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/128199
THG World Supercross GP Series/AMA Supercross Series Round 6/4: Pacific Bell Park Smith (Yem); 16. Olive Castillo (Vern); 17. Ted Campbell (Hon); 18. Mich&el Brown (Kew); 19. Jimmy Wilson (yam); 20. Micheel Koch (Vern). Race Time: 6 min.. jO.040 sec. Margin of Victory: 0.960 sec. HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1·4 transfer): 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon): 2. Grant umgston (KTM); 3. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 4. Emesto Fonsecll (Hon); 5. Heath Voss (Yam); 6. Stephane Roncadll (Suz); 7. Nick Wey (Yom); 8. urry Word (Hon): 9. Timmy Ferry (Vern); 10. Rye" Clark (Yam); 11. James Pavolny Jr. (Hon); 12. Jeremias Israel (Hon); 13. Joe Oehlhof (Yom); 14. Gre9 Schnell (Yom); 15. Brion Mason (Yom); 16. Mike Corder (Hon); 17. Billy Binckley (Yom); 18. Zeb Annstrong (Hon); 19. Clark Stiles (Hon); 20. Ryan Dudek (Yom). Race TIme: 6 min.. 12.594 sec. Margin of Victory: 10.987 sec. SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1-5 transfer): 1. Michael Byrne (Hon); 2. PlIul Cerpenter (Hon); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yam); 4. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 5. Erick Vallejo Yam); 6. Cesey Lytle (Yam); 7. Demon Huffman Hon); 8. Jason McCormick (Han); 9. Mich8el Blose Yom); 10. Kelly Smith (Yom); 11. Jeff Northrop KOW\; 12. Jimmy Wilson (Y8m); 13. D8ve C8stillo Y8m ; 14. Ted Cempbell (Han); 15. Michael Brown Kow); 16. Michoel Koch (Yom). Race Time: 4 min., 45.883 sec. Margin of Victory: 5.852 sec. SEMI 2 (6 laps, 1-5 tranSfer\: 1. Larry Werd HOn); 2. Stephllne Roncade (Suz ; 3. Heeth Voss Y8m); 4. Timmy Fe (Yam; 5. Nick Wey (Y8m); Armstrong (Han); 17. Ryan Dudek (Yam); 18. Billy Binckley (Yam); 19. James Povolny Jr. (Hon); 20. Ted Compbell (Hon); 21. Michael Brown (Kow); 22. Michael Koch (Yom). Race Time: 4 min., 52.414 sec. argin of Victory: 1.179 sec. MAIN EVENT (20 lops): 1. Ricky Connichoel (Hon); 2. Chl.ld Reed (Yam); 3. David Vuillemin (Yllm); 4. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 5. Mike l.eRocco (Hon); 6. Euo losk (Kow); 7. Michael Byme (Hon); 8. Stephane Roncada (Suz); 9. Grant Langston (KTM); 10. Nick Wey (Yom); 11. Paul Carpenter (Hon); 12. Heoth Voss (Hon); 13. urry Word (Hon); 14. Ivan Tedesco (Yam): 15. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz): 16. Damon Huffman (Hont; 17. Ryan Clark (Yom); 18. Erick Vollejo (Yom): 19. Keith R. Johnson (Yom): 20. Emesto Fonseca (Hon). Race Time: 15 min., 19.019 sec. Margin of Victory: 6.370 sec. THQ WORLD SUPER CROSS GP POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 01 17 rounds): 1. Chad Reed (134/2 wins); 2. David Vuillemin (125/1 win); 3. Timmy Ferry (121); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (106); 5. Mtke LllRocco (105); 6. Gr8nt Lllngston (76); 7. RYlln Clark (71); 8. Damon Huffmen (64); 9. Heeth Voss (58): 10. Keith R. Johnson (57); 11. Jeremy McGrath (29); 12. Steve Boniface (26); 13. Erick Vallejo (25); 14. Andrew Short (20); 15. Ted Campbell (15); 16. Joaquim Rodrigues (14); 17. Manuel Rivas (12); 18. Stephan Demortis (11); 19. Kyle Lewis (8); 20. (TIE) , Clark (Yom);?' (Yom); £ Ryan(Hon); 9. James Greg :l;,hnell (Hon); 8. Clork Stiles Povolny Jr. 10. Joe Jean·Sebastien Roy/James Povolny Jr. (7); 22. (TIE) Jason McCormick/Joe Oehlhof (6); 24. Nicholas Oehlhof (Yam); 11. Jeremias Israel (Hon); 12. Mike Corder (Hon); 13. Brian Mason (Yam); 14. Billy Binckley' (Y8m); 15. Zeb Armstrong (Hon); 16. Ryan Charlier (2). AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS Dudek (Yom). R8ce Time: 4 min., 43.805 sec. Margin of Victory: 1.756 sec. LCQ (6 laps, 1-2 transfer): 1. Demon Huffmen (Hon); 2. Ryan Clark (Yom); 3. Clark Stiles (Hon); 4. Joson McConnick (Hon); 5. Joe Oehlhol (Yom); 6. Casey Lytle (Y8m); 7. Michael Blose (Y8m): 8. Brlen Meson (Yam); 9. Kelly Smith (Yam); 10. Jeremias lueel (Hon); 11. Greg Schnell (Yam); 12. Jeff Northrop (Kaw); 13. Mike Corder (Han); 14. Dave Castillo (Yam); 15. