Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA 1 :25cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series Round :2: Georgia Dome (Leftl Kelly Smith (561 nailed the holeshot, but Sellards (181 made quick work of him for the lead. Michael Byrne (behind Smithl, Erick Vallejo (1791, Brown (31 and the rest of the pack follow. (Suz); 19. Tyson Hadsell (Yam). Race Time: 3 min., 44.087 sec. Margin of victory; 1.360 sec. 125cc MAIN (15 laps, 22 riders): I. Brock Sellards (Yam); 2. Michael Brown (Kaw); 3. Branden Jesseman (Suz); 4. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 5. Michael Byrne (Hon); 6. Mathieu Lalloz (Suz); 7. Steve Boniface (KTM); 8. Kelly Smith (Yam); 9. Troy Adams (Yam): 10. Ryan Mills (Hon); 11. Tiger Lacey (Yam); 12. Ryan Morais (Suz); 13. Paul Currie (Yam); 14. Shane Lusk (Han); 15. Jeff Gibson (Suz); 16. Troy Carroll (Yam); 17. Joshua Summey (Yam); '18. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); '19. Travis Elliott (Yam); 20. Shae Bentley (Suz); 21. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 22. Ivan Tedesco (Yam). Race Time: 13 min., 44.625 sec. Margin of victory: 3.959 sec. AMA 12Scc EASTERN REGIONAL SUPER CROSS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 2 of 7 rounds): I. Brock Sellards (47/1 win); 2. Branden Jesseman (45/1 win); 3. Michael Brown (40); 4. Michael Byrne (36); 5. Kelly Smith (29); 6. Erick Velilejo (26); 7. Steve Boniface (25); 8. Mathieu Lalloz (22); 9. Ryan Mills (21); J O. Jeff Gibson (18); 11. Brett Metcalfe (16); 12. Ivan Tedesco (15); 13. Joshua Summey (10): 14. Michael Blose (9); 15. Paul Currie (8): 16. Shane Lusk (7): 17. (TIE) Troy Carroll/Grant Langston (5); \9. Robert Kiniry (4); 20. Shae Bentley (3). to Dr. John Bodnar. "He [Tedesco] was trying to make a pass on Boniface for third; they came together, and Ivan got spit off his bike," said Larry Alexander, Tedesco's mechanic. "Unfortunate. Just like last week." With Tedesco down, Boniface was able to get up and going again, despite a damaged hand, front brake and throttle. Also nearly taken out in the accident was Vallejo, who managed to hang on and finish out a strong race in fourth. . '" don't really know what happened," Vallejo said. "Boniface was in front of me; he swerved one way, two guys swerved the other; I got in the middle of it - just kind of prayed then I guess they went down pretty hard." head. I rode as fast as I could. Jesseman caught up to me a bit, but I had enough to keep going, and he couldn't have passed me." After the podium, the next four spots had an international flavor as Vallejo (Mexico), Byrne (Australia), Lalloz (France) and Boniface (France) raced in for positions fourth through seventh, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Kelly Smith, Florida's Troy Adams and New York's Ryan Mills. After the race, Sellards admitted to having another advantage outside his successful blitz of the rhythm section on the first lap: several days' testing on the home track of buddy Ricky Carmichael. "I spent the week at Carmichael's house in Georgia," he said. "His track is all red clay, which is real tacky; and I had a good week riding. Just like this track. So that was the biggest benefit, riding with Rick and [Mike] Brown." eN Following the lap-seven mishap, Jesseman worked his way into third, setting up the highlight battle of the night with Brown. The 63,749 in attendance focused their attention on the Suzuki rider, who put on a valiant charge through the last eight laps and was nearly able to tap Brown's back tire before the checkers fell. "My arms got a little tight, have been for as long as I've been racing, 100 years now I think," said 30-yearold Brown with a laugh. "My breathing's excellent, my Pro-Circuit Kawasaki KX125 was running excellent as always, but when your arms get a little tight, you can't go as fast 6eoruia Dome Atlanta, 6eoruia Results: February 22, 2003 [Round 21 HEAT 1 (6 laps, 1-9 transfer): 1. Michael Byrne (Hon); 2. Ivan Tedesco (Yam); 3. Brock Sellards (Yam); 4. Mathieu Lalloz (Suz); 5. Troy Adams (Yam); 6. Travis Elliott (Yam); 7. Troy Carroll (Yam); 8. Ryan Mills (Hon); 9. Joshua Summey (YlIm); 10. Shane Lusk (Hon); 11. Paul Currie (Yam); 12. Robbie Horton (KTM); 13. David Dettel (Yam); 14. Hans Nee! (KTM); 15. Ty Conner (Han); 16. Scott Metz (Suz); 17. Michael Graham (Yam); 18. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); 19. Kyle Garro (Yam); 20. Bryan White (Yam). Race Time: 5 min., 19.668 sec. Margin of victory: 6.542 sec. HEAT 2 (6 laps, 1-9 transfer): 1. Mike Brown (Kaw); 2. Steve Bonifece (KTM); 3. