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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128362
AMA THQ 12Scc Western Region Supercross Championship Series
,_ e
nd-l
_now tied
....III.!II.II.I.Ithe standing
make up. He rounded the first turn buried
back in 12th position, while his rivals were
up front pulling away.
With Hepler out front and Sipes in second, a fierce battle began for the third
position among last week's winner, Team
Red Bull KTM's Nathan Ramsey, and Team
Honda's Andrew Short and Tedesco, who
had now worked his way up through the
talented pack of riders.
"It was actually really good," Tedesco
said. "I got behind those two guys [Short
and Ramsey], and they were battling a little
bit. After the finish line, down the start
straight, I got to the right of them, and I
actually passed both of them in the first
corner there."
Once Tedesco got around two of his
championship rivals, he still had some
work to do. In front of him was a determined Sipes, who was doing better than
he expected in only his second
Supercross race ever. (His first was the
muddy Anaheim I.)
"I've been riding for a month out here
[in the West]," Sipes said. "David Bailey has
been coaching us, and it seems to be making a difference in me because I wasn't that
good to begin with, because I was born an
outdoors rider. I knew I was going to finish
on the podium before this series is over, I
, k
h
h
just didn t now it was going to appen t is
quick."
Itd n't take Iong, however, for T. d esco
id
Ie
t o work h · way arou nd S''pes an d take
IS
command of second. Tedesco then gave it
evenhhing he had, but he couldn't break
•I •
into the IO-second lead that Hepler had
amassed.
While Tedesco couldn't quite catch the
speedy Hepler, he did, however, beat last
week's winner, Ramsey, who, going into
Phoenix, was a heavy favorite for the win.
In the main, Ramsey was a sure bet for
a podium finish. However, his hopes were
dashed when he fell and failed to restart his
bike. The costly mistake dropped Ramsey
to sixth in the series points standings, 10
points down from the top.
As for Hepler, he moved up in the
points standings from 18th to fifth with his
convincing win.
"I think no matter where you are at, the
championship is always up for grabs,"
Hepler said. "I had a bad week last week,
where 1 should have done good, and
Ramsey did bad here at Phoenix."
The rest of the top I0 was a virtual
who's who of the talent in the class. Turbo
Reif was fourth, Danny Smith fifth, and
Tommy Hahn was sixth, after another consistent ride to go with his first-round
fourth. Jesse Casillas followed Hahn, with
Jay Marmont eighth, Chris Gosselaar ninth,
and Short rounding out the top 10.
BANK ON' BAllPARK
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
RESUlTS: JANUARY
15, 2005
---l(.::R~OU=N:::D:..;2=-.:Of~8~)1-
_
HEAT I (6 lap', 1-' transfe.), I. Baly ~Inovkh (Hon):
2. Danny Sm«h (Yam): 3. Ryan ~pe< (Suz): 4. Jay Mannon!
(KTM): 5. Paul Ca