Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Continued from page 21 the mains. Hofmaster crashed out in the first 250cc heat race, and Hagseth DNFed the I25cc LCQ. With the huge break between rounds six and seven, many I25cc Western Region riders are left looking for something to do. American Honda's Andrew Short, however, will be riding the East Coast aboard a CR2sa. ''I'm really looking forward to doing that," Short said, "and I've had the opportunity to do that. In years past, it has benefited me, and I think it will help me going into the next West Coast race. to San Diego local, Team AmsoiV ChaparraV Honda's Billy laninovich was running a custom-painted San Diego Chargers helmet. rides hard to the end." Tedesco did just that. For most of the race, the defending champion stayed within only a few seconds of Ramsey and, at times, looked as if he were going to catch the speedy KTM rider. All the while the duo began to pull away from the rest of the pack. Meanwhile, American Honda's Andrew Short was in third, a position he took over on the fourth lap. Short, however, couldn't catch the front-runners; the pace was just too fast. "They [fedesco and Ramsey] were making up time everywhere, on the whole track," Short said. "They were just putting it together, and I didn't quite have the momentum around the whole track, so there wasn't like one place where I had a major weakness." As the race wound down, things began to heat up between Ramsey and Tedesco. The gap between the two of them began to shrink, as Ramsey made a mistake in the first whoop section on the last lap. "I came through the whoops after the finish line, and it was like a Single, and you bounced off that thing," Ramsey said. "And I tried to soak it up a little too much, and I didn't quite get over the next [jump]. So I bobbled, and you know, anybody that races knows that you get a little taste of how close you are to him [fedesco] and you can throw that out there." Tedesco was close, and as the two circulated the track for one final time, the KX2S0F rider made a lastditch effort for the lead, sort of a do or die attempt for glory. "I caught back up to him on that last lap," Tedesco said. "Going into that last whoop section, I just told myself, 'I'm just going to pin it in and see what happens,' and I was right on his back wheei and one of them [whoops] kicked me and I almost went down. After that I was like, ~II right it's over,' so I just rode in for second." Ramsey knew Tedesco was there and wasn't going to give an inch. "I heard him," Ramsey said. "I could hear him in the air over that last triple, going into the last whoop section, and I knew that as long as I held my line and hit the whoops and didn't get any crazy swaps or anything like that, then everything is going to be all right, because it would've been really tough for him to go around me in some of the steeper ones." When Ramsey rounded the last turn and crossed the finish line, he was 2.782 seconds ahead of Tedesco, while Short was another 8.934 seconds back to complete the podium. Tedesco was gracious in defeat. "I'm here to win," Tedesco said. "I'm not going to ride around in second, and I was trying everything I could to try to beat Nathan, and he just had me tonight." From fourth on down, the faces were familiar. Laninovich finished fourth, followed by his young teammate Tommy Hahn. Crossing the line sixth was Tedesco's teammate Paul Carpenter. In seventh was Red Buill KTM's Jay Marmont, followed across the line by MDK Motorsports Eric McCrummen in eighth. Ninth went to Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy's Brett Metcalfe aboard his YZI2S, and 10th went to rookie rider Team Green's Justin Keeney. eN Kicker made qUite an impression during intermission, when its ultratrick lifted golf cart came blasting out on the track only to jump over a berm and break a wheel. The cart had to be towed off by a Dirt Wurx bulldozer. In the I25cc main, Red Bull KTM's Nathan Ramsey looked phenomenal in the whoops. When asked about the linkless rear shock on his KTM 250 SXF, he said, "The no linkage, I feel that it compliments me and helps me in areas that I maybe suffered in. It's just every race, every week I ride it, I kind of leam how much I can push it, because it's a deader feel, but I've got nothing but good things to say about that." American Honda had some interesting spark plug sealers. They were made from rubber and sealed the top of the cylinder head to keep water out. They were used because rain was in the forecast. KTM JUNIOR SUPERCROSS CHALLANGE I. Garrett Kinsler (Reno, Nev.); 2. Carlos Arenas (Mesa, Ariz.); 3. Johnny O'Brien (Chula Vista, Calif.); 4. Weston Bartgis (EI Cajon, Calif.); 5. Caleb Start (Poulsbo, Wash.); 6. Seth Medley (Oakdale, Calif.); 7. Zachary Putman (Liverpool, N.Y.); 8. Aaron Lynn (Hanson, Ken.); 9. Howie LaCurelle (Orangevale, Calif.); 10. Andreas Rasmussen (Lompoc, Calif.); I I. Chris Koller (EI Cajon, Calif.); 12. Mason Bowland (Mineral Wells, Texas); 13. Randal DuBois (Simi Valley, Calif.); 14. Michael Rincon (Los Angeles, Calif.). RESULTS, CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 2, 2005 25

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