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/128624
comes back to yourself. Now I fe e l that I'm getting back to where I was la s t year. " Se llards gained s ome ground o n several of his co m pe t ito rs that had disastrou s resu lts a t Troy , b ut t h e friendly and outgoing rid er st ill cu rrently holds fifth in th e po int s tand ings wi t h fo u r rounds remaini ng . Alth ough a serie s c h a m p io n s h ip is quite the longshot, he knows what he has to do in the final few ra ces. "I ho pe that I ca n c a rry it o n for the rest of th e season ," he s a id. "I won a t Washougal la st ye a r, and I love th at track . I' m g la d th a t I co uld win fo r Ho nd a tod a y , an d I' m glad a ll m y frie nds and fa m ily were here . Th ere we re p eop le who I ha ven't seen from my 80cc d a ys that ca me up to m e and said , 'co ngra tu lations ,' or 'hi.' It was great." S e c on d ove ra ll we nt t o a semicons istent Steve La m so n. Th e Murrie ta , Ca lifo rn ia, rid er took his Works Conn e ction/DG Y/ T ro y Lee De si gn s s ponsored ride to a second-place finish in th e first m oto a nd a fifth th e secon d tim e o ut. Lams on has be e n preach ing tha t a ny thing ca n hap pen t o anyo ne t h ro ugho u t th e la s t few we e ks , a nd at Tro y th at see med to b e t he case as h is t w o riva ls, S t ephan e Ro nc a da and Travi s Pa s tra na , finish ed a dis ta nce ba ck in th e results. "I'll just keep p lugg ing away ," said th e fr ien dl y La m s on . " F o u r m o re rounds to go , I'm not that far out. Remember, a ny thi ng ca n ha ppen. " Somewhat of a s urpris e was th ird p la c e finish er Br anden J esseman . The Fo mbe ll, Pennsylvania , Suzuki m ounted rid e r took his Bill's Pipes/ Axo /Mot orious . com RM 1 2 5 to a come -from -b eh ind e ighth -place finish in the first m ot o a fte r a terrible start, bu t th en h e ca me o u t t o fi ni s h a strong seco nd in t h e c lo s ing m oto afte r le a ding th e race for m uc h of th e tim e . J e s s em an is n o w rid in g lik e h e wa s expecte d to at the be ginning of th e season , a nd with th e added confide nce g ain e d from h is re sults , h is name ma y just be ap peari ng near th e top more in the ne ar future . "I rea lly wa nt to win a mot o befor e it's a ll over," J esseman sa id from -the pod ium . "I know th at I ca n do it. The b ik es are work ing re ally go od right now, and I'm able to get good starts. That's what it ta kes , a long with being able to ho ld the pac e thro ug hout th e moto, a nd lat ely I am starting to do it ." Factory KTM's Rodrig Thain too k fourth. Afte r be ing strip ped of a podi um fin ish a we e k earlier at Una dilla d ue to m e ch an ic a l troubles , Thai n ca me out swi ngi ng in th e firs t m oto , as he gated well a nd ra n a t the fro nt fo r the entire race, eventually finish ing t hi rd . In th e seco nd m o to , th e Fr en chm an lo o k e d t o b e h a v e a repea t p e rform an ce , bu t nerves a nd se ve re a rm -p ump set in. Still, Th ain 's 3-6 fin is h opened some more eyes , a nd the po ints moved him into n inth in the standings with sever a l roun ds to go . "Tha t was my first podium in th e outdoor series, a nd I am very happy," Thain said . "I got a go od s ta rt , and Travis ha d a probl em with his bike. I like the tra c k too . I like th e jumps. I wa s nervous in th e se cond mot o , think ing a bo u t th e fini sh , and m y arms pumped up ." Yamaha of Tro y's Ern e sto Fonseca finished fifth overall with his 7 -3 m oto finishes, while SplitF ire /Pro Circuit Kawasaki 's Tall on Vohland was next via his 6- 4 m ot o s co re s . Tea m S uzuki' s Trav is Pa stra na ha d his wor st result of th e year, finishing seven th. A malfu nct io ni ng power valv e in th e firs t moto re leg a ted the ta lented te en a g er to a fourth - p lace finis h. A poor s ta rt the second time ou t did not he lp matters , a nd ne ither did a n e ar ly c ras h . S till, Pas tra na holds do wn seco n d in the p o int s sta ndi ngs go ing into th e final stre tch. SplitFire /Pro Circ u it / Kawa s aki's Nic k We y was eight h with 5 -16 finishes , whi le Motoworld of EI Cajon ' s Greg Sc hn ell once aga in took to p p riva tee r hon o rs wit h h is 13 -9 ninth plac e -o ve rall finish. Roun din g o ut th e t o p 1 0 w as Yamaha of Tro y's Stephane Ron c ada . Afte r winning th e last six motos in a row, Ronca da was dealt a bad blow as he c rashed in both motos to even tually finish I I-II . Ha