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/128613
because it went right , everyone says this race was 10 times better." So m u c h for premature conclusions. But even taken at face value, Pastran a' s evening was impressive. He didn 't pull down t his year's East ern Regional title , but he defeated newly crowned champ Stephane Roncada in Vegas, and although the ever-chipper Pastrana wou ld never admit it , that had to feel something like vengeance. No t that Roncada had anything to be emba rrassed about. The Yamaha of Troy rider reco vered from a turn -one tussle to finish an impressive second - charging t h ro ug h the bu lk of the pack in j ust a few laps. The Frenchm an fe lt that had it not been for his early p roblems , he cou ld , and wo uld, have caught Pastrana for the wi n . AMAlEA S p o rts 1 2 Scc E a s t /We s t S h o o tou t S a m Boyd Stadium t MAIN The kid pitches a shutout in the shootout. By C HRIS J ON NUM P HOTO S BY K IN N EY J ON ES LAS VEGAS, NV, MAY 6, 2000 I t woul d be eas y t o use th is race to c onj ecture abou t Tra v i s Pas - S M AY 1 7 . 2 000 ยท eye I e tr a n a . It wo ul d see m i nt u itive t o sp ecu late that th e po is e h e sh o wed u nder the i ntense pr es su re o f t he s easo n-cu lmi na ting s howd own be tw e en th e b es t of bot h reg i on s, p ro ve s th at t he rook ie ha s al rea d y c o me of ag e. It w o u ld be si m p le to ex trapo la te from th e pa tienc e a nd c o n tr o l h e d ispl ayed i n m ak ing s u c c e ss f u l passes t o attain th e . Iead , that t he Tea m Suzu k i rid er is o ve r h is d ays o f i ll- ad vi sed m oves n e _ 50 Travis Pastrana was the t op gu n In the 125cc EastlWest Shootout. Riders from t he Eas t fi nis he d in th e first three positions. an d u n t i m e l y crash e s . All of th i s wo u ld see m logic a l, that is , u nl es s o ne were t o ask th e o p in i o n Pa s trana himsel f : "T h is rac e, I m ade t wo d ecisions tha t could ha v e p o ssibl y been bad ," sa id Pastran a a f ter h is w in . " J u st K T M r iders p u ll e d holes hots thr ou gh ou t qualifying, but in th e fi nal it was Mo to world of EI Caj on Yamaha' s Greg Schnell reaching the end of th e lon g start st ra ight in first pl ac e, wi th Ro n c ad a a nd Pastra na close beh ind. "I work ed re all y ha rd on m y sta r ts all y ear long," said Schn ell . " an d I wa s ki nd of disappointed in m y se l f b e c au s e I hadn't gotte n a holeshot yet. Tonight I picked the rig h t gate a nd had the rig h t hel p working the gate.' A t the other end of the pack on lap one w as Ronc ada , who was blocked in tu rn one . "I had a good start and I was insi de , bu t Casey Lytle to tally ran me in to the hayba les ," said Ronc ada. " It ma de m e lose so much t im e, and it k ind of pissed me off when I lapped him [later] ." FM F/Ho nda's L y tl e didn' t recall th e inc ident: "I ho nestly do n' t k no w. I don't thi nk so . I was pretty far b ac k [on the start], so he m ust hav e been far back too ." T he second lap saw Sc hne ll come up a bit short on a j ump landing, and Fon sec a used the opportunity to leap by the other two ride rs and into the lead . Past ra n a t o o k over the point b riefl y , t he n w it h more authority on la p fi ve. By that point Roncada had alrea dy pas sed the majority of th e pa c k to sit f ou rth, m a k in g it three Ya rn ah as beh ind th e Suzu k i o f Pas trana . T h at Su zu k i - o nce in the le ad was the on ly 125 to triple a sectio n of jumps ente ri ng the sta dium followi ng a brief ex it . Pastran a's sec ret ? "l jus t h e l d in p i nned i n f o u r t h gea r. an d it work ed fo r m e eve ry lap ," said Pastrana . Pulli ng th e m ove lap after lap , and ridi ng the rest of the trac k st ron g ly as we ll , enab led Pastran a to put a g ap on th e pack with the rac e o ne -th ird of th e way over. From that point he was never challe nge d , tak in g the w in with a com fort abl e five seconds to spare. Beh ind Pastr ana, th in gs were more i nt eres t ing . Roncada j u m pe d b y