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/128612
cada, whose come-from -behind ye ar end ed w ith a lo ng-a w ai ted ch am pionship. T he number-one p lat e won 't be traveling fa r. "With Fonseca winning the championship last year , and me winning it th is year," said Roncada , "I think we're one of th e best 125 team s so far: Ni ce as it was to see a title finally go th e way of the 21-year-old Roncada, who has been with the Troy team since it was Honda -mounted, it was equa lly disheartening to see another rider lose out on it after a series o f consist ently strong results. That rid er w a s FMF Honda ' s B ro ck Sellards , who despite fail in g to no tc h a win , h eld the po ints le ad up until the p enu ltimate r o u n d, w he n he was finall y caught by Roncada. That pretty mu ch made it a two -man show down in Joliet, th ough Suzuki's Travis Pastrana also had a rea listic shot at th e title if th e other two were to err drastically. Poor Sellards wa s vi sibly affected all day long, loo k ing st iff in practic e and ha ving troubl es clea ring one lon g tri p le. No t all of his p ro blem s we re mental, howe ver , as the t r ic k y fir st turn twice p rov ed his un doing - fi rst in hi s heat race, which resu lte d in a med io c re fi n ish and ga te pick, and later in the main . 1 25cc Easter n R ego ina l S upe rcr o s s S e r ies F in a l R o u n d : Route 66 R aceway rill M AIN By CHRIS JONNUM P HOTOS BY KARL OCKERT JOUET, IL, APR. 29 h ings didn't start off so hot for the champion Yamaha of T roy team this year, but t h o se early-sea son T stumbles were misleading. And if the competing squads were lulled into not taking the YoT rid:rs seriousl y, they 're certainly pay ing attention now. True , defending champion Ernesto Fonseca hadn 't won a single round going into Joliet, but he led Stephane Ronca da celebrates after his long-awaited Eastern Regional title. The Frenchman finished second In Joliet. from start to finish here. And the rider that followed him across the finish line was his teammate Stephane Rone ye I e A s the c rowd sto m p e d to a crescendo on the alum in um bleachers , th e gate d ro p p ed and Fast by F erra ci Husq varna' s Rob b ie Skaggs rockete d to the $ 5 00 Yahoo! Sports h o le shot aw ar d , th en su b se q ue ntl y w ent w id e in tu rn o n e an d was involve d i n a hu ge p i l e - u p t hat delayed m u ch of th e pac k. Roncada manag ed to avoid m ost of the me lee by cutting - ha rd - to the ins ide. but Sellards wa s not so luck y. " He went i nto the 'f i r st turn up towards the front, but then he j ust got pus hed o ut, " sa id FMF's D a n n y LaPorte (Sellards . u nd erst and ebl y disappointed , left soo n after the race an d was una vaila b le for comment) . Fonseca had also avoided th e m ix up , and too k ov er the lead a s the pack crossed o ve r the start st ra ight early on la p o ne . Cohort Roncada was right behind in second by the end of lap one. and with Sellards near the back and Pastrana in third. Yamaha of Troy was sitting pretty. All Sellards could do was pass rid ers , and he qu ickly set about doing so , moun ting an im pressi ve charge and advancing all th e way to 13th by the end of lap one . The slim hopes of Pastrana, to o, were contingent on him p ass ing rider s , and he was soon knocking on Roncada's door, moving by when the Frenchman spun out in a turn on lap three . Pastrana then began hounding th e leading Fo nseca , but his im p ati ence got th e better of him when he bump ed t h e Costa Rican 's rear tire in a turn on the same n e vv so • MAY 1 0 . 2000 9