Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks 250cc U.S. Motocross Series Round 4: MX33B moto just inside the top 10 and charged throughout the race, eventually passing Moto XXX/DGY-backed Honda rider Kyle Lewis for fourth and inheriting third when Honda's Sebastien T ortellj Lusk. "Shooting for another podium, ond moto. He ran third for the better the team are just having a lot of fun. I've just been going to every race and part of the race before a late-race fall the outdoors and improve my performances. I've never really been that focusing on getting better." derailed his charge. He finished out great of an outdoor rider and I'm try- trying to get some speed up here in Fourth overall went to Lewis - his the moto in fifth. "I've been trying really hard," said went down with just a few laps to go. ing to improve that, as well as my best overall finish so far this year. Lewis ran as hjgh as fifth in the first "I think the first thing that was on my mind was just carrying the overall strength and speed for next year's supercross series. Obviously, sixth just after the halfway mark. slow down for a few laps and take a momentum from Mt. Morris," said I'm getting a lot stronger and me and Lewis looked even better in the sec- breather. I saw [John] Dowd coming BRIEFLY••• With his overall victory at Southwick, Ricky Carmichael becomes only the fourth nder in AMA history to open the season with four straight overall wins in the 250cc MX Series. Rick Johnson (1986), Kent 'The Rhinestone Cowboy' Howerton (1980) and Bob Hannah (1978 and 1979) are the others. Carmichael's overall victory at Southwick also makes him the winningest rider at the facility, with five wins. Carmichael Is now also tied with Kent Howerton and Jeff Stanton for the most 'consecutive' overall victones at MX 338. Each of the riders has four consecutive wins. Team Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki" s Stephane Roncada injured his ankle in the first morning practice session. Roncada allempted to ride the second practice but was forced to sit out the National. Local NESC hero Mike Treadwell (below) competed at Southwick as a member of the Factory Red Bull KTM team in a rather unique. one-race deal. Treadwell, from nearby Enfield, Connecticut. was thrilled with the opportunity. "I'm really excited," said Treadwell. "Several of the regular KTM factory guys were hurt. so Dan Salamone, our Northeastern Sales Rep, called Ron [Heben. Red Bull KTM Team Managerl and put the deal together. Basically, I just want to get good starts. ride hard for 30 minutes and see what happens. I've been trying to go at it like it's just another race, but. naturally, there's a lillie pressure there. There's always added pressure here anyway, just because it's a hometown race for me. These guys at KTM have given me the opportunity to nde a really good bike, so I want to do well for them." Treadwell rode Grant Langston's bike, with Andrew Langston filling in as his mechanic for the weekend. Treadwell also reports the he will be contesting the Cana· dian Nationals for KTM Canada with Lance Smail as his teammate. "I'm actually contracted to do the Canadian Nationals: said Treadwell. '1 leave Tuesday. I'm still going to try to do the Troy, Unadilla, Binghamton and Steel City Nationals, though." David Pingree made his debut as a Team Shark/Plano Honda rider at Southwick. "I thought last year that what I wanted to do was just supercross." said Pingree. "I put together a supercross-only program with KTM for this year and, after the last supercross. I started to get bored. I started to look for some races to do - Australia, Canada or something. Plano Honda contacted me and said that they had a spot open. I feel pretty good. I think I'm still maybe not quite in shape. which is going to really punish me here at Southwick. My speed, I think, is good. For 20 to 25 minutes, I'll be good. Then, we'll see. The bike is awesome and I feel really comfortable on it. I'm glad to be back out here." Frank Latham will serve as Pingree's mechanic. Three·time National Motocross Champion Doug Henry made a popular appearance at Southwick. Henry. from nearby Oxford, Connecticut. hopes to keep his National Number 19 for as long as possible and needs to score just one National point per year to do so. "I feel pretty good - a lillie rusty,' said Henry after Saturday's practice. "I feel like I'm gelling around the track okay. I haven't really been nding very much because my knee gets so sore afterwards [Henry injured his knee at the Pontiac Supercrossl. I've kind of been taking it easy and trying not to re-injure it. I just want to be in the top 20 and keep my number for another year. Then, maybe next year, whether I get work done on my knee or not, I'll be a little more ready." Henry was exempt from qualifying due to the AMA's 'Past Champions' rule, which allows former National Champions to be seeded directly into the main event. Amsoil/Dr. Martens/Journeys/Competition Accessories' Mike laRocco made his return to racing at Southwick. laRocco has 22 JUNE 19. 