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By STEVE Cox PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN ANAHEIM, CA, FEB. 2 fter his third visit to Edison InterW national Field in five weeks, rookie sensation James Stewart Jr. may have the beginnings of the Anaheim Curse - and we're not talking about getting "It's a Small World" stuck in your head for two days after visiting Disneyland. After setting the fastest lap and race time of the night in his heat race, and even after having the fastest lap time in the main event by almost two full seconds, the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki rider failed, once again, to win at the venue, although he's actually won everywhere else, so far. "I wouldn't care that I haven't won at Anaheim," Stewart said, "but the only thing about Anaheim is, it's three races! And those are the only three races I haven't won. So, if it was only one [race], I'd be like, 'All right, you just messed up.' But I guess I've got next year to try to get it." m Apparently immune to the malady is Team KTM Red Bull, whose David Pingree had won here two weeks earlier. This time, that squad's Brock Sellards led the main event from start to finish. The Ohio native has been having a lot of bad luck recently, some self-induced and some induced by others, but he rebounded well going into the five-week break. "Last week, I was riding pretty good and I block-passed Stewart, then he cleaned me - knocked me out· and I had to go to the LCQ," Sellards said. "It was pretty frustrating, you know? It ended up setting me back, and I had a bad start. This weekend, I turned it around.· MAIN Way around. At the start, Sellards jumped right into the lead, with Pingree and Blimpie Suzuki's Danny Smith right on his tail. Smith was soon around Pingree, but he just as quickly found himself on the ground, gathering up Stewart with tlim. "Well, I kind of got pinched off at the start - I hit Gosselaar off the start - so I was like, 'All right, I'll just ride around the first corner, ,. Stewart said. "And I got around all those guys going through the whoops. I kind of just pinned it, because I knew they were all over the place, and then, [in] the third corner, Danny Smith fell in front of me and I couldn't get around tlim. Well, I tried to go around him, but his back tire was spinning and it caught me just a little bit to knock me down." With a bent clutch lever, Stewart remounted in 20th, and by the end of the first lap, he was 18th. With a show of strength, all three of KTM Red Bull's riders hogged the top three positions after the first lap, with Sellards leading rookie teammate Billy Laninovich and Pingree, while LCRRacing.com's Kevin Johnson and Thor/Dunlop/Smith's Joe Oehlhof rounded out the top five on their YZ250Fs. cue I e n KTM Red Bull's Brock Sellards has had his share of bad luck this year, but the Ohio native led Anaheim Ill's 125cc main event from start to finish. It was KTM's second win of the year, and third ever. Almost immediately on lap two, Pingree ran into trouble as he endoed in a set of ascending/descending whoops, and he would cease to be a factor in the race. His crash handed third to hard-charging Amsoil/Dr. Martens Honda rider Christopher Gosselaar, who had moved around both Johnson and Oehlhof during the second lap. Pro Caliber Suzuki's Isaiah Johnson was running sixth, which was particularly impressive because he had qualified for both the 125 and 250cc main events, but his race ended early as well. "I got taken out in the ] 25s, so I just tried to save myself for the 250s," Isaiah Johnson said. "I was running sixth in the ] 25 race until that happened." e _ 55 • FEBRUARY 13, 2002 13