Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

David Vuillemin 11) keeps his Yamaha's front wheel close to the ground en route to another holeshot over Chad Reed (5) and the rest of the 250cc pack. The track's a little easy - so many sweeping corners. It was difficult to make time on other guys. I've been training hard and feel good; I'm in the best condition of my career, so I am more than ready to race." Roncada enjoyed his first heat of the weekend, and looked forward to racing with McGrath again as the night progressed. "I got a bad drop at the start," Roncada said. "Then I came out of the first turn in second, so that was great. Jeremy and I raced hard. It's nice to ride with him, and you can trust him. The track is so small, and the speeds in the tunnel are so fast, but that's Bercy." The first final was full of surprises, as Reed led the first 10 laps of the race. Closing fast as the laps ticked away, Vuillemin pulled up to the back wheel of the Aussie on lap 11 and took the lead. Second was Reed, followed by Roncada, McGrath and Wey. Reed showed amazing pace against the top names, but his lack of race fitness proved to be his downfall. "I just ran out of gas," Reed said. "I expected to struggle with my condition. My speed felt good, and I am confident I can do well over the next couple of nights." The second final brought no surprises to the French supporters, although the first lap saw an unexpected leader in Lalloz. The Frenchman led from McGrath, Eric Sorby, Vuillemin and Serge Guidetty, ,while Reed held sixth place. McGrath pushed his way into the lead on lap two, with Vuillemin following through on lap three. By mid-race, the top two were swapping paint, but Vuillemin looked the stronger. On lap eight, he passed for the lead. Reed had worked his way past Sorby, and Lalloz and was hounding McGrath. As Vuillemin cleared away from second and third place, the crowds' attention turned to McGrath and Reed, who were now really racing hard for the two remaining podium places. With one lap to go, however, Reed went for a pass that was never possible, and he crashed hard into McGrath. The two struggled around on the ground, with McGrath pushing Reed in anger. The young Aussie got up first, just in time to ride off ahead of an oncoming Roncada. McGrath dropped to fourth place, and the seven-time AMA Supercross Champion was not happy. "What were you thinking?" McGrath asked Reed. "I don't mind guys block·passing, but you just rode into me!" Reed, looking a little shaken by his mistake, tried to clear things up with McGrath, but the Kawasaki rider knew he would have to be looking over his shoulder the next night. "Jeremy is the rider I most admire," Reed said. "I wish it had not happened. It's not the way I usually ride, and I just went in too hard. He had been riding around the outside of the corner all night, and this time he must have seen me coming and cut inside. In the end, it's just part of racing, and I can expect a payback." Roncada, who saw the riders on the ground as he landed off a small double jump, began to think about second place. "I was a long way back," Roncada said. "I got a bad start, did a wheelie. I made some places, then I came over the jump, and there they were on the ground. I got a little excited and tried to ride around both of them, but Reed got up quick enough to stop me." As for Vuillemin, the changes he had made to his Yamaha gave him enough speed to stay ahead of the conflict. "I had some trouble getting little mix-up in my heat race," McGrath said. "I'm also having trouble with the sticky dirt, getting arm pump. The track's drying up, so that's okay. It was really slippery in some places." Reed's third place once again showed that the Australian has the speed, though he was still concerned that McGrath would give him some payback. "I was nervous at the start," Reed said. "It sucks going into a race worrying about McGrath. I said what I had to say to him, and he was still pissed. I am easily as fast as him, and maybe he thinks I might try and take him out again. There will be no repeat of what happened yesterday on my part. I just wanted to get ahead of Jeremy and have some fun with Vuillemin. " McGrath was also thinking about Reed, as his arm-pump was at its worst with the Kawasaki rider behind him. "My arms were really bad," he said. "I wasn't nervous about him, though. 1 djdn't expect him to do it again; if he had, we would have had to fight [laugh]. It looks like he made some mistakes behind me and backed off." Roncada hit the turf, finally finishing in 16th place. "I crashed hard," Roncada said. "I bent the bike pretty bad and could not get going again. I was in fourth place and I hit the triple, gave it too much gas, and hit the hay bales." "I got a good start - third or fourth," Vuillemin said. "I stayed in the pack and passed Lalloz in the whoops, which worked good because I could get away from him and the others quickly. I could do some good past some guys early," Vuillemin said. "Once 1 got up behind Jeremy, I could see some lines to pass him and did so. He made a few mistakes also, which made it easier for me. The track's getting a little more technical - more ruts and stuff." DAve Vuillemin again went 1-1-1 on Saturday, winning his qualification race against Reed and then taking the two finals in perhaps his strongest evening. The first final saw Vuillemjn win from start to finish ahead of McGrath, Reed, Weyand Lalloz. "The track's a little rougher," Vuillemin said. "I was a little tight in my heat race, so I was glad to loosen up a little. We also changed the forks for better traction, and that worked okay. That made it a little easier if you get a bad start; the slower guys are struggling a little with the track. I didn't have any trouble, though; my start was awesome." Runner-up McGrath again found his arms giving him trouble. "I had a cue •• n Jeremy McGrath and his tuner Skip Norfolk came away with a secondplace finish. e _ S • NOVEMBER 28, 2001 7

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