Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Reed still managed ta finish second after lea rning that he and two other riders were pe nali zed 2 5 points for running " illega l" fu el at the previous round. He now goes into the final round wi th just a 12-point cushion. Windham by a whopping 40 points. Now it's down to 12, but Windham will need a lot of help to win the championship. Even if he does w in the Las Vegas race, Windham will have to hope that Reed finishes no better than eighth to take the title - and that seems highly unlikely. In front of 37 ,143 fans at the Rice-Eccles Stadium, Windham set some blistering lap times throughout the day Saturday, and in the main event he continued to hammer the track to run off with a very important win for the Honda team. " It's been a great ride this season," Windham said . " I made up some points going into Vegas , and I'm going to go there like I did this weekend, but with a 12-point deficit. My mind was set that I was going to lose the championship tonight and was really thinking about the outdoors. I'm going to have to bank on bad luck on Chad, not for me to win , but for him to lose." Considering how well Windham rode in Salt Lake, it was hard to believe that Windham was fighting a bit of a cold. "I was kind of sick this week, and my nose was clogged, and I was worried about the [high] altitude and my breathing," he said . "I had a good week riding this past week, and I've been learning from Chad, who has been outriding me. I've been watching him practice and all of his heat races and have been learning from a guy who has a boatload of wins. I felt strong until lap I 7 or I B when a lapper and I got together in the whoops. Other than that I was good." Reed, on the other hand, had an o bviously d iscouraging evening. He had flown his parents in from Australia to see him win the championship, and he wanted to get rid o f the pressure of finishing it off. Re e d started in eighth in the final, and w ith W indham way out fro nt early, he had some catching up to do. He caught up to fourth on the fourth lap on the tight and technical track, and then he passed Suzuki's Nick Wey for second on the ninth lap . After that it was clear sailing, but Windham was too far gone for him to catch. "I did the best that I could ton ight , but Kevin kicked my butt," Reed said . " I'm not smelling too bad going into Las Vegas, and I'll take what I got. Fifteen points up is better than 15 points down; unfortunately I didn't win tonight. I d idn't feel th at I rode great . I struggled off the start all weekend, and Kevin put togethe r 20 good laps . I would've liked to have won, but w hat better place to party in than Las Vegas?" But there was on e bright spot o n t he night for Reed: " It was nice t o se e my parents," he sa id . " I on ly se e them about thre e times a year." Tea m Yamaha's David Vuillemin filled out the podium in third after sta rting in seventh. It made for his seventh podium of th e year, but he is still loo king for a w in. " I had a good ra ce ton ight , but no t the start I wanted," Vuillemin www.cyc lenews.c om Briefly... Mach I Yamaha'sEzra Lusk had a terrible night at Salt lake. It allstarted when both he and his teammate Heath Vossboth failed to qualifyfor the main out of their heat races and semis. Luskwent down on several occasions throughout the night. He did take the final transfer out of the LCQ behind Voss, and then on the opening lapof the final, he crashed hard and broke his lower leg. Luskwill be out of action indefinitely. Red Bull KTM's Grant Langston was still missing in action at Salt Lake, and team manager Larry Brooks said, "He was supposed to be here for the last several weeks. His hand still hurts , and hopefully he willbe back next week." The popular Blair brothers made their return at Salt Lake after a three-race hiatus. "We had no mechanic, and we kind of got burnt out on traveling and racing both classes," Daniel Blair said. "We just we nt home and did some riding and got some rest and looked at things. We would ride both classes but never did that great in the finals, so we 're riding one class eac h now." Daniel rode in the 125cc class, where he finished 20th in the final, while Vincent rode the 250cc class but did not make it into the final. Next week at Las Vegas, filming for the 20th Century Fox movie Supercross - The Movie willtake place during the actual event. Also, several stunt riders willbe entered in the actual race program and will be wearing their appropriate costumes/riding gear for the movie. The stuntmen include former racers Davey Castillo, Rich Taylor, Andy Harrington , David Pingree and Dave Barrett. A four-lap "fake" will be filmed in front of the crowd during one of the intermissions. Filmingwill also take place at the stadium on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following the event. This week's $750 Racer X Gas Card went to Munn Racing's Jacob Martin, who finished third in the 250cc LCQ, and the $250 Asterisk Medic Card went to Hahm/FMF's Levi Reid, who finished fifth in the I25cc LCQ. KTM JR. Superc os s Challe nge results: I. J.D. Elliott; 2. Bailey Cox; 3. Thomas Bosek Jr.; 4. Clint Schulter : 5. Reid Poff; 6. Brandy Richards; 7. Clayton Cooke; 8. Josh Ross; 9. Broclk Holmes ; 10. Hagen McGill; II . Ryan Garcia; 12. Timothy Winslow; 13. Jake Cornett; 14. Vincent LaDolee . After grabb ing the holeshot in the first I25cc heat race, Josh Hansen loo ked back over his shoulder, over a jump, and pointed at Stephane Roncada. Hansen, however, lost control of his bike after the next tum and dropped to the back of the pack, handing the lead to Roncada. Boost MobilelYamaha of Troy' s Brock Se llard s, who finished third in the 125cc main, did not attend the afte r-race press conference. Instead, Sellards wen t with Lusk to the hospital after Lusk broke his leg in the 250cc main. Some of the Ar enacross regulars showed up at Salt lake, including National series runner-up Tommy Hofmaster. Hofmaster fou nd himself pitting with the EVS crew, as Shogun Motorsports decided not to bring Its semi to support the team rider. Still, Hofmaster grabbed the holes hot in the main event and led briefly before tagging a Tuff Block and cras hing. Darcy Lange also made the trip to Salt Lake City with the help of the Richmond Kawasaki team . The newly crowned AX champ had a decent night, finishing 10th in the 125cc main event. When Stephan e Ron cada was asked if he wou ld return to the I25cc class instead of ret iring. the Frenchman said, "Coming back to the 125s has made this fun again," he said, leaving us to assume that he'll, indeed, be back. Roncada had faster average lap times in his heat races than Ivan Tedesco . CYCLE NEWS • MAY 5, 200A 15

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