2002' cue • • n _ wv • moto before Tortelli dropped him to been out of action since breaking his wrist at the Minneapolis Supercross. "It's not too bad: said laRocco. "I think I'll be all right. I'm definitely over the hump to where I can start nding motos. I've been pUlling in the time, but it was really just this past week that I could start finishing motos. I just kind of want to check my speed and fitness and see where I'm at." LaRocco, like Henry, was exempt from qualifying due to the AMA's 'Past Champions' rule. Also making a return to racing at Southwick was Tea;'; M;;to. XXX's Nick Wey. Wey recently underwent knee surgery and was not slated to return for at least a few more weeks. "It's still pretty sore,' said Wey, "I've been riding and doing a lot of therapy with Sarah Stanton [wife of Team Honda's Jeff Stantonl, This is one of my favonte tracks and, if my fitness is there, I think I can do pretty well. I'm just going to see how I feel out there and do the best I can. Obviously, I'd like to at least be in the top 10, but, hopefully, I'll be able to do a little better than that - pushing towards the top five or so, " The annual NESC/MX338 'Invitational' race took place on the free weekend between the High Point and Southwick Nationals and many riders took advantage of the opportunity to train and practice for the unique conditions at Southwick_ Manchester Honda-backed KTM nder Mike Treadwell topped the 20Occ+ Expert class over HRP Sports/SoCal/Leighton's Cycles-backed Yamaha rider Wally Silva. REP/Smith/Cycles 128's Austin Squires finished third overall. Shogun MotorsportslThor/EVS' Josh Demuth took the overall win in the 125cc Expert class, followed by Treadwell and Team ECC.com/Suzuki/Troy Lee Designs' Turbo Reif, Other notable nders to compete included Rei!' s Team ECC.com/SuzukilTroy Lee Designs teammate Josh Woods, Motoworld Racing.com/Amencan Suzuki/AXO/Bill's Pipes' Justin Buckelew, Shark/Plano Honda's Travis Ellioll and KTM/Cernic's.com/PC Worldwide's Keith S, Johnson and John Dowd. Dowd competed in the first set of motos (winning the first 125cc Expert moto and finishing fourth in the first 200cc+ Expert moto) but twisted his knee and sat out the second set of motos. Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's Greg Schnell and Rodrig Thain switched bikes at Southwick. Schnell switched from a YZ125 to a YZ250F, while Thain switched from the VZ250F to a VZ125, "It was really the nders who prompted the change," said team manager Craig Dack. "Both Greg and Rodng have been struggling with form all year, They approached us to see if they could swap bikes, just to try to freshen things up for themselves. We want to help the riders wherever we can, so we acknowledged it. We're trying to give them a lillie bit more incentive and to freshen things up a lillie bit to help them turn things around. Both Rodrig and Greg are really positive about it," Schnell raced a VZ250F last year and Thain raced a Factory KTM 125. The team hopes that the riders will fare beller on the type of bike (lwo-stroke vs. four-stroke) that they are more familiar with. Dack also reports that top amateur Josh Hansen will join the team for the upcoming Budds Creek National. Hansen is the son of 1982 250cc Supercross and 250cc National Motocross Champion Donnie Hansen. Moto XXXlDGY's Larry Ward showed up at Southwick with a Inertial Suspension Stabilizer mounted on the rear wheel of his Yamaha VZ250F. Teammate Kyle Lewis has been running the device recently on his Honda CRF450R. LCRRacing,com/FLY/Dragon-backed Yamaha rider Ryan Clark showed up at Southwick with a new mechanic_ Cody Schulz, who previously wonked with plivateer Ted Campbell, will join Clank for the remaining Nationals. Speaking of LCRRacing,com, Motoworld/AxolTag Metals-backed Yamaha rider Dustin Nelson was pilled with the team at South· wick, Nelson, who wears AMA National number 63, is a regular on the Four-Stroke National circuit. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco continues to support the journeymen of the sport with their Top Privateer Awards. Moto XXXlDGY's Kyle Lewis was the top pnvateer in the 250cc class, followed by LCRRacing.com/FLY/Dragon-backed Yamaha rider Keith R. Johnson. American Suzuki/DGY/SoCal's Paul Curne was the top privateer in the 125cc class, followed by Shogun Motorsporls/ Thor/EVS' Josh Demuth. The top plivateer in each class receives $1500, while the runner-up receives $750. Lewis. "Until I crashed, I had some good strength. After I fell, I had to Sunday morning's qualifiers saw White Brothers/Honda/Axo's Paul Carpenter take the first 250cc qualifier win. Crossroad Powersports/RRP/MSR-backed Honda nder Damien Plolls won the second 250cc qualifier and Max Pills/O'NeaI/ARC-backed Honda rider Clank Stiles won the 250cc consolation race. Red Bull KTM's Mike Treadwell was the winner of the first 125cc qualifier. 3D Racing/FMF/Dunlop's Kelly Smith won the second 125cc qualifier (the fastest qualifier of the day at 7:01 :82 minutes) and MotoworldRacing.com/American Suzuki's Andrew Short won the 125cc consolation race. "Plano Honda nder Scott Sheak was on-hand at Southwick, wearing a headset to help out his teammates, "I've had three concussions," said the sidelined rider, "My third one came at Hangtown and it was a stage-three concussion. It damaged my equilibnum and gave me a lillie bit of vertigo, so I'm out on a race-to-race basis. Since [former Plano managerl Kenny Watson left, I kind of stepped in as assistant manager, Managing is something that I've always been interested in doing, and helping out while I'm injured is a good way to get my feet wet and see if I like doing this. I wish I was racing, but I'm glad I'm walking and talking, too. " liMA 125cc National Champion Mike Brown was devastated at having to pull out of Southwick. After skipping Saturday practice, Brown could barely nde Sunday morning. He decided after the first practice that it was useless, "' wrecked the second moto at High Point and tore my meniscus and ACL in my right knee," explained Brown before the moto, "I had it 'scoped and cleaned up... I don't know, maybe I could try, but my leg just feels week right now. I've been doing 12 hours a day of physical therapy. Maybe I will try one more hard week of therapy and see how it is for Budds Creek. If I still can't go, I'll just have to get the real surgery and be out for two or three months. You know. this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my career. It will probably sink in once the first moto goes off the line and I'm not out there. " AMA Pro Racing VP of commercial development John Farris was sporting a cast on his nght wnst at Southwick from a practice accident at the Freelin track in Michigan. When asked what happened, Farns laughed, "Big triples. Huge! I mean, it's all supercross, anyway, and I was clearing most of them, but I just went too far on the last one. Actually, I came down on both wheels and broke my navicular, It's a pretty clean break, but I will have to have a cast on for about eight weeks. Even then, it may still require some healing time.' When it was suggested that a broken navicular is the motocross badge of honor, with everyone from Bob Hannah to Rick Johnson to Travis Pastrana suffering the injury at some point. Farns answered, "Sure, but it's a badge of honor I really didn't want!" Emesto Fonseca's 5-2 nde for second overall manked his bestever national finish. It also meant that he and his Honda teammate Ricky Carmichael would finally be able to shave the facial hair (below) that they had grown since they promised one another not to shave until Fonseca finished on the podium back at the start of the season, "Man, am I glad that's over!" said Fonseca, sporting a full-on beard in the winner's circle. Neither Fonseca nor undefeated 250cc rider Carmichael waited long to clean themselves up. After a pair of pink lady's razors were said to have been donated by Chad Reed's girlfriend Ellie, the two nders shaved right in the Honda pits after the trophy presentation. "It's about timel" laughed Carmichael of finally gelling to shave. "My fiancee Ursula was about ready to shoot me, "

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