Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Ch e vy Trucks U .S. Motecro s s C h ampionship S eries Round 3 : Hig h Point R a c e w a y MOUNTMORRIS, PA, MAY 28 eam Yam ah a's David Vuil lemin ha s spent much of th e 2000 rac ing season proving himself t o his new America n riv als and fan s. So far , the Frenchm an h as shown that h e ca n win at Sup ercross (four times, in fac t) , and that he can win on a rough, fast motocross track in th e sea ring heat (Hangtown) . And now th e Americans can add ra in y , mudd y motocross races to the list of racing conditions in which the 22 -y ear -o l d Vu illem in excels. In downright nast y 'w e a t h e r , Vuillemin , on his Brian K inney -tuned YZ250 , took the measure of Ameri can mud speci ali sts Kev in Windham and John Dowd at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris to win his sec ond -stra ight round of the 2000 AMA/Chevy Trucks 250c c U .S . MX Championship Series. But unl ike last we ek ' s stifli ng Hangtown heat, the High Point race w as a miserable, muddy affa ir. The rain beg an early Saturd a y m orn ing and never let up until th e beginning of Sunda y ' s fina l 250c c m o to , leav in g th e norm ally pristin e High Point facili ty look in g like a gi ant mud bog . The co nditions were si mi lar to such notorious mud races as the High Point '9 7 contest, the only race Damon Brad - shaw won foll owin g hi s reti rement , or even th e le gen da ry ' 9 1 Han g t o wn race , t he only AMA N a t i on al ever ca lle d after on e moto on account of rai n and won by then -privat eers J ohn D owd (2 5 0 c c ) and Doug H enr y ( 125cc) . "T h is is th e ty pe of race wh ere you ca n lose a c h am pio nshi p, n ot win one," said Vuill em in , referrin g to th e terrib le mud. "I t was a go o d d ay to ri de smart and ma ke as many points towards the championship as poss ible . I j ust kept moving forward and gave it one hundred percent until th e fin ish in both races. I am not so very happy because it was ju st a very tough race and I was ri ding rea lly safe. Today I got some go od po ints and that's wha t really matters . And I th ink I prov ed to every one tha t I can ride the mud, too. " " If I go an hour and 10 m inutes on a day like this and on l y make o ne real mi st ake, I can fee l pretty good about m y da y ," said W indh am , who got cross- rutted on an off-cambered corne r , w hile l ead i n g t h e second m ot o and fell down . "I lost the overall by j ust one point, and that's the sec ond time in a row that's ha ppened . I just hav e t o k eep w ork in g hard an d th at p o in t w il l star t s wing ing my way ." " W i t h my back still giving m e problems and all , I'm pretty stoked about having a day whe re I w in a 12 n B Y D A VEY C OOM BS P HOT O S BY K A RL O CKERT T JUNE 7, 2000' cue • e DVU'S M ike laRocco (51. K evin Windham (141. David Vu illemln (9341 and Sebastien Tortelli (211 prepare to get dirty at the wet Mount Morris National. moto and take t h ird overall aga inst th ese guy s," said J ohn Dowd , who ha s been battling a b ac k i nj u r y in recent weeks but still earn ed th e firstmoto w in . " I h av e alwa y s b eli ev ed tha t mud rac es lik e th is are as mu ch ab o ut luc k a s a ny t h in g, and I w a s pretty lucky tod ay . I got the hole~hot in bo th m otos and had a ch an ce to win the overall , but I just wasn 't ab le to follow through . It was still a good da y for m e." Ezra Lus k 's 5-4 moto fin ishes were his be st of 2000. "I was up front in both motos, j ust trying to rac e with these gu ys and get back in t o th e groove," sa id Lusk , who suffered a t err ib le shoulder inj u r y in Janua ry and missed the entire SX se ason . "Today was a little bit of a st ep pi ng stone and I th ink I have someth ing to bu ild from no w." Fifth overall went to the Honda of Seb ast i en Tort ell i. Tortelli seemed disappoi nte d at being sho wn up b y his old 'schoo lboy rival Vuill em in . "T he day went good until th e last t wo laps of th e sec ond moto ," sa id the former 2 -ti me World MX Cha m p i on, who also hail s from Fr ance. "I lost a lot of points and I am p retty sad about that. Now I have to get ready for Southwick , which will be another tough race . I need to start winning some of these races." T he mud at High Point was once again unfriendly to Ricky Carmichael. The 250cc ser ies points leader com ing int o the race suffered th rough two first -lap J ail s and pla yed catch -up all afternoon, j us t as he did in his fi rst vis it to High Point as the 125cc points l e a d er in 19 9 7 . The 20 - year-o ld Kawasaki factory rider on ly managed to fin ish 12th in each m oto and sur rendered h is p o l e pos iti on i n t he rankings to Vu ill emin . "I just go t a little ex ci te d and m ade some mistak es , " said Carmi ch ael , who now sits fourth in th e standings with a tot al of 1 11 points, 14 points behind Vuillemin, 1 1 shy of Wi ndham and six poi nts b ehind t h ird -ranked Tor te ll i. " I wi sh I wouldn 't hav e crashed on th e first lap ea c h tim e, because I was hav ing a lot of fun ou t there. In each m oto I got more points than I thought I would get afte r crashing. Now I'm just looking forward to getting back on some dry ground." . Carmichael wasn 't t he o n ly t itle contender to lo se his footin g at Mount Morris. Defending 250cc Nati onal MX Ch am p ion and High Po int '99 rac e w inner Greg A lbertyn was handi cap ped by a torn ACL in h is knee , which he su ffered at Ha ngto wn . The knee injury ma d e pa d dling through the deep ruts a problem , and the rod in hi s femur that he needed to have inserted after breaking his leg at the Atla nta SX bac k in Fe brua ry co uld not have helped m att ers, either. " T he fem ur d oes not g ive m e as mu ch problem s in a race like th is as th e knee do es," said th e disappointed Suzuki ride r. "Right now it just seems lik e if it 's not on e th ing, it' s another. " Th e South African ran 1 1-24 in th e tw o motos for 17th o verall. After getting caught up in a massive pile-up in th e first m oto at the first tum, Competition Accessor ies / Amsoil/Fac tory Conne ction's Mike laRocco never got on track . As a matter of fact, the Honda -mounted LaRocco finished behind Carmichael in both motos. His 13-14 moto score was only good for 12th ov erall , o ne spot beh ind Carmichael. It also dropped the former two-time AMANati on al MX Champion to ninth in th e series rankings. MOT01 B y the t ime the starting gate sp lash ed into the mud to signal th e beginning of the first moto, the tra ck had be come ' a qu ag mi r e . That seemed to suit Kaw asaki' s 34 -year ol d veteran Dow d j ust fin e. He got a goo d j um p and managed t o fi nd j ust a little more drive up the first hill tha n the rest of the pack. " M y K aw a saki w ith th e Bridg e sto ne tire s got m e out of th e starting gat e j ust fi ne and that's half the ba ttle here," said the vet eran Dowd. Ridi ng in Dowd 's wake (almost literally) were a pair of factory riders -

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