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); 16. Zeb (After 4 of 16 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (90/2 wins); 2. Ch8d Reed (84/1 wins); 3. Timmy Ferry (74); 4. Ezra Lusk (71/1 win); 5. David Vuillemin (67); 6. Sebastien Tortelli (57); 7. Mike uRocco (56); 8. Stephone Roncodo (42); 9. Michael Byme (39); 10. Ivan Tedesco (33); 11. Ernesto Fonseca (31); 12. Heath Voss (30); 13, Ryan Clark (26); 14. Nick Wey (25); 15. Lorry Word (23); 16. (TIE) Michael Brown/Damon Huffman (19); 18. Keith R. Johnson (18); 19. Grant Langston (15); 20. Steve Boniface (12). The attendance was 40,033 at the first-ever supercross at Pac Bell Park. It was a good turnout considering the local Oakland Raiders were playing in the Super Bowl the following day in the same state. At the San Francisco Giants' home opener at the ballpark on April 11, 2000, the attendance was 40,933, and the stadium's capacity is 42,000. The KTM Jr. Supercross Challenge was won by Troy Graffunder, who did a one-legger over the finish line and crashed - much to the delight of the crowd. When it came time to answer the old "Would you rather have a KTM motorcycle or a girlfriend" question, Sacramento's Graffunder responded, "Well. 1already have a KTM motorcycle, so I guess I'd like a girlfriend." Tyler Webb and Jason Doane, both of Longview, Washington, rounded out the top three. TRE/Chuck Franklin & Associates' Tim Weigand was awarded the $250 Asterisk Medic Card for his fifth-place finish in the 125cc LCO. MotoXXX's Clark Stiles won the $750 Racer X Gas Card, which was this week co-sponsored by Michael Stuziack and Steve Bacchin!. for finishing third in the 250cc LCO. The AMA's Duke Finch said that when they were made aware that Racer X wanted to up the Racer X Gas Card award to $750 from $250, the AMA had to make sure that last piace in the 250cc main event got paid more than that. This year, 20th place in the 250cc main gets $1240. However, third in the 250cc LCO gets $1100 from the AMA. so combining Ihat with the Racer X $750, that's actually $1850, Technically, it may pay more to miss the main by one spot than to make it. Clear Channel Entertainment - Motor Sports does offer a significant amount of privateer bonuses for riders that make the main. though. White Brothers/Shift Honda's Paul Carpenter won the $1 500 SXGP.com 250cc Holeshot Award in his first main-event start of the season. Pro Circuit/Chevy Trucks KawasakI's Eric Sorby got the $1000 SXGP.com 125cc Holeshot Award for his start in the 125cc main. After being paranoid that our math was wrong on more than one occasion concerning the World Supercross GP points standings, CCE's Denny Hartwig informed us that the system actually works as follows; All non-eligible riders are eliminated from the final results. and then the points are tallied. That means if Ricky Carmichael wins a race, Ezra Lusk finishes second - both ineligible for FIM points - and Chad Reed finishes third, Reed actually gets the 25 points for winning the race. The second eligible rider will get 22 points, third 20, etc. Paul Carpenter transferred to his first·ever 250cc main event by finishing a strong second in his semi behind Michael Byrne. "I guess every week gets a little bit better." Carpenter said. "This is where I wanted to be; I got it into the main event· I kind of didn't expect to pull the holeshot. but I got in there and just rode. I was just happy to be there. - Mike laRocco's five-year-old son, Ryder, was spotted after the races doing freestyle tricks, such as Double Can-Cans, on his bicycle in the pits. "Yeah, I taught him everything he knows," Mike laRocco said. "No, he likes to ride his bicycle, but I don't really have a bunch of time to let him ride C U c I e n e Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Mike Brown dropped out of the night's competition after his heat race. "He just kind of tweaked his back a little bit." said team manager Alley Semar. "He just pulled a muscle. He didn't do a jump or something and somebody hit the back of him. He's okay; he was just a lillie sore. He's going to start testing next week. and then he's going to ride the 125cc East." Chevy Trucks KawasakI's Ezra Lusk detuned his bike after Anaheim I. "After Anaheim, I detuned it quite a bit. actually." he said. "It was a lillie bit too much for me to handle, so it's good now. Right now it's just got a lot of torque, what we were looking for. but we didn't have it last year. Now we've got it. so I think that's kind of what's been improving my performances." SoBe Suzuki's Sebastien Tortelli will have to pay up on a bet he made with his trainer Rick Johnson this week. "We lTortelli and Johnsonl had a bet at the beginning of the year that. except if I got