Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

James Povolny (Hon): 17. Ryan Clark (Yam); 18 . Tommy Ho fmas te r (Yam) ; 19. Brian Mason (Hoo); 20 . Travis Pastrana (Suz) . Race Time: 16 min ., 48 .387 sec. Marg in of Victory: 14.639 sec . THQ AHA 250 SUPE RCROSS SERIES PO INTS STANOINGS (After II of 16 rounds): I. Chad Reed (26618 wi ns): 2. Kevin Windham (2 34/ 3 wi re): 3. Continued from page 25 MotoXXX's Kyle Lewis made his SX return in St. Louis. "I'm just trying to work the bugs out," he said. "I don't particu larly like this dirt. I've always kind of been a little skeptical ofthis place - I've had some bad luck here, but I don 't know. I'm just going to try to use the next six ro unds to get ready for outdoors, and hopefully be 100 percent at the first rou nd ." His bad luck co ntinued , as he hit the d irt hard at the start of his sem i, wh ich set him bac k enough to keep him from mak ing the main. Mike LaRocco (20S); 4. Davkl Vuillemin (204) ; S. Michael Byrne ( ISO): 6 . N i~k Wey ( Ill); 7. Hea th Voss ( 122); 8. Damon Huffnun ( 120); 9. Sean Ham blin (99); 10. Gram wgnon (98); II. Tyler Evan. (80); 12. Nathan Ramoe (6-4 ); y Il . (TIE) Erick Vallejo (59)/Ryan CIMk (59); 15. Keith R. John.on ( 5~ ); 16. Andrew Short (53); 17. Ezra lusk (" 7): 18. Timmy Ferry (46); 19. Jason Thomas (~ l) ; 20. Joe Oehlhof (l 7). THQ WORLD SUPERCROSS GP POINTS STAND INGS (Alter 12 of 17 rounds): I. Damon Huffman (2 39); 2. Heath Voss (2 24) ; J . Gr.mt lAngst on (208); 4. Tyler Evan. (198); 5. Ryan CIMk (1 ~ 5); 6. Keith R. joh""", (124); 7. Mon ~ (88). UPCOMING ROUNDS: R ound 13/12 -lndionopolis, Indiana, March 20 ound 14/13· Pontiac, M ichigan, April 3 R My 32 OWN RACE: Andrew Short 250cc 6th Moto wo rldRacing.com Suzuki's Colorado nat ive sta rt ed o utside the top five and , in his best 2S0cc pe rfor mance of the year, mo ved up to sixth. "I was stuck in I Ith o r so for a while , but I caught up to that pack pretty quick, and I just sta rte d making my moves ," he said. "So I'm improving, so that' s goo d." 77 Ted Campbell 15th Bikesellerz.comlHonda's longtime private e r was happy with his performa nce. "That' s probably the best main event I've ridden all year," he said. "I rode a stron g 20 laps, and those guys we re right in fron t of me, but I just petered o ut right at the end ." 5 7th Byrner co ntinued to ge t good sta rts at St . Louis. "I never do ubt my sta rts , that's fo r sure," the Che vy Truc ks Kawasa ki rider said. "I neve r line up and think that so meone e lse is ever going to beat me off the line. If I can improve my racing o n th e track , I think I'll be fine. I didn't have a clear track but maybe for o ne lap, so it was a batt le . I thi nk riding with Jame s is going to he lp me eve n mo re ." 93 Tommy Hofmaster 18th In his first supe rcr oss of t he year, are"across runne r-up Hofmaster made it to the main o ut of his se mi. "I felt good all night, up to abo ut 10 laps in, but then I started to get tired ," he said. ''Arenacross is kind of a sprint race co mpared to th is, so I just need to work on my end urance so I can go 20 laps." 28 Heath Voss 10th Hamblin 8th Mach I Yamaha's only representative, becau se of the absen ce of Ezra Lusk, came from beh ind again. "Wh e n I co me o ut of the gate , I come out as good or bett er than anybody, but as soon as I get about 30 fee t ou t, the bike wants to loop out - it's so powerful," Voss said. "It' s incred ible, and it's killing me right now. I'm going to have to figure out how to get a better sta rt so I can ge t up fro nt and not have to pass too many guys." ant ibiotics because it was Suzuki's 21-year-old Hamblin had a so lid ride but had a hiccup in the middle. "Th e crash calme d me do w n a little bit," he said of his mid -race faux pas. "I was ge tting really upt ight , and all of us w ere 50 close in lap times all night that there was almost nothing that yo u can do . I ro de we ll, anyway." 