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lap seven. Instead of matching Tedesco's
pace, as he had in the second heat race,
Ramsey wound up a disappointing 20th.
Up front, Laninovich was flawless and
mistake-free. Afterward, he admitted that
while he was concerned about having
Short behind him, he was also helped by it,
as the two spend a lot of time practicing
together.
"Yeah, Andrew's a good rider,"
Laninovich said. "But it helped me a little
bit, too, because we're out on the Honda
test track every day. I was very calm in the
race."
battling
Boost
MobilelYamaha/Troy
Racing's Brett Metcalfe for sixth. Tedesco
was fifth by lap '0, and he could look over
while leaping the first baseline triple and
see the leaders. He would make his way to
third, passing Smith with four laps to go,
and close the gap to Short considerably,
but that was as close as he could get.
"I can't complain," Tedesco said. "Third
place is good from where I came from.
The big picture is the championship."
Tedesco attributed his first-lap crash to
getting into turn one a little too hot.
"I was on the outside in the second corner," Tedesco said. '" don't know who hit
me, but someone stood me up in the corner and ran into the back of me, and me
and Ramsey ended up going down. , don't
know what place I was in after that. I just
started riding."
Tedesco said he had no idea if he could
make his way into a podium position
before the finish.
"It never even crossed my mind," he
said. '" was just out there passing as many
guys as I could. I think by three laps to go,
I was in fourth or something, and then ,
knew I could get on the podium. I can't
complain. Twenty points is good. It was
actually a pretty tough track to pass on,
and everyone was pretty much going the
same speed."
Tedesco's finish gave him a little breathing room on his closest rivals in the series
standings. Tedesco now leads Ryan Sipes,
who was seventh at San Francisco, 80 to
67. Smith is third, with 58 points.
Ramsey suffered another serious blow
to his championship hopes when he
crashed again in the final whoop section on
Calm and cool, Laninovich collected his
first AMA Supercross win, for which he
thanked his Factory Connection Honda
team, which stuck by him after a serious
knee injury forced him to miss the entire
2004 racing season.
'" owe this win to them," Laninovich
said. "'t's a lot of weight off my shoulders.
Hopefully , can go out for the next four
races and do good for them."
That could be a tall order, as the racing
in the 12Scc West had been anything but
predictable. Laninovich said that with all
the hype surrounding the 250cc class coming into the season, the 125cc class is
underrated.
"Maybe a little bit," Laninovich said.
"There's a lot of fast people out there, and
I think that the 125 class is more competitive [than the 250s]. Everyone is riding
really good right now, and you don't have
someone like Bubba out there to dominate. There's a chance for anyone to win.
You just have to get a good start. I got a
good one last weekend, and I thought that
was my weekend to win."
Instead, it came a week late. Better late
than never, though. And maybe now they'll
start pronouncing his name right.
"It's 'Laninovich,' but most people can't
say that, so I say 'Lanovich,''' Laninovich said.
So, if you could, show a little respect.
And if you still struggle to pronounce his
last name, then maybe you can just
remember it like this: There is an "in" in
Laninovich, an "in" in win and, finally, a win
in Laninovich.
eN
SBC PARK
SAN FRANCISCO, CAiFoRNIA
R£sws: JANUARY 29, 2005 (ROUND 4
Of
8)
HEAT I (8 laps, 1-9 transfer): I. Brian Johnson (Yam):
2. Tiger Lacey (Hon); 3. Ryan SIp'" (Suz); 4. Jay Mam>ont
(KTl1); S. R)"" Morn; (Suz): 6. Kyle """ridge (Suz); 7. AId'"
Narit3 (Hon): 8. Sean Col.... (Han); 10. Dylan Lc