Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ashougal MX Plrt< WlSloougal, Wllhingtlln Results: July Z7, Z003 [Round 8 of IZl 250 MOTO 1 (30 min. plus 2 laps): I. Kevin Windham (Hon): 2. Ricky Carmichael (Hon): 3. Mike laRocco (Hon): 4. Stephane Roncada (Suz); 5. Larry Ward (Hon); 6. Chlld Reed (Yam); 7. Paul Carpenter (Hon); 6. Ernesto Fonsecll (Hon): 9. Heath Voss (Yam); 10. Kyle Lewis (Hon): 11. Timmy Ferry (Yam): 12. David Vuillemin (Yam): 13. Nick Wey (Yam): 14. John Dowd (KTM); 15. Keith R. Johnson (Yam): 16. Clark Stiles (Hon); 17. Dustin Nelson (Yam): 18. Joe Oehlhof (Hon): 19. Shinichi Kaga (Suz): 20. Anthony Amaradio (Hon): 21. Ryan Clark (YlIim): 22. Keith S. Johnson (KTM): 23. Matt Karlsen (Suz); 24. Spud Walters (Hon): 25. Ted Campbell (Hon); 26. Steve Lamson (Suz): 27. Takateru Atsuta (Hon): 26. Lance Smail (YlIim): 29. Dennis Stllipleton (Hon); 30. Mike Corder (Hon); 31. Jonathan Shimp (Kaw): 32. Konnrad Ku~st (Hon); 33. Gregory Crater (Hon): 34. Beau Baron (Suz); 35. Dan Moore (Suz); 36. Ezra Lusk (Kaw); 37. Jason McCormick (Hon); 38. Zeb Armstrong (Hon): 39. Jason Thomas (Hon); 40. Ryan Huffman (Yam). Race Time: 33 min.. 19.144 sec. Margin of Victory: 3.735 sec. 250 MOTO 2 (30 min. plus 2 laps); 1. Kevin Windham (Hon): 2. Ricky Carmichael (Hon): 3. Chad Reed (Yam): 4. Mike laRocco (Hon): 5. Kyle Lewis (Hon): 6. Dav;d Vuillem;n (Vam): 7. John Dowd (KTM): 8. N;ck Wey (Vam): 9. Lany Word (Hon): 10. Emesto Fonseca (Hon): I 1. Heath Voss (Vam): 12. Clark Stiles (Hon): 13. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 14. Steve Lamson (Suz); 15. Stephane Roncada (Suz): 16. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 17. Jason Thomas (Hon); 16. Joe Oehlhol (Hon): 19. Ryan Clark (Vam): 20. Dustin Nelson (Vam): 21. Matt Karlsen (Suz): 22. Ted Campbell (Hon): 23. Shinichi Kaga (Suz): 24. Anthony Amaradk> (Hon): BRIEFLY••• About three laps into the first mota. Ricky Carmichael got stung on the nose by a bee - and he·s allergiC to bees ··[The bee sting wouldn't stop mel unless my throat clogged up and I couldn't breathe" he said. ·'1 am allergic to bees, and I was just hoping that my throat wouldn't swell up. I took some med;catlon. I am not gOing to say that is why I lost. I knew I had my work cut out for me .. Carmichael thinks KeVin Windham may have less of an advantage In the coming weeks .. IThe rest of Ihe tracks] are a little better for a two-stroke. I th;nk." Carmichael said. " Kev;n has some good confidence. I need to get up there and tum It up a couple of motos and try to get back to where I was. It IS gOing to take two good starts and getting up there and counting out good laps and doing the best that I can do Things will be good for Millville. I salvaged a couple of seconds in the last couple weekends, and I felt good. " Yamahas David Vuillemin revealed h;s bike plans for next years Supercross Senes. "I'm go;ng to nde a 250 ;n Supercross for sure," he said, "but outdoors IS kind of up to Yamaha and me. what we·re gOing to decide" 25. Dennis Stapleton (Hon); 26. Takateru Atsuta (Hon): 27. Beau Baron (Suz); 28. Ke;th S. Johnson (KTM): 29. Gregory Crlliter (Hon); 30. Konnrad Kuest (Hon): 31. RYllin Huffmllin (YlIim): 32. PlIiul Carpenter (Hon): 33. Jason McCormick (Hon); 34. Mike Corder (Hon); 35. Spud Walters (Hon); 36. Lance Smail (Yam); 37. Jonathan Shimp (Kaw): 38. Dan Moore (Suz): 39. Ezra Lusk (Kaw): 40. lob Armstrong (Hon). Race TIme: 33 min.• 46.170 sec. Margin of Victory: 4.235 sec. 250 O/A: 1. Kevin Windham (Hon): 2. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 3. Mike laRocco (Hon): 4. Chad Reed (Yam); 5. Larry Ward (Hon); 6. Kyle Lewis (Hon): 7. David Vuillemin (Yam); 8. Emesto Fonseca (Hon); 9. Stephane Roncada (Suz): 10. Heath Voss (Vam); I I. John Dowd (KTM): 12. Nick Wey (Vam): 13. Timmy Ferry (YlIm): 14. Clark Stiles (Hon); 15 Paul Carpenter (Hon): 16. Keith R. Johnson (YlIim): 17. Steve Lamson (Suz); 16. Joe Oehlhof (Hon): 19 Dustin elsen (Yam): 20. Jason Thomas (Hon); 21 motorcycle: it's another thing is someone is sprawled out on the ground They are taking our lives in their hands. and if they can just stand there lollygagging around, ifs a bunch of crap. If they don't want to do their job. get the hell out of there They hurt two, almost three people today because they don·t get out there In the middle of the track and say, ·Hey. there is someone down.' Use some