Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

29th Annual NMA World Mini Grand P r ix Humphrey who also took th ird overall. Suzuki -mounted E v a n Laughridge, who went into the final with one point, was hampered by a bad start and all he could d o w as sa lvage an eigh th fo r six th ove rall. Laninov ich led all the w ay in th e 250c c Sto ck Int erm ediat e class run off, bu t it w a s n ' t e no ug h to b e a t Ho nda rider T ur bo Reif for th e overall vict ory . Laninovic h, who ha d what he said was a " stupi d " cr ash in an earlier mota, carried a damag ing six points into the final and Reif a much-b etter two . Third in the mota went to James Marshall , followed by Ross Garci a and Nick Beaver. Going into the final with thr e e points, Laughridge had a shot at the 250cc Stock Int erm ed iat e t itle until c rashing and hav ing an other rider slam into his bike. after ha v ing a ch ain come off in an ea rlier mota. In th at race, he c ame from dead last to fin ish third to ke ep him in the run ning. O nce again, Alessi breezed to victory in the run-off, beatin g Kyle Keylon - the son of former m o t o cros ser Kenny Keylon · a n d Zach Osbo rne to the finish line. Key lon took second overall ( 1- 2 ) , w hile O sbo m e grabbed third overall (3-3) . Alessi f ini shed o ut h is weekend with another im p ressive win in th e 80cc Modified (Thru -11 ) di vi sion , where he topped Jonon ( 2- 2) and Josh Hill (2- 3 ) , who m ade a daring pas s on Jared Partri dg e over a triple jump. "I had to go for it ," Hill said . Suzuki p ilot Kyle Partridge was the rider to beat in th e 80cc Mo di fi ed and Stock (12 - 13 ) cl ass es, bu t nobody could, though teammat e Davi Millsaps gave it his be st shot. Mill sap s, J o sh Lichtle, who di d not sta rt afte r inj uring h is arm in an earl ier race, a nd Partridge went into the Stock class runoff a ll ti ed w ith on e' s, b ut th e race would be a two -man sh o w between Part ridg e and Mil lsaps , with J o sh Grant. watching from a d istant th ird. Grant had his hands full with a group of ride rs right behind him. Partridge and M ill sap s w ent at it the enti re race , but Partridge wouldn 't budge . Somehow, Partridg e manag ed to k eep the pesky Millsaps at ba y and capture the crowd -pl eas ing w in. . "I' ve been r iding w it h m y o l der brother Jason," Partridge said , "a nd he's been pressuring m e a lo t, so I' m pretty used to riding under pressure. I made a couple of m istakes and Davi caught up to me . I've got a little problem w ith lookin g back . I was looking back and Davi wo uld catch up to me . If I didn't I'd pu ll a little on him, towa rds the end I tried not to look back too much . " He (Millsaps) ran a g rea t rac e," Partridge said. "I have to tha nk him for challeng ing me, wh ich g ives me a lot of confidence. " When ask ed if he thought he co uld catch Partridge , Millsaps said , "I d id but I didn't, because he was going good and I was goi ng good. We were at the same pace. He was pu lli ng m e down th e straightaways, I'd catch up to him in the comers." . Grant held on to fi nish third, righ t in front of Zac Wray , Levi Jensen an d Aaron Bergantz. Partridge and Millsaps were back at it aga in in the Modified run -off mota. Partridge led early on , wh ile Millsaps had to first take care of som e bus iness before settling into seco nd by th e third la p . Fro m t here , M illsa ps ran down Partridge and the t wo battled back and forth , with Partridge barely hanging o n for th e win . "I pass ed him on the stra ight in the back ," Millsaps said , "but he had th e outsi de line and got me back. " " He (Millsaps ) probabl y 'wou ld ' ve beat en me if he had a good start," Partridge said . "He was fast !" T yler Bowers and Ben LaMay trad ed championship titles in the Jr. Cycle 60cc Stock and Modified (6- 8) classes. The Stock class required a run -off mota, and Bowers went into that with a one and LaMay with a tw o. Bowers ended up beati ng LaM ay t o the ch eckers for the o v er all , w ith LaMay fin ishing second. In t h e Mod ified cl a ss , th ough , LaMa y wo n both rnotos, with Bow ers going 2-2. Ryan M ora is was th e m o st su c cessful r i d e r in th e Interm ed iat e classes, scoring a pair of wi ns in the 12 5 c c Stock an d Mod ified cl as se s. The harder of h is two w ins came in the Stock bo ut, wh ere he an d Billy Laninovich went at it hea d to head for most of th e race , sometimes riding side by side. Third in the ra c e went to Gavin G rac y , followed by Steven Mertens 26 DeVIlS MAY 17. 2000 · eye .... (Top) James Frigo Jr. (31 9) leads Blake Ba9gett (179) and Forrest Lane (917) in one of the Pee Wee 50cc run- offs. (Above) Ryan Morais won both 125cc Stock and Modified Intennediate classes. (Right) An all-around good kid, James Stewart has a ll the ingredients to be a future superstar in motocross. and Tu rb o Reif. Brian Gr ay and Don nie Gritton , the two rid ers other than Marias go ing into the final with on ep o int sc ores , bo th crash ed out o f co nte nti on . After ge tting off to a th ird -plac e s tart in the .Modified final , Morai s qui ckly put his Yamaha into the lead wh ere he wou ld keep it to the end . Lan inovich , the ri der Mora is battl ed so closely wi t h in th e Sto c k race , never got a c hance t o c hallenge Mo rais after ga ting we ll down in the fie ld. He did, however, cl imb to sec ond to grab second overall. Third in th e mota went to Suzuki rider Colt Laughridge was the early leader in th e 250cc Int ermedia te Modified run off, but he bobbled in a turn on the first lap , which let Laninovich by him. T hat was all Lan in o v ic h n eed ed t o t ak e th e win , but he could never rest easy . Shan e Do ug hty wa s rid in g Lani novich hard before h e we nt down , th en Reif moved into second an d kept Laninovich honest the res t of the way. Re if ended up second , followed by

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