Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

go ing t o cause it not to grow. It just raises the level, because you've got guys wh o are proven winners stepping in t here . T he people coming up have got to step it up, too . That's just the way it is." Like Ramsey, you cou ld make the case t hat Roncada's move down is sensible for healt h reasons. While neither is a wheezing geezer, both are coming off layo ffs - Ramsey coming back from the leg injury that sidelined him last season, and Roncada having struggled mightily wi t h the energy-sapping Epstein-Barr virus . "One of the reasons why I wanted to ride the 125 classagain was because in 2000 I won the East Coast Championship, and it was a lot of fun for me:' Roncada said. " I really wanted to find that fun again. With all the health pro blems that I have had, I thought that the 125 would be easier for me t o be able to finish a race and to do good. Th at 's really w hat I am looking for· to do good and pr ove t hat our four-stroke is the best bike around . With my health problems, it was really hard in the 250 class to have fun because it is a really tough class, and you have to be I00 perce nt all the time. I'm really glad I'm back in the l 25s, especially on the four-stroke." Roncada looke d to be reeling in Tedesco early, until his right-s ide numberplate came loose, vis ibly distra cting him. He hung on for third. There was a lot of hype behind Ezra Lusk's speed on hisnew ride, and the Mach I Yamaha rider didn't disap - point, although he was disappointed in his result."It's not what I'm capa- ble of by no means," he said. "It 's jus the first t race;it was toughfor me to kind of reallyget going. I hadeverythingdialed in this year and I , didn't makeanychanges all day - just messed with the jettng a little bit- but the bike was working asgood asit needed to work . It's jus t that I had ~at one little tipover in the whoops... When askedabout his thoughts on the 2004 supercrossseries, Travis Preston had plenty 68 Joshua Hansen to say - as usual. "My thoughts are that everybody in motocrosshasa short memory." Preston said. "Seeing how I missedthe Nati onals , everybody has probably forgot that I even race. And I have a nice low number - 62 . So 6th The son of 1982 AMA Supercross Champion Donnie Hansen got that which he could not buy in 2003, and it came courtesy of his Yamaha YZ2S0F. " I finaily got a good start , which is what I wanted to do, but I kind of pumped everybody hasprobably forgotten me because Both Ramsey and Roncada appeared t o be in wi nning fo rm , but both t ook a backseat to Tedesco, who was plain unstoppable afte r surviving a co llisio n with Boost up." H ansen said. It went downhill from there, as Hansen slipped from third to sixth almost immediately. "It was just the first race. but it'll be on for the rest of the seas on. I just have to loosen up. and I'll be looking (or some wins this year. Everybody works their asses off out here. and I've certainly been putting in the effort myself. If I just keep my head in the right place, it'll pay off." 18 Brock Sellards 7th By his ow n admission. the Boost MobilelYamaha of Troy rider "just had a rough day altogether." Said Sellards. w ho crashe in his qualifier and d had to ride in the LCQ just to make the cut for the regular program, "I kind of tore up my right side, but I made it through the night - although not with the resultsthat I wanted. Hopefully I can come back next weekend a lot stronger. I have a pretty bad sprained ankle right now, but hopefully that wo n't affect me next weeke nd." In the main event Sellards got caught up in a dice with teammate josh Hansen. "I caught him, and we just battl ed," Sellar said. " Laps eight through I0, I had a ds pretty good pace going, but then I caught him, and that hurt me . We were just wasting too much energy block-passing. I struggle with my d breathing, but I wasn't tired at all. The track was supereasy, and it didn't take much energy to ride it. I just rode tight. I think a lot of people had that problem. The first round is always tough." 35 Christopher Gosselaar 10th "just a bad night," Gosselaar said, "but this round is over, and there's nothing I can do about it now." Normally strong out of the gate at the start of the season, Gosselaar was mired in a multirider pileup that occurred just before the entrance to the first whoop section on the opening lap of the main. The melee effectively ruined both his and Amsoil/Chaparral H onda teammate Travis Preston's chances for victory. "The track was hard to make time on becauseeverybody was going the same speed," Gosselaar said. "The track was really easy I think that they're trying to . make the racingtighter or whatever, but actually it's just the opposite. There 's not really good racingbecauseeverybody isspreading out. If you don't get the start, you're not goingto catch anybody." 41 Brian Gray 13th In hisfirst Supercross race, the Suzukinewbie got max track time at Anaheim. "I had some trouble in my heat," Gray said. "I crashed in the second corner and got knocked off the track. I got back up to 15th, but they only take nine, so I had to go to the last-chance. I won that, but there were only four spots left on the gate when I got to pick for the main. I just tried to ride hard and not get caught behind any peo- ple. I didn't get a top-10 , but for my first race I think this is a good stepping stone to next weekend . I feel like I am a top-10 supercross rider for sure. T he [250cc] bikes are great. There is nothingwrong with mine. The w hole thing is just about me working on supercross." 