hand signals. We don't know. We are racing. This jump over here [where Brown crashed]. the Washougal promoters need to take that damned thing out. It hits somebody every Single year. " Hughes apologized to Brown after the race. "I went up to [Brown] and told him that I am so sorry: Hughes said. "Nothing that he has done or I have done to h;m would ever make up for that. For me. I am over It. The whole thing kind of gave me motivat;on, so I kept myself a little mad at h;m. But I would never go out there and Intentionally hurt somebody. Something like that was not my fault. but thaf s racing. I just feel bad ;f I really hurt someone like that. .. Ryan Clark (Yam); 22. Shinichi Kaga (Suz): 23. Anthony Amaradio (Hon). AMA/CHEVV TRUCKS 250 U.S. MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 01 12 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (382/6 wins); 2. Kevin Windham (335/2 wins): 3. Chad Reed (290); 4. Timmy Ferry (260): 5. M;ke laRocco (236): 6. David Vuillemin (203); 7. (TIE) John Dowd/Ezra Lusk (177); 9. (TIE) Larry Ward/Ernesto Fonseca (159): II. N;ck Wey (124): 12. Kyle Lew;s (102): 13. Clark Stiles (92); 14. Stephane Roncada (78): 15. Nathan Ramsey (74): 16. Selin Hamblin (66); 17. Joaquim Rodrigues (60): 16. (TIE) Jllson Thomas/Keith R. Johnson (47): 20. Heath Voss (45). Upcoming Rounds; Round 9 - Millville. Minnesota, August 17 Round 10 - Binghamton, New York. August 24 Lusk In Washougal. Actually. he started the week before at Unadilla, wh;le Randy Lawrence reportedly took over Worley"s former job in Kawasaki testing Speaking of Lusk, he got sick at Washougal and didn't start the second 250cc mota after scohng a DNF in the first. According to Kawasaki. Lusk was suffering from a bacterial Infection in his stomach and after sklpp;ng practice Saturday, he attempted to race sunday, only to suffer dehydraHon James Stewart was 156 points behind the POints leader. Mike Brown when he lined up for the fltSI moto at Budds Creek In four races. he has made up a total of 74 pOints on the points leader now Grant Langston. He needs to make up a further 82 points In the next four races to win the title. That's an average of 20.5 pOints per evenl (which means he·d have to w;n every moto. and the pOints leader would have to average a 5-6 score). Anything·s poss;ble. but at the present pace. he would end up six points shy of his second-straight 125cc Nat;onal Champlonsh;p. Team Sol,talte·s Ryan Clark IS. COinCidentally. 37th In po;nts after haVing more than his fair share of bad luck and trouble In the nrst eight rounds Clark·s number is also 37 Team ECC Suzuki's Steve Lamson (below) showed up at Washougal on a 250 "Ifs just something d;fferent." he said. "I wasn·1 dOing too good on the 125. so I Just figured I"d try a 2-5-0 and see what happens. Fhday"s the first day I rode It. Ifs pretty good for just pulling It up here." Mach 1 Yamahas Nick Wey was sporting an Interesting seat (below) on hiS YZ250. The One Industries unit featured r;bs along the nonskid port;on of the top of the seat In order to prov;de better rear-end traction. Wey said he noticed that it helped most in muddy cond;t;ons. David Pingree, Shae Bentley and Grant Langston were just three of many top 125cc riders involved In a pileup (above) after the flnlsh-I;ne jump due to confUSing flag signals - and P;ngree was forced not to race. "When I came around through the whoops before the finish-line jump. there was a f1agger stand;ng on each side of the jump just holding the yellow flag. They weren't waving it. they weren't motlontng to stop. they were just holding ;t. So I f;gured there was probably someone down ;n the next two corners or something. and I slowed way down and rolled the jump. but th;s pileup was hght on the backside of the jump. and I obViously couldn·t stop coming down the backside of the jump. so I h;t ·em. I actually d;dn't hurt myself f1ipp;ng over the bars - I landed k;nd of on the top of the pile - but then Langston came nght behind me and did the exact same thing and ran ;nto me. H,s fork or his front wheel hit my elbow. But those f1aggers should·ve been stopping people." "I landed in so many guys, and then more people landed on me. and I jacked my wrist up," Langston sa;d. "I mean. ifs a joke. The marshalling was absolutely terrible. The guy that throws the checkered flag is an AM A-sanctioned guy. and the other guy's a volunteer. I can't believe the guy With the checkered flag couldn't realize ;fs more important to stop the hders than to hold the checkered flag. He was waving the checkered flag and then just holding the yellow flag in his other hand. behind the checkered flag." In a similar incident during the second 125cc moto, Ryan Hughes ran into a downed-but-up Mike Brown on the backside of a jump. "When I came over that jump, his bike was down, and he was walking.