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/128138
long way and the wrong way, because other AA riders took the lead. Then Doug passed me in a mud-bog section." "It took a long time to catch back up to P.A.," said Blackwell, "but he let me around him because it looked like he was having trouble with his goggles. I led for a while and fell down, so John passed me. We swapped back and forth several tjmes." Maschino was in the lead at the end of the 33-minute lap, and Blackwell, Allen and Adam McKillip freighttrained just seconds behind. After the first lap, things started to look really ugly. There was two-way traffic from the riders who were being rerouted by course workers and from riders who were looking for ways around the bottlenecks. The riders who got stuck caused a lot of confusion, but that was only the beginning. Once the promoters realized a 2-mile section was claiming some of the AA riders as victims, they decided to cut out that portion of the track. Meanwhile, Blackwell, Maschino, Allen and McKillip weaved through the slime, trying to avoid the ruts and bogs within the brutal section. Blackwell and Allen got stuck at the same time, so Maschino pulled into the lead, with McKillip spreading the gap behind him. Once Blackwell got out, he plunged ahead, but Allen buried his KTM 400 EXC more than once and overheated his bike, claiming his first throwaway this season. Blackwell gripped his bike and finished his second lap in 46:44 and came in first overall an hour and 20 minutes after the start. Maschino was the next AA rider, claiming a welldeserved second, and he was about two minutes down from Blackwell. Somewhere in between Blackwell's and Maschino's finishes, 200cc C rider Robert Rogers rode his KTM into fourth place overall. Then Ron Skipper, the 250cc B winner, jockeyed his Suzuki into sixth place overall. "I am no high-caliber rider by any means, and I don't really know how I made the top five," Rogers said. "I just rode where they wanted me to go, and this is how I ended up." After the controversy, he disqualified himself and honorably went from first place in the 200cc C class to last. Bryan Ridge claimed first place, making one lap in an hour and seven minutes, while 14-year-old Tyson Ezell came in ninth after his twohour-and- 1O-minute lap. Most of the riders appeared to be very tired and impatient, and just wanted to go home. Several commented that the promoters did the best they could under the circumstances, while others stated that they were hoping this race would not come back to haunt them. eN -----------------------------------------------~~~ o YESI Start my subscription inunecbately to Cycle News. 1 year I 50 issues faT $45.00. (can be billed 2 monthly payments) o o Name Address Zip City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State _ o Phone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Order Date Send to: IfJl..c1ilJ I1llt.I!IIIIJ P.o. Box 5084, Costa I o o o Inc. Mesa, CA 92628-5084 Toll Free Subscription Hotline (800) 831-2220 24-hour FAX Order Line (714) 751-6685 • E-mail: Subscribe@cydenews.com Signature This is a o New Su bscri ption o Renewal Please bill me 1 payment of $45.00 BiU 2 payments of $22.50 VISA yC'lf 0 Visa o _ Expiration Date = Enclosed is my check or money order Charge my One MC/Visa# Every week for two years (100 issues for $80.00) Six man ths second class (25 issues for $23.00) Mastercard (SO issu......l, 2nd clall6 Canada or Mcxh::o ~~~a~~~t~~~~~~~'~~~~~1~2~ (~~;~.(M. lsi ~-----------------------------------------------~--=eye' e n e _ s • JANUARY 23. 2002 43