Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Che vy T ru c k s 1 2 6 / 2 6 0 c c N ation al C h a m p io n s h ip M o tocro s s S erie s R ound : 4 : M o t o c ros s 338 ride. Pro Circu it/SplitFire /K awasaki's Nick Wey took seventh (9-8) with Fon sec a ta king eighth (14 -6) . Ninth ove ra ll went David Pingree who nailed th e hole sh ot in th e second moto a bo a rd his AXO/Motorious.com Suzuk i. Pingr ee's 15 -7 ride just edge d ou t Southwick fav orite Sc ott Carter , wh o rod e t o 1 1 - II fin ish e s a t o p a Man che ster -b acked Honda. MOT0 1 By D A VE D E RINGER PH OT OS BY K ARL O CK ERT SOUTHWICK, MA, JUNE II t was bound to happen soon er or later. In only his fourth Professional o utdoor motocross Nation al e ve r , Team Suzuki/No Fear/Shoei/Ac claimsponsored Tra vis Pastrana pro ved that sooner , was more likely than later. The 16 -year-o ld Pastrana po wered his Lee McC ollum -tun ed RM125 to tw o b ig moto wins and his first Nation a l ove rall victory in the dee p sand at MX 338 in Southwick. Com ing off h is first -ev er Nati on a l m oto win two wee k s ea rlie r at th e m uddy High Point National , Pastrana p icked up where he left off by ta king the first m oto win a t Southw ic k a fter a n int ens e batt le with Sp litFi re / Pro C irc uit ' s Tall o n Voh la n d . Th e two bump ed a nd s wa pp e d p o sit ion s num erous times , b ut Pa stran a pre vail ed aft er Vohl an d c rashed a nd lost se ve ral pos ition s m idwa y through the race. Th e second moto seemed to be a ca rb on c op y as th e t wo t it le c o n tenders went at it on ce aga in. Pas tra na us e d his yo uth fu l e ne rg y an d held off his e lde r riva l Vohla nd all th e wa y to the ch e cke rs af ter a lo ng e r duel that fan s a nd c om p etitors enjoyed. "I had no idea wha t to ex pect com - ing in here today ," Pastran a sa id. "I haven't been here for ye a rs a nd d idn't know how I'd do . The racing wa s fun. I 28 J UNE 21 . 2000' cue I e Tall on a nd I c o nnected a c o u p le o f tim e s in the fi rs t m oto and it was exc iting . I' ve never fo u nd so much di rt all o ver m y body a ft er a ra c e . Th is is a ve ry un ique tra c k. Th e fan s a re a m az in g , too . I c an h e a r th em everywhere an d it' s s uc h a bo ost." Second on th e da y wen t to Ya ma h a of Tr o y ' s S t e ph ane Ro n c a d a . A se ve nth -place s ta rt in the first moto ma de for an e a s ier-t ha n- us ua l c harge to t he front whe re h e wo u ld fin ish second . Th e Fren c hm an gat ed m uch wo rse th e second t im e out and tha t c ha rge wou ld ha ve a n e nd res u lt of fou rth. The c ons istent California re sident is now only one point out of the series le ad a n d t h ings are loo k ing good for the Fox/ Alp inest ar s / Oa kley s ponsored ride r. "I'm riding good but I need to get better s ta rts ," Ronca da sa id . "Those g u ys a re p re tt y fast up t he re , so I nee d to get bette r sta rts . I don't like coming thr oug h the pack e ve ry tim e ." Wor ks C onn e cti on / DG Y/ Troy Lee /Hanse n's ba c ked Ste ve La m son had a qu iet but prod uct ive da y by filling out the podiu m in third . His 4 -3 fin is hes kee p th e two- t im e 12 5c c Nati on al Champion in th e points lea d fo r th e th ird ra ce in a row, a nd La m so n definitely knows wha t it takes to win a c ha mp ions h ip. "I d e finitel y want t o win , b ut I'll tak e a ll th e poin ts tha t I'm getting ," Lamson said . "The po ints are a ll that I'm th inkin g ab out right now a nd I'm getting th em, so it's good ." n E! VII S Travis Pastrana celebrates after winning the first National of h is career. The rookie won both motos, despite throwing away his goggles and having brake problems in the second outing. F ou rth w ent t o the Ka w asaki m