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/128245
, , ; ~ .. r . Emesto Fon se ca (24) went down a couple of t imes in hi s heat a nd LCa, eventually pu lling out both time s w ith a broken CR 250R. t ime 12 5 c c Sup ercross Cha m pion Ern esto F on sec a , the Sp an i sh and Dutch races were looking likely to be m or e th an j u st a w a rmup for th e Amer ican leg of the to ur. So mu ch can h appen in such a short t im e , and e v en th ough Reed and Carmichael both pulled out due to inj u ries , La Rocco deci de d not to co me due to test in g , and heavy rai n began to fall on t he city of Sev ill e, the Cl ear Channel { Dorna c rew remained at wo rk . By 5 p.m. o n Saturday , after a no t her ser ious thun ders to rm had b lan k eted th e La Ca rtuja c ircuit with at l eas t fiv e in ch es o f wate r , Cl ea r Ch annel 's Todd J endro beg an to look to t he heavens for some help . " I b eg an t o w on d er if th e ra c e wo uld go ahead ," J en d ro said. " T he rain was just so hea vy , and it d idn 't look li ke it wa s g oi ng t o hold up . I w as ge tti ng a littl e nervous at th at st age . We ha ve lO G-perc ent comm it ment i n this series , and we w ill remain working hard to m ak e it work . T h ree weeks ag o , we had a good field of riders, and th is wo uld ha ve been a ve ry good race - inj uries, and th e rain sure put a lot of wo rry on us, bu t we have a nother six yea rs o f o ur d eal with D o rn a to m ak e the THQ W o rld Superc ro ss wor k, and we will. Sometimes, th e ri ders and team s can lac k a li t tl e vision t o t akin g su pe rcross g lo bal when it co mes to W orl d Supe rc ross . W e hav e so me of th e m aj or spo nsors: peopl e lik e Parts Un lim ited - th ey sell a lot o f p ro du ct in Europ e , as d o Fo x. F or th o se two co m pa nies , it makes sense to have Ch ad Reed an d Ricky Carm ich ael here. Even th e pr iv at eer rid ers , they ca n get ad d itional sp on sors th ro ugh co m ing here. T elevi sion is co ming in with Dorna, stations li k e ES PN and th e A BC shows; th e s port is r e a c h in g so man y p e op l e t hro ug ho u t th e world . I m ean , this THQ Wo rl d Su p ercro ss Cham p i on ship ha s to wo rk fo r the sp ort. It w ill only make the spo rt grow eve n m ore." For Mot oworldRacing.com Suzu ki ' s Hurley , it was the big gest ni gh t of hi s career, although he wa s not about to get ca rried aw ay wit h his wi n - o r th e fact th at he now l ead s th e W or ld C h a mp i onship poin ts stand in gs. "I' m not go ing to look at the seaso n an y d iff erentl y from t on igh t ," Hurley said . " I know it was a lottery out th ere, but I've ridden th is type of co ndit io ns in New Zealand whe n I wa s a k id - you don' t f orge t how t o rid e the mud . I wa nt t o wai t and see ho w I do in Hoi lan d next week , and th en th e Ameri ca n races ." Friday and Saturda y pra ctic e had b een c an c eled , and th e p lasti c t hat h ad be en p laced o n th e co u rse to pro tect it fro m th e c onsta nt rain was eye I "" not rem oved until one hour be fore the show beg an . At 7 p .m . , wit h n o p ractice all week, th e som ewh at agita te d ri de rs mad e the ir wa y to th e sta rt ing ga te . T he rain had go ne, but th e circuit was never going to dr y enough to make for typical Americ an supe rcross racing . On c e racing began , it was obvious th at rid in g co ndi tions wer e , at be st appal ling . Th e o pe n ing heat saw a n "" vv 50 • JAN UARY 7,2004 11