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----------------------------------------AMA 1 25cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series
Round 6: Reliant Stadium
12 points over second-placed Mike
Brown. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki
By PAT SCHUTTE
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
HoaSTON, TX, MAR. 29
1c0 anged-up Brock Sellards received
L::J a bit of poetic justice on Saturday
rider had an admitted "crappy
race" at Houston - where Brown
had an excellent opportunity to
prior to Saturday's 125cc Eastern
Region main event at Houston's
Reliant Park. When told of series
points leader Branden Jesseman's
gnarly get off at Suzuki's So Cal test
track during the week, Sellards
smiled and said, "I know how he
feels."
Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's Sellards then went out and put
on a clinic, taking the lead from fellow YZ250F pilot and holeshot artist
Tiger Lacey early on the third lap and
riding a near-flawless race for the victory. Sellards was joined on the podium by teammate Ivan Tedesco and
first-time podium finisher Brett Metcalfe.
Also putting in some strong laps
was SoBe Suzuki's Branden Jesseman, who battled back from a second-lap crash (that landed him in
12th place) all the way to fourth.
Jesseman's come-from-behind
effort, despite the pain he was feeling from his crash in Wednesday's
practice, helped him advance his
overall points lead in the serles to
12
APRIL 9,2003'
cue
I
e
make up some ground on Jesseman.
But the evening belonged to Sellards, though it was later revealed that
his seemingly easy win was not with-
Brock Sellards stayed out of trouble to
record his second win of the year in
Reliant Stadium. He sits 17 points
behind Branden .Iesseman for the
series lead.
out some drama.
"I rode the entire race in third
gear," Sellards said. "This week, I
decided that I wasn't gonna run the
stock gearing. So me and Ernie [Fonseca] got out the old gearing-ratio
book, went round and round on what
we wanted for that main event and I
ended up with the wackiest gearing
you've ever heard of! Came out of the
turns, tripled - everything in third."
Sellards had been training at Ricky
Carmichael's track with, among other
riders, Fonseca - who had considerable experience on the YZ250F, and
was the first person to win on the bike
(Anaheim '01), prior to his Honda
days.
Equal to Jesseman's comeback
was the effort put forth by Tedesco.
Injured for much of the year, Tedesco
rolled out his A-game in Houston, rip-
Ivan Tedesco has shown speed all
year, but injuries have kept him down.
He put it together for a solid second in
Houston.
n
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