ounted Vohland . Com ing off a thir d overa ll th e pr ev iou s ra c e two weeks e a rlie r, Voh land h ad a no the r actio n pa cke d out ing . It all starte d with a n a mazing battl e betw een him a nd Pas tr a n a ea r ly in m oto o ne. T h e t wo tou c h ed in th e a ir o n two se p a ra t e occ as io ns a nd c ro s s e d lin e s m o re th an on c e . Vohland eje cted of f h is b ike la te r in th e moto af ter ta ggi ng E rn e s t o F on se c a , b u t a la te -r a ce charge wou ld se e him finis h in e ighth. Th e second moto saw a n e pic batt le on c e a ga in , a nd a lth o ug h Past rana p rev a iled , Vo h la nd k n o ws t hat h e gave it h is all. With th e ride , Vohla nd sits in thi rd , on ly nine points o ut of the lea d, with m or e tha n half of the se ries rema in ing. Vo h lan d sa id , " Pa s t ra n a is a n a ggres s ive rider , wha t else can I say? We bumpe d a couple of times today . He definitely has a lot of sp eed , but 1 do n't know if he ca n ha ve that consis tency a ll the way to the end . I rode my best and I really do belie ve that. It's hard to lose like that but there 's nothin g you can d o whe n yo u ride yo ur be st an d ge t beat . We both rod e our best." Fifth went to Yamaha of Troy's Casey Johnson (6 -5 ) , wh ile FMF/ Honda's Broc k Se llards took s ixth via his 3 -14 Split Fire / Pro Ci rc u it/K a wasak i's Nath an Ra m s e y gra b b e d th e sta rt wit h F on sec a , Lam s on , Pa st ra n a , Voh la nd an d lo c al ho ts h o e Wall y Silva chasing furiously. "I h it n eutra l in th e firs t t urn bu t s o meh ow pull ed o ff a goo d sta rt ," Past rana la ter said. Ramsey held the po int ea rly on a nd wa s on ly pr e ssu red by Fons e c a the fi rst fe w laps . S e ver al lap s la t e r , th ou gh, he pulled so me d istan c e a nd then started a fre ight -tra in effect th at had around seven riders s hredding the loamy sa nd turns in re pe a t fas hion. As m ost rid ers were now cover ed wit h a lig ht coat of sa n d fro m the h e a vy ro o s t , the sp otl e s s Ramse y beg an to tire from the fast and busy pac e . Pastra na a nd Vohland bega n to ba ttle fo r t he thi rd a nd fo u rt h pos itio ns a nd the c rowd loved it. T h e tw o tou ch ed in th e a ir o ve r o ne of t h e man y ro lle r j um ps a nd a fte r la nd ing th e two briefly glanced at each other to see if the y we re both up rig ht. After a few la ps of that, Pastrana p ulle d ahead and moved into second a round Fonseca . Vohland tried to get by Fonseca a s well , bu t when push came to shove , Vo hla nd was left picking himsel f up after clipp ing the Yamaha pilot a nd be ing spat off his bike. Fo nse ca was n ot faze d b y the m ov e , b u t s o on th er eafte r, Fonse ca was invo lve d in a violent solo crash. "We ca m e to g ethe r, but I s tayed u p ," Fon s e c a sai d . "I cras h ed re a l bad by m yself a fte r that a nd t h a t' s where I lost so m a ny po sitions ." Pastr an a was now o n Ra msey's ta il and h e m ad e h is pas s d own a wh oope d -o ut r oug h swe e pe r s tr a ig ht. Tw o laps later , Pa str an a had a five -sec ond le a d over the sec o nd -placed Ramse y an d was in total co ntrol. A lig h t ra in b e g a n to fall a s t h e two -lap board c a me ou t an d Ron cada wa s now into seco nd with Sella rds following in th ird. Past rana ca me ac ross for t h e c hecke rs a nd he e l-c licked to his second moto victory in a row . Ron cada, Sellards , Lamson , Ramse y, Johnson , Silva , Vohland , We y a nd Motow orld of EI Cajon 's Greg Schnell followed in th at o rde r. "It wa s hard to pass b ec ause there is onl y on e good line and it wa s usu a lly taken," Past rana said . "I just had to ge t cre ative a nd make so me new lines."

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