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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128395
------------- MOTOCROSS Round 11 September 4, 200S ~ AMA 125cc Motocross Championship Series Presented by FMF H ME EEl H ME T By PAT SCHUTTE PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN he script couldn't have been written any better for Pennsylvania native Broc Hepler of the Makita/Suzuki team. The hometown hero put on a masterful motocross racing performance, despite some rough going early in the first moto, to take the overall 12Sccclass win with a convincing I -I performance at the Monster Energy/Kawasaki Pro Motocross National at Steel City. The win for Hepler, which was the second of his career, catapulted him from seventh to fourth place in the overall 12Scc-c1ass standings. Hepler still has a shot at the series podium, but it's going to be tough, as he'll have to somehow put 15 points between himself and thirdplaced Andrew Short with one race remaining in the season. "This being my hometown race made me more nervous," Hepler said. ''All my buddies were up on the hill; they're the ones that had the ambulance siren going. But when I'd come by chasing Mike [Alessi], they'd go wild, and I'd want to try even harder, get up there and win. I wanted it just as much for them as I did for myself." Hepler added that there was a bit of poetic justice in winning Steel City, given the fact he didn't do so well at High Point in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania - his "other" home track. "High Point's really close, too, and I did really bad there, so I kind of had to make it up to my fans," Hepler said. Joining the Suzuki rider up on the box 20 were Red BuII/KTM's Mike Alessi and soon-to-be-crowned 12Scc-c1ass champ Ivan Tedesco of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team. Alessi actually led both motos early, pulling hyperfast starts up the hill at Steel City and distancing himself from the rest of the pack in both motos. But Hepler would power through the several racers ahead of him at the start - and even more in the first moto after a get-off and near get-off - and get to Alessi with plenty of time remaining in both motos. "He [Hepler] was going too fast for me," Alessi said. "I was just trying to use my own lines, but his lines were a little better. I tried to hold him off as long as possible, but he was going really fast. My times were pretty consistent every lap, but again, Broc was faster today." Alessi gained eight points on Tedesco, cutting the 43-point lead going into Steel City to 3S points, 402-367, with one race remaining at Glen Helen. SEPTEMBER 14,2005 • CYCLE NEWS "Realistically, the championship's still alive - but Ivan's got it," Alessi said. Moto one opened with an Alessi holeshot, followed by two riders that you normally don't get to see up front Japanese great Akira Narita, on the MotorportOutiet Honda, and Samsung Wireless/Sprint/Honda's Steve Boniface. Hepler appeared to be in good shape early, getting out of the usual first-turn carnage in fourth place. Then he banzai'd it past Narita into third. A major bobble at the bottom of a downhill section had Hepler up on his handlebars, and then running alongside his bike to avoid an allout crash. He saved it, but he did fall moments later when he went down in a tricky tabletop section. "The bars tucked and I just kind of landed on the handlebars and got on the gas - don't know how I saved that one," he said. "Then, right after the tabletops, I clipped Matt Walker's back wheel and went down. After that first lap, I'd dropped, like, three or four spots. I knew I had to do something, because my arms started to pump up. I took a moment, regrouped and did what I'm supposed to do. " Lap by lap, he continued to pick off riders until he and Alessi were alone and in front of the field. Hepler then bided his time, raced patiently but calculatingly fast in his pursuit of the ultrafast Alessi. As the seconds ticked off, Alessi's IO-c1ick lead at the start of lap five was cut to seven, then three. Eventually it was down to zero. Two Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki riders were also picking up the pace in an attempt to catch race leader Alessi - Grant Langston and Walker. Between laps nine and 10, Hepler was on Alessi and set him up with an