THO World Supercross Grand Prix Serles/THO
AMA Supercross Series
Always playing practical jokes on one
another, the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki
guys had some fun on Friday when practice
was cancelled. They all got together and
decorated team manager Mitch Payton's
purple PT Cruiser rental car with a rainbow
on the hood and his name along the side.
Ricky Carmichael was sporting a bright
yellow Fox V3 Pilot helmet.
AmsoiVChaparraVHonda's Joaquim
Rodrigues crashed hard in the first I25cc
practice session when he cased a triple and
went over the bars. Rodrigues did not ride
the second practice and decided to call it a
day, saying, "I hit my head and my shoulder
hurts, too. I'm not going to ride tonight."
Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Grant
Langston and PPG/MotoworidRacing.coml
Suzuki's Branden Jessemen both crashed
hard in their heat races through a tricky
rhythm section that took out several
other riders throughout the night as well.
Langston was upset about what had happened and voiced his opinion. "It's real
unfortunate that I went down in the heat,"
he said. "The guys went out and changed
the track from what we rode in practice,
and they just send us blazing in there without
looking at it. That section took down some
top guys tonight." Langston won his lCQ,
while Jessemen did not even qualify after
going down in the first turn in the lCQ.
Team ECC/AXO Honda's Brian Gray and
Star Racing Yamaha's Erick Vallejo both
earned the Racer X gas card in their
respective classes for just missing the main
event by one position each. Gray finished
fifth in the 125cc lCQ for $250, and Vallejo
was third in the 250cc lCQ for $750.
20
MARCH 30, 2005 •
CYCLE NEWS
