Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AM AICh e vy T ruc k s 2 5 0 c c U . S . M o t o cro s s C h ampions hip S eries Round 1 0 : B r o o m e -T io g a S p orts Center my Own Race: 250cc @~ Mike LaRocco ha d to work his way up through t he roost after getting off to his u s ual slow starts. He still salvaged sixth overall. Jason Thomas 1 9th (3 5 -1 4) Th e Team Subway rider rallied back from a disappointing first mota to score a top 15 in the second mota, bat tlin g closely with some of the top riders on the series. "First mot a I started two laps down , so I finished like freakin' 35th or something. Second mota I got a really good start but kind of dropped back at the beginning. Once [paul] Carpenter passed me, I just tr ied to latch onto him . Me and [Steve] Lamson had a big battl e. He got by with lik e t wo laps !O go , and when I tried to get him back , we ended up catching up to Carpenter and [Kyle] Lewis. I got 14th in the second mota; I just wish my bike would have held together in the first mota. " 1] ~ Vuillc~min David 5 t h (3 - 5) Yamaha' s factory pilot overcame a bout with heatstroke .last week at Mill ville to put in a solid performance at the dem anding Broome-Tioga,t (ack. "I"got'two goo d starts toda y the first one was a little better, and I was pretty happy with my first m ota ride, especia lly after a real bad weekend like I had at Millv ille : Vuill emin said. "Everything worked well today. The bike was great, and I felt good , too . I'm happy for theteam to have done two good m otes." ., ~71 for a lap, just ab le to ge t to the ins ide. It was n't that spe c tac u la r o f a pass . " T h i s i s n ' t m y f a v o r i t e k ind o f t rack , and la st ye a r I had a rea lly bad d ay here ," F erry said . " So to ge t th ird Both of o u r l ines f u n nele d i nto o n e; and I w as a b le to h ave th e u p per han d j ust be cause I was o n th e insi de. F rom is d ef in it ely a st ep up , and hopefu lly next year it' ll be a w in." that poi nt o n , I j ust tried to ride a little bit smoo t h e r, take a couple steps Windham said of the second m oto : " I m ade o n e hug e m ista k e in th e back b a c k an d try to p ut t h in gs together sect ion and to ok th e w ind o ut o f my and set up fo r a turn two turns before. The first m oto I was ru n ni ng too deep, sa ils . And th at' s m y d ay in a nutshell ri ght th er e." not setting m y t urns u p prop erl y ." Much li k e W indh am di d in the first Am so il / H o n d a /Fa c t o r y Co n n e ct io n's Mi ke La Ro c c o pulled a c o u p le moto, C armi ch ael w as a b le to put a o f poor starts (s t o ry of h is su m mer, comfortab le distan c e b etw e en him and Wind ham in th e se c ond m oto. h e said ) , bu t h e fou ght a d m i r a b l y t h r o ug h th e p a ck to s co re a sixt h Their best lap times were le ss than a o v e rall ( 7 -6), a n d Ch e v y Tru ck s / second off ( R.C. with a 2: 14 .021 , and Kawa sak i ' s E zra Lusk ra c ed c o n f i - K -d ub wi t h a 2 : 14 .829) and m o re dently t o a se v enth ov e ra ll (6 -7) . often than not , identic al lap after lap . Th e sam e w e n t for th e nex t three R ounding o ut th e t o p 10 we re Hond a ' s E rn e s t o F o n s e c a , M a ch p la c es wi th F erry working hard for a 10-second lead over t eammate Reed , who held o n to a 10-s ec ond advan - I /Y am ah a ' s N ic k W e y a n d M ot o XXX's K y le Lewis. But aga i n th e s tory wo u ld b e Carm ich ael. Al ong w ith being t he first tage over Vuil lemin. F erry w ould c a p t ure the thi rd po d ium spot in the sec - rider ev e r to win Broome -Ti oga four ond moto, securing th ird overall (5 -3 , his sixth p odium of the se ason ) over times, this w as a lso R.C .' s eigh th vi c tory o f th e seaso n , h is 36t h c a ree r Reed (4-4 ) . AMA Outdoor Nationa l w in and his David Vu