Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THQ World Supercross GP SeriesiAMA Supercross Series Round 1 D/B: Georgia Dome Lany Ward (10) got the start, while Heath Voss (behind Ward), Damon Huffman (20), Emesto Fonseca (24) and the rest of the pack give chase. (Right) Sean Hamblin made his 250cc Supercross debut in Atlanta a good one with a strong seventh-place showing. His teammate Danny Smith finished 10th. And what of Ward? The South 6eorgia Dome Atlanta, 6eorgia Results: February 22, 2003 [Round 1DI 8J Carolinian was fifth with three laps to go when he crashed, dropping to 16th. HEAT 1 (8 laps. 1-4 transfer): 1. Ch8d Reed (Yam): 2. David Vuillemin (Yam): ~. Mike LzlRocco CN m ~~ Own Race: 2S0cc Emesto Fonseca 4th A week later and Emesto Fonseca was still hurting. The lingering effects of a hard spill in his heat race in the Minneapolis Supercross kept Fonseca from practicing during the week and made this week's race on the soft and rutted Georgia Dome track a struggle, on top of which Fonseca came down with the flu on Friday. Despite that, he still turned in his best performance of the year. "Physically, I don't really feel very good," he said. "I'm just banged up [from) last week and sore and sick, and everything that could possibly go wrong for this race, I have it. I just got a great start and my bike was working great all weekend. Pretty much didn't worry about any big jumps. I just tried the simplest stuff; just rode a lot better, and I didn't even ride this week at an. It seems like I held on. It was tough." 1] @ Tim Ferry 5th Last week's podium placing in Minneapolis was Ferry's third of the year. This year he was doomed from the start - or rather, by the start. Ferry finished the first lap in 13th and spent the duration playing catch-up, landing in fifth on the 18th of 20 laps. "It kind of sucked," he said. "I got a bad start in my heat race and main event. I had to work really hard at first just to try to get by guys. The track was kind of one-lined, and fifth was all I could get." ~(] Nicholas Wey 6th Wey was out of the gate well and looking to run at the front when he was waylaid by his teammate. Heath Voss had crashed in the second hairpin - a left, two turns from the start - and Wey had nowhere to go. That put him back in J4th on the first lap. He made his way up to sixth. one spot behind where he'd finished the past two weeks. "I had a pretty good start there and snuck around the inside," he said. "I got stuck around the outside for that second turn, and my teammate, Heath Voss, he crashed. And then his bike was right where I was going to go. I had to stop, and I ended up coming around J4th on the first lap. which was kind of a bummer because I had a good start." ®® Sean Hamblin 7th Team SoBe Suzuki's West Regional 125cc teammates Sean Hamblin and Danny Smith were promoted to the 250cc team by the injury plague. Atlanta marked their maiden 250cc race, though Hamblin was again hampered by a lack of seat time. "I knocked myself silly," Ham· blin said. Two hours into his first day of testing at Suzuki's test track in Corona, California, Hamblin crashed hard. Except for a brief photo shoot, that was all the time he had on the RM250. In Atlanta, Hamblin qualified for the main out of his heat race, boosting his confidence and allowing him to rest up for the 20-lap final. "I felt if I got a good start and hang in there the first couple laps, I'd do good," Hamblin said. "I ended up being good. Overall, I think I had a pretty good night. A lot of people counted me out, that I got lucky in the outdoors [last year), and I'm here to prove them wrong again." @ Mike LaRocco 8th Mike laRocco couldn't ride at Minneapolis last week - his right shoulder was too sore. The shoulder was still bothering him in Atlanta, but he persevered and finished eighth, saving his body and strength by transferring directly out of his heat into the main. "I was done on the parade lap," laRocco said. "When I went to bed Friday night and woke up this moming, my 10 MARCH 5, 2003' cue • e n e _ s (Han); 4. