Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128237
Max x is T ir e s U.S . O p e n MGM G ran d G a r d e n A rena couldn 't have d o ne it without tha t CRF25DR, and it's aweso me !" S ATURDAY B y STEVE B AU ER PH OT OS BY S T EVE BRU HN LAS VEGAS. NV, OCT. 10-11 (;? here was a b it of a prog ra m '\J change for this yea r's U.S. Open. Inste ad of the 12 5cc Amat eur class , t he pr om ot ers d e ci d ed t o le t t he 125cc Pros take a crack at the tr ack , and th e Four-Stro k e cl ass, of which Kelly Smith i s a former champion . was e li m in at ed. Well, Kell y Smith wo n the four-stroke -do m inated Pro C ircuit 12 5 c c class th is y ear , t o o , serv ing notice that he is deservi ng of the Boost MobilejYamaha!Troy Racing ri d e he earn ed fo r the next two years. Smith 's 3 -2 fin i shes beat out the 6 -1 of teammate M ike Brown , who punted Mot oworldRacing .com Su zu ki' s Andrew Short off the track to win on n ight t w o. And perhap s th e biggest sur prise of the clas s was Mo toXX X's Troy Ad ams ta kin g the fi nal podium spot with a ste lla r sec o n d- pl ace p erforman c e o n Fr i d a y night and a hard -earn ed fifth on Saturday . FRIDAY Smith nail ed both holeshots on Fri day nig ht - hi s h eat an d the mai n e v e n t - b ef or e be i n g pass ed by A msoi ljCha pa rral Honda 's Chris Gosselaar during a turn- tw o m elee tha t cl ai me d bot h B r oc k Sellards a nd Steve Bon ifac e. Fro m t h ere , it was basicall y all Go sselaar , follow ed by Sm it h , A dam s, Broc Hep ler, Andrew Short , Brown and Ryan Mill s. Short got a round Hep l er at th e halfway point, and things sta yed rela tively calm until l ap 12, when Adam s bli tzed past Sm i t h in th e whoop s . Sm ith had his ha nd s fu ll ho lding off Short on the last lap , beating him for the final spo t on the po dium by less than a b ik elength. A t th e fin ish , it was Go sse l a ar , Adam s , Sm i t h , Sh o r t , Hepler and Brown , w ho re portedl y was having carbur etion trou ble. Smith ad mi t ted t o g et t in g ' some arm pump t o w ard the end . " A bo ut h al fw ay t h rough t he rac e, I starte d gett ing prett y, tight: Sm ith said , " and wh en Tro y w en t blowing by m e through th e who ops, I th in k it got m e ev en m or e nerv ou s . I j ust need t o loo sen up and start feeli ng the flo w." Troy A d a m s w as'n" t s h y as h e • ex p lained h is emergence as a co n tend er. " I k new I had it in me , but I , 10 O CTO B ER 22 , 2003 ' C U c • e ju st n e ed ed t o p ut it tog eth er , " A dams said. "Everything j ust fell into pl ace. I go t a decent start and knew I was faster in th e wh oo ps than many peopl e were . so that's where I m ad e up a lot o f m y ti me . Basicall y I just t r i ed to p ut 15 l aps t o g eth er , and tha t's what ended up working : Ev er the compa ny man, Gosselaar g ave full c re di t to h i s fo u r - st r o k e Honda . " l owe all the credit to everybody at Hon da ," Go ssel aar sa id. " I Aft er a couple of rid iculously crash fi ll ed qua lifiers, the stage was set for t h e final Pro C ir cu it 125cc main event, as the 12 riders lined up at the 1D-man starting gate (the LCQ transfers were relegated to sec on d - ro w starting pos itions) . Wh en th ey hit the . first turn, it was perenn ial holeshot artist Smith briefly in the lead before Brow n st ole it away, with Josh Hansen ro unding out the YoT parade. A hungry Short, aboa rd on e of three two-st ro kes -iri th e rac e, m ade short work of Hansen on lap two wh il e Hofm ast er, Go sselaar , Mills, Laughridge , Schnell and A dam s gave chas e. For the fi rst nine la ps, the o rder was Bro wn , Smi t h, Short, Han sen , Mills , Gosselaar, Hofmaster, Laugh ridge and Schnell. Bro wn had a sc ant lead on Smith, who had begun receiving pressure from Short - looking noticeably stronger as the race progressed. On lap 1D, Gosselaar went down hard and was out fo r the night, wh ich lef t every one scrambling for thei r calculators , trying to figure out who was in contention for the ove rall win. With Adams back in ninth place or so , the overall looked to be bet wee n Smith and Sho rt - whoe ver fini she d ahead w ould have it. On lap 11, Short ski m me d a c ro ss t he to p of th e whoops past a frus tra ted Ke ll y Sm ith. wh o alo ng wit h Brown had struggled with the whoop section all ni ght long , a n d th en h e i m m e d i ate ly set his sig hts on lead er Brown. It d idn 't ta k e l on g fo r Sh ort to catch th e leader, an d he im m edi ately pu ll ed alon gside Br o wn throu gh the whoops as the two ex ite d th e arena. A s they leapt ba ck into vie w, it was Short edgi ng Br own down the fast est straight on the tra ck. Short held the insid e th rough the turn -o ne swee per, and he swunq wide t o ju m p the next o b st acle. o nly fo r B ro w n to square