Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e 100 pe rcent. I have the points lead in e se ries an d tha t's good ." A frustrated Emig too k fifth. He ha d cha nce t o gai n so me p o in ts o n uiIlemin after jumping out to a seco ndlace start, and wi th Vu iIlemi n runnin g n fifth a t th e tim e, the Yamaha ri d er tood a chance of catching the Fren cha n for th e se ries lead . Ins tea d, Emig ailed to ca p italize o n the si tua tio n, nable to maintain the s teady and fast ace se t by Lusk, Ward , McGrath and u iIlem in . "Practice and everything was reall y oo d ," Emig sai d . "Bu t I made a lot of mistakes and I was jus t reall y cho p py in the main. I just d id no t flow like I wanted to, so it w a s a little di sappointin g . But all in all it w as an all righ t weekend." Competing in only his third supercro ss of the year, GP st ar Ryan Hugh es was content w ith his six th-p lace fini sh . H e only man aged to advan ce one posi- tion throughout the race, bu t a sixth was oka y with him. Hughes withstood laterace challe nges by Mike LaRocco, who was hampe red by a 10th-place start. " I was up there, I was probably fifth or six th," Hughes said. "I thought I was ri di ng good , I m ea n , for no t ri ding supercross. This was my th ird time [on a supercross track] all year. Since Vegas I haven' t set foot o n a su percross track. Th ey [Hond a] sai d , 'Hey, just race this bik e: so I d idn't d o testing or anything, so I w as pretty ha ppy th e way I rode. I d idn't really expect much from myself. But I think I can rid e supercross better now than w hen I left. Hey, I beat a lot of good guys. Maybe 2001 I can come back; we'll see what happen s." Rounding out the top 10 we re Team H onda's Seb ast ien Tortelli and Suzuki riders Mick ael Pichon and Damon Huffman. Huffman took a head er only a few turns into the race and trailed the small 18-rider field after the first lap. (Above) Frenc h rider David Vulllemin was the top European rider In fourth , place . He st ili leflthe Rose Bowl with the World Supercross points lead . (Below) Ernesto Fonseca (100) and David Pingree (60) were in the hunt for the 125cc support-class win. [1[ii]D[J] ~@U U(J) ~uCfJfJf1 (J)W[i) u@CfJ[ii] D t appears that former AMA Supercross, and 125and 250cc National MotocrossChampion jeff Emig will form his own racing team for the year 2000 according to Tony Strangio, , who w ill act as the team's Manager. "Basically, what's been inked is that we have a deal with TI,e Edge Sports.com for this race at the Rose Bowl," Strangio said, "and we're really close, 90 percent finished on doing a deal for the year 2000. FMF, we've already signed with them, that's a done deal; they're going to be our secondary sponsor for the year 2000. We've also [signed] wi th Maxima, Bridgestone and all of jeff's other sponsors. White Brothers will be another big help of ours for the year 2000. Basically, the Edge deal will be completed by the end of next week." Strangio went on to say, "The way this is working is that this is jeff Emig's team. Right now, we think it's going to be called Strategic 3, because jeff's number next year is 3, and it's three of us involved in the team: jeff Emig, Tim Dixon and myself. We're all partners in the team, and The Edge Sports is going to be the title sponsor." When asked if the team had any plans to hire another rider, Strangio said, "Possibly; we're actually working on that." Strangio also said that the team ,,~II operate out of a full-sca le semi-hauler, just like all of the tactorv teams do. "Things are getting ironed with The Edge Sports.com,' Emigsaid, "and we can get to work on our race team. I'll be the owner, along with Dixon and Tony, and we'll start from there. We'll buy a tractor-trailer, get some graphics on it, some team gear and go racing. We'll pick up a lot of sluff along the way; eventually we'll build a race shop and stuff like thae It's just all things that take time. I'm happy now," dJ ohn Dowd made his first public appearance at the Pasadena Rose Bowl as a member of Team Kawasaki, but the former Western Regional 125cc Supercross Champion did not suit up. Instead, the longtime Team Yamaha rider spent the day hanging out in the pits, signing autographs and taking it easy. "1had surgery on my arms a little while back for carpal tunnel syndrome, so I just haven't been riding too much," Dowd explained. "1 rode a little bit back at home, and I was actually kind of planning on racing [at Pasadena], but 1 crashed pretty good right before I came out here, I broke a couple of ribs and cut myself, too - in kind of an embarrassing spot. Between not having ridden, injuries and not really having a lot of time on the bike. we figured it wasn' t a good idea to come and try to race." Dowd took delivery of his new Kawasaki race bike just three weeks ago. "The first week I was riding it [the Kawasaki], I was fresh off my surgery, so I was kind of putting around , trail riding a little bit. I really haven't had any hard time on it, motoing, or anything. I