Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. National MX Championships Round 7: Kenworthy's N'lotocross Park Stewart had little problems handling the 12!5cc class at Troy. By winning both motos, the Kawasaki rider extends his lead In the series to a comfortable 55 points. everyone when he rode at Southwick with his injured shoulder; I proved it after I hurt my knee at High Point. If you want to win this title, you have to gut it out." Stewart and Reed, the series-long leaders, had yet to really have a straight-up battle going into Kenworthy's, but it seemed like the duel would finally happen in the first moto. On the start, Red Bull KTM rider Brock Sellards was the early leader after reigning U.S. National Arenacross Champion Josh Demuth swept too far outside at the end of the long start straight and wasted the holeshot. But by the end of the lap, Reed had the lead aboard the number-I03 Yamaha YZ250F, followed by Sellards, Blimpie Suzuki's Danny Smith, Demuth, Moto XXX Yamaha's Larry Ward, Branden Jesseman and Stewart. "Man, I gotta work on my concrete starts," said Stewart, who nailed two holeshots on the last such starting pad at Budds Creek. "This track was actually awesome for me because it's a lot like back home for me, with the ruts and all, plus it was pretty hot, which is also like home. My Kawasaki was working good out there, and it made it a lot easier on me." Within three laps, Stewart caught up to Reed's rear fender, setting up the race everyone has been waiting for. When Reed misread one of the deep berms at the end of the "Autobahn" straight, he stalled, causing the closely following Stewart to get hung up on the back of his bike for a few frantic seconds. "I caught him so quick, I knew I could get around him, but then he 32 JULY 24, 2002' cue I • just had some bad luck," Stewart explained. "At the beginning of the season, it was always me falling, but now I think I'm starting to get into those guys' heads, and they're falling over now instead of me. " Once out front, Stewart pulled away from Reed, who fell back to fifth. After working his way back up to second and starting to gain on Stewart, Reed started having handling problems due to his deflating front tire. "I was just one of the unlucky people who got a flat tire," shrugged Reed, who has now failed to score any points in three motos: a separated shoulder at Southwick, a stalled motorcycle at Red Bud, and a front flat at Kenworthy's. "The rim lock pinched the tube, so it's really no one's fault. I just have to look past all of this stuff. I watched last year's championship day in, day out [between Mike Brown, Grant Langston and Travis Pastrana], and it just motivates me to see all of the bad luck people had. I don't wish any bad luck on James because I really want to win this thing with good performances, so I need to put my head down and get some moto wins and try to make him start making the mistakes again. But you can't make enough mistakes when you're 20 seconds in the lead." The second moto would see Stewart start out a little better, this time behind the Blimpie Suzukis of Smith and Buddy Antunez. But by the second lap, he had secured the lead, and he rode off with another moto win his sixth in the seven motos since his bike last broke at Southwick. Blimpie Suzuki's Jesseman put in another solid ride, pulling down sec- Suzuki's Jesseman continues to Impress. He finished second and Is third In the points. n_""s ond overall for the second-straight race with a 2-4 showing. Jesseman, who hails from Pennsylvania, came from 10th to second in the first moto, holding throughout the race a pace that was very close to Stewart's. He also appeared to have the holes hot to start the second moto, but ended up holding the throttle on too long down the long Kenworthy's start straight and could not make the hairpin first turn. But he rode through the pack again for fourth place, enough to lock up another runner-up overall finish. "It was pretty touch-and-go out there today because we were all so close and battling," said Jesseman, who has finished second in one moto in each of the last five nationals, and who passed Fonseca in the points standings. "I actually had the holeshot in the second moto, but I left it on a little too long and overshot the first turn by about a mile. r caught back up to fourth, but then I kind of settled into a pace and it frustrated me. I should have kept up on my own pace out there. But I learned from it, and it won't happen again. I have been getting a lot of seconds - now I want to win." "Branden has really stepped it up lately," Stewart said. "He's an awesome rider, and you know he's going to be strong at the end. I'm glad he's getting up there because it's going to make for some great battles, plus him being up there puts more points between me and Chad."

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