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 5. Danny Smith (Suz); 6. Travis Preston (Han); 7. Tyler Evans (Suz); 8. Keith Johnson (Y~m); 9. Damen Huffm~n (Hen); 10. Jasen Themas (Hen); 11. James Pevolny Jr. (Hen); 12. Scott Davis (Suz); 13. Joseph Oehlhof (Yam); 14. Branden Butler (Suz): 15. Kris Swaney (Hen); 16. Kyle Garro (Yam); 17. Forrest Butler (Suz); 18. Jimmy Wilson (Yam). Race Time: 6 min., 46.648 sec. Margin of victory: 15.982 sec. HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hen); 2. Ezra Lusk (Kaw); 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Han); 4. Tim Ferry (Yam); 5. Nick Wey (Y~m); 6. Andrew Short (Suz); 7. Larry Ward (Han); 8. Heath Voss (Yam); 9. Ryan Clark (Yam); 10. Clark Stiles (Han); 1 I. Greg Schnell (Yam): 12. Deug Dehaan (Han): 13. Dave Castillo (Yam); 14. Cory Young (Yam); IS. Whispem Smith (Hen). Race Time: 6 min., 43.725 sec. Margin of victory: 13.533 sec. SEMI 1 (6 laps, )·5 transfer): I. Tyler Evans (Suz); 2. Danny Smith (Suz); 3. Demon Huffm~n (Hon); 4. Keith Johnson (Yam); 5. Joseph Oehlhof (Yam): 6. James Pevolny Jr. (Hen); 7. Jimmy Wilson (Yam): 8. Scott Davis (Suz); 9. Kris Swaney (Hen); 10. Jason Thomas (Hon); 11. Forrest Butler (Suz); 12. TrZlvis Preston (Hen); 13. Brandon Butler (Suz). Race Time: 5 min., 19.466 sec. Margin of victory: .207 sec. SEMI 2 (6 laps, 1·5 transfer): 1. Nick Wey (Yam): 2. Heath Voss (Yam); 3. CIZlrk Stiles (Han); 4. Andrew Short (Suz); 5. Ryan Clark (Yam); 6. Chase Reed (KTM); 7. Greg Schnell (Vom); 8. Doug Dehaan (Han); g. Hons Neel (KTM); 10. Cory Vaung (Vom); 11. Whispern Smith (Han); 12. Larry Ward (Han); 13. Scott Metz (Suz); 14. Dave Castillo (Yam). shoulder was pretty done. I struggled all day. Even from practice today I was off. I just wanted to qualify, and hopefully I could rejuvenate it for the main. I had, like, nothing left in me_ I was pretty sore, so I just kind of stuck it out." ~@ Danny Smith 1] @ Larry Ward 10th Uke his teammate Sean Hamblin, Danny Smith didn't have a lot of seat time on the SoBe Suzuki RM250. "I got two days on it in two years, so I did the best I could," he said. "[There's] a lot of difference [between the 125 and 250J. The weight, you just have to ride it lot different. You have to jump different, your timing's different, your cornering's different." 16th Ward caused quite a stir in Atlanta, getting to the main the hard way. Seventh in his heat, Ward would have to transfer out of the semi into the main. He was a comfortable second when a broken center case knocked him out on the fifth of six laps. That meant transferring via the LCQ. In the 15 minutes between the second semi and the LCQ, Ward's team, headed by mechanic Allan Brown, had to swap motors in his MotoXXX Honda CRF450R. He pulled to the line at the last minute, got the jump and won going away. The veteran pulled the holeshot again in the main and led for two laps before being passed by Ricky Carmichael. He was fifth on the 18th lap when he crashed, dropping to 16th. "We try every week: Ohlins with the suspension, Yoshimura with the motor, and my mechanic Allan Brown. We're working really hard so I can ride the 450 competitively. And every week I'm getting a little better, and tonight I was actually good. I was in fifth, and Ernie [Fonseca] was right in front of me. The track was a little rutty, and Emie made a mistake in front of me, and I didn't quite make that jump, and I crashed." 1J 1] Ezra Lusk ~@ Damon Huffman 19th This was supposed to be Yogi's race. The Bainbridge, Georgia, resident was rating in front of an enthusiastically supportive crowd that included, for the first time, his four-week-old son Hayden. He'd finished second to Ricky Carmichael in his heat and was running sixth in the majn when he crashed; his bike twisted enough that he had to stop for repairs. "I crashed in the whoops," he said. "I just carried a little bit too much speed and went end over end and bent up my front end so bad there was nothing I could do. I had to pull around everything in the mechanic's area. Had to loosen everything up end straighten it back. I couldn't even go in a straight line. I felt like I could go pretty good tonight. I'm pretty bummed out, actually." 20th Huffman's race more or less ended in the first turn. "I had a good start," he said. "Larry [Ward] h.oleshotted, and I came in right behind him. I just got T·boned really hard in the first tum. My shift lever got pushed through the side case. Right away, on the first lap, I noticed antifreeze and oil all over my boot. My foot was slipping around, and I'm looking down. I made it like halfway, and it started making noise and popping and running weird and it was a matter of time before it was going to stop. I stopped before it stopped before a triple."

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