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
o ing into t he 200 4 o utdoo r Natio nal Series, ma ny peo ple were p red ict ing that James Stew art w o uld easi ly run awa y with every rno to, eve n if he is on a I25cc two-stro ke . This wee ken d a t H an gtown , however, revealed t hat these people just might be w ro ng - all because of at least o ne ride r: Ste phane Roncad a. You might recall tha t Ro ncada gave Stewart a good race in Las Ve gas two weeks ago . Well , he di d it aga in t his weeke nd in Hangto w n at t he o pening round of the AMA Ch e vro le t Motocros s Ch ampionship Series. After giving winner Stew art some competition in t he first moto, Ro ncada went into the sec ond mo to with a real cha nce of win ning it all, but the o nly obstacle (and a big o ne at tha t) standi ng in his way was Stewart . From the beginning, t his moto had the ingredients to be a great o ne. After ge tting a second place in the first moto, Roncada needed to be at Stewart if he wa nte d any chance at the overall. And with a t hird -place start ahead of Stewart, he quickly moved into the lead; however, Stewart would soo n pu ll up to challenge Roncada, setti ng t he stage for a repeat show of Las Vegas. Just as in Vegas, Stewart had to pass a few riders befo re he dealt w ith Roncada . On ce Stewart got up to the rear fender of Ro ncada, the two riders battled fo r most of th e race. It seemed that they were eq ually matched on t he course, as Stewart would gain time on Roncada in certain places , while Roncada would do the same to Stewart in other places. "1 felt that once we were in the rougher parts of the course, I was able to gain a little time on Roncada ." Stewart said. The two riders swapped the lead multiple times throughout the race. Even over the G roar of th e po we rful four-st ro kes that saturate the class now, t he cro w d could be heard cheering as t he two ride rs diced back and fo rth . "Once he passed me , the game was on," Roncada said of the battl e . "I just tr ied to give it my best and pass him as ma ny times as I co uld. We had a rea lly good mo to ; there was lots of passing. But I wa s just really sto ked that I co uld ru n th at pace for the w hole time. " Just after the halfway point in the race Stewart made the final pass on Roncada. The on ly proble m with t his pass was t hat it was unde r a ye llow cautio n flag, leaving Roncada wondering if it was truly fair. "He passed me one time right under a yellow flag," he said. "You're not su pposed to do t hat . It's bullshit. It's funny that the only peo ple that don't notice are the AMA." Even though there was a bit of centro- versy during t he race, Stewa rt rode like his old self. Ho weve r, he did have a few probl em s: He commented on having arm pu mp and his hands' cramping up d uring t he race. "There was definitely so me good bat tling o ut t here," Stewart said. "Stephane rod e a good race. You know it's funny, I had arm pum p all day, and t he se cond mo to, first lap, I came into the mechanics' area w ith my hand off t he bar becau se my hand was cram ping up. I couldn't feel my bike for the ent ire race ." De spite th ose problems fo r Stewart, he was sti ll a ble to beat Roncada in bo th mo tos . While Stewart and Roncada were busy fighting for the lead, Suzuki's Broc He pler ,Briefly•.. This year marks the lOth a nniversary for Fox, so to celebrate, the company made custom retro gear for both James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael. Stewart wore the same blue retro gear that he wore in las Vegas in the second moto, while Carmichael wore similar-lookingred and wh ite retro gear. Team Honda's Nathan Ramsey had a bad crash in Saturday's practice. He Injured his shoulder in the falland could not ride at 100 percent on Sunday. So Ramsey's main goal fo r the day was to get through the weekend and salvage as many points as he could. Despite the bad shoulder, Ramsey still posted a respecta ble fifth in the highly competitive I25cc class. Former Japanese National Motocross Champion Akira Narita showed up to Hangtown to race in the National Series. Narita was aboard a Honda CRF250. Sisson Junior High School in Mount Shasta had a class project on display. Two seventh-grade classes worked together to create a small-scale model of a real supercross track. According to the students their teacher was supportive of the project since he Isa big fan of motocross . The students used math to figure out what size each obstacle on the track should be. There was a celebrity cross-ove r race held between motos on Sunday Shawn Palmer . was on hand to participate in the event. He made quick work of his competition by taking the holeshot and getting into a comfortable lead. On the last lap, however, he slowed down to let second-place Victor Sheldon catch up. The two battled for the rest of the last lap before Palmer pulled away to take the win. Shawn Palmer alsoalludedto the fact that he would be participating in this year's Summer X Gam es in the new supermoto event aboard a TroyLee Designs Honda CRF450. The second round of the Women 's Motocross League took place on Sunday. There were many top women in attendance, including JessicaPatterson, Sarah Whitmore and Tayna Satchwell. After the dust had settled (although there was very littleof that over the weekend), Patterson took the win in both motos and was able to pull out to a substantial lead in the second moto. Until this weekend Ricky Ca rmichael had not competed since the previou s outdoor Stewart's win in the second mota marked the 16th straight 12Scc outdoor mota w in for Stewart. In both motos he hod to deal with Ste p h a ne Roncado before pulling out to re la tively comfortable leads. season. Addinga litt le mystery to his return , he opted not to run his transponder during Sunday practice. Since the transponder keeps track of lap times, no one, except his team. knew exactly how fast he was actuallygoing before the first moto . The Hangtown track had some welcome changes this year, one of which was a totally redesigned start straight. The new start Is slightly shorter than in past years and is a left-hand tum . The new design made the starts safer since th e riders could keep their right foot on the rear brake all the way through the turn. YCLE NEWS • MAY 26, 2004 17