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 4. Kelly Smith (Yam); 5. Brenden Jesseman (Suz); 6. Derrick Bentley (Suz); 7. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 8. Ryan Morais (Suz); 9. Tiger Lacey (Yam); 10. Jeff Gibson (Suz); 11. Robert Kiniry (Suz); 12. Michael Blose (Yam); 13. Charlie Dagner (Yam); 14. Tommy Harrison (Suz); 15. Adam Mennenga (Yam); 16. David Hill (Suz); 17. Tyson Hadsell (Yam); 18. Justin Thompson (KTM). Race Time: 5 min. 22.986 sec. M.argin of victory: 16.669 sec. LCQ (4 laps. 1-4 transfer): I. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); 2. Pliul Currie (Yem); 3. Jeff Gibson (Suz); 4. Shane Lusk (Han); 5. Charlie Dligner (Yam); 6. Scott Metz (Suz); 7. David Oettel (Yam); 8. Kyle Garro (Yam); 9. Michael Blose (Yam); 10. Michael Graham (Yam); 11. Justin Thompson (KTM); 12. Hans Neel (KTM); 13. Ty Conner (Han); 14. Robert Kiniry (Suz); 15. Robbie Horton (KTM); 16. Tommy Harrison (Suz); 17. Adam Mennenga (Yam); 18. David Hill as you want. "I got an okay start, but then I missed the first corner heading into the rhythm section, got all messed up there," he said. "I lost a few places and had to pass a lot of good riders Branden [Jesseman], Tedesco - to get back. By the time I got into second place, Brock [Sellards] had a nice little lead, and to catch up you've got to ride a little bit over your 14 MARCH 5, 2003' eye I e n e _ s Branden Jesseman stru991ed but still got third. He trails Sellards by two in the championship after two rounds. Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Indianapolis, Indiana, March 1 Round 4 - Daytona Beach, Florida, March 8 my 1] L?@ Own Race: 125(( Erick VaUejo 4th Team Solitaire's Vallejo had a really good race. "I had a good jump on the start and was in fourth," he said. "Moved up to third, then Boniface passed me. Then a couple more guys. So I started to get a little. nervous, knowing I had to catch and pass Boniface. So I passed him, and after that it was pretty smooth sailing, until the end when Michael Byrne came up and almost passed me. Overall, it felt good." Vallejo's fourthplace finish ties his best finish ever, a fourth in the at the 1999 Houston SX. ~@ Branden Jesseman §§ Steve Boniface 3rd SoBe Suzuki's Pennsylvanian had another strong race, despite some bad luck throughout the weekend. "In the main, I didn't have such a good pick because I crashed in the heat race," last week's winner said. "Then I had a late reaction off the gate and got a fairly bad start. , was able to work my way through the pack consistently, got up to third, caught up to Mike [Brown) at the end but just ran out of time." 7th Red Bull KTM's star Frenchman has healed well from his ankle injury suffered at Anaheim Il on a 250. '" got second in my heat and got a good pick for the main," he said. "I got a really good start and was in second after the first lap. I was feeling really comfortable but started to make some mistakes and was back in third when Tedesco jumped on me, hit my hand (Boniface shows his bloody hand) and broke my front brake and throttle, so it got to be really tough to finish the race. l'm a little bit disappointed, but it is racing, you know? I hope to keep getting better and better every weekend and get a podium really soon." ®~ Michael Byrne 5th Amsoil/Chaparral Honda's Aussie had to come from behind for the second week in a row. "I feel like I'm racing against a bunch of amateurs out there," he said. "There's some riders out there doing some pretty stupid things. You know, if I could make it around the first lap, I don't think I'd have any trouble. I actually haven't been falling off by myself, but people keep running into me, and it seems like I've been working my butt off to get nowhere, and I'm starting to get a little sick of il. We'll see what happens next week." @@@ Shane Lusk 14th "It was awesome, but at first I was a little nervous," Honda of Houston's Lusk said after making his first main event. "I was lined up on the very outside gate, and I was thinking to myself, 'This is my very litst main, and as long as I get arOl:Jnd the first tum safe, then I'm just going to try to chip away at the pack and get through as many riders as I can, stay up and put in a strong 15 laps.' I worked hard to make it this far, and I didn't want to crash out and not go the wh.ole distance. It was really tough. Those guys are at another level out there, but I'm close. I've just got to keep working harder."

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