THO World S u p ercr o s s GP/
THO AMA Supercros s S erie s
Iu Windham pulled awa y, Reed
(22) spent toa much time behind
Byrne (26) and couldn 't make the
time back up. Reed still got second,
and he hasn't finished worse than
that all yea r.
was nice to have a good start and not be
coming fro m behind like I did in Houston."
Re ed was characteristically unhappy
w ith second - a tra it that seems to assure
his place as a con tender for the w in week
in and week out.
"Se co nd place is never okay," Reed said.
" I was pushing forward, and Kevin rode
great, but you know, I got second. I was
second-best tonigh t."
eN
HUBERT H. HUMPHR EY MmtODOM E
MINN EAPOUS, MINN ESOTA
RESULTS: FEBRUARY 21, 2004
(ROUND 10 OF 17/8 OF 16)
How They Got There
Travis Preston grabbed the heatone holeshot over KevinWindham and Nick Wey, but Preston
went down in the second tum
with Nathan Ramsey and dropped
out of the race . Windham took
ove r the lead and put in the
fastest heat race of the night, just
as he did last week in Houston.
A slew of Suzukis qualified
behind Windham , with Wey in
second, Sean Hamblin third and
Andrew Short fourth.
Grant Langston took the lead from holeshot artist Heath Voss early on the first lap of
the second heat , only for Chad Reed to take them both down.
'" was kind of having trouble with the finish line all weekend, either clipping it or over jumping it," Reed said, "and just the one time I got it perfect and clicked fourth and we nt
flying through the whoops, and I missed one , and the rear came off the gro und."
Reed ran into Langston's rear e nd, and the two we nt down in a heap while Voss took
over the lead. laRocco made his way around Voss and checked out while Reed went on a
tear and diced all the way th rough the field to nick Voss by a wheel at the finish for second .
Michael Byrne took the final transfer spot .
Damon Huffman holeshot sem i one , but David Vuillemin made his way by quickly and
took off. Huffman held on for second over Preston , Erick Vallejoand Keith R. Johnson .
Langston led every lap of the second semi over a bunch of oth er World Supercross contenders as Jason Thomas, Ryan Clark, James Povolny and Joe Oehl hof all qualifiedfor the
MAIN EVENT (2 0 la ps ) : I. Kevin Windham (Hon); 2.
Chad Reed (Yam); 3. David Vuillemi n (Yam); 4. Travis Preston
(Hon); S. Damon Huffman (Hon ); 6 . M;ke LARocco (Hon ); 7.
And"" Short (Suz); 8. Erick Vallejo (Yom 9. MKhoel 8yrne
);
(Kawl; 10. Nathan Ram.ey (Hon); II . Heath voss (Y
om); 12.
Ryan Cbrl< (Yom); 13. Tyte. Ewm (Suz); 1<. Gr..nt lAnguon
(KTM) ; IS. Sean Hamblin (Suz) ; 16. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 17.
Ke;th R johnson (Y
om); 18. jaIny (Hon); 20. NKln Cbri<( 122); 7. Erick
Vallejo ( 110) ; 8 . Mike Brown (95); 9. Emesto Fonseca (81);
10. Andrew Short (68) .
UPCOMING ROUNDS:
Round 11 /9· Atlonto, Georgio, februory 28
AMA Round 10· Daytono Beach, F1orido,March5
main.
Nathan Ramsey and Tyler Evans grabbed the last two main-event spots in the LCQ.
HEAT I (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): I. KevinWindham (Hon) ; 2. N ick Wey (Suz) ; 3. SeanHambl in (Su2); 4. Andrew Short
(So2); S. Erick Vallejo (Y
om); 6. Kerth R johnson (Y
om); 7. lSIny (Hon); 12. Will"'" 8n>wning (Y
om); 13. Ron 8oy;o>
(Hon) ; 14. Dennis Ewing (Suz); 15. ROObie Reynard (Hon ); 16 . Hans Neel (Hon); 17. Dav;d H ill (Yam) ; 18. Grant
Longston (KTM); 19. Bradley Ripple (Suz); 20. Daniel Blair (Yam).
Ra ce TIme: 6 min ., 29.50 sec .
