Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) Mike Brown slipped to second in the points standings, but is only three points behind Langston. (Right) Rodrlg Thain, here leading Brown, made the Spring Creek podium in third. back to the pits. Just like that, Pastrana's defense of the 125cc AMA National Championship was over. Pastrana's self-dismissal seemed to light a fire under Brown, who spent the first five laps stranded in seventh place behind Walker and Thain. Once Walker slipped back and Brown was able to clear the Suzuki of Thain, he started cutting into Sellards' third-place position. Finally, with three laps to go, Brown was able to pass Sellards for third, but it was too late to do anything about Langston or Fonseca. Langston, who was unable to show the Americans his real sand-riding skills when he hurt his shoulder in practice at Southwick, raced past the mechanics' area on the final lap, showing the number-one sign to the happy KTM crew. He would finish well clear of Fonseca, who held off the late-charging Brown. "We had a two-week break before this race and I have the bike set up really well now," said Langston in the winner's circle. "We did a lot of suspension testing and it gave me a break to get my shoulder sorted out." "I was trying to pick up the pace there towards the end and stay away from Mike [Brown], but a couple of lappers got in my way and messed me up a little bit," said Fonseca after he, once again, tied his career-best outdoor moto finish of second-place. "I haven't gotten a National win yet, but I'm working on it. And Mike was definitely coming on strong!" Sellards collected fourth, followed by Thain and a hard-charging Nick Wey. The four-strokers of Ward and Schnell were next, and then came poor-starting Branden Jesseman and the SplitFire/Pro-Circuit Kawasaki of Tallon Vohland. MOTOTWO A small wave of orange rolled through the first turn at the head of the 125cc pack, as Sellards and Langston vied for the lead at the start of the second moto. Right behind them came Motoworldracing.com/ Answer's Kevin Johnson, but the Yamaha rider slid out on the fast exit of the second turn and lay exposed in the middle of the track as the entire pack swarmed over him. Fortunately, Johnson somehow avoided being run over by every other rider on the track, and the luckiest man in the race remounted in last position. Halfway through the first lap, the fastest man on the track, Langston, was already putting real estate between himself and the rest of the pack. Sellards was second, followed by Fonseca, Thain, Brown, the Frenchman Boniface, Yamaha of Troy's Ramsey and Wey, privateer Yamaha speedster Levi Reid, and the veteran Ward. Brown immediately went to work on the field, pulling back the riders that separated him from Langston. The number-100 Kawasaki roared past Thain and Fonseca, then he found himself behind Langston's KTM teammate Sellards for almost three full laps. Never one to shy from contact, Brown moved Sellards out of his way and left him lying in the sand. Even though Brown cleared the pack by the fourth of 15 laps, it was already too late to do anything about Langston and the lead. The KTM rider was just too fast in the sand, and he rolled away with the double-moto sweep he came in expecting. "He got a good start on me again and then I got stuck behind Sellards for a few laps there and he stretched out the lead on me," said Brown of the leader Langston. "I just made a few mistakes in the whoops back there and wasn't consistent enough." Brown settled for second and second overall. The only real drama in the second half of the moto came with Fonseca's losing the air in his rear wheel along with his grip on third position. The scrappy Yamaha rider.did not go down easily and put up a fight every time he was challenged. After losing third to Thain, fourth to Ramsey, fifth to Sellards and sixth to Wey, Fonseca seemed to bottom-out in seventh. But on the last lap a frustrated Larry Ward made one last push on Fonseca and ended up knocking him all the way back to 10th. It was a frustrating end to what started out as a great day for "The Fonz." One last development was Ram- (Yam); 8. Brandon Jesseman (Hon); 9. Steve Boniface (Hon); 10. Emesto Fonseca (Yam): 11. Steve Lamson (Hus); 12. Greg Schnell (Yam); 13. David Pingree (Hon); 14. Matt Walker (Hon); 15. Damon Huffman (YlIm): 16. IVlIIn Tedesco (Hon); 17. Scott Sheck (Han); 18. Levi Reid (Yam); 19. Jacob Manin (Yam); 20. Casey Lytle (Kaw); 21. Paul Veracka (Kaw); 22. Randy Villlade (Hon); 23. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 24. Akira Narita (Suz): 25. Steve A.ndrich (Yam); 26. Brandon Morgan (Yam); 27. Doug Leavitt (Yam); 28. Johnny Marley (Han); 29. Tallon Vohland (Kaw); 30. Aaron Dieter (Yam); 31. Keith Johnson «Yam); 32. Kelly Smith (KTM); 33. Keith Johnson (Yam); 34. Jeff Gibson (Suz); 35. Tyson Hadsell «Yam); 36. Derrick Bentley (Kaw); 37. Michael Brandes (Yam); 38. Christopher Gosse-lear (Hus): 39. Travis Pastrana (Suz). 125 O/A: I. Grant Langston (KTM): 2. Mike Brown (Kaw); 3. Rodrig Thain (Suz); 4. Brock Sellards (KTM): 5. Emesto Fonseca (Yam); 6. Nicholas Wey {Yam}: 7. Larry Ward (Yam): 8. Brandon Jessenu," (Han); 9. Nathan Ramsey (Yam): 10. Steve Boniface (Hon); 11. Greg Schnell (Yam); 12. Steve Lamson (Hus); 13. David Pingree (Hon); 14. Matt Walker (Hon); 15. Tallon Vohland (Kaw); 16. Kelly Smith (KTM); 17. Damon Huffman (Yam); 18. Ivan Tedesco (Hon); 19. