Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Vuillem in's Yama ha on the fifth lap , but a would -be pass turned into a bobble which let Vuillemin get away s lightly, so Tortelli ha d to sta rt all over again . No problem for him, tho ugh. A few la ps later, Torte lli was aga in bre athing down Vuillemin 's neck a nd looking for dayl ight. Near the 2 0 m inute ma rk , Tortelli finally saw the light and motored around Vuillem in , a nd he t h en set his sights on the leader, Carmichae l. To rtelli did not ha ve a who le lot of ground to ma ke up on Carmichael as he co ntinued his drive to the front. By the 25 -min ute mar k, Tortelli was right on Ca rmic hael's rea r fender, an d it wa s only a matter of time before the former Wor ld Ch ampion woul d pa ss the th reetim e 125c c Nat ional Champion. An d that time came when Carmichael went ins ide a nd Tortelli we nt outside in a wide , sweeping bowl turn . The pa ss now compl et ed , th e race was all Tortelli's. . Tortelli qu ic kly o pe ne d up a s m a ll gap and led the rema in ing fe w laps , ta king the checkered flag some n ine s e c onds ah ead o f Ca rmic h a e l, wh o backed off on the la st la p. "S e b a s t ie n is rid in g real g o od ,". Carmichael sa id afterwa rds . "I had a big lead, and all of a sudden he was right th ere. He c a ug ht up to m e and passed m e , a nd he de s e rved it [the win] . I did n't get tired ; I just have to pick up the pace in the second rnoto." "It was a good ride ," Tortelli said. "I rode my race and went m y pace, [but] I ha d to push it a couple times : Afte r getting pass ed by Tortelli , Vuillemin fell way off the pace but still managed to k eep c o n t ro l of third place, and that was because Windham had fallen off the pace, a s well. "I g o t a go od start bu t g o t ti re d when Se ba stien pas sed me ," Vuillem in sa id . "I sta rted to make mista kes ." Vuillemin too k the checkered flag in third pla ce a pproxim ately 25 seconds behind Carm icha e l, while Win dh am c rosse d th e finish lin e 12 seco n ds behind Vuillem in. laRocco gra bbed fifth bu t not with out a good sc ra p with long- time rival Ward, who e nded up sixth just ah ead (Above) Torte lli (21) chases down t ea m mat e Kevin Win dha m In the second mo t o. (Left) David Vuillemin (934) ho leshot both motos but c oul dn 't ta ke a dva ntage of his quick getaw ays. (Bottom left) Ricky Cannichael w a s an othe r of Tortelli's victims. R.C. went 2-3 for runne r-up honors. of Albe rtyn and Ferry. Albertyn was on the move and try ing to get around Ward e arlier in th e race wh en he went down and had to work his way ba c k up . Finis hing ninth wa s Huffma n , wh ile round ing o ut the top 10 was Re yn ard . M O T OTWO Vuillemin nailed his second holesh ot of the da y in mot o two a nd would lat er say , "That [getting two holesh ots ] was the only thin g I did right a ll da y." Mu ch as with th e first m ot o , Vuillemin ' s g lory up front d idn 't last fo r long , th ough he d id m an a g e to was not so good," Torte lli said. "I th ink I had more stren gth at the end: Th e ne xt time a ro und, Tort e lli was given the two- la p boa rd , and the race was all his. Tortelli opened up a small lead o ver Windha m and took the checkered flag with about five seconds to s pare. "I thi nk what m ade th e diffe rence today was that I got ve ry good sta rts for the first time: Tortelli said. "I pulled out a little bit and was feeling good ," Wiodham s aid. '" had o ne bad tap with a rea l s low lap time. , go t ca ug ht up with a lapper , a nd that was pr etty much all it took . O nce he got ba ck on m y tail , I st arted riding be hind m e and s tarte d m a kin g mistakes . It bums me o ut; I've bee n train ing hard , but whenever you ride like that yo u get tired - I did, just mentally. He made a good pass on me, a nice outs ide pass. I can't believe I let that happen ." F inish ing a good fi v e secon d s behind Windham was th ird -place fin isher Carmichael. Th e Kawa s a ki rider never had a c ha nc e in th is one aft e r getting off the starting line in se ve nth place , and by time he had passed King, Wa rd, LaRocco and Vuillem in an d was in firm control of th ird place on the sixth lap , Windham and Tortelli were long since gone. Still, Carmichael gave it his best sh ot . "I got a bad sta rt , and those guys checked out," Carmich a el sai d . "I did all I co uld do to reel the m. I ca ug ht up a little bit and then got into so me lap pers . They got ba c k fa rthe r a head of me , a nd it wa s over. O h well." Li'ke he sai d , Ca rmic hael actua lly ga ine d some ground on the lead du o a nd ha d the crowd wo nderi ng if he woul d get in on the le ad actio n. But Windh a m and T o rt e lli were ju st too mu ch for Carmicha el on th is day . lead t he pa ck for two la p s instea d of two t u rns . On c e h e got p a s s e d by W indham durin g th e th ird la p , Vuill em in dropp ed b a c k t o fo u rt h wh ere he would run for m o st of th e race before gett i n g p a s s ed b y La Rocco four la p s from the e nd. O n th at third lap , Vu ille m in ga ve way to Windh a m and first-rnoto winner Torte lli, and from there for the next 30 mi nutes , it was a t wo - m a n Honda show. The two riders broke away from Vuillemin a nd the rest of the pac k a s they disputed over the lead position. Windham was in c o m m a nd early o n, not letting his teammate get too close - no more than a couple of bike lengths. As the minutes ticked away, the Windha rn/Tortelli s hootou t continued on, and it wasn't until just after the halfway point th at Torte lli stepped up h is pace and reall y began pestering Windham. Whe n Windham got held up by lappers on on e lap , To rte lli began to ma k e attempts to pass h im . And Tortelli had a plan. Th e Fr enchman d ecid ed to m ake his m ove through the exact same turn where he had pa s s ed Carm icha el for the lea d in the first mo to. Tortelli ra iled the outs ide a nd rode a round a stun ned Windham . '" m ad e a good outsi de m ove o n him ; I trie d to get by him early , bu t I c ue I e n e _ S • JULY 12, 2000 7

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