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/128308
Briefly... Vuillemin held on for a strong third. clutch, and I do n't know if it's as good o n the trac k, but hopefully it'll help me on the starts, " he said. "That's whe re I'm losing these races . It's kind of a bad deal becau se Magura he lps o ur team, so it's hard to switch to a standard clutch when t here's those good people be hind us. I'm just kind of searching fo r a good start." ECC Suzuki's team manage r Mike Cra ig made a comeback at ro und three, but it was short-lived . He reaggrava ted a toe on his left foot in his daytime qua lifier, and altho ugh he st ill qualified, he sat o ut the night pro gram . "I fee l good; I just can't take any chances right now with my toe ," he said. "One time I put my foot do wn , and the scab on the top of my toe o pened. I've got to keep from doing that . I've ridden on e day in three w ee ks since I cut it off. We'll see how it goes." Pro Circuit's Mitch Payton was visibiy upset about tea m-membe r Matt Walker 's injury at Phoe nix. "Walker' s hurt again," he said. "I believe his manager said April [for his retu rn]." Qualifying HowThey GotThere Kevin Windham started out the night much like he started it a week before at Bank On e Ballpark, grabbing the ho leshot and domi nated the first heat race - setting the fastest laptime of the qualify races ing in the proc ess . Th e surprise of the race was Reynard Modificat ions/No Fear 's Robbie Reynard, tho ugh. Reynard moved from fifth off the start to second o n the very first lap, and he fo ught off the advances of rider s such as Sean Hamblin, Ernesto Fon seca and Gran t Langsto n o n his way to a solid althoug h distant - second-place finish. "We 've co me a long way since the first Anaheim," Windham said. "I've got to than k all of the guys at Ho nda for spend ing all that time w ith me out at the te st track." Langsto n and Fonseca roun ded ou t the qualifiers. Chad Reed had an even easier time in the seco nd heat race tha n Windham did in the first, as his heat fea tured a no table absen ce of facto ry riders - excluding Mach I Yamaha's Ezra l usk. Ree d started second behind Erick Vallejo but quickly moved into the lead with l usk right behind, but lusk we nt ove r the bars hard on the third lap, which left Re ed to run away with the win. ''I'm fine," l usk said afterward. "Now th at the race is over, I'm through being positive for the day. T he track was just a piece of crap - an absolute piece of crap. The tracks have just bee n te rrib le this year. You know, I just hit a po thole on the face of that jump - Brock Sellards hit it in his heat race , and I talked to him abou t it, and he said he almost crashed the re , to o . I just landed on top of that jump right o n my hip, and I just kind of hit a nerve in my hip and it made HEAT I (8 lap s, 1-4 t ra nsfer) : I . Kevin W indham (H on): 2. Robbie Reynard (Hon) ; 3. Grant Langston (KTM); 4 . Emest o Fo nseca (Hon); 5. Mike laRocco (Ha n); 6. Sean H amblin (Suz); 7. David Vuillemin (Yam); 8. N ick Wey (Suz); 9. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 10. Ryan Clark (Yam II . Cra ig Anderso n (Ho n); 12. Michael Byrne (Kaw): 13. Clark Stiles ); (Hon); 14. Bradley Ripple (Suz); 15. Tyson Hadsell (Yam 16. Jesse Casillas (Y ); am); 17. Antho ny Amaradio (Hon): l B. Gregory Crater (He n): 19. Zeb Armstrong (Y am); 20. Michae l Craig (Suz). Race Tim e : 7 min.. 6.62 sec . Ma rgi n of Victory: 12.607 sec . HEAT 2 (8 lap s, 1-4 transfer): I. C had Reed (Ya m); 2. Erick Vallejo (Y am); 3. Tyler Evans (Suz); -4 . Mike Brown (Y am); 5. Heath Voss (Yam 6. Daryl Hurley (Suz); 7. Keith R. ); Johnson (Y am); 8. Damon Huffman (Ho n); 9. James Povolny (Hen) : 10. Jason Thomas (Ha n); I I. IsaiahJohnson (Yam 12. Ted Campbell (Ha n); 13. Mike Co rder (Han); 1-4. ); Jimmy Wilson (Han); 15. Raphael Beaudouin (Suz); 16. Scott Davis (Suz); 17. Tiger Lacey (Ha n); 18. Thomas Barron (Ha n); 19. Ezra Lusk (Yam 20. Hans Nee l (Ha n). ); Rac e lim e: 7 min., 5.10 sec . Margi n of Victory: 27.30 I sec. SEMI I (e taps, 1·5 transfer ): I. David Vuillemin (Yam); 2. Mike laRocco (Han) ; 3. Michae l Byme (Kaw); -4 . Nick Wey (Suz]: 5. Craig Anderson (Hon); 6. Ryan Clark (Yam ); 7. Clark Stiles (Ha n); 8. Jesse Casillas (Yam); 9. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); t O. Joe Oe hlhof me go numb there for a few seco nds, and I just co uldn't stand up (laughs). But then I was co mpletely fine." Reed won a Tisso t watch for recording the fastest heat race of the night by abo ut a secon d and a half over W indham's. Vallejo held on for secon d, while Tyler Evans and Mike Brow n took the final spots . "I feel grea t out there ," Reed said. "I got a little bit of help because unfortun ate ly Ezra went down , but the track's a lot better now. I'm going to try to give the fans the ir mo ney 's wo rth." Hamblin grabbe d the sem i-one ho leshot but crashed out of the lead on lap two, just in front of David Vuillemi n. A co uple of laps later, Hamblin crashed out of the ent ire eve ning's program as he took a handlebar hard to the chest in the whoo ps. Vuillemin too k hold of the race and never looke d back, as slow -start ing Mike laRocco rode adm irably to come from beh ind for seco nd, and Michael Byrne , Nick Wey and Cra ig Anderso n ro unded out the q ualifiers. jaso n Thomas claimed the semi-two ho leshot , but Lusk raced by right away and too k off. Damo n Huffman caught up fo r a seco nd-place finish, w hile Heath Voss, Keith R. jo hnso n and Daryl Hur ley hung o n for q ualifyi ng spots, as Thomas crashed out in th e final turn attempting to grab the final qualify spot fro m ing Hurley. T homas was going fo r the lead off the start of the l CQ when he just sto pped and pulled off the track. He repo rtedly headed for the hospital to be checked out from his se mi crash . Tiger lacey led for th e first tw o laps before cras hing in the tu rn afte r the sandpit, when Clark Stiles took over. With a reasonable lead, Stiles cras hed afte r the first sect ion of whoops o n the last lap, handing the lead to Ryan Clark, who took the victo ry over Isaiah Johnson to ro und o ut the main-event fie ld. (Han ); II . Tyson Hadse ll (Yam 12. Anthony Amaradio (Ha n); 13. Sean Hamblin (Suz); I" . ); Bradley Ripple (Suz); IS. Gregory Crater (Han ); 16. Mike Craig (5uz). Race T ime: 5 min.. 26.8 1 sec . Margin of Victory: 7.98 sec. SEMI 2 (6 lap s. 1-5 transfer): I. Ezra Lusk (Y am); 2. Damo n Huffman (Ha n); 3. Heath Voss (Yam) -4 . Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 5. Daryl Hurley (Suz); 6. Isaiah Joh nson ; (Y am); 7. Ted Campbell (Han ); 8. James Povolny (Han); 9. Jimmy Wilson (Han); 10. Mike Corder (Han ); II . Raphael Beaudoutn (Suz); 12. Tiger Lacey (Han ); 13. Jason Thom as (Ha n); 14. Thomas Barron (Han ); 15. Scott Davis (Suz): 16. Hans Neel (Hon). Race lime: 5 min.• 29.93 sec. Ma rgin of Victory: 7.85-4 sec. LCQ (4 laps, 1-2 tran sfer) : I. Ryan Clark (Y am); 2. Isaiah Johnson (Y am); 3. James Povolny (Ha n); 4 . Ted Campbell (Hon); 5. Jimmy Wilson (Han); 6. Mike Corder (Ha n); 7. Jesse Cas illas(Yam); 8 . Zeb Armstro ng (Yam); 9. Thomas Barron (Ha n); 10. Joe Oehlhof (Ha n); I I. Raphael Beaud ouin (Suz): 12. Antho ny Amaradio (Han ); 13. Clark Stiles (Hon): 14. Tyson Hadsell (Ya m); IS. Tiger Lacey (Han ); 16. Jason Tho mas (Ha n); 17. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 18. Bradley Ripple (Suz): 19. Gregory Crater (Ha n); 20. Scott Davis (Suz): 2 1. Mike Craig (Suz); 22. Hans Nee l (Ha n). Rac e TIme: 5 min., 45 .81 sec. Margin of Vk tory: 3.557 sec. AmsoillC haparral Ho nda's Chris Gosselaar wen t down hard in practice on Friday. "His right ankle is a little sore, and he got bonke d a litt le bit o n th e head ," team manager j.e. Wate rhouse said. The do ctors recomme nded that Gosselaar sit out o n Saturday, and he did. Waterho use also revea led tha t the team is appealing the co nt r ove rs ia l IO-point penalty that was applied to Kevin Wind ham's points total after the Phoe nix race . "The re was an offi cial appeal that went in early in the wee k - I think on Tuesday - and basically it was just a simple 'This is ou r o pinion, and this is what we believe ,... he said. "We had some photo s from ESPN's coverage. I know how the pro cess works, but I do n't know how lo ng it takes." Aftermarket truck lift-kit manufact urer Fa bt ec h had a semi in the pits o n Saturday with the Troy lee Des igns Nissan Titan in fro nt of it. The Fabtech folks were showing off all of th eir truck-lifting products and handing ou t cata logs. T hey 'll also be at Anaheim IIIand San Francisco . Between practices on Saturday, Stephane Roncada was spotted ove r in the TH Q area showing people how to play the new game MX Unleashed . Ro ncada has been a key part of the game's development, designing tracks and test ing the game thoroughly. Pro Circ uit Kawasaki's Eric So rby was ho ping to make his Americ an 2S0cc debut at roun d three, but he had a big crash in practice and hurt his wrist. "I'm o kay. I just hurt a litt le bit my wrist," he said. "Some on e [lusk] didn't jump in fro nt of me , and I land o n his bike, and we go down. I don't know why. It's pretty bad." CYCLE NEWS . The Motosport O utlet Honda team has a new team trai ner, the man th at is wide ly credite d as being Amer ica's first MX Supe rstar, Marty Smith. JANUARY 28. 2004 15