illemin rebounded n icely after suffering h eat stroke at t he previous r o u nd. He rounded out the t o p fiv,,-_"t:.o~ Nick Wey 9 t h (1 3 -1 0) Mach One/Yamaha's speedster from Michig an continues to imp rove on the year, scoring his second consecutive top- 10 fini sh and pulling within striking distan ce ( 16 points) of the top 10 overall with two races remaining. "Th e first m ota I came together with Lamson in the first turn. I ended up lying down in the first turn there. But I passed a lot of guys on the first lap and then, in the middle of the race, got stuck behind a couple four-strokes and couldn't get around. I made passes on Lewis and Carpen ter and then crashed at the bottom of a hill on the last lap, so I ended up 13th. The second moto , I got a good start and was riding real well . but a rock or something hit my front brak e cable, and the brak es started to fade the last few laps. I ended riding the end of the race with no front brake." ~~ Ernesto Fonseca 8 t h ( 9 - 9) If you split the results into two-stroke and four -stroke categories, Emesto Fonseca would have podiumed. But that's not how the Honda factory rider looks at things. "I don't really look at it that way: he said. "I look at what place I got and try to im prove from there. I'm not really happy with my performan ce this weekend. I started ninth and finished ninth didn't really do m uch. But I do look forward to im proving on that at Steel City and Troy ." 1] 1] Ezra L usk 7 t h ( 6 - 7) Ezra Lusk, aboa rd the Chevy Truck s/ Kawasaki KX250 , was in the hunt for a top -five spot for m uch of the rac e, eventually finish ing 6 ·7 for seventh overall. "I got all right starts and m ade m y way up both mo tos, bu t I just co uldn' t get it togethe r enough in the second mota to go as fast as I want ed to. So it was two consisten t motos toda y, just .outside the top five." @ M i k e laR occo 6th ( 7 - 6 ) "It's just typi cal : laRocco said of his come-thro ugh-t he-pack charge in the second mota to edge out Lusk for sixt h. LaRocco, riding the Am soil/C haparral / Factory Connecti ontuned Honda CR250 , was at home at Broome-Tioga, and it showed, as he moved up from his start ing spot (10th) in the second moto. "I didn't get terrible starts , but I was behind the lead pack , Track wa ~ prett y good today, and it seemed like everybody was riding the track well . So I just tried to m ake things happen and moved up, but it wasn't near what I wanted to do." 1] @ L a rry War d 1 3 t h ( 2 0 - 8) The Moto XXX/Ho nda CRF450R racer overcame a horrible first -mete start with a top-10 second-mota finish to salvage a top 15 overall . "Well, first turn in the first mota I was lay ing dead last, and it was really hard to pass here, and I had a hard time catching up. In the second mota, I had a good start and was racing real hard for that sixth spot with Ezra [Lusk] and Mike [LaRocco] and ended up falling over with about two laps to go. But finishing eighth in the 250cc class is not too bad." v rail. ®® Paul Carpen ter 11th (11-1 2) The hom etown hero who hails from Ithaca, New York, could hear the constant applause from the vocal New York crow d, which helped motivate him to ride with the top -10 guy s all afternoon. "I was disappointed not to do bett er at my home track : Carpenter said. "It was all because of bad starts, I thi nk I was 30th in the first mota and maybe 25th in the second. It' s hard to catch these guys with those kinds of starts. I had some good lines, especially in the bottom sections of the track, and I was able to get past a lot of people, Every time I caught up with Kyle Lewis, we sort of freight -tr ained. He was rid ing well , and I couldn't find a way around him. I wish I could have done better, but there's alway s next week." 12 S EPTEM BER 3, 2003 cue I e n e vv s

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