Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Chevy Trucks National Championship Motocross S e r ie s Round 3 : H igh Point Racewa y (Left) Wi nner David Vu illemin (9 3 4) grabs the holeshot In the fi rs t 250cc moto ahead of Kevin Win d ham (14), John Dowd (1 6) . Ricky Carmichael (4 1. T im Ferry (15). Stephane Ro ncada (2 11, Ezra Lusk (11) and Se ba stien Tortelll(131. it to the boys on outdoor trac ks with MT MORRIS, PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 27 . h en D avi d Vui llem in w on t h e Mt. Morris National at a muddy High Point Rac eway on e year ago, it pu t h im no t on l y at th e t op o f th e po ints stand ing s, bu t on t op o f the world . After all , the Frenchm an had been the on ly rid er to serious ly cha l lenge Jerem y McG rath in the Supercros s Serie s, and he was now taki ng W 6 JUNE 6 , 2001 • cue I e be en apparent that th e natu rall y which he wasn 't even familiar. Unfor- B y C HRIS J ONNUM P HOTOS BY S TEVE B RUHN upbeat Vuillem in has had a ha rd tim e tunate ly for the Team Yamaha rider, hi s resul ts would take a year- long turn fo r the worse im medi ately following that High Point victory , as he end ur ed a 12 -m onth period m ark ed by a split ex haust pipe, b roke n ribs , a flat tire, an MX des Nations tea m omission , a seeing the gla ss as hal f-full. Vu illemin finall y en ded th at yearlong winless streak at the same tr ack at which he earned his last victory , rid ing to 1-4 m oto fin i sh es at a rainaffected High Point Nationa l 'to tak e an unex pected overall trium ph. Needless brok en clavicle, fam ily squ abb les and other assorted hard -luck situations . For much of the 200 1 season , it has to say , Vuillemin and Yam ah a hope tha t the perfo rm ance - Vuillemin's fi rst pod ium of 2 00 1 - means that the n e _ s gremlins and fl ukes of his sophomore season are behind him. "I 'm h app y for team ," Vu ill em in said . " They 've been working really hard, even when I was not doing so good . T h at' s very im po rt an t. They always want to test and make m e ha ppy, so today I made them happy, and I'm very proud of th is." Perhaps Yamaha stuck beh ind Vuillem in i n the knowledge that everyone has their down periods , a t ru ism to wh i ch K ev in W indham wou ld surel y attest. Li k e Vuill emin, the Team Suzuki rider has been less than pleased with his results the past few m on ths , and also like Vuillemin , the lack of success has gotten to his head. But Windham has had new life breathed int o him on the outdoor circu it , putting in ins pi red r id es that make keep ing one 's head up a b it eas ier , and High Point was the best one y et , with 3 -2 motos yie ld in g a runner-up overall fini sh . " It' s a new start," Windham said . " Halfw ay through the Supercross season , when you' re doing bad , it 's hard to get going . Right now, there 's a bunch of guys in the outdoors who all have that same attitude. The only one that d id an ything i n Supe rc ross is Ric k y [Carmichael ], so obviously, a lot of people had their si gh t s set on the outdoor champ ion ship. I th ink th is is go ing to b e a good o n e t o watch , all the way th rough to the la st race . Ricky's a great rider, but I think there 's a lot of riders right now th at have a little fuel on their fire ... I'm not taking anyth ing awa y from him, but I think a lot of p eo p l e are fueled t o come out and do the same th ing he did t o J erem y . But it's far from over. You can 't ru le him out." Sebastien Tortell i had entered the '0 0 Na t ional MX Series and the '0 1 EA Sp ort s Su perc ro ss Seri es int ent on co llecting his p rem ier AMA title, on ly to b e thwa rted b y im p ro m p t u inj uries and a frec kled red -head on a green bi k e. But just wh en it seem ed as though thing s cou ldn 't get wo rse, To r tell i - l i ke h i s co u ntry m an Vu illemin - utili zed the b eginnin g of the '0 1 out door circu it as som eth ing of a renaissance, pu tt ing in solid rid es an d finally givin g h is factory Honda

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