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/128238
K a w a s a k i R ace o f Champion s Rac ew ay Par k and the head coo ler when I'm riding: Multitim e Nationa l Champion and fo rmer K aw asak i factory r ider Jeff " Jeffro" Em ig showed up and had his hand s full with the lo cal tal ent. " I am here t o represent Kawasaki and t o race a really fun eve nt," said Em ig . "I blee d gre en." ' Fro raced th e Over 25 A and Ov er 30 A clas se s on Saturda y and j umped into the 125 cc and 250c c Pro cl asses on Sunday . He won the 250cc Pro class des pite som e ve ry stiff competition fro m the locals, but nea r the end of the da y h e com mented th at he w as feeling wh ip p ed . Ma ny National riders who come to the Race of Champions are su rp r ised b y the very territoria l locals' spee d. Rossini Racing Pro duct s owner Mike Ro ssin i was a very happy man, as his riders Ty Wallace and National conten de r Da mie n Plotts were on the p o d i u m more By M ICHA E L J AMES AND M A TT W OZN EY P HOTOS BY K A RL OCKERT ENGUSHTOWN, NJ, OCT. 4ยท5 ' " en L a n d erm an a nd J a y I r win ~ deserve to host an AMA Nat ional at t heir Ric hie Zupko- bui lt Raceway Park facility . T he t rac k has host ed the Kawasak i -sponsor ed Race of Ch am pions for the last 27 yea rs, and each year the event gets better and bet ter. Wh il e m o st fa ns expec ted to see J a m e s "Bubb a " Stewart r i d e the eve nt, orders fr o m the Kawasaki b rass were that he save himself for the fu rt her development of the new K X2 50 F . Stewar t , sporting a new m in i -dreadlo c k hairstyle, said he will be rac ing the fou r-s troke at the Outdoor National s in ( 2004. " I w a s ready for a c ha nge ," the ever- smiling Stew art said of hi s new 'do. "I m ean , it even kee ps m y I'. 38 O CTO B ER 2 9 , 2 0 0 3 ' eye I e nevvs ,,"".. <.<_ ... ~;>oi : I ~ oft en than not. W all ac e l ed and wo n m oto . on e , to t he sur prise of everyone but him self. "I 've r a c ed event for a l o n g time , and it feels so good to finally wi n one," Wa lla ce said to the partisan crowd. Wallace swapped posi tions with Emig in moto two when he finished th ird . Plotts spli t the two in both motos. Pl o tts flat h a u l s! Kawasaki T eam Green -sponsored Richie O wens fell in b oth motos and charged back up through the pack fo r a pair of fi fths in the 250cc Pro cl ass. Loca l s Chri s Hun ter , Mike Leavitt and Dave Ginolfi sho w ed great speed but lacked t he National experience to make a ru n for the wins . Hunter wa s second overa ll in the 125cc Pro class, and Gi nolfi m issed by on e spot. A new ride r emerged in the 125cc Pr o cl a ss. Rememb e r th e name Donn y McGourty: you will c ertain ly be heari ng a lot more of him. Th is kid will be winning National~ on e day. Th e Flo ri di an had only one i nt ent: demolish th e competition ! McGourty led every lap of both 12 5 cc motos and each time out bu ilt up a lead of nearly 15 seconds on second place. His was a truly remarkabl e ri de, as he kept his KX 125 pinned ev erywh ere. Young Nick Ev enn ou, th e you ng est member of the French invasion, fell in turn one of the first moto bu t , remarkably, slashed his way all the way up to a podium finish. Bro m ley Suzuki's Barry "lronman" Carsten ran up fron t all day, but the perenn ial Pro was eventually wo rn down by th e tw o kids, both of whom are young eno ugh to be his chi ldre n. Ca rsten has held a Na t io n a l numb er fo r n e arl y tw o d ec ad es; t hat has t o be a record o f some sort. Ne w J ersey 's fav or it e son Mi ckey Kessler turned 49 a few da ys before (p~' t h e Ra ce o f C h amp i o n s . H is wife, D ebb i e, invited some ve r y specia l guests: all the fans and about 20 riders from th e fi rst and sec ond gen eration of American Pro motocross. Jim " Bim bo" Pomeroy , Gary Sem ics , Rick " Lum berj ack" Burgett , Tom Rapp , M ike "Too T all " Bell , John Savitski, and "The Jammer" hi mself, J immy Wein ert , were among the dignitaries in at t en dance . A ga gg le of leg en d a ry N ew J e r se y and N e w En gl an d Pro s su c h as B ru ce Dengler (Joel Dengler's dad ), T erry Tu ck er , Jo Jo Kell er , Jimmy Meenan and Brian and Br ett Thompson all show ed up to perform an e x h i b i ti o n r i de wh ic h qu ickly turned int o a full-b lown moto battle th a t w as wo n by M ark Lachowitz. Debb ie Ke ssler des er ves the "Coolest Wife" a w a r d fo r ge t- Jeff Emig t oppe d th e 250cc Pro c lass at th e 27th annual Kawasaki Race of Champions. ting a ll the se guys to c o m e eas t t o help h er hu sban d ce lebrate. 250 PRO MOTO ONE Wallace battled a gaggl e of lo c al s int o the fi rst turn, and with the pack bun ch ed up , it was anyone' s game. Half a lap later, Wa llace came barrel ing out of the back section with Plotts right on his tail. Casey Clark m ad e a b id for a to p position but dropped back after falli ng sp ectacularly . Next it was Plotts ' turn t o fall , g iving a posit ion to Carsten . Hunter, on a Honda CRF450R , wa s all ov er Cars t en , and t hei r d uel drew the m awa y from th e rest of the pa ck un til Hunter threw it away on a p a ss att em pt. Hun ter followed Plotts' lead, and they charged ba ck up towa rd th e front. E mig, meanwh ile, h ad gated poorly and was having troub le match ing th e frenetic pace of the hometown heroes. At midway, th e racing got tighter, and rid ers took m or e chances . Clark sho t into se con d w he n h e caught Cars ten nappin g: it didn't la st, as he soon c rashed ou t of the mot o fo r