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/128112
34th A nnual Mammoth Moun ta in Motocross (Left) Suzu ki' s 16year-old f uture p henom Shane Bess l ed a good portion of the 250c c Pro main before m e chanical proble ms slowed h im down. (Ri g ht) Another Im p ressiv e youngster was 17year-old Yamaha speedster Steve Mertens. He finished an extremely strong third place In the 250cc Pro main. what I needed in the final there , and I was unbelievable up the hills and stu ff, needed a start, and I j ust started going , and now I'm really loo k ing forward to man. I came out good, felt strong, and tomorrow because tomorrow' s m y day th e bik e was really good . Th e YZ250F - ride my rea/ 250." BRIEFLY•• • Former factory Yamaha ace D a mon B rads haw wa s signed up to compete in the 125 and 250cc Pro classes, but he was a no-show. KTM/ Red Bull' s G rant Langsto~ was entered in all three Pro classes in M ammoth, but his rece ntly injured shoulder kept him away from the eve nt. Yamah a off-rea der Ku rt C a s e lli (r ight) made the main event in bot h the 125 an d 250c c Int ermediate classes in Mammot h. The 17-year-old , who races oft en at LACR in Palmdale, California. rode to a respectable 14th in the 125cc main and was even more impressive in th e 250cc class. finishing eighth . There we re 114 pre-entr ies in th e 125cc Intermedi ate class, and 100 in the 250cc class. If yo u we ren't riding a Yamaha in M ammot h, chances are goo d that you w er en' t winning . Of t he 23 classes run . Yamaha riders won 15. A noth er off -reader, def ending Grand National Cro ss C ountry Series C hampion Shane Watts. wa s easily ide ntifi able on the race track in the Open Pro class, as he was racing a KTM 520 ElXC. com plete with a worki ng headlight. He seems to be racing a lot of motocross lately, and when asked about the likelihood of him racing a comple te pro series next year, he responded , " It cou ld be a pos sibility , maybe showi ng up next year for the full natio nal series and maybe the supercrosses as well. W e'll just see what happe ns. Anyth ing can happen. KTM is very happy with what I've been doing, and they certai nly support anyth ing that I decide to do. Like I said, anything can be a possibility. " W alts. bothered by a recently broken thumb, finished .seventh in the Open Pro class . Fast By Fe rr a c c i Hus qva r na 's C h r i s Gosse laa r (left) dominated the Min i A dult class aboa rd a borrowed Suzuki RM 80, win ning both motos with ease . Phil Law rence and Larry Brook s made return s to racing at M ammo th. Both raced the supe rcompe titiv e V e t Pro cl ass , w it h L aw r en c e f i ni sh ing t hi rd an d B r o o k s a respectable ninth. Larry Roese ler was the oldest Pro-class rider of the weekend. At 44 years old. he finished 17t h in the Open Pro class, w hile the next-youngest rider was class winner Doug Dubach . at 37. The younges t rider in the c lass was 17·yea r-o ld Steve Merten s . w ho went 20-6 for 14th overall. 52 J ULY 11 , 200 1 • .. U .. I e n e vv s 2 5 0 PRO T h e f inal r a c e of the w eekend , the 2 50cc Pro ma in ev ent , prov id ed q u ite a spe ctacl e . M cG rath and h e r e tofo r e ho lesh ot champ ion Dub a c h both suffered poo r sta rts , w h il e Suzu k i 's 16-y e ar- o l d Sh ane B ess, wh o ha d on ly been ri di n g for a coup le of weeks before Ma m moth follo w in g a 12 - w e e k va cat ion thanks to a badly b rok en right arm , raced up th e h ill all by himsel f with t he lead . "They ki nd of held the g ate , and I j ust messed up ," Dubach said . " I ki nd of j ust bumped it and backed up , and th en it dropped . I th ink I came out somewhere around 10th." McGrath foun d a way a r ound Dubach while t hey w er e r a cing through the pack, and Bess led until the M cG ra th /Dub ach fre ight trai n went by , fo llowed cl ose ly by Mert ens . B ess fell back wi t h b ike prob lems, eventually fi nish ing 1 1th . "The nut on th e fro nt of the steering ste m ca m e off," Bess said . "The bike was heads hak in g so bad, it wa s Ho n damounted Daniel Sani came out o n top of a c lose race w ith Davl Millsaps for the SOcc (1 2-13) win . k in d of dang er ous , so st arted j ust riding around." McGrat h r o d e ou t fr o n t wh ile Du ba c h w as getting pressu re from Mertens. " O n c e we go t c le ar , t here w a s another guy who wa s pressurin g me ," said Dub ach , " and once I got clea r of him and I could start opening my lin es up agai n, then I started catching up ." Ultimately , ho wever, he wo uld run out of t ime. Mc Grath wo n his seco nd of three races on the week end , wh ile Du bach fi n i she d out wi th t wo w ins (Vet Pro and Open Pro) and two second places. Mertens fi n ished a com fortable th ird , sayi ng , " I got a littl e tired at the end, there ." "I got a lousy st art , and then I fi gured I had to make some passes ," McGrath said . "M y b ike ran really good. I caught up a lot on the uphill on th e f irst part , and then Doug [Dubach] and I were scrappin g a little bit, and as soon as I got by him I just started work ing on th e k ids. Once I p assed them , I got o n a pace , and then Doug reeled m e in on e lap a Iit -