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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128005
ard s , a t 369-270 . Voh la n d's a bsence
dropped him to th ird in th e stand ings
wi th 253, w hile Weyand Brandes hold
fo u rth and fifth w it h 219-217, resp ectively.
MOTOl
Wi th the temperature hovering near
th e m id-90s, the 12Scc rid ers blasted off
the new co nc re te s ta rti ng p ad fo r th e
first tim e.
Roncad a ga te d best o ff the ce ment
and wa s the firs t rid er to th e turn, but he
drift ed ex tre mely w id e a nd Lytle and
P rim a l Im p u ls e Su z u k is Bu dd y
Antunez sne ake d by down th e second
straight. It was un clear as to w he re the
actual ima ginary holeshot lin e was, and
Ronca d a wa s cred ited w it h the $500
THQ holesh ot awa rd .
" Th ey' re giving it to hi m ?" Ly tl e
qu esti oned aft er th e moto. " He wen t so
wid e! Tha t's money out of my pocket."
As th e rid ers a p proached th e infa mous Widow Mak er for the first tim e, it
wa s a Yamaha of Tro y freight train up
fro nt and Lytl e, Roncada and Fonseca
were the e ng ine. A n tu nez, Sellards ,
FMF's Go ssela ar and Pingree cam e next
at th e e n d of the first lap , while
Carmichael wa s back in tenth.
Sell ard s moved b y A n tu n ez fo r
fourth on the second lap as Ca rmic hael
w as also bu sy m ovin g up. Meanwhile,
Roncada made his pass for th e lead on
hi s" te ammate ' Lytl e a nd began to pull
away.
Roncada alre ad y had three seconds
on Lytl e on lap three and Sell ards was
in thi rd a s h e h ad p a s s ed Fon s eca .
Carmichael was up to fifth on th e jumpfilled circuit and wa s pressuring Fonseca for fourth a sho rt time lat er.
Carmichael go t by Fonseca bu t bobbled and w ent down only to quickl y
recover and ge t go ing again.
By th e 10-minute m ark of the 30 m inute -plus -t w o -lap m oto, Roncada
had about a lfl-se cond lead o ve r Lytle
and Sellards. Fonseca a nd Carm ichael
w ent at it again for so m e time, while'
Roncada continued to d istance his lead .
Sellards wou ld m o ve by Lytle fo r
second a lap later as d id Carmichael on
Fonseca for fourth . Carmichael maintain ed his pa ce and quickly close d in on
Lytl e, looking to move int o third .
Carmich a el m ov ed a ro u n d Lytl e
soon thereafter and set out after hom estate hero Sellards w ho was riding comfortably in seco nd . Ca rm ichael followed
Sellards for some tim e and fina lly made
his mov e, sneaking by ~lards after the
Banzai Triple.
Ro ncad a now had abou t
a 16-second lead over seco n d -p la ce Ca r m icael with
un d er
e ig h t
min ut es
remaini ng in the race. Sellards held his pace in third,
as did Lytl e in fou rth . Primal Impulse Suzu ki's Brand en ] essem a n was no w o n
th e tail of Fon seca in sixth,
an d the tw o began to battle.
]e s s eman a n d Fonseca
bum ped and Fonseca hit the
so il, losing many positi ons,
and Pingree took advan tage
and slip ped by ]esseman for
fifth.
" Me a n d ]essema n
bumped i n th e ai r over a
jump and I w en t d own and
broke off my clutch lever ,"
Fo nseca said . " A fte r th at I
jus t rod e around ."
Throughou t th e last few
laps of the rnoto, Ca rmic hae l closed th e
gap on Roncad a, but Roncada had established a large enoug h lead to relax a bit,
and would soon cross the line for his firstever Nati onal victory on American soil.
Carmichael crossed th e line second ,
so m e 10 second s back w hile Sella rd s,
Ly t le, Pin gree ca m e next. ] es seman
crossed for his best ride of the vear an d
Ram sey came from' a distant 20th-place
start to finis h seven th .
"Th is is th e best win fo r m e," 20year-o ld Roncada exclaimed . " It is just
a ma zing and I am really happy tha t I
wo n w ith a big lead . I think th a t I
proved to so me people tha t [ ha ve been
training a lot and that I'm ready to win."
Ca rmichael sa id , " I d idn' t feel th at
grea t out ther e. I was charging as hard
as I could but Stephan e was riding good
too. I d on 't know w hat happened on the
s ta r t e i ther , I got a g rea t ju m p a n d
everybod y jus t rod e right by m e."
"I go t a pretty good start and worked
m y wa y in to seco nd , but I saw Rick y
slowly catching me," Sellards sa id of his
third place rid e.' "Afte r he pa ssed me, I
rod e with him and didn't reall y let him
ge t away."
MOT02
With burnout -smoke billowing from
the pad, it w as Fonseca who got the best
jump. Sellards came out of the first turn
in the lead th ough, a nd w as ahead of
Fo nseca and Carmicha el headi ng in to
tu rn two.