Margi n o f Vtctory: 4 .85 2 sec,
SEM I I (6 Laps, 1·5 transfer): I. David Vuillemin (Yam); 2. Damon Huffman (Hon ); 3. Travis Preston (Hon);
am) ; 5. Kefth R. Johnson (Y ; 6 . Nathan Ramsey (Han); 7. Isaiah johnson (Yam); 8 . Scott Mea
am)
4 . Erick Vallejo (Y
(Hon) ; 9.jeremW t.neI (Hon); 10. Robb F_ (Suz) ; I I. 8'Y"" WhOe (Y
om); 12. Tom Ponon. (Hon) ; 13. Eric Kowal;k
('f.om); 14. Dumn Pulley (Yom) IS. Ridy ju<>do(Y
;
om); 16. jacob Maron (KTM).
Race Time: 4 min ., 52.91 sec,
Margin of Vtctory: 2.814 sec .
S EMI 1 (6 laps, 1-5 transfer): I. Grant langston (KTM); 2. Jason Thomas (Hon); 3. RyanClark (Yam) ; 4 . James PovoIny
am);
(Hon ); 5. Joe Oehlhof (Ho n); 6 . Ted Campbell (Hon ); 7. Tyler Evans (Suz); 8 . Jimm y Wilson (Hon ); 9 . William Browning (Y
10. ""b 8oy;o> (Hon ); II . Denn;, Ew;ng (So2); 12. 8r.>d Ripple (Suz); 13. R<>bbie Reynarn (Hon ); 1<. Hans Neel (Hon ); IS.
ley
David Hill (Yam); 16. Daniel Blair (Y .
am)
Race Time: 5 min ., 1.81 sec.
Margin of Vtctory: 3.51 2 sec .
LCQ (4 laps. 1-1 transfer): I. Nathan Ramsey (Hon); 2 . l)ier Evans (Sut ); 3. Isaiah johnson (Yam); 4 . Jimmy Wilson
(Hon) ; 5. led Campbell (Hen); 6. Scott Men (Hen); 7. Jerem'" b""" (Hon) ; 8. 8'Y"" Who e (Y
om); 9. 10m Ponon. (Hen);
am) ;
10. Robb Floth (Suz); I I. Dustin Pulley (Yam); 12. Eric Kowalik (Yam); 13. Denni s Ewing (Suz); 14. William Browning (Y
IS. Ri ky [u rad c (Y
c
om); 16. Ron 80".. (Hon); 17. 8 r.>dle y Ripple (Suz); 18. R<>bbie Reynarn (Hon); 19. Hans Nee1 (Hon); 20.
David Hill (Yam); 2 1. Jacob Mart in (KTH ); 22. Daniel Blair (Yam).
Race Time: 4 min., 56.54 sec .
Margin of Vtctory: 8 .273 sec.
20
MARCH 3, 200 4 • CYCLE NEWS
40th Anniversary
Brief'Y···
Preston also said the choice to ride the 450
ove r t he 250 was pretty easy this year.
" Eve ry year it's like drastic changes," he said .
"I think, ifyou ride the 450 the right way, it's
way better than a two-stroke."
Presto n's superstar teammate Mike laRocco
summed up his life story. "If we'd have had a
normal race, I could 've maybe gotten up
there,... Lagoccc said . "It seemed so short; I
was like , 'Hey, give me som e more t ime.' I
just didn 't have enough ti me . Tha t's the story
of my life." When asked ifthat's what he'll be
saying after he retires. he responded. "Yeah,
that's kind of why I'm still here, I guess,
huh?"
Wonder Warthog Racing's Steve Bauer was
scrambling to find Velcro the Friday night
prior to the race to fit to the now-infamous
cape the organization has various privateers
wear during parade laps. The AHA nixed the
cape until it could break away in a fall, as it
considered it a danger. Bradley Ripple wore
the suit in the 125cc main sighting lap. This
week, 'WV'IR paid the e ntries fo r over 30
different pr ivateers who made the night
program.
Travis Pastrana was in attendance in Minneapolis after testin g fo r th e last fe w weeks
with Davi Millsaps down in Georgia and Florida . Pastrana plans to make a 2SOcc cameo at
St. Louis in a few weeks. " I feel like I can run
strong for about 12 laps right now, but I have
three weeks left to train," he said .