ving come into Troy with a 41-p oi nt c ushi on , t h e fri en dl y Frenchman wa s hard ly affected in the standings, a s Pastrana a lso ha d an off d a y, but at the end of the day , Roncada still had plenty to s ay . "The Fren ch rea lly sucked tod a y , except for Rodrig ," sa id th e batter ed a nd brui s ed Ronca da , wh ile lim p ing a ro u nd th e pits . "It was a ve ry ba d d a y, b u t th o s e g uy s did n't d o th at good e ither, so it wasn 't that bad. My elbow hurts , and m y kn ee too , but I'll be fine ." And wh a t did he thi nk o f e ndi ng h is s ix-moto winning streak? "I ha ve e ig ht motos to go . It' ll be O .K." MOTOONE It was a loc a l bo y who g ra bbed th e m ot o - on e h ol e sh ot in f r on t of a throng of fan s , a nd th at was non e oth e r than A.M. Leonard KTM' s J oe Oehlhof. Th e rid er fr om n earb y Wapakoneta, Ohio , led for half a lap b e fo re Lamson passed him j u s t before the notorious Widow Mak er jum p . "I've been saving that start for th e h om e t o wn ra c e ," Oe h lhof later said. O th er rid ers wh o gated well were Payne , Tha in, Pa stran a , Sellards and Ramsey. Fonse c a went do wn in the first corner , and h is teamma te Ronca da ran into him . Jesseman and Vohland we re a lso way bac k . "I was in t he m iddle of t he pack Steve Lamson tumed in a pair of st ro ng rides. A 2-5 netted him second overall. co mi n g off t he ga te , and Fo nseca we nt down in the co rner ," Ro ncada ex p la ine d of h is mi sfortu ne . "I rode u p right o ve r h is b ik e a n d alm o s t e ndoed, so everybody pa s s ed m e." Lamson to ok co n trol o f th e race for the next few laps as Oeh lhof s lowly dropped back. Thain was the firs t to get by, th e n Pastra na , then S ell ards . J esseman a nd Vo hla nd we re in 20th a nd 21 st, respectively, o n the third lap , while Roncada was ba ck in 33rd aft e r going down in a heap with severa l ot he r rider s . "E ve ry b o d y was g o ing insid e in th at t igh t, left -h and ed 180de gre e t urn, so I we n t o u tside, " Ro nca da ex p la ine d afte r th e ra ce . "O ne gu y on t h e insi de hit an othe r g uy , a n d his bike sh ot ac ros s the tra c k a nd hit me in t he fa c e. Boom , I h it th e g ro und . Wh en I was getting up, an other g uy hit m e . My b ike was all f@%$ed up , a nd m y b o ot cam e o ff , s o I rod e a round a nd tried to buckl e i~ up . I wa s half a lap down on th e first lap ." Pa s tr an a mov ed by Tha in o n lap seven, a s did Sellards. A la p later , th e two moved by Lamson for the lead. S ellard s chased Past ra na fo r a lap until he bloc k-passed his way into the lea d in a tig ht left-h and corner. Soon thereafte r, Pas t ra n a s ee med to be h av in g b ike t ro u bles , a s he sl o wly d ro pped ba ck . Lam s on c h a rge d bac k b y Pas tra na , as d id Tha in. The top four wer e s o far ahead of fifth -pla ce ride r We y , cha nces were th at Pastrana would be a ble to hold his po s ition to the fin ish . Ron c ada wa s up to 17th with se ve ra l la p s to g o , bu t he s t ill wa nted cue I e more . Voh land moved into s ixt h as the t wo - la p bo ard c a m e out , an d Jesseman was up to 11 th o S ellards gained som e distance in the last few la ps , cruising to h is first moto-win of the yea r , in fro nt of many of his famil y and friends. Lam son wa s a co mforta ble se cond , while Thain c rossed fo r his be st finis h of the ou td oor season in third . Pastrana wa s a d is t an t fo ur th wit h a p owe r va lve probl em , an d We y c ro ssed in fift h . Nex t were Voh lan d , Fon sec a (who sta rted in dea d -las t), J essem an , Pi ng ree a n d FM F / Ho n da' s Danny S mit h . Roncada fin ished in 11 th and said , "If th a t race was 50 mi nut e s lon g , I would ha ve ca ug ht th em a ll a nd won ." MOTOTWO B ill 's Pipes / Axo / Mo to rious .co m Suzuk i' s Dav id Pin g re e grabbed the s ta rt and $500 from THQ, and was chas ed b y t e a m m a t e Jess eman , Plano Hon da 's Pau l Currie a nd Tha in. Ra msey, Sellards , Fon sec a a nd Voh la nd were also up there. Lamson was a fe w positio ns ba c k, as was Ron c a da, and Pastrana e nded th e first la p in 26th. J esseman took over the lea d ea rly in th e first lap. Th a in also passed the e a rly leader Pingre e a nd moved into second. Thain followed J ess eman fo r seve ra l la ps , as Fon se c a a nd Sellards wer e moving forwa rd a nd battl ing as wel l. On th e fourth of 14 laps , S ell n e vv S • A UGUST 2 . 2 0 0 0 9