Sellards mad e a mis take and sho t off
th e tr ac k while leading, but got go~ng
ag ain q uic kly.
th e eno rmo us jumps, Ca rmichael pulled
o u t so me wh ip, nac-n acs an d va ri ou s
o ther m oves to give the crowd th e ir
mon ey' s worth.
At the ch eckers it w a s Ca rmicha el
with abou t n in e s eco nds o n Sellards,
and a happy Roncad a rolled in for third .
"I had it m ade up in my mind before
th is m ot o tha t I was go ing to go o u t
there and win," Carmichael lat er said. " I
pu t in some co ns istent la ps th e entire
moto and it paid off."
"That m o to we nt rea ll y good for
me," Sella rds said . "I could hea r man y
of th e fans cheering for me and tha t was
coo l. The bik e is working great too. It
kee ps getting better every time I ride it
a nd I wa nt to thank everyone at FM F
an d Honda for supporting me."
CN
Kenworthy's Motocross Park
Troy. Ohio
Results: July 25, 1999 (Round 8 of 12)
" Th a t w as weir d , " Sell ard s sa id
about the incident. "I sho t off th e track
and took ou t banners and sta kes, then I
had to get back on the sa me way ."
A t th e en d o f th e firs t la p it w a s .
Ca rmic hael in th e lead with a pumped
Ron cada on his tail. Sellards, Lytl e and
Fonse ca we re also in there as we ll.
Ron cad a kept th e pres sure o n
Ca rmichael for severa l laps and at one
p oi n t c h a llen g ed fo r th e le a d , but
Carmichael "licked it up a bit and put
s ome di s tance back o n th e firs t m ot o
winner.
"I was n't su rp rised that he was going
that fast," Carmichael acknowle d ge d,
"bu t [ w o uld ha ve been surprised if he
kep t that pace the who le rnoto."
Sella rds wa tched th e tw o ahea d of
him from the thir d spot and kept a close
eye on Ron cad a. Wh en Ron cada seemed
to tire a bit, Sellards attac ked. Sellard s
pa ssed Roncad a for seco nd aro u nd th e
ou tside of a tricky corner tabl et op jump,
and Roncad a soon tossed his goggles in
fav o r of so me m ore air and vis ion.
Now in second , Sellards got on th e
gas to di stance himself fro m Roncad a
and the rest of the field . Ron cad a, kn ow in g th at a third place w ould s till n et
himself se co nd overa ll, se tt le d in to a
good pace a distance ahead of his teamm at e s Lyt le and Fons eca wh o w.er e
involved inan int en se battl e around the
track for se veral laps .
Fon seca made his move around Lytl e
for fou rth w ith seve ra l laps rema ining,
and Brandes had gotte n by Pingree and
Wey for sixth as tim e was running out.
Ca rm ic ha e l bu st ed o u t th e moves
after the tw o lap board came out. Over
M OT O 1: 1. Stepha ne Ron cada (Ya m ); 2. Rick y
Ca rmicha el (Kaw); 3. Broc k Sellards (Hon ): -I. Ca sey
Ly tle (Ya m) ; 5 . Da v id Ping r e e (Su z) ; 6 . Brand e n
Iesseman (5u:£);7. Nat han Ramsey (Ka w ): R. Nick W/?'f
IKaw) , 9. Paul Cu rrie (Suz) : 10. ja so n McCo rm ick (Hon):
11. Kelly Smith (KTM); 12. Buddy An tun ez (Suz): 13.
Travi s Pre ston (Suz): 14. Em es to Fonse ca (Y.lm); 15.
Keith Johnson (Ya m); 16. Jim Nt>t'SE' (Yam); 17. Michael
Brandes (Suz); 18. Rusty Holland (Hen): 19. Matt Shue
(Suz) : 20. Brad Hagseth (Hen): 21. Randy Valade (Kaw ):
22. Jason Tho mas (Yam ); 23. Damicn Plotts (Yam); 24.
Jeromy Bueh l (Hen): 25. Jeff Gi bson (Kaw): 26. Chris
Gossela nr (Hen) : 27. Sam Yanitelli (Yam); 28 . Chad
San ner (Yarn) ; 29. Steve And rich tHon): 30. Jot.·Oc hlhof
(KTM); 31. Rob bi e Horton (Yam ); 32. Da nny Sm it h
(He n): 33. Mar k Bur khart (Yam); 34. Isaia h Joh nso n
(Yarn): 35. Tom Welch (Suz); 36. James Povolny (Yarn):
37. Jimmy Wilson (Ya m ); 38. Josh Taran tino (SU7.); 39.
Michael Craig (Kaw): 40. Ryan Duff (Yarn }.
MOTO 2: 1. Ric ky Carmi cha el (Kaw ): 2. Brock
Sellards (He n): 3. Steph ane Rcncada (Yam); 4. Ernes to
Fo nseca (Ya m ); 5. Casey Lyt le (Yam) : 6. Mi cha el
Bran des (Su zj: 7. Nick Wey (Kaw ): 8. Dav id Pingr ee
(Suz ): 9, Nathan Ramsev IKaw ): 10. Michael C raig
(Ka w ): 11. Paul Currie (SuZ); 12. Kellv Smith (!