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/128621
Mammoth Mou ntain MX S TO RY A ND PHO TOS BY . T O NY A LES SI MAMMOTH lAKES, CA, JUNE 22·25 O W do yo u top winning AMAlEA Sports 250cc Supercross rounds and A MA IChevy Trucks 250cc H Nation al M otocross rounds in your first ye ar fu ll -t im e in a foreign coun try ? If y o u' r e Frenchman David Vuillemin , th e answer is winning the 1 25 , 250 cc and Open Pro ma in events durin g the 33rd annual run nin g of th e ep ic and prist igi ou s Mam m oth Mountain Mo tocross in centra l California. It was a very memora bl e week for t he T eam Yamaha rider , who ' was m a k i n g h is first -ever visit to the m ount ain . "T his is a very good race," 18 J ULv 1 2 .2000 · c u e I EO he said. "Mo re top-name pros sho uld come here and ride the three different classes , like a shootout. It's a good way to prove who is the best rac er." Th e pits had a buzz all week th at Vuill em in was shooting for the triple c rown , a feat that kept p it pundits flipp ing through the pages of th e Mammoth history books all week. As it turns out, the only other riders to h av e ever trip led the t h ree prem i er classes ar e Warren Reid, Rick John son and J ohnny O 'Mara. PRO RACING Vu ill em i n was s u p pose d to be most vul ne rab le in the 125cc class because of h is b ig size and minimal seat time on tiddlers of late, but he took the holeshot and simply walked n e ... s aw ay , pick ing unique li nes on hi s way to the w in . "You have to k eep up yo ur mom entum when ri di ng a 125," he said , " So sometimes you have to create l in es that are d ifferent than the oth er riders' ." While Vuillemin was stretching out a lead , rookie pro Jonathan Sh imp and Chris Gosselaar were having at it for second . " Chris goes fast , bu t after he pa ssed me he would square off the turns and blowout the berms ," Shimp said . " It was ha rd for me to us e m y lin es." Gosse laar e ve n t ua lly ran i n to prob lems and dropped back to eighth whil e Team G reen ' s And rew Sho r t wo rk ed his wa y up to finish a solid second beh ind Vuill emin . S himp , recover ing KTM racer Keith J ohnson Putting a w ee ke nd off fro m th e National circuit to good use, David Vuillemln took all three Pro-class wins at Mammoth. and Kawasaki 's Jeff Northrop round ed out the top five . I n the 250c c ma in , Gos se laar gated p e r f e c t l y a n d pulled the ho le s hot foll o w ed b y North rop , Vuillemin and a surprising Sh imp. " I bogged off the gate and came into the first tu rn like out of th e to p 20 ," Shimp said, " b ut the guy s aH went wide an d I was able to tuck i n t o fo ur t h before th e downh i ll. I j ust pinned it ." B y t h e end o f the f irst lap the Yamah as of Vuillemin and Sh im p were one and two on the racetrack , but Vuillemin started to wave Shi mp