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 20. Scott Sheak (Han): 21. Levi Reid (Yam); 22. Jacob Martin (Yam); 23. Casey Lytle (Kaw). AMA CHEVY TRUCK 125cc U.S. MOTOCROSS C'SHIP SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 of 12 rounds): 1. Grant Langston (372 4/wins); 2. Mike Brown (369/3); 3. Travi. Pa.trana (311/2); 4. Larry Ward (285/1); 5. Eme.to Fonseca (267): 6. Brock Sellards (266); 7. Nathan Ramsey (181); 8. Branden Jesseman (171); 9. Rodrig Thain (171); 10. (Tie) Scott Sheak/Damon Huffman (159); 12. Greg Schnell (152); 13. Kelly Smith (ISO); 14. Nicholas Wey (148); 15. Danny Smith (139). sey's late-race charge on Thain to take the last spot on the podium. Thain took fourth in the moto for what turned out to be a third overall afternoon. Sellards was next, followed by Wey, Ward and another late-race charge by the Honda of Jesseman. Boniface and Fonseca rounded out the top 10 in the moto. Spring Creell MX hrtl Millville, Mimesabl Resulls: August 19, 2001 lJIouDd 10 of 12l 125 MOTO 1 (30 minutes. plus 2 laps): 1. Grant Langston (KTM); 2. Ernesto Fonseca (Yam); 3. Michael Brown (Kaw); 4. Brock Sellards (KTM); 5. Rodrig Thain (Suz): 6. Nicholas Wey (yam); 7. Larry Ward (Yam); 8. Greg Schnell (Yam); 9. Brandon Jesseman (Hon); 10. Tallon Vohland (Kaw); 11. Steve Boniface (Han); 12. Kelly Smith (KTM); 13. Keith Johnson (Yam); 14. Steve Lamson (Hus); 15. Matt Walker (Hon); 16. David Pingree (Hon); 17. Nathan Ramsey (Yam); 18. Ivan Tedesco (Han); 19. Damon Huffman (Yam); 20. Scott Sheek (Han); 21. Paul Veracka (Kaw); 22. Casey Lytle (Kaw); 23. Randy Valade (Hon); 24. Keith Johnson (Yam): 25. Akira Narite (Suz); 26. Derrick Bentley (Kew); 27. Doug leevitt (Yem); 28. Michael Brendes (Yam); 29. Brandon Morgan (Yam); 30. Christopher Gosselaar (Hus); 31. Kevin Johnson (Yam): 32. Travis Pestrana (Suz); 33. Jacob Merlin (Vern); 34. Steve Andrich (Yam): 35. Jell Gibson (Suz); 36. Levi Reid (Yam); 37. Aeron Dieter (Yam); 38. Tyson Hadsell (Yem); 39. Billy Payne (Han); 40. Johnny Marley (Han). 125 MOTO 2 (30 minutes, plus 2 laps): 1. Grent Langston (KTM); 2. Mike Brown (Kew); 3. Nathen Ramsey (Yam); 4. Rodrig Thein (Suz): 5. Brock Sellerds (KTM); 6. Nicholas Wey (Yam); 7. Lerry Werd Upcoming Rounds: Round 10: Binghamton NY, August 26 Round 11: Delmont PA, September 2 The tumultuous season of defending AMA 125cc National Champion Travis Pastrana took another big tum when the number-one Suzuki rider pulled out of the first moto at Mjllville and called it a season. Pastrana has been battling the effects of several high-profile concussions that left him off the bike for the better part of summer and unable to train and keep his physical endurance up. "This has been one of the hardest days of my life," said Pastrana after he pulled out of the race rather than risk another major crash like he suffered recenUy at Unadilla and Washougal. "With the pace these top guys are riding - Langston, Brown and everyone else - you have to be really at the top of your game, and I'm not right now. Had this race been at the beginning of the season, I would have dropped off the pace and tried to salvage a fifth or something out of this moto, but I know that if is the best that I am going to be able to do for the rest of the season, that's just not how I want to end it. I'm going to go home, train hard, get healthy and be ready for next season." Pastrana added that he was forfeiting his spot on the Motocross des Nations team and that he thought the nod should go to Mjke Brown. The popular Pastrana, just 17 years old, arrived at Mjllville on Friday evening after clinching his third consecutive gold medal at ESPN's Summer X Games in Philadelphia. His decision to participate in the freestyle motocross event was received with some criticism by fans worried about his health after his string of race injuries. But Pastrana put their fears to rest when he smoothly glided to another winning performance Friday aftemoon. The rough Mjllville circuit posed a different obstacle all together as Pastrana found himself questioning his ability to rid.e safely at a winning pace. "I haven't ridden put three days of practice since my crash at Unadilla and that was almost two months ago," said Pastrana. "I still felt relatively comfortable on the bike - it's almost like an exlension of my body - but it's really difficult to run the pace of these guys when you're not 100 percent. I could have stayed out there and hopefully got some top fives, but that's not where I want to be. I knew I didn't have a chance at the title; it would take a miracle. I'm not going to go out there and push myself to the point where I have another concussion. I'm going to go home and get healthy." "We were afraid this was going to happen." said Team Suzuki managed Roger DeCoster. "Travis has been off the bike for a long time with his concussion and all and had talked about the fact that if he were to start getting tired and not feel comfortable on the bike that he should pull off. It was a difficult decision, but I think it was the smart one. Travis needs some rest and to heal, so I think this is the last time that you will see him race this year.'" cue I e n e __ S • AUGUST 29,2001 13

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