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/128614
forward, advancing to thi rd befo re the rnotos f inish , though he did ha ve some t ro u b le passing Sellards, " B ro c k was wild , " Pastrana said . " Sell ard s is usually pretty nice to me , but we were bump in g a 1 / tha t lap or 0 t w o . He reall y d idn ' t want me to get b y ." S e ll ard s we n t wide in a co rne r, h o w e v e r , a n d Pastra n a put a b l o c k p ass on h im and got in Sell ards ' rut on th e fo llowi ng strai ght. Ro nc ad a to o k th e convinc ing wi n , wit h J ohn son follo w ing in sec ond , w e ll a hea d o f Pas trana . L a m so n took fou rth , an d V ohland , w h o had h i gh -s id ed i n a tangle wi t h Lam s on , r ec overed for fifth ahead of Sellards. M OT 0 2 A s t h e risin g a f te rnoo n br e ezes b egan to tease th e co lo rfu l flag s lin ing th e track , Lamson pull ed a nother h ol esh ot o n hi s f a ct o r y - assis t ed H ond a , lead in g FMF /H onda 's M i ch ae l Br a nd e s u p An i m a l L eap . Brand es, ho w e v er , got out of sha pe comi ng b ac k down, cartwheeling off Aft er defending 250cc National Champion Greg Albertyn crashed during the February 25 practi ce for the Atlanta Supercr oss, break ing his femur, a lot of peopl e wrote him off. Th ey knew the severit y of the injury (one of th e most dreaded for professional motocross racers), and they doub ted his chan ces of returning during the season . let alone at top form . Suzuki honchos no doubt fretted about the possibility of m issing out on their first opportun ity to adorn their bik e with the number-one plat e since Jeremy McGrath 's iIIfated '97 Supercross season (and that pl ate hadn 't been eamed on a Suzuki). Obviously. Alb ertyn 's injury was a big deal to every one invol ved. But unbeknownst to m any , just thr ee weeks after the inju ry occurred , Alb ertyn began ridin g a bicycle, swimming and spend ing two to three hours every day in the gym . " Dr. Bill Fagan put me on som e speci al vitam ins and suppleme nts to get the bone healed strong ," said Albertyn . " It's defi nitely a psycho logic al thing , not j ust the ph ysica l. But I've put that behind me, and I'm giving it the best I'v e got . I really believe it was the power of God that got me here today. At seven and a half weeks [aft er th e acci dent ], I was rid ing with no pain whatsoever. My leg was strong, and, to me, that's miraculous." T he re aren 't ma ny who wo uld a rgue ag ainst the speediness of Albe rty n's reco very being mi racu lou s. Add to that the fact that he wasn't j ust ridin g aro und at the Glen Helen opener - he was seriously com petitive . With a stro ng third in the first moto and a fifth in the second, he can only get stro nger, to the dismay of his competition. "Cond ition -wise, I'm maybe 80 percent," said Albertyn. "A few more weeks of tra inin g, and I'll be 100 percent, and ready to fight 'til th e end," Don't coun t him out. Steve Cox Se lla rd s n ext fe ll v ic tim to Joh n so n l ater in th e lap, a nd t he top fo u r rea d Ron c a d a , Jo h nso n , Sellards a n d L am s on . P a st r an a , w ho h ad sta rte d o u ts ide th e to p 20 , w a s in fifth . " I co m p le te ly forg ot a bo u t co n c ret e starts," said Pa stran a, wh o also (Top) Stephane Roncada was im pressive in scoring hi s first Nationa l win. The Frenchman won the f irst moto and was se c ond in moto two, despite a bad start. IAbove) Travis Pastrana presses t he fl e sh after his debut National. The rookie rode well, posting 3-4 fin ishes for fourth overall, despite h is troubles with the conc re t e start pad. sta rt ed p o orly in hi s qua lifi ers . "To tell yo u th e truth , I hadn 't p ra cticed a single o ne sin c e last y ea r. " began t o sp r e ad ou t a bit , th ou gh Ro ncada im m ediat ely pulled out a Pastrana d idn' t appear eager to b ack cushion , and t he top positions finally In the second 125cc moto, SplitFire/Pro Circuit Kawasak i's Nick Wey put a nasty block on Yamaha of Troy's Ernesto Fons eca . Th e m ove happened o n th e Mt. St. Hel ens uphil l, and Fon seca 's resul ting c ras h left him strande d halfway up th e hil l. " Noth ing inte ntional . tha t's for sure ," said Wey , but Yama ha of T ro y m an ager Erik Kehoe said Fonseca saw it differently . "Ni ck moved over on him: Kehoe said. " He purposely just mov ed him over to t he edge . Ern esto said he co m m itte d to the pass, and he reall y didn't think he was go ing to move ove r that ha rd, but the bike just ca me ove r right into him and put h im down.. .1 think Ni ck was a lit tle frustrated. Th ere's been talk that our bikes are so fast. " When he pic ked his bike back up near the top of the hill , the incli ne was too steep for Fon seca to get back underway . Th ere wasn't room to get off th e tr ack , so he turned his bik e do wnhil l, waited for tr affi c to pass. and slo wly rod e down a few y ard s before turni ng sideways and th en barely ma nagin g to cl im b to th e top . "Th ere was sup posed to be a lane in back of th ose ba les," said AMA MX Manager Duke Fin ch , of why he didn't pena liz e Fonseca for going bac kwards. "There was no plac e for him to go . He got right, t ight to th e ba les, [and went] super-slow . He had no option. The re was supposed to be enough spa ce behind the bales, but th ey got pushed out ." o ff. T h e rook ie continued t o m ov e c ue I e n Ie VII' S MAY 2 4 , 2000 9