Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AnaheIm, Celifor-nie • ..Janusry. 15. 2CClCJ AMA/EA Spores Supercross Series Round 2: Edison International Field of Anaheim In a ride reminiscent of Anaheim I, Windham got off to a "something-towork-with" start, but went backward instead of forward. "I don't know," Windham said. "I just need to find a groove; I haven't found it yet. I'm searching for answers right now; I need to figure it out quick before McGrath gets out, because he's on the ball. Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed." At least Tortelli knew what his problem was: Stephane Roncada. "Right after the first turn, Roncada crashed on the double," Tortelli explained while holding a bag of ice on his foot. "In the air, I touched his bike and that slowed me down and I cased, pretty hard, the double. I went over the bars and I crashed with [Damon] Huffman. I bent my levers." "His bike [Tortelli's) flipped up who was also taken out. "Then I was dead last with a bent clutch lever." Huffman ended up ] 2th. Completing the top ] 0 was Kawasaki's John Dowd, who stalled his bike near the halfway point. Finishing ] ] th was Nick Wey on the SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki, followed by Huffman, FMF Honda's Brock Sellards, Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss, Dr. Medsker/Tom Morgan Racing's James Povolny, Demarini's Tyler Evans, Plano Honda's Grayson Goodman, Greg Albertyn and Answer racing/Planet Honda/Dr. Martens' Jean-Sebastien Roy. AMA 250cc outdoor National Champion Albertyn had been making up for lost ground after getting tangled up in that first-lap pileup with Huffman, Tortelli and Roncada, when he came Continued on page 10 onto my handlebars," said Huffman, [][]!?&J@f]@[lW 99 [lD@@ (J@[l0&JD@ Mike laRocco 15), Jimmy Button (12) and Windham (14) had a major scrap. laRocco eventually broke free for third, while Button experienced a roller-coaster ride to seventh. Windham finished eighth. ~ fS @) § @) ~ ~ ~ fS @ ~ §) 8 .. •• While Jeremy McGrath did his best to tum the night into a yawner, Team Yamaha's Jimmy Button (right) was making a valiant attempt to keep the main event interesting. Riding what was easily the loudest bike on the track, Button passed mUltiple riders in single moves, swapped through the whoops, launched (and cased) doubles without an adequate approach, and eventually stalled - all to the delight of the crowd. The chart to the right maps his progress. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 B 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 season. and now KTM's Keith Johnson (below) and Mike Young are both SIdelined WIth broken arms. Both Johnson and Young suffered the injuries whIle practIcing. Team Honda got the bad news that Ezra Lusk will miss most of the 2000 Supercross season because of the shoulder injury he sustained In practice at the series opener at Anaheim. January 5. X-rays of the shoulder revealed more damage than what was first thought. such as a torn ligament and a chipped bone. Lusk underwent surgery and will have to keep the shoulder immobilized for up to eight weeks. Lusk will now concentrate on getting healed and prepared for the AMA 250cc outdoor MX Nationals. which are set to begin at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bemardino. CaliforOla. May 14. Lusk did not attend Anaheim II. Things weren't much better in the Yamaha of Troy pits. either. While practicing on the Yamaha test track earlier in the week. 125cc rider Casey Johnson suffered a crash that resulted in a broken elbow. Johnson's elbow will require surgery. and it is not yet known how long he will be out of action. Johnson has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. Justin Buckelew. the team's now lone rider in the 125cc West Coast Series. finished 15th. Broken arms seem to be the trend right now. First it was JeH Emig who broke both arms while practicing for the Supercross JANUARY 26, 2000' cue • B n e vv older and understands training. I'm as strong as I have ever been. Gary and I have been training hard like mad men. When I'm lean and fit. my confidence is high and it's hard to break that." Motoworld of EI Cajon's Mike Craig decided to sit out Anaheim II after InJunng his leg dUring a preliminary qualIfying race at Anaheim I. Craig reportedly tore a muscle in his leg and was left with a huge knot on hIS thigh. the same thigh