Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIChevy Trucks 125cc U.S. Motocross Championship Series Round 8: Spring Creek Motocross Park By JASON WEIGANDT PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN "TO MIUVILLE, MN, AGG. 17 tell you the truth, I don't like riding in sand," said Team Chevy Trucks' Kawasaki's James "Bubba" Stewart after winning his fifth straight round of the AMA/Chevy Trucks 125cc U.S. Motocross Championships, the sandy Scott National at Spring Creek. "But I seem to go fast in it." Apparently. Like it or not, Stewart churned out lap times that were consistently more than four seconds faster than his rivals, and he won both motos with huge leads. And while such performances are basically a given with Bubba, what is a bit more surprising is the fact that his title rivals continue to falter, making a championship comeback for Stewart a slightly more realistic possibility. Series points leader Grant Langston, of Team Red Bull KTM, suffered through a rash of falls to record disappointing 4-7 moto scores and finish fifth overall. Worse yet, former series leader Mike Brown failed to finish either moto after suffering the effects of a shoulder injury, knocking him well out of the championship chase. The rider on the move now is another Red Bull KTM rider, veteran Ryan Hughes. "Ryno" continues to chip away at the big points deficit he was dealt when he broke his leg earlier in the season, and his solid 2-2 performance in Minnesota has moved him to within 16 points of Langston. "I know I'm not going to make up big points, but if I keep chipping c away, I can bring it right d?wn to the wire," Hughes said .. "I felt a lot better than I did the last few weeks. I think I was right on the edge of overtraining, but I went to the doctor, and I think we caught it in time. It just sucks that Bubba is here because I would have two wins in a row." Hughes was joined on the podium by Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's Brock Sellards, who used the power of his YZ250F four-stroke to record 3-3 scores for third overall. Fourth went to the surprisingly fast Joaquim Rodrigues on a KTM, while Langston was fifth. Sixth overall was Kawasaki privateer Robbie Reynard, who was fresh off of an injury. Seventh and eighth went to Amsoil/ Chaparral Honda riders Chris Gosselaar and Ryan Mills, and Aussies Craig Anderson and Michael Byrne rounded out the top] O. Stewart has now climbed to within 64 points of Langston with three rounds remaining. The championship is still a longshot for the ] 7 -year-old who missed the first four races with a broken collarbone, but he cannot be • counted out of the chase completely. Meanwhile, it seems his competition has pretty much been counted out of winning any more races. The Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing YZ250Fs of Sellards and Craig Anderson got to turn one first in moto one, but Stewart rocketed past them on the exit of the corner and quickly pulled a huge lead. The race for the win was already over, and even a midrace slide-out in a comer wouldn't even so much as bring Stewart in sight of the rest of the field. Hughes also worked his way past the Yamaha thumpers, although his progress was a bit slower than Stewart's. "I just tried to ride consistent and smooth," said Hughes. "I wanted to save some energy for the next moto." Hughes' title rivals were having a tougher time of it, with Langston and Brown both gating poorly. Langston hitched a ride through the pack behind his teammate Joaquim Rodrigues, who had switched to the ] 25 class after a season on 250s. But Rodrigues pulled a gap on Langston when he made a quick pass on Anderson, who proved a tougher pass for Langston. Brown was making up a lot of time after starting about 20th, but he pulled off the track on lap six due to shoulder soreness. His teammate Sorby followed him into the pits when he weakened with illness. With that, the top positions seemed set, with Stewart out front and large gaps among Hughes, Sellards, Rodrigues and Langston. Then suddenly, in a team move, Rodrigues slowed dramatically with just a few turns left to let Langston by for fourth. "It's not my championship, so I want to help my team," said Rodrigues. Stewart needed no help in the second moto, as he moved from about fifth to the lead in the matter of a few corners. Anderson and Racerhouse.com's Kelly Smith also got off the line well, but they were overtaken by Sellards, Rodrigues and Hughes in a replay of the first moto. Sellards admitted to tiring badly in the first moto since he has only recently gotten over an illness, but he was running very strong early in the second race. Hughes eventually worked past Rodrigues, but he faced a big deficit to Sellards. Langston got another bad start and then crashed early, ripping the right radiator shroud off of his machine. He would spend the rest of the moto trying to mount a comeback. He needed to, since Brown was back miraculously after some shoulder work by the Asterisk medic crew. The Tennessee native was riding well, too, passing Anderson and Smith and heading for the KTMs. But once again, his shoulder gave out near the midway point, and Brown pulled off and called it a day. While Stewart pulled a bigger and bigger lead, Hughes slowly but surely wore Sellards down. "I didn't get a good start, but guys were going crazy and crashing everywhere," said Hughes. "I saw Brock up there, and I was thinking 'C'mon, make a mistake.'" "I dug real deep in that second moto," said Sellards. "I got sick before Unadilla, and last week was the first week I was able to start riding again. So I was getting tired, but I got into a good rhythm. I tried to run taller gears so I would be smooth. But I knew he had more adrenaline than me since he's going for a championship. That makes a difference." With three laps left, Ryno finally tracked down Sellards and battled past him near the infamous Millville whoops. Also on the move late was Kawasaki privateer Robbie Reynard, who crashed early but came all the way back to catch and pass Langston with a few laps to go. "I think everything just caught up to Grant, and he ran out of energy," said Red Bull KTM team manager Larry Brooks. "He's not bummed out,

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