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/128306
Round 2
5UPERCR055
~
I
Fonseca's First
\ A /hile the Anaheim Supercross
Y Y marked the opening round of the
AMA THQ Supercross Series, it was also
round three o f the FIM THQ World
Supercross GP Series, w hich got under
way last month in Spain. On that rainy
night, New Zealand's Daryl Hurley came
out on top in a race that looke d more like
a national end uro in Ohio than it did a
supercross. You might say it was a liule on
the muddy side .
Round two of the series w as held a
w ee k late r in much drie r conditions in
Arnhem, Holland, where Team Honda's
Ern esto Fonseca captured his first major
250cc Super cr oss w in. Eve n though many
of the worl d's be st supercr oss ride rs, such
as the injured Ricky Ca rmichael and C had
Re e d , or David Vuillemin and Kevin
W indham, weren't at e ithe r race,
Fonseca's win in Holland was still a bigconfidence -boo ste r for the Co sta Rican, w ho
qu ickly jumped out to a comfortable lead
and w ent on to take an unchallenged and
over
re lativel y stress-free victory
Americans Damon Huffman and Andrew
Short.
Huffman ran a distant second after passing Mike Brown early into the race , but the
Ho nda-mo unt e d Huffman noticea bly
picked up his pace in the late stages and
actually gaine d some real estate on
Fonseca; howeve r, Fonseca had built up so
much of a cushion in the early goings t hat
Huffman co uld not catc h him be fore t he
20-lap race was ove r.
Sho rt had an exciting race en rou te to
Continued from poge 21
"For the first eight laps, I rode rea lly
good." Tedesco said. "I was hitting the first
se ctio n of whoops really good, and I used up
a lot of my e nergy doing that . I started getting tigh t, and I knocke d it down a few
notc hes , and that' s w hen I started making a
few mistakes . I saw him [Ramsey] com ing,
and about lap 12 I picked it back up . I think
that my last th ree laps were pretty good. I
ended up holding him off."
In doing so, Tedesco shared a bit of legacy
w ith Ramsey and the KX250F-mou med
Roncada, the three com prisingthe first all-fourstroke podium in AHA Supercross history.
Which begs the second question; Is the 125
class still the 125 class? Of the first 10 finishers,
nine were on 2505, leadingyou to wonder if the
thumpers are upsetting the balance of the class.
MotoworkJ Racing.com Suzuki's Andrew Short
doesn't think so, and he backed it up s0mewhat. Short was the first l25cc two -stro ke finisher, moving up from sixth to finish fourth.
''I'm not too concern ed abo ut the 2505,"
24
his third -place finish, as he was invo lved in
a bit of controversy when he had a run-in
with Tyler Evans, who finished third the
week before in Spain. Evans was mak ing a
move to the front when he came up on
Short, w ho promptly put Evans on the
ground.
"I don 't like knocking anyon e down,"
Short said . "I've lea rned the hard way,
though. I've been knocke d down, and I
don 't th ink you can be competitive if you
let guys push you ar ound . I am sorry fo r
Tyler, and I know he is somebody who
won't forge t , so there might be some
payback."
Evans got back up to finish seventh .
AMA Nat ional I25cc MX champ Gra nt
Langsto n finished a disappoint ing fourt h in
Ho lland. "I'm not riding the way I want to ,"
he said. "I got a bad start, really screwed
the start up. I didn't have any rhythm; I
wasn 't catching anyone. It's a good track,
but it's a little like an Arenacross - short
laps, difficult to pass. I'm having trouble
wit h some things. I'm not really thinking
about the championship points, just getting
some things sorted for when we get to
Anahei m."
Round ing out the to p five was
Albuque rq ue's Keith Jo hnson.
Australian lay Marmont was one of
many young up-and-co mers who tu rne d
some heads in Holland . Marmont finished
sixth but had a th ird-place finish on his
mind when the aggressive Short came up
and knocked him off the track.
"I left the door open, and Short really
hit me hard," Marmon t said. "I went over
the hay bales and then co uldn't get back on
the track."
Another Aussie ne wco me r, Cheyne
Boyd, was a contende r, but he and Hur ley
got toge the r when Hurley landed on him
off a jump early in the race, resulting in
both riders' hitt ing the ground. Boyd was
bange d up enough to req uire a tri p to the
hos pital, w hile Hurley finished ou t the race
in 14th and out of the points lead .
eN
GELDERDROME CIRCUIT
ARNHEM, HOUAND
R ESU LTS: D ECEMBER 13, 2003
FIM THQ W ORLD SUPERCRO SS GP S ERIES
(ROUN D
2
OF
18 )
MAIN : I. Emesto Fonseca; 2. Damon Huffman ; 3.