·· Hughes said. ··When I jumped. there was a gap on the left-hand side. I don·t know if maybe he was a I;ttle dazed or whal. but I was a;ming for it. and all of a sudden he walked over there, right where I was going. I tr;ed to get on the brakes, but I h;t him. I have never hit anyone so damned hard ;n my I;fe. For me, the mistake is the flaggers. To me, ifs a bunch of sh;t because that IS twice today that the flaggers just. stand there because they are too damned lazy to wave the flag. Ifs one thing if one guy ;s sitting there at the side of the track siWng on h;s Amsoil/Chaparral Honda·s Chris Gosselaar was sport;ng an ;nteresting look ;n Wash;ngton. A rock broke through his goggles at Unad;Ua and hit h;m right between the eyes, and he has f;ve stitches nal season. The company had a full b;g-rig set up ;n the p;ts with a $150.000 Chevrolet S;lverado outfitted with 12.000 watts of audk> power. It was an eye- and ear-catcher. Kicker sponsors many of today"s top racers, Includ;ng Chad Reed. Sean Hamblin and many others. The company has been around motocross for quite a while now and started sponsoring MXers In 1995, when It supported Team Hondas Jeremy McGrath. Ifs already known that Kelly Smith will ride green next year, but it has been left up in the air whether he will ride a factory KXF250 under the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki or the Pro Circuit! Kawasak;/Chevy Trucks awning. The thing is. Saturday at Washougal. Smith was spotted in a meeting under the Pro Circuit big-top, and. when asked which team he·d be riding for in 2004. he said, .'1" m not at liberty 10 d;scuss." He laterrevealed that ;f s look· ing more and more likely that he'll be hd;ng out of the Pro Circuit rig. When asked aboul it, Pro Circuit's Mitch Payton revealed, "We're talking to him. We hope [he·1I be on our teamJ. I th;nk it will work out. We·1I see." Dan Worley was wrenching for Chevy Trucks Kawasaki· s Ezra Cemic's KTM·s Keith S. Johnson also switched to a 250. but he was rid;ng a KTM 450 SX before. ··1 actually rode a 250 last week at Unad;Ua." he sa;d. "Just to try something different. you know? John [DowdJ has been on a 250 all year. and he·s started liking It, and I rode It a few times. and I wouldn't say I'm any faster on it. you know? I might even be slower. but at thiS po;nt in the season I"ve kind of had some bad races. and at th;s po;nt I don·t really have anything to lose. I figured I'd give It a try because I might do some arenacrosses next year. and I figured I"d get used to hd;ng a two-stroke aga;n. Unfortunately, I think I p;cked the worst two tracks of the season for two· strokes. Last week was a perfect four-stroke track. and this week's the same type of thing. We·11 see. Maybe next week I m;ght be back on a 450." There were rumors CIrculating that John Dowd may be racing arenacross this year. "Well, there·s noth;ng offic;al yet." he said. "I've been talking to some people about ;t just trying to figure out what I" m gOing to do next year. I think I want to do something. Nothing·s been finalized by no means. so I guess I can·t really say right now." Mach 1 Yamahas Heath Voss will be remaining with the team in 2004. "I have a verbal agreement with [Mach 11 Yamaha, but the contracts just need to be drawn up. and 1"11 sign ·em." he said. MotoworidRacing.com Suzuki's Bobby Kiniry ;s also confident that he'll re-up with h;s team. ··We just started talking about stuff this last week, but it looks like I·m going to be here. though." he said. Red Bull KTM·s Josh Woods likes know;ng what he·s do;ng next year. "Job secur;ty;s really nice,·· he sa;d. ··It's the first t;me I"ve ever had everyth;ng lined up gOing into the off-season. so we·ve got a plan for the off-season and we're go;ng to start testing early. so we·re really. really looking forward to that. We're going to be well-prepared for next season." cue I e n e vv s AUGUST 6. 2003 33

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