in a first-tum pile or a mechanical problem, if I was out of the top 10 I have to shave my head," he said. "On the other hand, if I get a win, he has to shave his head. So hopefully I'm going to shave his. He got me for now; I need to work harder to get him. " Subway Honda's Ted Campbell went down hard (pictured) in the heat race and remained on the track for the last six laps of the race. "He's doing good," team manager Chuck Schultz said after the main event. "We just got back from the hospital. He had an MRI. and thai came back all right. and I think they're going to do a CT scan on him still, but he was alert and knew what was going on. He was talking to us and stuff there. He basically was knocked out and then went into a seizure from that point, but he's moving everything· all his limbs are working fine, and he's doing good." While being loaded into the medic cart, Campbell awoke and freaked out. ·1 went crazy," Campbell said in a phone conversation on Sunday. "I was strapped down - head, armS and legs - and I was yelling at them to let me get up. I know it was for my best. but when you wake up and don't know what's going on, it's kind of scary. I've got to thank Dr. Bodnar and all the technicians for helping out. I've got a headache, but I'll be back; I'm just going to take a week or two off." The pits were located across the water from the track across the Lefty O'Ooul Bridge, which is a drawbridge. Sea lions could be spoiled periodically in the water checking out the goings on. Honda's Ernesto Fonseca came together with Mike laRocco in the main event while crossing the start straight and augured into the ground pretty hard. He was down for a while before gelling up and retiring from the race. "He knocked the wind out of himself pretty hard, and with the short lap times, he was about to get lapped by the time he got up," team manager Erik Kehoe said, Monday, January 27. "So he couldn't really gel back into it from that far behind. He's doing fine, though. He's actually going tesllng today." KTM has hired Larry Brooks· the former team manager for the temporarily shut down McGrath Rac· ing - as the team manager for Red Bull KTM. The move caught many inside the industry by sur· prise. "I was actually mutually surprised,· now-former team manager Ron Heben said over the phone Monday. "KTM has not been satisfied with the team's results so far this year, so they decided to make a change, and Larry was available, so they went with him. They weren't happy with how our premier rider was finishing. My capacity at this time Is yet to be delermined. We're discussing what options and what opportunities are available at this time, but right now I'm just showing Larry around and going over everything with him. They made the change last Thursday, and this past weekend we just went aiong with business as usuai. but come this weekend, Larry should be in charge. " Red Bull KTM's Grant Langston (pictured) gave an update on his injuries after the main in San Francisco. "It [the wrist) still hurts now, - he said. "The problem is, because it's ligament damage, when I cool down and try and ride again, it's stiff, and it hurts· on the parade lap, it already was painful. It's kind of tough. Uke my heat race, it felt good, and then it seems that. like, I cool down, and then I go again; it's holding me back. It's tough because the best thing for ligaments is just to rest, and the problem is the more I rest. the more I fall back as far as riding condition.On a good note, he said his knee feels good enough to run on now. FEBRURY 5,2003' Cannlchael (middle). Reed (left) and Vuillemin (right) celebrate on the podium. dirt bikes, so... He's into the little freestyle thing, which is pretty funny." BRIEFLY••• 10 Upcoming Rounds: Round 7/5 - Anaheim, California, February 1 Round 8/6 - Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 8 _ s The podium looked a lillie odd at Pac Bell Park, and it was our photographer Steve Bruhn who point· ed out that the THO World Supercross GP logo had been removed - or rather blacked out. "Clear Channel Entertainment made a commitmenlto AMA Pro Racing that the two logos [the AMA Supercross and World Supercross GP logosl would receive equal prominence," said CCE's Ken Hudgens. "Since the logo on the podium was bigger than the rest. we decided to cover it up until we could provide equal exposure to both logos. "