Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

M a x x is Ti r e s U.S . O p e n MGM Grand Ga r d e n A rena Grant Langston debuted his new number at th e Open, but he struggled to seventh on Friday. A p r actice c r a sh k ept him out of the night program Saturday. Fonseca (2 4) a nd defending cham p M ike LaRocco (5 ) battl ed it out for f o u rth on Sa t urday night. Fonseca f o ug h t LaRocco off for the spot . r ac ed sup er cross in so l on g t hat I decide d to race here. It feels good to w in , but I w on 't go an d g et d r u nk ton ight beca use I won here . It's j ust a race ; it's not a ch am pionship . "It's on ly the first night. Wh oever w ins t om orrow is g o ing t o win t he race . If Rick y wins and Chad got seco nd and I g ot third , Ricky w ins . If Ch ad win s an d I got sec ond , h e 's g oing to win . So t oday count s f or not hin g . Tomorrow 's go ing t o be th e big day." over one night of racing . I'm looking for w ar d t o tomorrow n ight and next yea r. It' s a lon g series , and you can't j ust freak out over one nig ht." It wasn't lo ng before Reed made his way by ove r th e ki cker that leads onto the start st raig ht. "I th ink th ey [Reed and Vui llernin ] were ab le to turn rea ll y' good in the tight st uff and th en set us up , " Car mic hael said . " I k now Chad passed Ern esto the same way - th ey j ust have some good lines back the re, and it was working for him. He put a good pass on m e, set me up , and ju st we nt down t hat in si d e. W h e r e he passed m e it was a bit better - it was n't so abrupt - so he just kind of wheeli ed rig ht ove r it , and that was it. " Ev en th ou gh Reed lessene d the dist an c e betwee n him se lf and Vu ill em in during th e l as t 12 laps , Vuillemin had the race firml y in han d and t o ok th e v ic to ry b y abo ut two seco nds ove r his teammat e. "I reall y wante d to co me away with a win toni ght, " Reed sa id, " and me and Dav id have been doing a lot of rid in g and a lo t of test in g , and we u nd erstand th at last ye ar we had a great bik e, and we ' re tryi ng to step it up thi s year. Th e race is a lot on th e start , and D V had a great start and ma de th e m o st o f it. " Vuill em in wa s less th an enthusiastic abo ut his drama tic victory. "It' s just the firs t race , and I wasn 't suppo sed to rac e t o n i g ht - I just decided two weeks ago t o r a c e , " Vuillem in said. "I wa s feeli ng goo d at th e Yamaha t rac k, a n d I h a v en 't 8 O CTO BER 22, 2003· c ue SATURDAY Ernest o F onseca f ol l owed u p hi s heat-rac e ho leshot-to-vi c t ory with an othe r hol eshot in the main eve nt , but un fortun ately for Fons e ca , hi s lead ended as th e riders head ed out of the arena for th e firs t time. "Yeah , I had reall y good st art s," Fonseca sai d, " I m ean , every tim e I go t out th ere, it seems lik e it was natural, an d the bik e was working great. Every thing wa s click in g to nig ht, j ust a little b it of ba d luck there in th e last race . I cras he d on the fi rst lap , and eve ry body got around me. " D e sp it e a bi t of a p o o r j ump , Carmic hae l w ent aro u nd Vu il lem in and Reed togeth er in th e rhyth m sect i on o n t he first lap , an d w ith th at move it was Ca rmichae l who ben efited from th e sp ill an d too k ov er th e lead while Reed and Vui ll emin gave c hase . W it h som e new se t tings , Carmicha el lo ok ed m uch stro nger tha n Friday night. By t he fourth go -ar ou nd, th ou gh , Reed was all over Carmichael , and it to ok less tha n a lap for him to m ak e hi s mov e . Re e d wen t i nsi de Ca rm ic hael in th e left -hand 180 afte r th e fin ish lin e and sea led the p ass wit h a goo d run thro ugh th e whoops e n e vv s th at follow ed. "I definitely th ink I need to work on m y bike in the whoops and get my engine a little bit better, but Honda 's worki ng really, really hard , and they also wa nt to hav e th e best th ing out there," Carmicha el said . " If any bo dy can do it , it's th em . I m ean, th ey have the resou rces and th e budget - th ey have everyth in g they need to do it. I have c onfi de nce in th em , and they have co nfidence in m e." From th ere, Ca rm ic hae l was able to keep Reed hon est but was unable t o m ak e an y m oves on the yo unger Au ssi e. How ever, th e two of them left Vuillemin beh ind after a few laps. " It's n o t a rea l superc ross," Vu illemin said. " It' s 20 laps with less wh oops, less ju mps, and I think it was easie r t o do 20 l ap s here tha n at a norm al supercross , and I th ink every body i s go ing t o step it up in like three months. But it's good to be ki nd of ready righ t now and with th ose two guys . I'm su re w e can improve the bik e, and I kn ow I can im prove as a rid er , and I'm g o ing t o try and g et my Own Race: 250cc ®® Jason Thom as 10 t h o 5th Subwa y Honda's Tho mas says his 2004 CRF4 50R is coming along nice ly . "I felt really good actually," he said . "I felt my speed was good, and I felt bett er in the whoops than I did all yea r last year. It' s a goo d starting point for me, and I know wh at I'm do ing is the righ t thi ng . I'll be ready for Anaheim." Mike LaRoc co Amsoilj Chaparra l Honda 's laRocco was the defending U.S. Open cham p coming into the event , but poor starts kep t him from runn ing wit h the lead ers. He ran fourth on the first night, and on Satu rday he had a heck of a ba ttle with Fonse ca for quite a few laps befor e Fonseca finall y got away. LaRocco's 4-5 earned him fift h ove rall. ~~ Ernest o Fonseca ~{J Nick Wey 0 1] Josh Demuth 4th Honda's Fonsec a fought LaRoc co off for much of the ma in eve nt Saturday night. "I was just tr y ing t o go as fa st as I cou ld, and it seemed like laRocco was trying to com e back at me every tim e," he said. "I was able to bridge him a litt le bit where he wasn' t t aki ng away m y lin e or any thing li ke that, and I finally j ust made it stick to where he co uldn' t m ess with me anymor e. I think if I wou ld've neve r gott en with LaRocco , I probably would' ve been a lot cl oser to Vuillem in." 7th Wey made noticeable im prov ements between Friday and Sat urday night in his SeBe Suzuki debut. "I've been testing a lot of parts with the '04 bi ke," he said. "It's a lot different th an the '0 3 , and I really haven't had a lot of time to get real comfortable on some thing I can com e and race on. I struggled a lot last night [Friday ], and the gu ys work ed real hard to get m y bike wo rki ng a lot bett er for to night. I had a prett y decent heat race , and I wish I co uld'v e gott en up in ther e and try to make a move on laRocco and Fon seca, bu t it seem ed li ke I was right there. I im proved drasticall y from th e fi rst night to the second, and now we've got thr ee m or e m onths until the rea l racing starts, so I'm glad to get one under my belt, and I'm j ust go ing to go to wo rk from here." 6th The two-time defen ding National A renacross Champion had a heck of a battl e on Friday with Red Bull KTM 's Grant Lang ston . He eventua lly passed the new 125 cc Natio nal cham p. "I got off to a pretty bad sta rt. I was on the second row , and I j ust ki nd of worked m y way up a little bit and got up to Grant , and I had to reall y wor k for it because he was a ways ahea d of m e," Dem uth said. "I got up behind him , and we had a little battl e, but I got a goo d insi de li ne on him , and it was prett y coo l to pass a Nat ional Champion ."

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