Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THO World Supercros GPfTHO AMA Supercross Series How They Got There The first (WO 250c( heat races produced the same winners as the previous week in Dallas · Kevin Windham and Chad Reed. In the first heat , W indh.lm ended up finishing way out in from . but he first had to get around Mot o XXX's Kyle Lewis. who took the holeshot. W ind ham settled into second With Shogun Yamaha's Tommy Ho fmast er m third . It didn't take long for Windham get around l ewis. nor did it Hofmaster, as the two ran first and second before the first lap was over. Some of the hea vy hitters were buned in the back o f the pack, Includ ing Nick Wey. MIke laRoc co . Heath Voss and Ezra Lusk. As expected , Wi nd ham pulled out a big lead over Hofrn aste r, while Wey and Subwayl Honda's Jason Thomas and Tyle r Evans began making a move on Hofmast e r and were ma ke serious threa ts by the e nd of the race. Wey eventually got around Hof rnaster fo r secon d , and then Th om as also go t by Hofrnast e r fo r th ird . Evans also zappe d Hcl master righ, at the finish to take the final transfe r. Nonqualifie rs included Lusk, who crashed , and LaRocco . who didn't have enough time to ca tch up after his bad start. At the start of the se co nd heat race , Damon Huffman . David Vuillemin, Chad Reed and Mot o spon Outlet's Cr aig Anderson go t. awa y early. Vuillemin put. the move on Huffman for the lead befo re the first lap was o ver. as did Reed lo r second. Mired in th e pack were laclo ry-backed riders Sean Hamblin , of Team Suzuk i, and Michael Byrne , of the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki team. Reed, me anw hile, went on th e attack and sailed past his teammate Vuillemin over a triple jump to ta ke the lead on th e third lap. Fro m there . th e race was Reed 's. as he cruised o n to take the w in. Vuill min motored around in second. where he would eventually finish. but Huffman e had his hands full with Hamb lin and Byrne . Byrne eventually go t Huffman , who put up a t.ough fight against Hamblin. The two riders battled for the final transfer posmons right down to the w ire . with Huffman barely hold ing on to finish fo urth . In 'he semis. Le wis again took the early lead in the first semi. Subway 's Clark Stiles, Thor's Isaiah Jo hnso n. Munn KTM's Jacob Martin and L.,Rocco followed suit. Voss and Lusk were. once again , back a bit and wer e trying to catch up . LeWIS pulled ou t a good lead, as LaRocco worked up to second past Johnson and Stiles . On the last lap, LaRocco was all over Lew is. but LeWIS held on to take the victory. L1Rocco. Johnson and Stiles were next across the finish line. Hofmaster slipped imo fil,h and held o ff Voss by inches for the final transfer. Lusk again fell by himself in the first-turn sweeper and was now lo rced to ride the LCQ. Sem i two was all Hamblin. The Suzuki rider pulled away early and pu t on a small show for the fans. Hamblin left Nie lsen's James Povo lny. Solitaires" Ryan Clark, Craig Anderson , Tyson Hadsell and O ' Nea l's Erick Vallejo to fight i' out for second through fifth. Clark ended up tak ing run ner-up ho nors over Pavolny, and then Ande rso n took t he checkers in fourth. Hadsell held on to fifth and the final tra nsfer, Martin grabbed the start o f the LCQ, with Mach I teammates Voss and Lusk in tow. Both Voss and Lusk made their way past Mar tin. and regulars Oehlhof and Keith Johnso n battl ed lo r the Race r X Gas Ca rd beh ind him. Voss too k an easy win ahead o f Lusk, and Martin to ok third and the $ 750 Gas Card fro m Racer X fo r be ing 'h e first no nqualilie r. '0 HEAT I (8 Idp~ . 1-4 Ir an!.fer) : I. Ke vin W Ifl(I h. lTI " tHo ll). 2. N ICk Wey (S Ul), ) J.1Son Tbcmas (Hon): 4. Tyle r EV ,ln'i (Suz): S. MIke Ll Rocco (Hc nl: 6 Kyl Lew.s (Hon): e I !Ylah JOhfl!.OO (Yam); 8 T my Hor n-aste r IY,lIn): 9 om CL"k Stiles (Han). 10 He ath Voss tYarnl; I I. Ke Ith JOhfl'iOO 1V." nl: 12 joe Oehlhof (HoII): Il T Campbell tHonJ. 11. ed J: ob Marl in (KTMJ, 15 Rene 'Icrc cr o Reye s tKI M,; 16. K Brian M. on (Hon). 11. Robb F10t h (SuZ): 18 Bryan Whtte n (Yalll); 19 , Chru Barrett tHon); 20, Ezra lusk (Yam) sai d . " I really wanted to be on the podium tonight. and I rode at 100 percent. I have a great bike, and the team worked good together today. I'm happy to be on the podium. but I need to step it up. I've been struggling since Atlanta." He also said that the track was a bit small. "T he track was a litt le tight, but it was the same for everybody," he said . " I had a good line in the whoops where I 16 MAY 5,2004 • CYCLE NEWS would jump in t hree and then jump th ree out and then I wou ld blo c k guys on the step-up jump from the inside." Vuillemin dropped from a tight third in the points battle with laRocco to a distant fourth, some 37 points back. There is no way he can now catch laRocco unless their appeal is overturned. laRocco was fourth in the final after getting out o f the gate in ninth. He passed gaee T jme: S mlO • 59 BS sec. Ma r g in of Vic lOry: 21 39 sec. HEAT 2 (8 I.. p~. 14 I ra m f~r ) : I, Chad Reed (Yaml. 2. D.wld VUlllem n (Y.l m); 3. M !d~ Byrne (Kaw); " Damoll H uffma n (Han). S. Sean H am blin \Sul). 6 Ryan CLlrk {Yam). 7. J .l me~ Po vo lny (Hoo): 8. C raIg Ande n on (Hon'; 9 Tyson H.~'iell tYam); 10 Enc k Vallejo tY.lm). 11 Jimm y WI~ (Yam): 12 KClfYl'Tdd K.ue!.t (Hon,. I) Greg Crater {Hom. 11 R..fey KurO!.ky tY.lm,. I S Raym o nd Srmrh (SUI); 16, Brran Ed wards (KaW); 17 Jake Chnstensen (HonJ: 18 D enniS EWIng (SuI): 19 Vlftcent BI.llr (KI M). 20 Jes se C.1SIIla.~ (Y.lJ1l) gac e l im e : 6 ru-n . 88-1 sec Marg in of Victory: 7.516 sec SEMI 1 (6 la ps. 1·5 trans fer) : I Kyle l ewtS lH on l. 2 M Ike Lagcccc (HoII). J IQlah Johnson (Yam): 1 Clark Stiles (Hoot. S Tommy Ho fmaste r tYam): 6. He ath Voss (Yam). 7 Jacob Martin (KTM); B Keith Johnson (Yam); 9 . Joe Oehlhof (Han). 10 Ted Campbell tHon); I I Ezra 40th Anniversary lU'ik (Yamj; 12. Re ne 'rc rcc ro Reyes (KI MO: 13 Robb Ho rh {Sill/; 14 Bnan t-tascn (Honl. IS. Cnns Barre u (Ha n): 16. Bry,lll W hite (Yam, Ra ce time: 4 m in .. 49 44 sec M dr gin o f Victory: .S II sec SEMI 2 (6 taps, I _S tramfer): I Sean H

• Cover