Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

_~I\l\t ~~ AMNWMA Pro Motocross National Championship "-}. men's motocross is booming. Over the past couple of years, the popularity of it has skyrocketed, and with women from around the world competing in the AMNWMA Pro Motocross National Championship Series, the competi- W tion is fierce. This year, even as the number of entries grows, Jessica Patterson continues to stay at the front of the competitive pack. After battling the flu at the first round, Patterson rested up in the week between and came out SWinging. At the second round of the series, held in conjunction with the opening round of the AMNFMF National Motocross Series at Hangtown Motocross Track in Sacramento, California, Patterson was unstoppable. She won both motos, making it look easy, on the way to her first win of the young season. "In between the week of Glen Helen and Hangtown, all I could do was get over the flu I had gotten right before Glen Helen," Patterson said. ''The harder I tried to ride that weekend, things went worse for me because I had no strength. So, during the week between, I just had lots of rest and tried to get better. I rode one day before Hangtown just to see how I was; I was still not feeling great but way better than I was." The only problem for Patterson all day came in the first moto. The problem, however, affected everyone. The gate dropped even before the 30-second board went sideways, catching everyone off guard. "First moto, we had a bit of a gate surprise, and before the card was Sideways, the gate had dropped," S6 JUNE 8, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Patterson said. "I didn't know what to do. Then I saw everyone going, so I took off." "There were a lot of complaints about the start of the first moto," Sarah Whitmore said. ''The board wasn't even all the way sideways, and the gate had dropped. My bike wasn't even in gear yet because I knew that in AMA men's Pro racing, it falls in five to 10 seconds. But the gate fell the same way for everyone. No one was ready. Someone wanted to protest it, but I thought that was stupid because it's not like some of the girls were ready and some weren't. What did they want them to do - rerun the race?" Once the pack thundered through the first tum, it was AJisa Nix out front. For Nix, Hangtown was only her third Professional event. She finished the moto fifth. The win went to Patterson, with Livia Lancelot in second and Whitmore completing the podium. While she did win, Patterson had to work for it. She came from 17th to first, after battling with some of her rivals. "I was about 17th after the first tum," Patterson said. "I had to put my head down and just pick off one [rider] at a time. Sarah [Whitmore] and the girl from France, Livia [Lancelot], we had a pretty good battle going for a lap, which was really fun. I new I had to get up front for more points, so I took the lead to win the moto." The second moto was all Patterson. After pulling the holeshot, the Honda rider steadily pulled away from the rest of the pack. For Whitmore, the moto went well, but she just didn't have it in her to win. She did all she could but came up just short. No doubt the crashes in the first moto took the wind out of her sails. "I didn't feel too good and wasn't about to go for the step-up," Whitmore said. "But unfortunately, without doing it, Icouldn't keep up with jessica [Patterson]. I would only catch up about half the distance she would gain on me throughout the rest of the track, then we would get to the jump again, and she would pull more. Honestly, my head, shoulder and knee hurt so bad. Even though I would have loved to win, I just didn't have it in me." Patterson ended up taking the win, and when the checkered flag came out, she was roughly 2S sec0nds ahead of second-placed Whitmore. Tania Satchwell com-

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