Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA EA SPOl"'ts Supel"'cI"'oss S el"' ie s R o u n d 14: Texas S t a di u m BRIEFLY•• • Privateer Heath Voss showed up wit h another new transporter at Dallas. The rig is similar to his old truck, which was also on hand, but sport s a white paint theme and a motorh ome-style popout lounge area . Vo ss sold his old truck, and the new ow ners picked it up after the event. them on his thro tt le housing (most recently at the previous We st ern round in Houston) . Pingree , who is now focusing on the out- doors, said a return is possib le for next wee k at Salt Lake City, and more likely for the season finale in Vegas. Yarnaha team manager Keit h M cCarty says that Frenchman David Vuillemin - out with a bro ken collarbo ne - is riding again and plans to retu rn to action next week at Salt Lake City . Max' s Racing's Taylor Watts collected the Dr. Bodnar $100 Gas Card for finishing fifth in the 125cc LCQ. The award is presented each week to the first rider that didn't qualify in 125cc class. Planet Honda's Mike Craig returned to action at Dallas after being out of action w ith a broken wrist, sustained while practicing at St ephane Boncada' s house several months ago , C raig rode well and wo n a semi. He said that he will be com pet ing in the upcoming X-Games later this summer, He will also be riding the Canadian Nationals for Blackfoot Honda. Sebastien Tortelli pulled out of the main event after going over the bars and landing on his shoulder . "The ta ke-off was very slippery, so I just slid the rear end,- Tortelli said. "lt' s just a little sore ~ nothing major. " Th is ha s j us t no t be en Pro La Mesa, California's A ndy Harrington was pitting out of the Moto XXX rig and was sport ing their graphics as well . Team member Mic hael Brandes has been out of action for all but one lap of the 2001 season and the team decided to get another rider other than Kyle Lewis out on the track . Fox also had a numbe r-one Carmichael jersey on hand, which R.C. will get to don in a few week s at the Glen Helen outdoor National opener. C irc u i t · s seas o n . Pr o Circuit/Kawasaki/SplitAre riders have been haunted all series by injuries and poor results , and the trend continued at Dallas, where only guest team member Erick Vallejo was competing. Defending 125cc We stern Regional Champion Shae Bentley separated his shoulder and broke his co llarbone while practicing at home in Ge orgia, and Casey Lytle stretc hed the ligaments in his right knee , Team boss Mitch Payton was probably holding his breath when Vallejo went down in the whoops during Saturday practice , and sat by the track for several minutes with a sore shoulder. SFX had hoped to host a P.R. gig at Dallas, with IR L car racers Jeff Ward and Casey Mears riding the supercross track with Jeremy M cGrath and Travis Pastrana, but the IRL called it off at the last minute. Photographer extraord inaire Steve Bruhn, who shot the photos that acco mpany this story, recently quit h is "rea l" job as an enginee r at U .S , Airways in order to focus more attention and effort on his free-lance moto rcycle phot ography. Bruhn, who used to fly for free, showed up at Dallas in his well-traveled Toyota Camry, which he had driven all the way from Pitt sburgh. This was just the beginning of a five-race road trip, as Bruhn won't return home un til after the second Travis P astrana's 250cc return didn't go as well as hoped, as he spun sideway s over the first jump aft er holeshotting his heat race, blocking much of the pack behind him, then crashed later on the first lap in the whoops. After nding a couple of laps with no fr ont number plate , Past rana pulled off th e track and didn't race again, " I'm off, " Pastrana said. -I had the flu all week and didn't really do anyt hing, I came out , and I'm not fast enough to run with those guys when I'm not on, and I just crashed myself out." Pastrana' s father said that the new 125cc Eastern Regional champ will ride a 125 from here on out (it had been hoped that he wou ld race both classes at Las Vegas) , - I just think he's got to find the brake on that big 250 now ," jok ed Ezra Lusk. The bulk of the Vans Triple C rown m o ne y is now safe , as Jeremy McGr ath was n't able to back up his Anaheim II win at the second Vans race in Dallas. - I was thinking about that, " McG rath said. " I wan ted to win the Va ns Triple Crown money because basically, it was the only thing I had left in the Series, That was important, but it hasn't seemed to be wo rking out lately," Had he wo n, McG rath would still be in contention for the half-million dollar prize, tho ugh he co uld still take $25,000 if he' s the best per former over the series within a series (round three is at the EA Sport s finale in Las Vegas). AMA Chevy Trucks National at Sacramento , C alifo rni a. Bruhn w as packed for anything, with everyth ing from a tux (for the post-season party at Veg as) to riding gear (for some track time while out in California). Many of the Dallas co mpeti· tors celebrated Earth D ay a fe w hou r s earl y, taking an So thorough is Ricky Carmichael's dominance this season that the current hot topic among pundits is the lack of atte ntion paid by the media to anyone else. According to the line of thinking, non-champs in other forms of sport are considered heroes in their fie lds , but not in mot orcycl ing , whose journal ist s don 't g iv e adequate exposure to tho se further down in the pack. Great Lakes Aviat ion