said Vohland. "I went down in the first corner and still pulled out a top-three. That's what I have to do every week: just hit the podium every week and I'll be the champion." Wey's 3-3 score bested Vohland for seconf!. '1 feel really strong," said the Michigan native, pleased with his outing. 'This track is good. It's not one of my favorite tracks but I ride here sometimes for testing, but so does everybody." Brandes rounded out the top five in moto-two results behind Sheak to finish fourth on the day, ahead of Johnson's fifth-place showing, despite finishing 11th in the second moto. Sellards came out on top of his second-moto battle with Fonseca to finish sixth overall, ahead of Lytle, who finished seventh via a 5-10 score. Fonseca (9-7) followed. Sheak was somewhat pleased and optimistic about his fourth in the moto and ninth overall. "I went into the 'second moto, got a decent start and was in third," said Sheak. "In the fifth corner, I went outside and lost a couple spots and it took me half a race to get by Fonseca and Brock (Sellards). Finally I did and I ended up fourth. Not bad. If you were strong and you were doing your homework up to this race and you had the speed, you really weren't going to make up much time. It was a tough track to make up time because everyone was going the same speed after a while. I think that is going to change for the rest of the season." Sheak's teammate Carmichael has no plans to go the same speed as anyone else the rest of the series. "All I can hope for is to.carry this win into Hangtown next week," said Carmichael. 'That track is great. I love it there." . CII Glen Helen Raceway Park San Bernardino, California Resuhs: May 9, 1999 (Round 1 of 12) 125 MOTO 1: 1. Ricky Cannichael (Kaw); 2. Casey Johnson (Yam); 3. Nick Wey (Kaw); 4. Michael Brandes (Suz); 5. Casey Lytle (Yam); 6. TaJloo Vohland (Hon); 7. Brock Sellards (Hon); 8. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 9. Ernesto Fonseca (Yam); 10. Danny Smith (Hon); 11. Travis Preston (Suz); 12. D"vid Pingree (Suz); 13. Rusty Holland (Hon); 14., Scott Sheak CKaw); 15. Tyler Evans (Suz); 16. Nathan Ramsey (Kaw); 17. Brad Hagseth (Han); 18, Isaiah Johnson (Yam); 19. Matt Walker (Yam); 20. Donovan Mitchell (Yam); 21. Greg Schnell (Yam); 22. Erick Vallejo (Knw); 23. Jeff Northrop (Knw); 24. Jason McCormick (Han); 25. Michilcl Craig (Kaw); 26. Chris Gosselaar (Han); 27. Andy Harrington (Yam); 28. James Povolny Jr. (Yam); 29. Chad Pedcl'son (Suz); 30. Jeff Pestana (Suz); 31. Carlo Cocn (Y:.lm); 32. Robbie Skaggs (Suz); 33. Branden Jessemnn (Suz); 34. Jiri Dostal (Suz); 35. BiJly Payne (Kaw); 36. Stephane Roncada (Yam); 37. Keith Johnson (Yam); 38. Dennis Owens (Suz); 39. Doug Parsons (Suz); 40. Shae Bently (Kaw). 125 MOTO 2: I. Ricky Carmichael (K.1W); 2~ Tallon Vohland (Hon); 3. Nick Wey (Knw); 4. Scott Sheak (Kaw); 5. Michael Brandes (Suz); 6. Brock Sellards (Han); 7. Ernesto Fonseca (Yam); 8. Jason McCormick (Hon); 9. Travis Preston (Suz); 10. Casey Lytle (yam); 11. Casey Johnson (Yam); 12. Nathan Ramsey (Kaw); 13. Stephane Roncada (Yam); 14. Matt Walker (Yarn); 15. Greg SchncU (Yam); 16. Danny Smith (J-lon); 17. David Pingree (Sux); 18. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 19. Isaiah Johnson (Yam); 20. Tyler Evans (Suz): 21. Rusty HoUand (J-lon); 22. Brad Hagset.h (J-lon); 23. Jeff Northrop (Kaw): 24.. Chad Pederson (Suz); 25. Donavan Mitchell (Yam); 26. James Povoiny Jr. (Yam); 27. Eriek VaUejo (Kaw); 28. Robbie Skaggs (Suz); 29. Branden Jesseman (Sux); 30. Andy Harrington (Suz); 31. Jeff Pestana (Suz); 32. Doug Parsons (Suz); 33. Carlo Coen (Yam); 34. Mike Craig (Kaw); 35. Ke;th Johnson (Yam); 36. Jiri Dostal (Suz): 37. Chris Gosselaar (Han); 38. Billy, Payne (Kaw); 39. Dennis Owens (Suz); 40. Shae 6enUy (Kaw). 125 OIA, 1. Ricky Carmichael (Knw): 2. ;ck Wey (Kaw); 3. Tallon Vohland (Han); 4. Michael Brandes (Suz); 5. Casey Johnson (Yam); 6. Brock Sellards (J-lon); 7. Casey Lytle (Yarn); 8. Emeslo Fonseca (Yam); 9. Scott Sheak o

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