Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

son got the holeshot in the first moto and, despite an early trip over the bars, held on to finish a strong third behind Vohland and Sellards. Johnson wasn't quite as fortunate in the second moto, however, as he was one of the many victims of a harrowing first-turn pileup. Mudcovered and without goggles, Johnson soldiered on to an 11place finish. . "After that first-turn pileup in the second moto, I didn't think I was going to be able to work my way up at all," said Johnson. "The track was onelined and really muddy. I got going and worked up to a good pace, but I had to ditch my goggles. There's always something that seems to keep me from doing a little better each week. I'll keep plugging away and I should be up there. Hopefully, I can go to Red Bud, get some good starts and put my Yamaha up on the podium for the first time this year." Roundi.ng ou t the top fi ve overall was Primal Impulse/Suzuki/Bill's Pipes' Michael Brandes. Brandes was one of a handful of contenders that went down together in the first turn of moto one, and he charged steadily through the pack to finish eighth after being counted in 15th at the completion of the first lap. Moto two went slightly better for the Ukiah, California, native, who rode all alone for the better part of the moto to finish sixth. Brandes, who advanced from fifth to fourth in the series' points, took the day in stride and was happy to emerge from the brutal conditions unscathed. "Today, I was just trying to survive out there," explained Brandes. "I didn't want to cio anything dumb. A lot of the guys were real inconsistent. By staying consisten t, I think I made up some f"oints and, hopefully, that will be enough to move me back up in the standings. It was tough out therJ;. I think that second moto was even harder than the first one. In the first moto, it wasn't quite as slippery. In the second moto, it was really one-lined and started to rut up more. It was a little bit tougher, but I hung in there, rode smart and didn't go down like a lot of guys. It was good. I made it through and survived the day." Two-time and defending 125cc National Champion Ricky Carmichael was sixth overall with an inconsistent 22-1 score. Carmichael was just one of the many riders who got caught up in moto one's first-turn pileup. "I just got sandwiched," said Carmichael. "I don't know what happened, exactly. Everybody kind of just closed in and I was in the middle of .i t and crashed. Then, I lost my brakes on the third lap and things just went downhill from there." Finishing seventh overall was FMF/Honda's Danny Smith, who matched his career-best of fourth in. the first moto before being caught in moto two's first-turn crash and finishing 16th. Eighth overall went to Kelly Smith, followed by Bromley Suzuki/ MSR/Dunlop's Barry Carsten, who earned top-privateer honors for his 6-14, ninth-overall ride. Next in line was Yamaha of Troy's Stephane Roncada, who, despite a lingering wrist injury, went 14-8 to round out the top 10 overall. With his outstanding ride at Budds Creek, Vohland closes to within 13 points of Carmichael, 222-209. Sellards continues to hold third with 167 points. Brandes, who dropped from third to fifth at the previous round at Southwick, (Left) A week after turning In his best-ever National ride with a second at Southwick, Brock sellards - another FMFlHonda rider· matched that at Budds Creek, finishing second overall again. (Above) series leader Ricky Carmichael finished out of the points in the first moto after going down in the first turn. carmichael battled back to win the second moto. (Below) Arenacross Champion Buddy Antunez visited the podium by placing third overall. regains one spot, moving into fourth with 146 points. Johnson is fifth with 137 points, followed by Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Nick Wey in sixth with 131 points. Danny Smith is seventh with 106 points, Wey's SpIitFire teammate Nathan Ramsey is eighth with 101 points, and Team Yamaha of Troy's Casey cLytie holds ninth with 99 points. Lytle's teammate Ernesto Fonseca rounds out the current top 10 in the series with 95 points. MOT01 Johnson blasted to the first-moto holeshot, followed by Team Planet Honda/Pro Grip's Jason McCormick, Danny Smith; Team Moto Planet's