privateer Heath Vo ss came up with a unique solution to the dilemma at Dallas: He won his semi and finished an impressive sixth in the main event, earning a photo in this sto ry. were sur prised to see Austrian Michael Byrne show up at Dall as, what with the recent folding of TheEdgeS· ports.com Kawasaki. Byrne showed up in r o o mmat e J e ff Emig's Ford van, and M a ny inord inate numbe r of soil samp les th roug hout t he night' s racing. Among the big na mes to go down w e re Stephane Roncada (w hiplashinducing loopout in whoops): Travis Pastrana (twice in just a few minutes ' acti on) ; Damon Huffman (along with much of the semi-one pack) : Mike laRocco (twice in the main): Ezra Lusk (ditt o): Kevin Windhem (turn one in the main): Sebastien Tortelli (hard enough to pull out of the main): Tim Ferry (washed -out front end): and Ernesto Fonseca (whoop endos in practice and the main, heat-race rag-doll). For the past three races. SFX floor announcer Jaimie Uttle has joined webca ste rs Chad Diamante and Ji m Holley for a new Friday-niqht, pre-race, on -l ine round-table , based on a radio talkshow format. For Dallas, David Pingree, Denny Stephen son and Ar t Eckman were on hand as specia l gues t s , and Th eEdge Sport s .corn Kawasaki' s recent folding was the main topic for discussion. The show will start at 5:00 p.rn. local time for the final two rounds, on www.pacesupercross.com and www .espn.com. Ro ncada 's crash was p a rt i c u la r l y strange , as it al mos t appeared t hat he hit a land -mi ne wh ile po unding th roug h the mogu ls. "I don 't really understand what happened : Roncada said, "They 're so big, and they're pretty vert , and they' re cut out pretty bad. I was blitzing fine, and my front end drop ped a litt le bit. It hit so hard and came back on me really strong and hit me in the throat and threw me off the bike - just like a horse bucks you off . My head [was jerked] back, and I think my brain jus t moved in there. I had a big headache, and I was pretty sleepy on the bike." wa s working out of the S t. Louis Powe rsports rig, where he w ill rem ain for the final two rou nds as The re was a small enough rider turnout at D allas that no prequalifiers were required to determine who would compe te in he atte mpts to line up a ride for the outdoor Nationals, Emig the evening program . A to tal of 46 riders checked into the 250cc class , and 45 entered the 125cc class , wh ich meant that AM A officials only had to pull two slower 250cc riders during practice. is att empting to line up spo nso rs hip fo r Byrne to ride on his newly formed Emig Racing squad (Byrne 's bike had Emig stickers coveri ng the old TheEdge Sport s.com logos), but Byrne is nervo us about waiting for such a deal since he' s already behind on outdoor testing. He claims to have received offe rs from strong , 25cc team s. but Moto heroes Warren Reid, Brad Lackey, Steve Wi se, Kent How erton , Danny laPorte an Billy Grossi we re all on hand at Dallas, getting in the mood for a vintage championship race the following day at Swan M X Park - an hour and a half from the SX. The co lle ction of icons we re also witne ssed trying to talk Dirt Wurx employee Mark Barnett into competing, burto no apparent avail. ..He sure was asking a would prefer to stay on a 250 . Byrne was pittin g alongside St. Louis Powersport s' Pedro Gonzales . who has moved over to the Supercross Series for its final few rounds following the completion of the National Arenacross S eries. The track utilized Dallas' typically hard-packed soil, and featured an short, diagonal start straight , a pair of triple jumps and a pair of challenging whoop straight s. There was also a rhythm sectio n wit h a shallow first bump, prompting the top riders to wheelie into the section, and the lesser-skilled to slow dramatically before it. lot of que stion s for a guy who sa id he couldn't go,- Reid said. C hevy Trucks Kawasaki took the (admittedly minimall risk of having ce lebrat ory c h ampi o n s h ip T -shirts pr int ed up be fore th e rac e , The black shirt s featured a number one, KTM Red Bull' s David Pingree sat out t he Dallas round in an attempt to let his sore ribs heal. He originally hurt them before the seaso n, and has reinjured the m several times since by hitting cue I e Ricky Carmichae l's signature , and several of his p i ~"ry spo nsors~ .... W hile Ricky Carmichael admitt ed that he's now lo o ki ng fo r ward to th e Nation al s, he also said he'll save some atte ntion for the last two Supercross rounds. "The strategy is to do the same thing I've been doing: he said. " It wo uld be excellent to win the last two , but I've got the main thing. " Carmichael has a cha nce of tyi ng J eremy M cG rat h' s reco rd of 13-consecutive wins. and 14 in one season. There was a bit of confusion near the podium area after the , 2 5c c main. as everyone tried to determine w he ther o r not Ernesto Fonseca had clinched the title. It was clear that he had put enough points on teammate Justin Buckelew, who had been running second in the standings, and the number-one plate was pulled out and eve n handed to trophy girl Heat her Vo ss . But Yamaha of Troy manager Erik Kehoe kept insisting that the title wasn 't yet clinched, as Rodrig Thain had done well eno ugh to force it to the final round. " Everyone kept saying, 'He's got it , he's got it," Kehoe said. -I was going, 'No, it' s not clinched .' but I was starting to think I was crazy,"

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