16th AmsoiVChaparral Ho nda's laRocco had a hard get-o ff in Saturday pract ice , and he was showing the effects all night . "I just messed up o n that trip le-triple sectio n, and when I clipped it, the fron t end tu cked on me, and I'm pretty sure I cracked a couple ribs or someth ing," he said. But it didn't seem to affect him too much in the main. "The main event is wha t co unted, and I was just trying to do what I cou ld ther e ," he said. "I didn't want to blow a wh o le night beca use I messed up in pract ice ." Michael Byrne 36 Sean 64 James Mike LaRocco 4th 26 Lewis' arm has hea led pretty well. "It wasn't a good deal , cutt ing my arm open like I did," he said. "It was kind of a bad situat ion . I got 150 stitches a nd ir o n ica lly 23 stapies, so I spent two days in the hospital on all the way down to the bon e ." Povolny N ielse n's/FIy tar's hard-luck /Ox private er is looking up . "I've bee n do ing a little better each week all year long, and this week I probably rode the best I've ridden all year," he said. "In the main - usually all year I've been getting in the main, and then I can't seem to get it toge ther, but I felt be tt e r this week." 12 5th David Vuillemin Team Yamaha's Vuillemin started poorly in the main. "I had a really bad start," he said. "I got squished be tween Byrne and Ch ad , and I was last in the t um . I made a few mista kes the first cou ple laps, and laRocco passed me, but we kind of went up together. I couldn't catc h him at the end." 27 Nick Wey 9th Suzuki's Michigand er gated poo rly but ro de a so lid 20 laps. "I let a co uple guys slip by me in the heat race , and I had to ride the sem i, and I blew it on the start ," he said. "I just nee d to kind of let it hap. pen instead of worryin g abo ut wo rking so hard. Just come to t he races and get after it." 70 Brian Mason 19th Povolny's teammate had a hard start to his weekend. "It started o ut rough with the day qualifie rs: I barely made the night show," Mason said. "But then in the main, I just got poo ped. I just had knee surgery like four weeks ago, so I've got to build my sta mina back up the rest afthe season." 8 Grant Langston I Ith Red Bull KTM's 12Scc champ won his heat and was set up for a top finish in the main unt il, "I don't know exactly what happened with yth Travis [Pastrana], but as I wen t into the last three in the rih m section , as I too k off, I saw him case it really hard an d lost his foo t and all tha t, and he veered off to the right, right where I was landing, and I landed straigh t into him," he said. "I went down with him, and I was 19th, since he was 20th . I came back through to I Ith." www.cyclenews .com Aren across standout Ju st in Brayton made his supe rcross de but as a member of th e Amso iVChapar ral Honda team on Travis Preston's bike. "Th e Arenacross Series ended three weeks ago , an d I was act ually driving back fro m the last rou nd on Mo nday from the awards banq uet, and Erik Keh oe gave me a call," he said. "O n Tuesday and Wednesday I actually got on the Amso il bike for the first time and loved it. I guess they liked the way I was riding, and he re I am at my first supercross having a blast. It's always bee n my goal to be a supercross guy, but I've never had an opportunity to ride equipment that cou ld co mpete." He finished ISth in his first 12Scc main. In honor of his 200th race last weekend, Amsoll/Chaparra l Honda's Mike laRocco got a check for a Hawa iian vacat ion, an awa rd , and a brand-new Bobcat tractor. "Those guys have bee n really good to me , and they wanted to do something special ," he said. "They know I like to build tracks and maintain them, and I do n't have one, so they hooked me up. I was totally surprised about that . That was cool. It was Honda and Factory Connection and Amsoil they've all been really good to me - especially tonight. " Jim Holley was handing o ut $ 1000 and $5 00 chec ks to a few key privateers courtesy of Rick Roussin, the CEO and president of a company called Coast to Coast . Acco rd ing to Holley, Ro ussin just wa nted to do so mething for the privateers, and he left longtime friend Holley in charge of distribution. Acco rding to Mach I Y amaha team manager Bill Ferry, Ezra lusk may make his ret urn at the Ind ianapolis Supercross. "He was supposed to call me tonight, but he was going to let me know whether he was riding next wee k or not, so ... As of now we do n't know. He wants to race, though." C YC LE N EWS • MARCH 24, 2004 27

• Cover