that he broke two years ago. Luckily. the two injuries are not related. Craig is expected to return to action at the San Diego Supercross next week. BRIEFLY••• 8 Ever wondered what it would be like to have a factory ride? Well, for $50.000 you can actually find out, thanks to a unique program that the Answer Racing/Planet Honda/Dr. Martens team has set up. According to team manager Paul Lindsey, for $50,000 the team will set you up with a bike just like the regular team riders have, fly you to the races and take care of everything you need to race a complete series. "In Europe, they do this all the time - they're support teams," Lindsey said. "That's where I got the idea. If someone is talented enough to make it, we'll give him a try. Obviously, he has to be capable, which is determined by us. But if someone has the money, or a sponsor. a program such as this could work out real well, and could be even be cheaper than trying to follow an entire series themselve~." Currently, no one has taken Planet Honda up on their offer, but $50,000 rides are available for the Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Series and the AMA National Championship 125cc MX Series. Planet Honda does have, however, a "guest" (non-paying) rider on their team right now - French rider Serge Guidetty, who has qualified for both Anaheim J 25cc main events and is expected to ride just the first four rounds of the series (but that could change if he continues to do well). At Anaheim II, Guidetty finished 12th. Planet Honda is considering another guest rider on its team in the near future. Rafael Ramos. Ramos is one of Brazil's top riders and, if the team takes him on, he will compete in the 125cc East Coast Supercross and 125cc outdoor Nationals. Answer Racing/Planet Honda's regular team is made up of Jean-Sebastian Roy (250cc), Jason McCormick (125cc West), Matt Walker (125cc East) and Isaiah Johnson (125cc West). Joining the squad for the 250cc outdoor Nationals will be a rider from Chile, Jeremy Israel. Speaking of Planet Honda, a team replica CR250 was on display at a Dr. Martens outlet store - Robert Wayne - at an outdoor mall in Anaheim. Dr. Martens is one of the team's newest sponsors, and the CR250R will be on display in other stores for at least the early rounds of the Supercross Series. Dr. Martens will eventually be giving the bike away in a drawing. From the podium. Jeremy McGrath spoke a little bit about why he thinks he's had such a successful career racing motorcycles. ~It's important for me as a racer and a person to never give up." McGrath said. "My dad. my mom and my sister. who have been with me there the whole time. have always had this motto: No matter what you get. you try your hardest. I give it 100 percent all the time. I try to ride calm and collected and try not to make any mistakes and just think a lot while I'm out there. I think that's what has made my career such a long career and a healthy one - knock on wood," Yamaha's David Vuillemin was this week's recipient of the YahoolSports Holeshot Award. pocketing a cool $1000 for nailing the holeshot in the 250cc main. In the 125cc main. FMF/ Honda's Chris Gosselaar took the award and the $500 that goes with it. Jeremy McGrath gave trainer and former motocross racer Gary Semics a lot of credit for his recent success at the two Anaheim Supercross rounds. "Gary's back out at my house kicking my butt and being really strict. and that's what I need." McGrath said. "He's like a mentor. because he's older. I respect him. not like someone my own age that I'm training with; he's s There was a lot of talk abcut the "gnarly" whoop section on this week's track. "The whoops were a very bad point [for me) tonight." Team Honda's Sebastien Tortelli said after the main. in which he finished ninth. "They [the whoops) scared me a little bit tOOlght. I've never seen such big whoops: I was amazed by them. Maybe that's why I didn't do so good this weekend." Strategic 3/TheEdgeSports.com's Phil Lawrence was one of the many riders who literally fell victim to the whoops and. as a result. failed to make the main event. "In the heat race. I came through there and fell and bruised my arm." Lawrence said. "After that I couldn't really hold on and that time [after he endoed in the whoops in the LCQ and was slow getting back to his feetl. Continued on page 10

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