Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

T H O W o r ld Supercross GP/ THO AMA Supercross Series Smooth and delibe rate, Windham put about 10 secon ds a n the field in the first 10 laps then cru ise d home fo r the win . the t ime allowed fo r me to get by them , wh ich it d id. It allowed Chad to get closer to me , but it wasn't really a concem. I knew the lap count. I knew where I was at." As W indham took h is time through the lappers, Reed cont inued to e at away a little b it at the lead. When the two t oo k t he wh ite nag, Windham still had a touch over Briefly... Reynard Modifications' Robbie Reyna rd has run up front a few times this season but has had nothing but bad luck. It actually got much worse fo r him at round eight, as he broke his lower left leg in a getoff during his heat race. He 'll be out indefinitely. four seconds in hand over h is r ival. He took the checkered nag just under 2 1/2 seconds in front of Reed to end the Aussi e 's w in s t r e a k at two for the second t im e this sea- son . " I a lw ays know where C had 's at ," Wind ham s aid . "T here ' s certain guys yo u watch fo r, and if you look at the pod iu m positio ns for e very rou n d , it's been the same fou r guys [Windham, Reed , Vuille min and laRocco ], so you've got a check list. You kind of want to kn o w where everybody's at . I fo u nd him , and my m echanic Jonathan le t me know where everybody was at. When I found out wher e they w e r e , it was t ime fo r me to p u t my head dow n a nd chec k ou t . That was kind o f it. It Y OWN RACE: 28 Heath Voss 250cc I Ith After a career-high fifth place last w ee k, Mach I Yamaha's Voss had a so-so night in his hom e state. "I thought I had a good start, but I got hit in the first tum [by laRocco] and almost fell." he said. "Ho pe fully, a good start will malke the difference." 57 Joe Oeh lhof 16th Subway Hon da's ':A rage Joe" had quite a battle ve with his teammate . "Me and Jason [Tho mas] had a good battl e , but I don't know, I'm kind of riding tight the last three weeks, and I can't get into a flow ," he said. 20 Damon Huffman 5th Huff-daddy came fro m outside the top 10 for a topfive. "Th is was definitely my bes t race as far as moving up thro ugh the pack and passing the guys I've been struggling with lately - guys like Byrn e and Nick Wey and Voss," Huffman said. '" know if I get a holeshot here , I'll be up on th e pod ium." 38 Jason Thomas 18th "I got a terrible start and passed my teammate, and then he got back by me ," Thomas said of his battle w ith Oehlhof. "I thought act ually it was Windham [lapping me] , but it was him. That's racing , I guess. I was a little upset at the time ." 74 Erick Vallejo 8th Star Racing's new 250cc star had his best- ever 250cc finish in Minnea po- lis. "I knew I was fast if I go t a good start," Valle jo sa id. "I just rea lly didn't th ink tonight . I raced fo rward instead o f worrying about everyone behin d me , and it w orked o ut ." 64 James Povolny 19th Nieisen's/Fly Ho nda's loca l boy rod e both classe s but only made the 250tc ma in. "Maybe I was just tired from all of the qualifiers and everything like that ," soon-to -be father Povolny said . "It's to ugh to do two classes and all those extra qualifiers . Plus, I haven 't ridden too much the last couple weeks with all the trave ling and ge tting my bike sto len [at San Francisco] ." 18 MARCH 3, 2004 • CYCLE N EW S 26 Michael Byrne 9th Nick W ey bruised a lung in a hard getoff during the 2S0cc main while running inside the top 10. He says he should be okay to race in Atlanta, though. Billy Laninov ich was missing from the 125cc fray. AmsoiVChaparrai Honda's JC Waterhou se said he rein jured his knee during practice at Houston, and the team won't know until Monday whether or not he will need surgery. According to Red Bull KrM team manager Larry Brooks. Josh Woods herniated two disks in his back and is going to try to heal up so that he doesn't need surgery, w hich is w hy he wasn't at Minneapol is. The Hubert H. Hum phre y Metrodome is unique in that the pits are inside, and aut ogra ph sess ions were he ld inside the stad ium con course . Of course, with it sno wing outside , having the pits out th ere would've been torture. This year, 42,B94 fans attended the supe rcro ss, despite the inclement weather. Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Aussie is having a tough time o f it righ t now. "Th e last few weekends haven't been very good fo r me," Byrne said. "I got the holeshot, and I ran up there for a long time , and I knew that there were some people behind me , and I made a mistak e in the whoops. I couldn't get back and cove r my line . and they allgo t by." 25 Nathan Ramsey 10th " I just got a bad sta rt an d messed aro und with a few guys and just fell asleep," Team Hon da's part-time 450tc pilot said. "It just took me too long to get around guys . I th ink th at , speedwise, I shoul d've been there." 31 Keith R. Johnson 17th "[Gran t] Langston got squirrelly out o r the gate, and we locked handlebars and almost crashed 10 feet o ut o f the gate," Star Racing's eldest Johnso n said. "I was try ing to move up, and someone went straight and booted me out into the hayba les and ripped my throttle grip half-off." 58 Tyler Evans 13t h "O ne- Punch" suffered a bu nch of crash es this weekend , and he seems to have lo st his punch lately. "I'm th inking abou t stuff when I'm r iding ou t there that I don't need to be thinking about," Evans said. "I th ink once I clea r that out of my head , then things will start turning around. " 5 Mike LaRocco 6th AmsoiVC haparrai Honda's laRocco fell o n the start but still triple-tripled his way back to sixth, and he was close to Huffman and Pre ston at th e finish. " I had some good spo ts to pass," laRoc co said. "I did the trip letrip le every lap , and I did it ne xt to people - I just sent it because I was a little frust rated." 62 Travis Preston 4th Amso iV Chaparral Honda's other CRF450R rider ma de his season 250 de but a good one. "I rode a solid 20," he said. "I did n't get tired , I was focused, and that 450's re ally good, too. I had a pro blem w ith lappers. I need to work o n that . I need to get a bunch o f beg inners ou t at the Hon da tra ck and start riding around everybody." 40th Ann iversary Chevy Trucks Kawasak i's Paul Car penter is finally hea led up enou gh to race . "My wrist is I OO-percent strong now, " he said. "It' s been close to 10 weeks total , and it's really strong. But I only got to ride once befo re today. I th ink ma ybe I should 've even sat out o ne more and cam e bac k with a little mo re riding under my be lt ." He finished 12th in the 125cc main even t . C hevy Trucks Kawasaki's James Stewart was bed-ridden in a hospital for mo st of the week afte r catching the flu ea rlie r in th e week. "I've been in the hospital all wee k and haven't ridden since last Saturday," he said. Sources close to Stewart said th at he was just in for precautionary measures and to kee p him wellhyd ra te d. AmsoiVChaparral Ho nda 's always-en te rtai ning Travis Preston is announ cing his bid fo r a factory 250cc ride next year. "Let' s go ahead and put the word ou t on the street right now, TP needs a ride," he sa id. "It's e ither the 250 class or McDonald's."

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