Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128104
125 c c Dav e C o o m b s S r . 1 2 5cc EastlWest S h o otout S a m Boyd Stadium LAS VEGAS, NV, MAY 5 ath an Ramsey got invited to the party, so he figured there was no reason why he shouldn 't just go ahead and take home the sweet heart. That was the appropr iate analogy used by Thor 's Bob May nard t o describe " N at e - D o g ," who sc or e d an unexpected win at the hi ghly a nticipated 12 5 cc season end ing showdown. Said showdown was supposed to have been betw een T eam Su zuk i 's Trav is Past rana and Yama ha of T roy's Ern est o Fonseca, th e cham p i on s in their res p ec ti v e reg ions, but with pretty mu ch every on e in the fiel d m a k i ng n um ero us m istakes, the c onsistency that Ram - sey has shown all series long finally paid off. Riding a Yamaha of Troy YZ250F four -stroke , Ramsey simply wa ited but although he started th ings off right by w inning his heat race, Pastrana started poorly and made a couple of errors - most noticeably cas ing for h is compet itors to take them selves out of contention , then utilized his own considerable talent to take care of th e rest. "I really wanted to win the champi onship, but I didn't," Ramsey said . "It was my fault; I kind of threw it away for a couple of races. But tonight was great. " It's not unc om m on that this event pro v ides an op portunity for a mea sure of vengeance , wi t h Pastrana 's winning of last year's ru nning as one prim e ex am p le. He di d so after fin ish ing third to St ep han e Ro nc ad a and Brock Sell ards in th e Eastern Region, a tr ip le j um p j ust a few laps from the end , end ing his surge for th e fro nt and rel eg ati ng him to second . "T hose guys were flying out there both Ernesto F o n se c a and Nath an Ramsey. " Pastrana said. " I could be happier, but I couldn 't be too much happier. " As for Fonseca , he led the most laps of anyone and ap pea red to have a victory in his crossha irs, or a pod i um fi ni sh at the very leas t . That was before the st art of un lu ck y lap num be r 13 , ho wever, aft er wh ic h point the Cost a Ric an made a variety of blun ders, culm inati ng in a hard tum ble in 20 MAV 16,200 1 ' c u e I .. neVIl'S By CHRIS JONNUM P HOT OS BY STEVE B RUHN N East beats West: Nathan Ramsey (ce nter) scored a somewhat unex pec1ed victory In Vegas, and was Joi ned by ru nner-up Travis Pa strana (left) and third -plac ed Brock Sellard s (right) in an all-Ea st sweep of the pod ium. the whoo p stra ight. By the time he got the rubber side do wn and fire in the hole, Fonseca was well back, and he co uld do no bette r t han eig h t h when the checkered flag fell. Li k e Ram se y , KT M Re d B u ll ' s Brock Sell ard s ro de a relatively qu iet ra ce , waiting for ot he rs t o dama ge th eir ch ances and c ap it alizing wh en th ey did by post in g a podium fin ish . A lso li k e Ram sey , the re su lt helped m a ke up fo r a ser ies th at was less than sat isfacto r y in his ey es , w ith