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/128142
AMAlEA Sports Eastern Regional 1 2Scc Supercross Series Round 1 : RCA Dome Yet another surprise was the performance of 36-year-old John Dowd. The Cernics.com KTM-backed rider, who campaigned last year's Nationals aboard a KTM 520SX four-stroke, decided to lower his displacement some 395cc and contest the Eastern region tiddler class with the youngsters. The New England motocross legend started in seventh and then lost several positions before gaining a handful and crossing the finish line fifth. Shark/Plano Honda's Billy Payne raced to a respectable sixth-place finish after being injured for much of the '01 season, and KTM Red Bull's newest rider, Steve Boniface, crossed in seventh. The Frenchman finished second in his heat race earlier in the night and should also be considered a player in the East wars this year. DGY-backed Paul Currie, who has been on the disabled list for some time, returned aboard a privateer Suzuki and finished eighth, while Boost Mobile/Yamaha!Troy Racing's Greg Schnell finished ninth. Yamaha-mounted privateer Jeff Gibson was 10th in the final with Blimpie Suzuki's Branden Jesseman, WSA Snocross/Nielsen's Robbie Horton and LCR's Ryan Clark rounding out the top 13. And what of heavy hitters Langston and Byrne? After winning the second heat quite handily, KTM Red Bull's Langston (fourth in the 125cc Western Region last year) crashed at the end of the whoop section on lap four of the main, breaking off his clutch lever. His bike would not shift into neutral, and the South African pulled out of the race. Amsoil/Dr. Martens Honda's Byrne, a solid third in heat number one, crashed violently over a triple on lap nine of the final when he bailed out mid-flight. Byrne hit the ground extremely hard, and initial reports have the Australian out of action with a suspected broken ankle and rib. have been getting ready and looking forward to this race. I saw [Reed] double on the red-cross flag, so 1just backed off a bit. I thought that he might get in trouble for it, but it doesn't look like it." Another good story to come out of Indianapolis was that of five-time Arenacross Champion Buddy Antunez. The Blimpie Suzuki rider finished on the podium in the final after leaving his lucrative Arenacross career to return to where he started his pro career years ago - chasing a 125cc supercross title. Coming into the night, Antunez was not highly regarded as a big factor in the event, as stars like Reed, Brown, Grant Langston and Byrne were getting most of the press. Now, Antunez has to be seriously considered as a title threat, because if anyone has the experience to pull it off, it's the 28year-old Antunez. "All the hard work and training and support that Suzuki has been giving me paid off tonight," a happy Antunez said. "I knew that if I wanted any shot at the championship, that 1 needed to come out of here top-five. The podium just made it that much better. My buddy John Tomac [a mountain-biking legend] has been training me, and I need to thank him too." A quiet fourth went to 31-year-old veteran Larry Ward. The Moto XXXsponsored rider, who did not ride any supercross at all last year and rode the 250cc class for many years before that, has now come back to race the 125cc in order to prepare and train for the Nationals, but his Indy performance just may have opened a few eyes - including his own. "1 wanted top-five, but after I got hit by another guy in practice, 1didn't think that I was even going to ride," Ward said. "I got about a 12th-place start in the main and just started passing guys and was up to the front in no time. I felt good." MAIN The 125cc riders waited at the gate for several minutes for Kelly Smith's mechanics to repair a front tire, and as soon as the gate dropped, Smith rocketed out of the gate and grabbed the $1000 Powerade Holeshot award. "I noticed that it was out of air on the parade lap and went back quick to get it fixed," Smith said. "It calmed my nerves, though, and 1 got that start. " Brown, Antunez, Langston, Boniface, Reed and Dowd were next in line as they hit the whoops for the first time. On lap two, Brown blockpassed Smith in a corner before the staircase, and the number-three Kawasaki moved into the lead. A lap later, Reed was charging forward, and he passed Langston for third in the first turn. Several seconds later, while chasing Reed through the whoops, Langston got slightly out of control and hit Reed's rear wheel, and he was thrown to the ground. The crash stunned Langston and resulted in a broken clutch lever and a costly DNF. Reed was now only a few seconds behind Brown and was focused right on him, while Boniface, Antunez, Byrne and Smith still battled for third position. In the next few laps, Antunez and Byrne both got by Boniface for third and fourth, and then a lap later Byrne passed Antunez for third. Disaster struck Byrne on lap nine when he crashed hard over a triple. Byrne pitched the bike at the peak of flight, hit the ground hard, and was down for some time. Reed had closed It seemed like a supercross from the early '90s, as four major players of the past lined up for the J 25cc race. Among them were 29·year-old Mike Brown, 36-year-old John Dowd, 28-year-old Buddy Antunez and 31-ye8r-old Larry W8rd, all doing battle with the youngsters in Indy's 125cc class. Brown came back to 125cc supercross racing last year 8nd is now gunning for 8 title; W8rd retumed from a year out of SX to tr8in for this summer's outdoor series; Antunez left his high-paying Aren8cross position to give SX one more shot; and Dowd - well Dowd will apparently never stop racing. In the end, all four riders did very well, showing their younger competitors 8 thing or two 8iong the W8y. Brown r8ced to second place, while Antunez, W8rd and Dowd fmished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. 14 FEBRUARY 20, 2002' cue I • n _ ... IS