55 Casey Lytle 19th Hired as KTM's American R&D rider lastAugust, Lytle wound up as the only factory KTM rider to make the main event after josh Woods crashed in practice and wi thdrew and joaquim Rodrigues had a dismal night. Lytle's main event was almost over before it started as well when he surviveda scary mishap over one of the triples on lap one. '" was a little tight right from the beginning, and I ended up totally blowing it after the whoops. Turningleft for the triple, I left it in fourth gear - brain fade. It was like I missed the shift, and I faced the landingpretty bad. I thought I was going to get landed on. I just strugg from there on out. But we got the first race out of led the way. I'm looking forward to next week." MobilelYamaha of Tro y 's Josh Hansen during t he early jockeying off the start. Th e two collided in turn th ree on the opening lap as Hansen attem pte d t o knife under Tedesco for t he lead. " I wasn't sur prised t hat Hansen pulled that move:' Tedesco said. "Josh is no t a dirty rider, but he is very aggressive. We are realIy goo d frie nds. We pre tty much are neighbo rs. H e lives abo ut 10 hou ses down fr om me, and w e hang out all t he time. Actua lly, I was surprised that he di d get that aggressive, but luckily I did n't go down, and I passed him back in t he next corner." The real carnage was behind t he leaders, as privateer riders Gr eg Schnell and Michael Sleet er crashed along with Ams oil Honda teamsters Travis Preston and C hr istopher Gosselaar. Of t hese, Prest on would recover t he best , charging fr om 19th to eighth after getting into a meaningless slam-fest with Schnell, wh o finished right behind him , w ith Gosselaar l Oth. Just ahead of them, Hansen diced it out with his Boost MobilefYoT team mate , Brock Sellards, for mo st of the race. Th ey were sixt h and seventh, respect ively. Ramsey was aiso on th e charge for t he whole race, desperat e t o get the Ho nda CRF250R on top of the bo x, just as he had with the fact ory CRF450R at Ponti ac in 2002 . It w as certainly on his mind . "I've got mixed feeli ngs about it:' Ramsey said. '" deb ute d the CRF450 R, too. It's mixed feelings because it [250] is a new bike, and it's got a lot of hype on it, and everyone wants it to do good so th ey give you everything you need. But the pressure comes fr om me, myself. I feel like if you're not putting that kind of pressur e on yourse lf, the n you don't want it bad enough," Tedesco, w ho was smooth as silk for t he first half of the race, was on a similar mission t o put the Kawasaki KX250F four-s t roke in the w inners ' circle on its maiden voyage. Continued on page 24 www.cyclenews.com they are looking at all the new kids. Th at's fine. I'm just going to do my ow n thing, and whatever happens, happens. The [2S0] bike realty suits my styte, The areas where I struggled last year are the areas where that fourstroke is helping me thisyear. I'm kind of upset that Bubb a's not racing here this year, because all the little areas where he was pulling me last year are areas where I can make up time thisyear." Preston saidthat he is still aware that there was more competition than Stew art last season, and he looks forward to renew ing some old rivalries in 2004. "I never forget, and I'm going to be killing people out there," Preston said. "N o, it's a new year, but I'm just going to make sure that when I pass somebody. I'm going to make the pass stick. And I'm going to the inside." Suzuki's Brian Gray saidthat he hopes to get the RM·Z2S0 its first podium in 2004. "The 250 is treating me pretty good," Gray sai . "I d was used to riding a 125, but I'm used to this bike now. It's got so much more botto m and mid, but it also has about the same top, It's really a lot better bike for me to ride. Also, I think a lot of it [advantage] has to do with the unleadedgasthis year." Although he felt com- forta ble coming into the night's program, Gray said that he didn't plan to put too much pressure on himself to run up front right away. "Th is is my first Supercross, so I just want to get through it and get all the bugsout," he said. " I feel that I should be able to get a top10, and if I'm riding pretty good, then a topfive. I just want to establish a baseline here." St eph ane Roncada we ighed in on the issue of veteran 250 riders in the 125 West class and whether or not their presence could be a detr iment to the divis w hich is primarily ion designed to cultivate new talent. "I don't think so," Roncada said. "T hat's racing. If some of these guyswant to ever make it to the 250cc class, then they 'll have to beat us first. I think that's a good goal for them." He probably didn't mean it the way it sounded, but Josh Hans en's comment regarding Nathan Ramsey 's main event performance spoke volumes nonetheless. "N ate [Ramsey] was riding good," Hansen said. "I mean, he's a veteran. He's been out there for a long time. He's pretty much got nowhere else to go but to do good." Danny Smith , one of the newest members of the Boost MobilelYamahalTroyRacing team, had a short night. Smith, alongwith Ted Campbell, went down in the first turn of a 2S0cc heat race and was transported back to the pits with a separated shoulder, Smith was using the 250cc class to prepare for the East Coast I25cc Series, which gets under way February 14 in Houston. CYCLE NEWS • JANUARY 14, 2004 21

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