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/128365
THO FIM World Supercross GP Series(THO AMA Supercross Series 103 Sebastien Tortelli 13th Team Makita Suzuki Racing's Sebastien Tortelli didn't have a whole lot of success at Anaheim III. After injuring his back in practice and then having to qualify for the final via the first semi, Tortelli got off to a bad start in the main and then crashed shortly thereafter. "I got tangled up with another rider in the first corner," Tortelli said, "so 1started way back, and then I was passing a guy in the whoops, and he almost stopped. I had to slow down, and the front end of my bike dropped, and I went over the bars." That pretty much blew all of the wind out of his sails, and he was unable to mount much of a comeback, finishing 13th on the night. "I'm very happy to have made it out of Anaheim because it has been rough on me in the past. But all of the pieces of the racing puzzle are coming together for me, and my Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 is so much better than it was at the first race, so I'm really looking forward to Indy." 38 Ryan Clark 10th After squeaking into the main event via a second-place finish in the last chance qualifier, Team Solitaire.Com/Fly Racing's Ryan Clark cracked the top-lOin the final on his Craig Lyons-tuned YZ250. It was his best finish so far this season. ':At the beginning of the race. I was near the tail end of the pack," Clark said. ''As the laps wore on, several riders crashed and many began to fade. I spent a long time battling with Damon Huffman before pulling away and closing the gap on Tyler Evans and Erick Vallejo. With two laps remaining, I had passed Vallejo and set my sights on Evans. I rode up to within a second or two of his rear wheel but fell slightly short in the end." For Clark, getting 10th was a big deal, since it vaulted him up from 21 st to 17th in the points standings, which means he no longer has to ride the day qualifiers." 70 Travis Preston 7th After sitting out the beginning of the season due to injury, American Honda's Travis Preston was back in action at Anaheim III. Preston rode practice at a couple of the earlier rounds, but this time he jumped into the fire and did remarkably well. Preston got into the main via a third-place finish in the second semi, and he got off to a good start in the main. Preston completed the first pretty good for a podium finish. But on the third lap, while trying to make a move, McGrath got slammed to the ground, resulting in his second DNF of the season. "I was unleashing pretty good in the final and just ended up running into the back of Ernie," McGrath said. "Ernie decided to brake and go into the inside there, and I was already in the air, and he just stopped right in front of me; there was nothing I could do. It knocked the wind out of me; took a mean shot to the back of the ribs, right on my back. I just impacted so hard, it took the wind right away from me." "I was going inside and Jeremy kind of caught my rear wheel," Fonseca said. "I felt it. We talked about it afterwards, and he was okay about it." McGrath definitely felt that he had a shot at a podium finish before the crash. "That was my chance," he said. "I was really thinking I was going around Ernie the next lap on the split line because I passed Travis [Preston] the lap before there, and Ernie was taking the right side, and I think the left side was quicker. Who 16 FEBRUARY 16, knows what could've happened, but that was a good chance for a podium. Gatta finish the main, this just doesn't happen normally to me." Meanwhile, toward the end, with Carmichael way out in front and Reed in sale possession of second, the only real battle left was for third between Byrne and Team Yamaha's David Vuillemin, who had chased down the Australian after starting off in seventh. But Byrne seemed to have a couple of better lines than Vuillemin when it counted and managed to hold him off. "I didn't do that double-triple section, and David caught up to me," Byrne said of his struggle with Vuillemin. '~nd I made a mistake in the whoops, too, and he got right up to me. 1 really just needed to not worry about David and get back to riding my lines and getting consistent. I think on the last lap, I pulled away from him a little bit, I think he gave up a little bit on the last lap." "I feel like I rode great," Vuillemin said. "When Reed passed me, I tried to stay with him and tried to stay on that pace because then I could have caught Byrne. 2005 • CYCLE NEWS lap in fifth and at one point ran as high as third before dropping back. He ended up finishing an inspiring seventh. 47 Tyler Evans 9th Tyler Evans continues to put in solid rides on his self-sponsored, Evans Ent. Group Suzuki RM250. Evans gave Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca fits in the first heat race, as they battled on the bubble. Evans held Fonseca off in fourth for most of the race, until Fonseca forced his way by on the last lap. But Evans retaliated in a turn, leaving the Honda rider on the ground and earning a spot in the main. In the final, Evans got off to a 10thplace start, rode strong throughout and was rewarded with a strong ninth. 13 Heath Voss 17th Yamaha's Heath Voss was on the gas at Anaheim III. The YZ450F pilot was impressive in the second heat race, where he held off Mike laRocco and David Vuillemin to finish second behind Carmichael. In the main, Voss got off to a good start but went down early in the race. He got back up and rode a few more laps until all of the packing from his silencer, which was damaged in the crash, blew out. Despite only making it 10 laps, the defending World Supercross Champion still sits fourth in points in the World Supercross Series.