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/128309
Briefly... (Left) Tra v is Preston came from way bock to n a b th ird o t th e fini sh . found a few holes in the first corne r, and I don't know where I was , but I had to wo rk to win that on e . It fee ls good. " Pro Circuit/Spy Honda's Greg Schnell grabbed the ho lesho t , w hile Tedesco w as mired in sixth at the start of the race , but Tedesco quickly worked his way past Boost MobilelYam aha of Troy 's Brock Sellards to move up to fifth. ,,) made so me sma rt moves," Tedesco said. ,,' kind of hung it ou t for the first ouple o f lae to ge t into the top four and then just rode fro m th ere." As Tedes co was ma king his way to the fro nt, h's Pro Circuit Kawasaki team mate , Stephan oncada, ~ad alrea dy gotte n there. The ~t- moving Fre nchman shot past Schnell early to lead lap one, and he led a total of ~ven before Tedesco ran im down . Tedesco 's bigge st challenge on his way through the pack cam e fro m American Hon da' s Nat han Ramsey as the tw o battled for the sec o nd spot. Ted esco slipped past Ramsey on lap six. "I go t next to him [Ramsey) on the rhythm sect io n and just shot unde rneat h him," Tedesco said. " I tried not to hit him, and I turned the turn early. We came into the wh oo p seetjon side by side, and I th ink t hat he hit a kicker or something. I got an e xtra drive co ming up to t he tr iple, and \iust had th e inside line into t he ne xt corner." TedeSCO the n gobbled up the distanc e between himse lf an d Ro ncada, taking his first sho ts at his teammate in t he rhythm secti on after the second se t of wh oops on lap se ven, but made a clean pass for the lead with an outside line th rough the first r hythm sect ion on lap eight . Ted esco went on to lead the remaini ng laps and gra b his fourt h w in o f the season , remaining perfect . "We haven 't st arted butting he ads ye t, " Te desco sa id . "Hopefully it do esn't get too competitive in the rig. If I don't take him o ut, w e' ll be all right. " It [pass ing the faste r competition ) he lps your co nfide nce , but I'm not go ing to go into the ne xt race thinking that this will be eas y. T hes e guys are good riders, and I'm going to have to fight fo r every h one." Stephane Roncado led early but was gobbled up by Tedesco, Ramsey and Pr e ston before the finish . It was Roncada's first time off the podium this yea r. work cut out fo r him at San Diego as he continued in his quest for pe rfection , but he hand led the situa tion like the 125cc Western C hampio nship front ru n- 18 ner that he is. " Fo r sure," Tede sco said of the difficulty level. "I didn't get the greatest start. Everybody went by me. I somehow FEBRUARY 4, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Roncad a didn't hold onto second for long , as both Ramsey and Amso ill C hap arral Honda's Travis Preston, the latte r a victim of a late start, overtook him. Ramsey wo uld hold on fo r second. "I felt good out there," Ramsey said. "Sec o nd is pre tty good. I'd like to beat Ivan, but he is riding really good right now. " Ramsey said tha t he will have to ride t he perfect race to defeat Tedesco . 40th Anniversary Josh Han se n came into San Diego with a broken throttle hand, the result of a crash while pract icing during the week. "O ne of my fingers is broken, and the top of my hand is broken , and I'm riding with a lot of pain," Hansen said. "I crashed last Tuesday. I was just going through a whoop section, and I swapped out and got the hand and also got a concussion. They wanted to put a cas t on me for six weeks, but I'm just going to try to tough it out , be smooth and get through it." Hansen finished 18th in the main event. But Red Bull KTM's Ryan Morais scored the dou ble-whammy award for a crash during the week and another in practice. "I pulled my gro in during the week at the tes t track, and then I crashed in the second practice session and bru ised my heel," Morais said. "l'm just going to go out there and do the best that I can. That's all tha t 1can do. " Morais toughed it out and finished 1Ith in the main event . The ir injuries notwithstanding, both Josh Hansen and Brock Sellards said that they were surprised that there have been no Yamaha VZ25 0Fs on t he podium thus far in the season. "Dude, it just kind of seems likeeach year 1have been having some problems, but our bikes are reallygood , and Keith McCarty, Jim Perry and MikeGuerra - allthe guys - they put 110 percent into our bikes. They are winningbikes, and they 're awesome," Sellards said. He also said that the situation has been discussed within the team. "Y amaha is really pissed about it, and I'm not happy myself," he said. '" won a couple races last year and was leadingthis [ 12Scc East] championship. It's tough when you jump into a class that is all four-strokes . Starts aren't easy, and the compe tition has stepped it up. Everybody came to the West Coast to dodge Stewart, and everybody is going fast." And rew Short said that, coming into San Diego, it was the same old story with him. "I've just got to start with them ," he said. "l'rn ridinggood. I felt reallygood in practice, and the bike iscoming along. The team has been working reallyhard on my bike, and it isgetting faster. It has gotten a lot better since the season started. I'm doing a lot of the jumps in second gear, which is scary. 1am revvingthe thing like crazy on the face of the jumps." And rew Short also steadfastly re fused to throw in the towel on the 125. "I really can't anyway, because it's not like I can just switch to a four- str oke next weekend. Maybe later on down the road, or in the East I can. You know, Bubba's going to do it in the East on a 125, and he's going to be racing just as many good guys," After making three stra ight main events , Jeff Gibson saw hisrun come to a grinding halt when he crashed during his daytime qualifier - this after Gibson had made staying on two wheel s his to p priority. "l'rn looking forward to a healthy night, just trying to kee p it on two wheels ," he said, "It's te rrible when you get hurt ," Gibson complained of abdominal pain after his crash and was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital, w he re he was expected to ke pt overnight for observation. It turn s out that he doesn't have a ruptured spleen , which is what was feared , but he still has abdomina l pain, and his wrist is badly sprained.