Andrew Short: 4. GldIlt langston; 5. Keith Johnson: 6. Jay
Marmont; 7. Tyler Evans: 8. Heath Voss; 9. Greg Schnell;
10. Doug Dehaan: I I . Mike Brown; 12. StENe Boni face;
Il . 0.')'1 Hurley; 14. u.'gAnde.-son ; 15. I""" ),*""",,;
16. jason Thomas; 17. Jeff GiI=n; 18 Joe Oehloff; 19.
Ryanom; 20 . Cheyne Boyd.
FIH THQ WORLD S U PER CROSS SERIES POI NTS
STANDINGS (Aft er 2 of 18 rounds): I. Grant
Ungston (40) ; 2. lYlec Evans (H); l . (TIE} Daryl Hurley
(l l ! 1 winyAndn>W Shon (lJ); 5. Hea th Voss (ll ); 6.
Damon Huffma n (27); 7 . (T IE) Steve Bon iface
(25)1Ernesto Fonseca (lS/lwin): 9 . Greg Schnell (19) ; 10.
M ike Brown ( 18).
Geo ff Meyer
Short said. "My 125s are really good . About
the only thing that we had to do is make it
loud so that 1 can hear it, beca use the fourstrokes are so loud. I've just never been a very
good starter, and 1know that it's something I
need to deal with. I was trying really hard in
the main, but I just think I need to concentra te
on having fun, and it will come togeth er. I put
too much pressure on myself to win tonight.
If I can get out in from of those guys, then you
won't see all 2505 on the podium."
Ted esco said that he isn't abou t to trade
Two-strokes or four, vets or punks - it
still take a rider to tw ist the th ro ttle , and
Tedesco said that he is well aware there ar e
plenty of good ones gunning for the Western
title this season.
"T he We st C oast is rea lly stacked t his
year," Ted e sco said . "W hoeve r wins th is
cham pio ns hip w ill win it be cau se he
CN
ea rne d it."
in his fou r-stroke anytime soon .
HEAT I (6 laps. 1-9 t ransf er): I. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw) ;
2. Chris topher Gos setaar (Hon); 3. Andrew Short (Suz); 4 .
"I think I made the right choice [to
switch]" Tedesco said. "I struggled a lot with
starts last yea r, and I think that's what held
me back fro m winning races . Tonight, I
ho lesho t both my races . I have adapted pret ty wel l. It too k me abou t tw o wee ks to get
going the same speed as I was on the 125.
I'm loving the bike now. On the starts, ob viously, the four-st ro ke is just better. They'r e
just all-aro und good bikes. They're good in
the wh oo ps. They corner really we ll."
JANUARY 14,2004 • CYCLE NEWS
ANGEL STAD IUM OF ANAHEIM
ANAHEIM, CAUFORN IA
RESULTS: JANUARY
3, 2004
(ROUND
1
OF
7)
Johnny Marley (Hon): 5. Travis Preston (Hon): 6. JeffGibson
(Yam) ; 1. Steve Boni face (Suz): 8. Bryan John son (Yam): 9.
Ryan Mo rais (5U 10. Taylor Watts (Yam): II. Levi Red
2);
(Suz); 12. D an iel Blair (Yam); 13. Michae l Slee te r (Yam ); 14.
Brian Gray (Suz); IS. Johnny Aubert (Suz); 16. Benjamin
C oi S ( KTM); 17. Joaquim Rodrigues ( KTM); 18. Kris Keefer
y
(KTM) ; 19. Sean Come' (Hon ); 20. TIm Weigand (Hon ).
Time : 6 min ., "'6 .296 sec .
Margin of victory: 3.688 sec.
HEAT 2 (6 laps , 1·9 transfer); I. Stepbere Bcoceda
(Kaw ); 2. N.than Ramsey (Hon) ; l . Joshua Hansen (Yam); 4.
Troy Adams (Kaw); S. Brock Sellards (Yam); 6. Robe rt Ki iry
n
(Suz); 7. Gteg Schnell (Hen); 8. Cole Sieblec (Yam); 9. jesse
easm (Yam); 10. Eric Nye (Yam) ; II. Rkhie Owens (Kaw);
..
12. M;chael Blose (Y ; I l . Casey l ytle (KTM); 14. Nat han
am)
TIealTleY(Suz) ; IS. Bradle y Ripple (Suz): 16 . Justin Buc kelew
(Hon); 17. Bl"3nClon M"'8'" (Y
am); IB. joshua Summey
40th Anniversary
(Yam): 19. Matt Walker (Kaw): 20. J. Marti n Gar cia (Suz).
Time: 6 min., 5