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(Leftl Jason McCormick takes the checkers for his first overall victory in the Western Four-Stroke Nationals at round five at Oregon's Albany Motorsports Park. He is now within 13 points of the points leader. series champion Paul Carpenter. Carpenter was doing a masterful job of working past riders, slicing all the way up to fourth on the last lap. The awards area was filled with spectators who cheered and applauded the local rider who had made this Memorial Day one to remember. /lkCormick's 2- 1 tally and overall win was celebrated by his family and friends. "We finally did it!" McCormick beamed. "CHM System P-4R Exhaust gave us the first and third spots, as my teammate Mike Corder finished third. " Carpenter's valiant come-from· behind effort in the second moto was certainly stellar, to say the least. His 1-4 score netted him second overall. The series champion now has a 13point advantage over McCormick, 200- 187, heading into round six at Honey Lake MX Park in Milford, California. eN (Belowl The second-moto holeshot went to McCormick (2EI. as Jimmy LaMastus (111. Chaun McAlister (51. Dustin Nelson (61. Dale Ainslie (4361. Ryan Terlecki (S97), Konnrad Kuest (50) and the rest of the Thumper National riders give pursuit. Bv DON SCHNEIDER PHOTOS BV JEFF P. MILLER/ 4STROKENATIONALS.COM ALBANY, OR, MAY 25 (f\fj) ancouver, Washington's Jason VidI McCormick returned to the Pacific Northwest and captured his first thumper National win of the season. After placing second overall in Floresville, Texas, and tying for second at round one in Arizona, McCormick was the dominant player at round five of the AMA Maxxis;VP Western FourStroke Nationals and had his best day thus far in the series. He certainly was on his game! On his potent CHM System P-4R Exhaust-backed Honda CRF450R, he thundered to 2-1 finishes in front of the largest spectator turnout since Albany Motorsports Park's inception in 1972. ") am stoked to have my mom, family and friends, as well as my long-lost mechanic, Dave Riggs, who has stuck with me through thick and thin, and this crowd was screaming and whipping shirts out there, rooting me on," McCormick said. "It was awesome!" In the first moto, KTM rider Jimmy LaMastus went wide in turn one, and newcomer Greg Crater grabbed the lead, over Spud Walters, Paul Carpenter, Eric Nye, Chris Wheeler, Brandon Morgan, Nathan Woods, McCormick, Mike Corder, Chaun McAlister, Ryan Terlecki, Anthony Pocorobba, Dustin Nelson, Leighton Lillie and Konnrad Kuest. The winners of the first qualifier (Tiger Lacey) and second qualifier (Ryan Huffman) were just inside the top 20. Carpenter quickly displaced his teammate Walters for second. Mean- while, McCormick and Corder muscled past Woods, and the duo began a clinic for passing extremely fast. Before they'd completed three-quarters of the first lap, they were running fourth and fifth, respectively. Prior to the green flag, heading into the Sand Lake Triple, Carpenter launched out into the flats and passed Crater for the lead. "I knew I needed to get by him before the Grandstand Gap Jump," Carpenter said. "Once I did that, I hit the jump perfectly, and then it all went my way from there." Carpenter slowly increased his lead, clicking off a successive string of nearly perfect laps. Wheeler displaced Walters on lap two, and McCormick inched past Walters halfway through lap three. Walters repassed Wheeler halfway into the race. Meanwhile, the battle to watch was among four Yamaha riders - Woods, Nelson, Lacey and Huffman. Carpenter backed it down a little and crossed the line 14 seconds before McCormick, who had 20 seconds on Walters. Corder was fourth. Nelson passed Woods for fifth on the last lap. Lacey, Wheeler, Morgan and Terlecki rounded out the top 10. LaMastus passed early leader Crater for I I tho Fast-starting hotshoe pilot LaMastus of Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, had it going on again in moto two, but he just couldn't keep the inside line, and McCormick inched past for the lead. Terlecki was third, fol· lowed by Woods, Crater, Morgan, Lacey, Billy Binckley, Corder, McAI· ister, Nelson, Nick Foister, Sean Sparkman, Walters, Kuest, Nye, Dale Ainslie, Terry Hamness, Ben Morgan and Bryan Allen. Carpenter crashed in turn one and appeared to be in pure pain as he limped up, refired his bike and took off, 20 seconds back. McCormick and LaMastus exited the turn·three tunnel. Next, Terlecki was on the inside of Woods, but as Woods hit the outside berm with his front tire, his front end went up, and he was leaning so much into the turn that it seemed to be a washout. Hit· ting the ground, Woods had 36 riders bearing down on him. Lacey's left footpeg caught Woods' front spokes, and he went down. Morgan had nowhere to go, and in a heartbeat his and Foister's bikes were on top of Woods' Yamaha. The bottleneck grew quickly, and it was clearly visible that both Woods' and Lacey's bikes were mangled and unridable. Up front, McCormick extended his lead to 15 seconds by the white flag. Corder pressed forward, first passing Terlecki at midmoto and then LaMastus on lap 10, and he then maintained second to the checkers. Waiters took over third. Meanwhile, cue I e Albany MotDrsports Park Albany, Oregon Results: May 25, 2003 [Round 5 ot 10J O/A: I. Jason McCormick (Hon); 2. Paul Carpenter (Hon); 3. Mike Corder (Hon); 4. Dustin Nelson (Yam): 5. Spud Walters (Hon); 6. Ryan Terlecki (Yam); 7. Jimmy LaMastus (KTM): 8. Brandon Morgan (Hon): 9. Chaun McAlister (Hon); 10. Greg Crater (Hon); 11. Konnrad Kuest (Hon): 12. Rory Sullivan (KTM): 13. Nathan Woods (Yam); 14. Tiger Lacey (Yam); 15. Chris Wheeler (Hon); 16. Dale Ainslie (Yam); 17. Nick Foister (Yam): 18. Danny Carlson (Hon); 19. Terry Hamness (Hon): 20. Ty Carson (Hon); 21. Michael Stevenson (Yam); 22. J.R. V;elle (Hon): 23. B;lly B;nckley (Vam): 24. Shawn MacDonald (Han); 25. Cameron Weaver (Yam); 26. Leighton Lillie (Han); 27. Kevin Townsend (Han): 28. Sean Sparkman (Hon); 29. Bryan Allen (Han); 30. Trevor Brooks (Yam): 31. Beau Judge (Han): 32. Jason Matthews (Han); 33. Shane Smith (Han); 34. Ryan Mortensen (Han): 35. Ben Morgan (Yam); 36. Calvin Reeves (Yam): 37. Eric Nye (Yam): 38. Anthony Pocorobba (Yam): 39. Ryan Huffman (Yam); 40. Rick Hansen (Han). AI'IA WESTERN FOUR-STROKE NATIONALS CHAI'IPIONSHIP OVERALL POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 10 rounds): 1. Paul Carpenter (200): 2. Jason McCormick (187): 3. Spud Walters (174); 4. Chris Wheeler (148); 5. Mike Corder (143); 6. Dustin Nelson (110): 7. Nathan Woods (108): 8. Ryan Hughes (97); 9. BrZlndon Morgan (82): 10. Sean Collier (64); 11. Casey Johnson (47): 12. Carter Gurnee (43); 13. (TIE) Rusty Holland/Robb Floth (40); 15. Danny Carlson (28); 16. Leighton Lillie (37): 17. (TIE) Thomas Hahn/Ray Crumb/Chaun McAlister (36): 20. Derek Mahoney (35). n e _ S • JUNE 18, 2003 73