Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Trucks Kawasaki teammate Ezra Lusk to notch another strong finish. Lusk himself was also impressive in Minneapolis, starting fifth and moving up into a seemingly secure podium position before going down on the final lap of the race. Frenchies Vuillemin ~nd Roncada both capitalized on the error before Lusk could remount and roll across the line in fifth. Next up was Jeremy McGrath, the seven-time champ having moved into the lead following a fourth-place start, only to begin fading near the midway point. "~ felt good to be racing," the Bud Light Yamaha rider said. "At least that time I passed some people to get into the lead." MAIN One-quarter of Team Honda's factory team won the main event, but the other three-quarters were up front at the start. At the front through turn one in his first race back was Sebastien Tortelli, with Fonseca in second and Nate Ramsey third. After one lap, McGrath was in fourth, with Lusk sitting fifth. Suffering worse getaways were laRocco, Roncada, Carmichael, Pastrana, Kevin Windham, Damon Huffman and Vuillemin, who were sitting sixth through 12th, respectively, after one circuit. Lately, the first half of main events have been quite hectic, and this one was no different. Those who had started poorly were momentarily in survival mode, while the riders nearer to the front could actually do some racing. "My starts weren't up to par tonight, and that's pretty important at this stage in the series," Carmichael said. "Everyone is riding good. I need to get out front and do it as fast as I can." "It was very difficult the first few laps because everybody was following each other: Vuillemin said. "I stayed maybe five laps behind Windham, and when I passed him, I got a good rhythm." McGrath, in particular, went to work early, going by Ramsey in the whoops on lap three, then following Fonseca by Tortelli a lap later. "I was so pumped to get the holeshot out there," Tortelli said. "I need to work on maintaining my race pace for 20 laps. Endurance is the key out there, and the ingredient to consistency. " Two laps after that, McGrath put a block pass on Fonseca for the lead, and then tried to open up a gap. At almost the same moment, LaRocco was clashing with a charging Pastrana. Carmichael had just moved by the veteran, and Pastrana was trying to do likewise as the two riders hurtled through the whoop section. At the end of the section was a small jump that some riders were doubling, followed by a right-hand turn. As LaRocco entered the turn, Pastrana came down from the jump, his handlebar striking the veteran's right forearm and sending both riders to the ground. Pastrana remounted and resumed racing, but LaRocco had suffered a broken wrist. "Pastrana doubled into that comer and landed on him," said Fred Bramblett, whose OMS Ltd. agency manages LaRocco. "You could double the jump at the end of the whoops, and laRocco was doing it every lap," said SoBe Suzuki team manager Roger DeCoster. "Then one lap he didn't do it, but he still went for the comer. Pastrana was in the air, and he couldn't stop. There was nothing he could do." LaRocco was furious at seeing his title hopes disappear due to what he perceived as the mistake of another rider, and when Pastrana took himself out of the race with another crash in the same whoop section two laps later, LaRocco got the opportunity to vent some frustration. With an ice pack strapped to his wrist, he tracked down Pastrana and gave him an earful before the two left the stadium. Things started to calm down slightly, a turn of events Carmichael viewed as an invitation to make a charge. He was now fourth, and although the two riders ahead of him were his teammates, the Floridian didn't see that as a reason to play gently. He made an aggressive pass on Ramsey on lap nine, then took out Fonseca one lap later. Carmichael's next pass was the one for the lead, and it went much easier. With the race now at the halfway point, the leading McGrath made a mistake that allowed both Carmichael and Fonseca by. Mike LaRocco gives Travis Pasb'ana a piece of his mind after a main-event Incident between the two riders resulted in a broken wrist for LaRocco. After missing the first six rounds of the series, Sebastien TortelU made his 2002 debut at the Minneapolis Supercross. The Team Honda rider has been recovering from a major, six-hour shoulder-reconstruction surgery that he underwent in October. Tortelli was able to begin training way back in November, but he didn't get the go-ahead to ride until a few weeks ago, just before Anaheim 1I1. The Frenchman was planning to retum at Indy until he tweaked his wrist in a practice session and elected to hold off for another week. The surgery, which was performed in France, involved repairing a tom rotator cuff, reattaching some muscles and just generally cleaning things up. Much of the damage had been sustained way back in January of 2001, when you might recall that Tortelli crashed during a practice session at the Anaheim opener. "The surgeon was amazed that I could race all season with that," Tortelli said. "The recovery takes like four or five months, so I didn't do it after Anaheim. At that time, they didn't know exactly what was wrong and what was not, so in that situation, you don't want to do it. I was feeling fine, but at the end of the year, they I did a check-up to make sure everything was okay, and that's when they saw that there was a lot of work to do." The decision to have the surgery was an easy one, Tortelli said: "I could race like that again, but I didn't have enough power. The other point was that if I left the shoulder like that, it's going to get a lot of play. I could have my shoulder pop out." Tortelli began rehabilitating the shoulder in France, then continued the process when he retumed to Califomia, with periodic check·ins with trainer Dominique Paris (who has worked with boxer Oscar de la Hoya). "It was kind of hard because for a month and a half I was told not to move my arm or my hand," Tortelli saiel "I've been doing cardio and going to therapy a few times a week. I'm also doing a weight program Tortelli looked fairly strong at Minneapolis, especially considering it was his first race in nearly half a year. He won his daytime qualifier going away, finished third in his heat race, then holeshot and led the main event before slipping to eighth. "Today, it feels good," Tortelll said. "It's not as strong yet as last year, because there was a long time with no movement. h's going to take some more therapy. It will be 100 percent by the outdoors. h doesn't bother me when I'm riding. It's more muscles that I use in daily life." cue' • n _ _ S • FEBRUARY 27. 2002 7

• Cover