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/128615
B Y DA VE DERINGE R PHO T OS BY KI NNEY J O NES SACRAMENTO, CA, MAY 21 t has been some time since Steve Lamson has won a ma jor motocross rac e: May 17. 1998, to be exact. And that win ironically came at the same venue as his m ost rec ent win : Th e Pra irie C it y SVRA Park , o t he rwise kno wn as Hangtown . Aboard a Wor k s Connec tion /Troy Lee Designs/DGY/ BC/Ethics Han sen'sba ck ed and Dave Dye-tuned Honda CR125 , Lamson show ed an estimated 20 ,000 in attendance that he wants and is cap ab le of c apt u ring yet another 125cc Nati on al Cham pi onship . Th e 29 yea r-ol d Mu rrieta, California , resid ent took t he o vera ll wi n with 3 -1 m o to scores on an uncomfortably hot Spring day in Northern California . For Lams on the win was speci al. He grew up in nearby Poll oc k Pin es. won his las t race on the same tr ac k , and after a d isma l 199 9 season, too k a lengt hy break to 9ather his th oughts . Making his return to racin g a week earlier at the Glen Helen National, Lamson made some noise with his th ird -p lac e overall fin ish. Well folk s, Steve Lamson is back! " There were a lo t o f p eople who doubted m y return and ab ility: t he tw o -tim e 125cc National Cha mpion said outsi de his tr an sporter af ter th e race. "I want to prove to th ose people that I'm not over the hill and all washed up. I'v e been off for so long - until last week - and I basically wouldn 't have put this whole deal together if I had any doubts. I' m getting better each week and I'm th ankful for all the people who stuck with and hav e believed in m e lik e Honda , Works Connection and Tro y Lee. I've just look ed at all the magazine artic les and th e pi c k s for th e 12 5cc class and th at has ju st m ade me m ore hungry. I reall y think I can do it again: Fini shin g second overall was Split Fire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Tallo n Voh land . An odd 4 -4 tall y netted Voh land the runner- up position aft er ma ny of the first -moto fro ntru nners finished considerably down in th e fie ld the second time out. Vohla nd , who fin ished a strong third in the '99 championsh ip series, kn ows that consiste ncy ca n earn a champi onship. Desp ite his somewhat "off' fin ishes, Vohland was upbeat abou t the event. "It was the first m ajor heat race of the year and it was tou gh for a lot of riders," Vohland co m me nted of the day. "I kn ow it was tough for me. I had the speed, but I jus t k ept ove rheating. I ju st couldn't functi on at a very high level." " I didn 't lo se any points t o Ron cada ," Vohland add ed, "but now I know that I have to k eep m y ey e on Lam - I son , He is strong , very st rong , an d has a lot of experience: The final podium position went to Yamaha o f Tro y /Fox /Alp in es t ar s ' St ephane Roncada. After decimating the field in moto on e, Roncada ga ted poorl y in the second moto and the n the heat set in and got the best of the 21 - year-o ld F ren c h m an . Hi s 13 th place finish in moto tw o was so me how good eno ugh for th ir d o verall , th ough . Roncad a g oes into round th ree only three points behind Lam son 83 -80 . " T h e fi rst moto went good but I hurt my wri st a little that m ot o," Ron cada said. "I wa s riding good the sec ond m oto but the wrist sta rted to hurt and the heat and eve rything and I lost fo cu s. It is amazin g that I got thi rd overall , I can 't believe it." (Right) Loc a l favorite St eve Lamson (6) beat the other local favorite , Tailon Vohland, to score his first win since 19 98 in the 125cc National. Lamson went 3· 1. (Below) Nathan Ramsey (24) beats out Emest o Fonseca (28) and Vohland (711) for the holeshot in the second 125cc moto. Ramsey had his best ever National ride at Hangtown. M OTO ONE Roncad a grabbed the start and the $ 5 0 0 that g o es wi t h i t fro m THQ . Suzu k i's Travis Pastrana, Yamaha of Tr o y 's C as e y J ohns on a n d G r e g Schnell filed in next . "I don't remember the last ti me I holeshot a rnot o," Ron cada said lat er. " It' s been a very lon g time." Johnson quickly m oved to second and soon thereafter Pastrana cras hed hard throu gh on e of the rocker sections. Lamson suffe red a m i d -pac k st ar t an d b e gan h is ch arg e t o th e front. Ron cada pu lled some distan ce on J ohns on th rough out th e race, wh ile many other riders were havin g difficulties on the ro ugh track and hot weather co ndi ti ons. Yamaha of Troy 's Justin Buck elew and KT M's Rodrig Thain batt led with in the to p five for sev era l lap s, until B uc kele w t oo k a t r ip ove r t he bars going into a co rn er . Vohl and so on c aug ht up t o Tha in and eve ntua lly ma de the pass for th ird . Pastrana took ano the r so il sam p le at th e top of th e h ill and pu lled out of th e race a fe w l ap s lat er alo ng wi th E rne sto F onsec a, who had crashed , as well. La m son was steadily moving forw a rd an d wo rk e d u p to t h e B i ll y Payne/R odrig Tha in battle and soon cue I e got pa st the du o and set his sight s on Vohland. The two champ ionshi p co ntenders had a good race for a short time until Lamson m o t o red b y in t h e rh ythm secti on. A s the tw o -lap bo ard cam e out, Lam so n m a de h is fin al c har g e and th at was to pass J ohnson . Ron cad a wa s lo ng gon e but Lamson h ad t he crowd ch e er ing as he was on J ohnson 's tail on the fi nal lap . Ron cada t ook a st ro ng vi ct o ry an d Johnson held off Lamson to the line. Vo h la n dcross ed the li n e in fo u r t h wi th Th ain and FMF/ Hond a's Danny Smith an d Bro ck Sellards following . Pro Circuit's Nic k Weya nd Motoworld n e _ s • MAY 3 1 , 2000 15