came out earlier this week and we got going with a little bit of testing. I don't really feel like I'm ready to race here, not so much with the bike but just with myself physically. I feel like I would like to haw more time on the bike." Dowd said he doesn't foresee any problems adjusting to the Kawasaki. "So far I'm really happy with it," he said. "I made some quick changes - handlebar height and this and that - but for the most part I'm pretty comfortable. I like it. I have never seemed to have a hard time switching around. I guess I'm not that fussy with the little things. I'm hoping I'll have an easy time with the changeover. "On" thing for sur" is kind of strange, and that's having green jackets and stuff," Dowd joked. "Yamaha was always blue; I never had anything gr""n before, so it was kind of hard to actually pack my clothes to come out here for this week to come testing, because everything in my closet is Yamaha stuff. It's going to be a little different, but I'm excited about the change." Dowd ab o said that he still has a good relationship with his former employer, Yamaha. "There's no hard feelings with anybody," Dowd said. "I was already over there [at the Yamaha pits] today. talking with them guys, it's so great between us. I'm happy about that. They're a great bunch of guys and still a good bunch of friends. I'm sure I'll still stop by and say Hi to them all through the year. But it's really great here rat Kawasaki], too. I think we're all going to get along." Team Kawasaki is somewhat unique in that their team is made lip of two veteran riders Dowd and Larry Ward - and one@fthey@ungestup -and-coming stars - Ricky Carmichael. "I think it's [the age difference] is good," Dowd said. "Ricky is the young guy full of fire, so as far as riding, I think it's going to be good for me to be around him, and Larry. too. Perhaps Rickycan learn something from us, too," Bro ck Sei lards put his FMF Honda in to the number -ll position , just ahead of Ca nadian [ean-Sebastien Roy . French rider Ma thieu Lolloz edged ou t Takeshi Koikeda for 11th, while American Billy Binkle y, Fr ench riders Pierrick Paget and N icolas Charlier, and Lance Smail completed the 18-rider field . 125cc SUPPORT Luckily, the 125cc su pport class saved th e day. Enough rid er s participa ted to make the two heat races and LCQ mean ingful, and much of the racing was downright good . When it was all over, Team Suzuki's new est recruit , T ravis Pastrana, fro m An napolis, Maryland , scored an exciting wi n in w hat was only his seco nd race as a pro fessional and the first as a professional on a 125. The wi n, how ever, d idn 't come easily for the yo u ng sta r. Af ter finishing seco nd to P ri ma l Impuls e Suzu ki rid er Da vid Pingree in the firs t heat race, he found h im self in the sa me situa tio n in th e 16-lap feature - chasing Pingree .for th e lead. But Pastrana had no intention of settling for the same result. At fir st, P astrana played i t s a fe, s tu dy in g Pingree's lin es and riding smoothly, bu t when he caught wind that Ea stern Regiona l 12 5cc Supercross C h ampio n Ernes to Fo n seca, on the Yamaha of Troy YZ125 , was rapidly making his way up through the pack, it was s u d de n ly time to s ta r t takin g _ch a nc es , Pa strana picked up his pace and began stickin g his front wheel next to Pingree's rear wheel, but Pingree was holding his own. At one point, Pastrana executed a slick block pass on Ping ree and scooted into the lead , but a la p later he wou ld exp erience a h o rr ib le lap . Three big bo bbles put him back into second p lace, wi th Fonseca now r ight behind him. Inst ead of panicking, Pastrana took a deep breath, regrouped and again went after Pingree. On the 10th lap, Pastrana rail ed th e outside of a bowl-type berm and slingshotted into the lea d . Momen ts later, it was Pingree's turn to make a mistake, a mis take that wo uld cost him second place to Fonseca, With six laps to go, the supercross rookie had to fend off a s upe rc ross champ io n, bu t Pastrana seemed u p to the challenge. The Suzuki rid er never gave an inch and showed Fonseca th e fas t way around the track - though, a t one point, Fonseca pulled righ t up next to Pas tra na when th e Suz u k i r ider swa p ped in th e w hoops. But Pastrana clung on to his small lead. With the w hite flag nearly in sight, lapper s sta rted becomin g a factor, but both rid ers m ana ged to g e t through uns cathed. Ju st w he n it looked as though this r ace was go ing to come down to the wi re, Fonseca charged a little too hard into a whoop section and go t pi tc hed off h is bike . Th e Co sta Rican, how ever, never let go of the han dlebars a nd ran a longsid e his out-ofcontrol motorcycle until he could find . his rhythm a ga in a n d literally jump back on his bike . This "rid e-' em -cow boy" stunt cost him any chance he had of catching Pastrana, who w ent on to take the exciting win. Fonseca scored an m m m ~ ~ i;; .c ~ lil 0 13

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