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/128317
During opening ceremonies, Ja m e s Stewart had to wipe away tears w hen he announced to the cro wd tha t he wo uldn't be able to race. "I had two scary cras hes tod ay, and I hit my head pretty hard ," he said on the floor before receiving his 12Scc Eastern Regional Numbe r-One plate . The first crash cam e when he was bucked over the bars exiting a set of wh oop s. After gett ing his bike straightened out and returning to the track, AmsoiV Chaparral Honda's Ryan Mills went to turn off of the trac k o nto the start st raightaway befo re the finish-line jump and turned right in front of the hard charging 12Scc Eastern Regio nal champ. Stewa rt struck Mills and we nt down hard. Stewart suffered a concussi on and chose to sit out the race . James Povolny awoke in his motorhome on Saturday prepared to race . However, an hour later he received a phone call from Minnesota that his wife was in labor. Povolny jumped on an airplane as soon as he could and made it to the hospital just in time fo r the birth of his first son, James Povolny III, at abou t 10 p.m. Saturday night. o n the inside of laRocco 's rear wheel and was stood straight up. "I got a good start, and then I thought I had it on the inside, and Mike [laRocco] was on the outside of me, and I came in pretty hot, and we hit in the first comer," Byrn e said. "It kind of stood me up , and Windham and Chad [Reed] hit me from behind, and I fell on my handlebar and hit my groin." Yamaha's Reed went down with fellow Aussie Byrne and Subway Honda's Joe Oehlhof, and many other; were caught up temporarily in the melee. "I think it was just a matter of 20 people trying to fit into a little position, and I think everyone pretty much got messed up , and somebocly crashed into me," Reed said. "I just had nowh e re e lse to go. I just had to pu t my hea d down and salvage as m uch o f the race as I can." LaRocco came out with the lead, just ahead of MotoworldRacing.com Suzuki's Short, Yamaha's David Vuillemin, Honda's Nathan Ramsey, Windham and Suzuki's N ick Wey. Reed got up near last. " I was happy to see short starts," laRocco said. "For some reason, I do better on those. I looked at the track map, and it actually kind of raised my enthusiasm a little bit just seeing it. In the hea t race, I was hap py with a second o r third- place start, but in the main th ings worked out real well." Vuillemin, Wey, Ramsey and Windham all went by Sho rt on the first lap. "I got a pretty good start, and then I got punked for like the first three laps," Short said. "I was getting passed and being pushed around. That's what I've got to work on , I guess." Vuillemin sat second and was keeping laRocco honest, but, methodically, laRocco kept putting one or two tenths of a second on him every lap. "On o ne hand it's great [to lead] because yo u have a clear track and you can pick your lines," LaRocco said. "But on the other hand , Jimmy W ilson won his umpteenth $750 Racer X Gas Card of the year for getting third in the 2SOcc LCQ. Nat han Skaggs won $250 from Asterisk for the fifth spot in the 12Scc LCQ. ECC Suzuki-backed privateer Tyler Evans said he's goi ng to concentrate on fre estyle motocross this summer instead of riding the outdoor Nationals. He w ill, however, compete in selected Nationa ls. Expect to see him race