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/128325
- ----~~-I Round I MOTOCROSS My ~ OWN RACE: 36 Sean Hamblin AMA Chevrolet 250cc Motocross Champio ns hip Se r ies 2 5 0cc 5th (5-6) In a field seemingly dominated by 450cc four-strokes, Team Suzuki's Sean Hamblin was aboard the top -finishing two-stroke, closingout the day in fifth overall on his faetorybacked RM2S0. Hamblin worked his way up from ninth to fifth in the first rnoto, but he worked his way backward in the second moto . Among all the big thumpers, Hamblin pulled a second-place start In the second moto but couldn't keep the yellow Suzuki there. By the second lap, he was running fifth behind Carmichael,Vuillemin, Reed and Windham, and he would stay there for much of the rest of the race before getting zappedby Damon Huffman on the 12th lap ofthe 16-lap race. 20 Damon H uffm a n 8th ( 13-5) Damon Huffman had a good day but it would 've , been a lot better if he had not fallen in the first turn of the first mota . ''A guy fell in front of me; I hit him and went down ," Huffman said. The Honda rider rounded the first lap in 34th placebut steadily worked his way up throughout the mota and finished 13th. In the secondmota , Huffman started off in ninth and again worked his way up, passing his last victim - Hamblin - for fifth. "It was good," Huffman saidof his day " My goal was to make the top 10, . and I did that. In the second moto, after midway, I got behind jSR (Jean-Sebastian Roy] and Hamblin for a while, and we were all going the samespeed. I didn't really pick it up, maybe they got tired, but I had some better lines." 27 N ick W ey 9t h (9-1 I) Team Suzuki's Nick Wey was hampered by bad starts and hands full of blisters. Wey got off to a 14th-placestart in the first rnoto, but that was a lot better than what he would get in the second mota . "I was about 30th [off the start of the secondmote] ,' Wey said. "I got pinched off out of the gate and then slowly picked guys off. It just wasn't a good day for me, but it'll be better next time." 67 Je a n-Se bast ia n Roy 6th (6-7) A lot of riders are glad that Blackfoot Honda'sJean-Sebastian Roy won't be riding too many Nationals this year. Roy alongwith , Damon Huffman, will be representing the Blackfoot team in the Canadian Nationals, which gets under way in a few weeks, but they both usedthe Hangtown race asa warm-up for the north-ofthe-border series. Roywas impressive on the CR250R twostroke, going 6-7 on the day. 28 Heath Voss 7th (8-8) Consistent Is the best word to describe new World Supercross GP Champion Heath Voss' day. The Mach I Yamaha rider rounded the first lap of both rnotos in ninth, and he finished out both motos in eighth. 121 Casey Johnson 21st (19-37) Casey johnson, on the linked-Up Kawasaki team, might not haveliked his results, but he liked getting back on the track again. "I didn't really want to come back until the third round , because I just started riding two weeks ago," johnson said. "I just had knee surgery three months ago. But I thought I'd come to Hangtown and just try to ride and do my best. To ride this track, you haveto be in shape, and I'm not in shape. So it was real tough for me, and I just pulled off in the second rnoto, I've got a lot of work to do. My knee is still bugging me a little bit; it's still in the fragile stage." 14 MAY 26, 2004 • C Y CLE N EWS t he two ride rs w ent back and forth a cou ple of tim es until Wi ndham got Vuillem in onc e and for all. And Vuillem in's problems we ren't over yet - now he had his teammate, Reed, to deal With. Not long after Windham got Vuillemin, so did Reed, and it w as at this poi nt that Vuillemin decided to let the top three riders go, hang on to fourth (having a huge lead over fifth -place rider Sean Hamb lin), and start thinking about the second mota. " T he pace w as fast," Vuillem in said. " I was staying w ith Ricky for a little bit, and Chad and Kevin w ere running good, so I started looking for lines and saving energy for the second moto." While Carmichael cruised out in front now, Wind ham and Reed (w ho