Matt .Walker and Carsten. Antunez, Vohland and Sellards occupied sixth:seventh and eighth, respectively. A first-turn pileup claimed a large group of riders that included Roncada, Brandes, Kelly Smith and Carmichael. Before the end of the first lap, Johnson would also go down and surrender the lead to Walker. "We chose not to do a parade lap," explained Johnson. "I was unfamiliar with the puddles and the ruts in the back. I hit a big puddle that turned out to be a little deeper than 1. thought and I went over the bars." Walker temporarily inherited the lead on lap one before pulling out of the moto with bike trouble, leaving McCormick to take over the top spot. Just four laps into the moto, tragedy also struck McCormick. "I had just started getting into the pace and, a lap or so before the halfway point, my bike seized," said McCormick. "I felt totally comfortable and relaxed leading. I have no doubt tha.t I could have won that moto." With McCormick out of the picture, Sellards moved into the lead, only to be overtaken by his teammate Vohland just after the halfway point. "Like everyone else, my front brake was gone by the second lap," said Sellards. '1 just tried to stay up there and keep some speed up, but it was hard on those downhills, they were so slippery. Tallon was riding pretty good. I got by him early on, but he came back and got me." Vohland charged to the moto win, gaining a full 25 points on Carmichael, who finished in 22nd place. "I didn't even know I won," said the elated Vohland. "It's unbelievable. I thought I got third. I was just out there . riding around." Sellards was strong in second. Johnson recovered for third and Danny Smith finished fourth. Fifth went to Antunez, followed by Carsten in sixth. Pro Am Racing/TMR's Matt Maximoff finished seventh, Brandes was eighth and Fonseca was ninth. Banzai Racing's Thomas Hofmaster rounded out the top 10. MOT02 Kelly Smith splashed to the second-moto holeshot, followed by Ramsey, who stuffed his front end and fell at the bottom of the first downhill, dropping him well out of the top 10. Smith took con trol of the moto and proceeded to put in one of his strongest-ever performances, leading nine of the moto's 12 laps before being finally being passed by Carmichael. "This is the first time I've led a moto outdoors," said Smith. ''I'm pretty comfortable with the mud and consider myself to be a pretty good mud rider. It just took getting a good start." Antunez scored a great start and ran second before surrendering the position to the charging freight train of Carmkhael and Vohland at the twothirds mark. With just three laps to go, Carmichael made his move on Smith for the lead. "I was kind of wondering when he (Carmichael) was going to catch up," said Smith. "Looking back on the moto, I had actually pulled away from the pack on a few occasions. I crashed once, and they caught back up. I wasn't going to stress over it. I just wanted to stay on two wheels and get a good finish." Carmichael took the moto win over Smith, who kept his composure to finish a career-best second. "That's exactly what I wanted to do," said Carmichael. "I'm really happy to have been able to turn a bad day into a good one." Vohland crossed the line for third and the overall win. Antunez held on for fourth, followed by Sellards in fifth. Brandes was sixth, Freestate Cycles/ Xtreme's Kevin Crine was seventh and Roncada finished eighth. Ninth went to Team Moto-XXX's Travis Preston, followed by TMR/Thor-backed Yamaha rider James Povolny in 10th. CIII Budds Creek MX Park Budds Creek, Maryland Results: June 20,1999 (Round 5 of 12) 125 MOTO 1: 1. Tanon Vohland (Hon); 2. Brock Sellards (Hon); 3. Casey Johnson (Yam); 4. Danny Smith (Han); 5. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 6. Barry Carsten (Suz); 7. Matt Maximoff (Kaw); 8. Michael Brandes (Suz); 9. Emesto Fonseca (Yam); 10. Thomas Hofmaster (Suz); 11. Nick. Wey ()(aw); 12. Thomas Barron (Kaw); 13. Travis Preston (Suz); 14. Stephane Roncada (Yam); 15. Casey Lytle (Yam); 16. Branden Je~5eman (Suz); 17. Paul Currie (Suz); 18. Jason Thomas (Yam); 19. Nathan Ramsey (Kaw); 20. Tom Welch (Suz); 21. Michael Kann (Yam); 22. Ricky Carmichael (K.1W); 23. Randy Valade (Kaw); 24. Tyler Evans (Suz); 25. Damien Plotts

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