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AMAIChevy Trucks 1Z5cc U.S. Motocross Championship series Round 11: Broome-Tioga Sports Center (Left) The 125cc title is now Grant Langston's to lose. After winning both motos over Mike Brown (1 001, Langston (1111 has a nine-point cushion going into the last round at Delmont. (Below) Nathan Ramsey (28) nails the second-moto holeshot. By DAVEY COOMBS PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN BINGHAMTON, N.Y., AUG. 26 lQ2 efore the start of the second jQ) 125cc National moto at BroomeTioga Sports Center in Binghamton, New York, AMA Pro Motocross Manager Duke Finch asked title combatants Grant Langston and Mike Brown to step into his mobile office for a few words. Finch wanted to warn the two fastest men left standing in the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. National Championships that they were taking their title duel to a dangerous new level after Langston dropped Brown to win the pivotal first moto with a lastlap block that could almost be justified as "payback" after Brown made an aggressive move on Langston for the early lead. The tension was momentarily settled as Langston and Brown shook hands before going out for round two. The second moto proved anti-climactic when race-long leader Brown crashed himself out of the lead with just five laps to go. As a result, the KTM Red Bullbacked Langston inched closer to claiming the title with a dramatic 1-1 ride in the penultimate round of the 12race championship. The Broome-Tioga win was Langston's fifth on the season. And after seemingly having both motos in hand, SplitFire/Pro-Circuit Kawasaki's Brown was left with a 2-2 finish to drop from three points out of the series lead to nine points down with just two motos left to be run. "Mike made a real aggressive move on me at the beginning of the race - that's the way Mike rides," said Langston of the first-moto dust-up. "I just returned the favor. That's just the way racing goes. He would have done the same thing; he'll bump you real hard if he gets the chance. I'm just happy to pull off the win." Langston now totals 422 points to Brown's 413. "I should have won two motos today and been ahead in the points, but I cfjdn't and it's over now," said a disappointed Brown after the second moto. "All I can do is go to Steel City and try to win and hope some people get in there between us." When asked about the last-lap incident in the first moto, Brown shrugged, "I just went too far outside and left the door open, and you can't do that with Langston. We're both trying to win a championship here." "I told them that I wanted the winner of this championship not to just be the last guy standing," said Finch of the private meeting. "I told them that if I saw one of them take the other out intentionally, I wouldn't have a problem taking the win away from that rider. They have been warned." While all of the plastic-scratching and elbow rubbing was going on up front, Moto-XXX Yamaha rider Larry Ward put in a solid 5-3 afternoon to notch third overall on the day and move past an injured-and-out Travis Pastrana into third in the championship rankings aboard his Yamaha YZ250F. The veteran Ward spent a few uncomfortable laps in the second moto riding between Brown and Langston and found himself in an odd position. cue' _ n "At the beginning of the moto the Pro-Circuit guys were rooting for me because I was ahead of Langston," said Ward from the podium after the second moto. "Then, after Mike Brown fell, the KTM guys started cheering for me because they wanted me to get around Brownie. I just didn't want to either be in front of the both of them or behind them, because they have a lot on the line now. I really wanted to stay out of their way. "We really struggled in the first moto, but I went back and said to my mechanic, 'Let's put the settings back to where they were when we were doing better,'· added Ward. "Even though we thought it would be better, I wanted to go back to the way the bike was, and it worked out much better for me." Fourth-overall Nathan Ramsey had similar sentiments about the LangstonBrown battle for the championship. "I always race as hard as I can, but I don't want to be the guy who bumps someone and puts them out of a championship," said Ramsey, who ran a fast and steady 4-4 on the day. "You give those guys a little more room and maybe not ride as aggressive around them. They're both super-aggressive right now, especially at the beginning, because they know they have to be at the front. It's going to be interesting to see who wins next weekend." The title bout might have been a three-man card if not for the departure of defending AMA 125cc National Champion Pastrana, who suffered a series of high-profile crashes that caused concussions and left him on the sidelines after he determined that he was not in good enough shape t; defend his title. Pastrana had led much of the middle part of the series before crashes at Southwick, Unadilla and Washougal led him to call it a season halfway through the first moto at Millville. With Pastana out, Yamaha of Troy's Ernesto Fonseca stands a chance of also moving up another spot. Fonseca finished third in the first moto aboard his Yamaha YZ250F, but then slipped back to ninth the second __ S • SEPTEMBER 5,2001 19