were about I 0 seconds behind t he leader), engaged in a strugg le for second place. Reed made a pass on Windham, who came right back with a pass of his own. T he two rid ers continued to go at it for a while, until Windham started to pull out a small gap on Reed to finish an even tual second, a surp r ising I I seconds behind Carmichael. " Chad got me , and I got him back," W indham said. " I was real intent on not ro lling over and playing dead. I think we battled all the way through t he better half t he mota. He rode str ong; I just tried to keep him at bay." Reed fin ished about four secon ds behind W indham, wh ile Vuillem in cooled his engines to finish about 25 seconds behind Reed. Carmichael and Vuillemin again got out in front early in t he second moto, and they again started to gap the third- and fourth-p lace riders - W indham and Reed right away. Vuillemin was again very fast, staying right with RC but not quite close enough to show him a fro nt wheel. Vuillemin ran anywhere from two to th ree seconds behind Carmichael fo r the first seven laps, and then he dropped to about five seconds , and then I I seconds, and his big lead ove r Reed (w ho had earlier passed Windham) had dwindled to about four seconds. It looked as though Vuillemin was about to experience the same fate that he suffered in the first mota when he suddenly changed things around by halting his slide backward and actually started pulling away from Reed again, and even earn ing back a few secon ds on Carmichael. Vuillemin ended up finishing eigh t seconds behind Carmichael and about that same distance ahead of Reed, who did lose some t ime late in t he race when he briefly ran off the track. " I had the speed, and I'm glad about that," Vuillemin said. " I had some good lines tod ay, and I w as really comfortable 40th Anniversary on the bike." Finishing wa y back, some 36 seconds behind Reed (and almo st a minute behind Carm ichael) in fourth was W indh am, w ho only had about I I seconds on Honda r ider Damon Huffman, w ho was closing in while running fift h. W indham just couldn't hang with Carmichael (or Vuillemin and Reed, for that matter) on this day, and he certainly had his chances, getting off to good starts in both rnotos. " Today just did not go that good overall," Windham said of his day. " We lost some valuable points to Ricky, and I just didn 't feel good the secon d mota. Me, personally, I just - about two laps in I started feeling a little bit bad and just kind of rode t hroug h it . I' m not one to make excuses, so I'l l just let the weight of my results lie on me." Windham refus ed to elaborate on wha t exactly he meant by feeling " bad ." " I really can't say, but my physical fitness is fine," he said. "I 'm not going to point fingers 'til I figure out what exact ly is go ing on , so we'll just leave it at th at. " T he first mota was fine," he said. " l' rn happy w ith it. I was able to get into second ; still I want to be running with Ricky. This is my shot for the champ ionship , but it wasn't my best ." Even though W indham had a tough day, Carmichael knows that W indham will come back swinging, not to mention Vuillemin and Reed. " It 's a 12-race series; th is wasn't the championsh ip race ," Carmichael said . "We've got a lot of races to go ; Chad stepped it up, and so did David. I'm glad to be up her e w ith these guys. I respect them a lot , they're fun to race with, and I'm sure they're glad to race with someone other than Kevin all t he time." eN PRA IRIE CITY SVRA SA CRAMENTO, CA UFORNIA RESULT MAy 16, 2 004 (R OUND 1 OF 1 2 ) S: 250 MOT O I: I. Ricky Carm khael (Hon); 2. Kevi n Windham (Hon); 3. Chad Reed (Yam); 4 . David Vuill m in e (Yam); S. Sean Ham blin (Suz); 6. Jean Sebastian Roy (Hon ); 7. Clark Stiles (Hon); 8. Heath Voss (Yam); 9. Nick Wey (SuI) ; 10 . Rusty Holland (Hon); II . Pierrick Paget (Hon); 12. Mk hae l Byrne (Kaw) ; 13. Damon Hu ffman (Hon ); 14. Cralg Anderson (Hon ); 15. Ryan Clar k (Yam); 16. James Povolny (Han) ; 17. jason Thomas (Han) ; 18. Doug De haan (Yam); 19. Casey Joh nwn (!