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 Mountain MX (Left) Mercedes Gonzales came out of retirement to make a n appearance in the Women's Pro division, and ended up collecting the main-event win. (Below) Riding against some stiff c o m petition , Bri an Gray scored the overall win in the 125cc Intennediate main event. (Bo tto m) Sc o rin g the 80cc (12 - 13 1 class v ictory was Suzuki rider Kyle Partridge. day to take a come-from -beh ind vic - both h is m orn ing qualifier an d th e tory in th e 250cc Intermediate divi - final later in the day. Harden topped sion in fro n t of fast -starter Sean Lann y Turn er , Greg W ol f e , D avid O 'Connor , Josh St ice, Evan Laugh- Montgomery and Ric k Ana ya on the ridge and T im Weigand. da y 's overa ll scorecard . B r en t Harde n put K T M on th e The min i di vis io ns were full of tal - board this week by taking ho me t op e n t ed y o u t h s , wit h Team G reen ' s honors aboa rd a four -stro ke in the Open Junior division. Harden was on James St ewart and Team Thousand O ak s Yam aha /KTM 's Mik e Al es si a ro le right from th e get -go, winning eac h scoring tw o separate cla ss titles. B R I EF L Y••• This year' s eve nt drew ove r 4000 visito rs and 1300 ·plus entries during the four days of co mpetition. Each day saw a designa t ed grou p compete: Thursday wa s V eteran s and Senior s. Friday featured the M ini. W omen and Ope n classes . Satu rday the 125cc and Supermini racers. and finally Sund ay wa s re served for all 250 s. Each parti cipa nt in every event was issued a n u mbe r a n d a b ackground color prior to the race. wh ich helped keep each race very uniform-looking and organized. with each rider's number based on a first -come, fir st-served basis (the earlier yo u sign up. the lower the number). Once sig ned up and at the race . each race r sti ll had to try and make -a final mo to for his divisionC via quali f iers. Only a ride r' s placing in that final co unts as the hnal score . In other s) word s. how yo u finished in the main was your final sco re (like supercross) . O ne might have thought that J eff North rop wa s go ing to pull a big hole shot in the 250cc Pro class on Sunday after his pit crew dug a tren c h all the way to the first tum prior to Sunday 's final in the 250cc pro even t. So enthusiastic was the line prep that Vu illemi n eve n joined in pac king do wn hi s riv al' s ga te spo t righ t alongside Northro p ' s mechanics, " M ay be nex t year I will bring a tracto r for my start gate. " V uillemin said. According to J onathon Shimp. he had some thing to do with V uillernin' s presence at the race. " It w as actua lly my id e a fo r Vuillemin to come here to Mamm oth. ' Shimp explained . ' When we were do ing the phot o for the new line of Yamaha s . I to ld him about M am mo th and t hat he sho uld go . I guess he must have liked what I told him beca use here he is . " Form er Mammoth pro wi nner Ron Lechie n was a parti cipant in M ammot h' s Vet Pro class . but for got to hll his fuel tank and promp tly ran out of gas during the race. Lechien wa s able to get thing s toge the r en oug h to s t ill p o st a t op -t 0 f ini s h aboard his Maxima backed Honda. M ammoth has period ically served as the debut for next· yea r · mode l M Xer s. and pre -ra ce rumor had it that David V uillemin wou ld be aboard a YZ2 50F . A s this photo makes clear. the rumors we re unfo unded . 20 JULY 12, 2000' cue I e n e vv s