Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

T H O A MA 1 S c c W e s t e r n R eg io n a l S u per c r oss S e r ie s 2 first be ing Yamaha of Troy 's Ernesto Fo nseca in 200 I, also on a 250cc fourst roke . "The races do seem like they're getting to ugher every weekend, and this weekend in the heat race I got into a pileup and had to work back from tha t, and I still did good in that," Tedesco said. "In the main, me and 5tephane [Roncada] started o ne-two, and I just sat on him Ith ink fo r 12 laps - I kept o n t rying to make some moves on him, and he ke pt shutt ing me down. I finally made the pass, and we rode a clean race . I wasn't t rying to make a block-pass o n my teammate - I wa nted to a cou ple times , but I didn't ." As Tedesco said, his tea mmate Ste phane Roncada scored t he holeshot. "You know what? I got the holeshot !" Roncada said. "Y u know, that's the first o time I've got ten the holes hot in t he last five years , so even though I didn't win to night, I'm celeb rating." Tedesco wa s immed iately behi nd Roncada, and the two were neve r mo re than a co uple of bikele ngths apart . Brock Sellards finished the first lap in third, w ith Travis Prest o n close be hind . Prest o n moved by fo r third by t he end of lap two and set out after the Kawi duo, who had already est ablished a bit of a gap. For about the first half of the race , Tedesco seemed content just to follow his teammate around, but Presto n was gaining. "I got up there, and I was just wa iting for the m to take eac h ot her out , and I could just cru ise on to the Victory," Pre ston jo ked. "But t hey're o n the same team, so they 're out there riding clean and kee ping it safe, yet they' re still putt ing out a good pace , so those guys rode a good race ." It was abo ut the n that Tedesco started rea lly applying the pressure to Roncada. On lap eight, Tedesco stu ffed his teammate two turns from the finish, and Ro ncada just came right back and returned the favo r in the following turn to hold on to t he top spot. The next lap, t he same t hing happe ned , on ly t his time , Roncada act ually hit his teammate pretty hard . "I think I came in a little fast o n him, and we hit pret ty hard, but it's all good - it was like a block-pass," Roncada said. "The racing ton ight was grea t, and Ivan was rea lly going fast and putt ing lots of pressure o n me, and Travis was right the re , too, so I tried not to make any mista kes." Tedesco had a similar take on t he incide nt. "I don't know: it wasn't really inte ntional," Tedesco said. "I think he thou ght I was going to go wide. It didn't make me mad. It didn't fire me up. I knew I had to get around him like that lap because Travis was right the re . If I didn't get around him that lap, I think Travis wo uld've gotten around me ." 20 FEBRUARY 11, 2004 • It was actually three laps later tha t Tedesco made a pass stick after Preston was showing him a wheel from time to time. Tedesco got a great dr ive through the whoops after the first triple and held the inside on Roncada into the turn . He took away Roncada's line for the triple and com pleted the pass. "He [Tedesco] came through t he whoops rea lly fast, and he had the inside CYCLE N EWS on me and pushed me to the outside, and there was not hing I co uld do about it," Roncada said. "He had the pass made, and I had to double the tr iple, and that was the end of the race for me right there - basically ." Doubling the triple put Preston all over him too, and the Honda rider wasn't joking arou nd as he went by Ro ncada pretty much right away. 40th Anniversary Although he got close, Preston couldn't quite get around Tedesco for the win. "It seems like I always need five more laps," Prest on said. Despite his tight race w ith his teammate, Tedesco isn't anticipating any sort of team meetings regarding riding less aggressively. "No one 's said anything yet , and I don 't think there will be anything said," Tedesco

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