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/128627
(Ab ove left) Joshua Lichtle won the 8 0 c c Stock (1 2-1 3) c lass. (Above) Both Ian Trettel (11 9) and Co lto n Bailey (219) ca m e away w ith Pee Wee class titles. BRIEFLY••• It' s been a long time since J acob M artin had been on the track, but the Team Suzuki Sport s rider from Edmond, Oklahoma, look ed as fast and as strong as ever at Ponca City , Ever since injuring his shoulder tw o years ago at the Houston Supercross, Mart in has spent more time at the doct or' s office than at the track. After dislocating his shoulder at Houston, Martin finally had it operated on in June 2000, then he injured his ot her shoulder and had that one operated on thi s past February. He didn 't ride again until the end of May, At Ponca City , it appears that Martin' s shoulder problems are behind him. He wo n both 125cc Pro classes and put up a good fight in the two 250cc Pro classes on his F&S/ Reynard Modi fications/No Fear-backed Suzukis. ' Not only did Thousand Oaks Yamaha/ KTM -bac ked Mike A lessi claim four clas s championships at Ponca City , but he also won every mota en route, that' s 12 mot os in all, which is believed to be a new Ponca City record for the most con secu tive mota wins. The late Rick Hemme holds the record fo r the most class wins < one eventJ at Ponca City wit h five. Hemme at accomplished that feat in 1980 . Many Ponca City veteran s were heard saying that this year's Grand National Championship at Ponca City was the best yet. Why? Mainly , because it didn't rain. Usually. the Ponca City GNC s experiences at least one day of showers. small hurricanes or tw isters (or all of the above), But for this year' s 25th anniversary, Mot her Nature gave the NMA crew a well -deserved break . Not only did it not rain but the weather was just plain nice (okay, maybe a littl e warm and somewhat humid), As a result , the track' s infield remained country -club-like green and the track 's soil dark and moist. Another good thing was. " Injuries we re way dow n this year," said the NMA 's Ron Henrickson. Protests were also few and far between. One of this year's top riders at Ponca City was veteran Chris Youn9 . The now 3 1-year-old rider used to be supported (Above) Paul Perebinos was the top 250cc Stock Intermediate class rider. (Right) Mike Alessi had no problems clearing th e tripl e s just before t he fi nish li ne on his 65cc KTMs. (Below) Co lt Humphries (31) tries the outs ide line around Tra vis Sm it h (4 1) in the 125cc Stock In te rm e diat e class. by Suzuki and wa s a regular qualifier for Supercross main events in the early '90s. More than once he qualified for both the 125 and 250cc finals on the same night. One time afte r making both mains, Young wa s asked over the stadium' s p.a. sys tem what was his motivation, and he replied , " My baby needs a new pair of shoes," Young nearly won the Motorcycle Championship tit le at Ponca City in 1987, the year that Doug Dubach won but was proteste d by Kawasaki for using an illegal gearshift linkage on his Yamaha. Dubach was disqualified and Mike Kiedrow ski was declared the winner; Young took seco nd. Young retired after the 1994 season to concentrate on his own landscaping business that he still operates in Hemet. California. "My kids are racing here now and my wife said I should start racing again," Young said. " So I came out of retirement earlier this year. " Young added that he weighed over 200 pounds before he started training again. " I got down to 168 pounds, but I'm back up to about 172," he said. The folks from PACE Motor Sports , who own the AMA Supercross Series. we re hanging out in the pits and taking in the sights at Ponca City . "They' re here just watching," said Patty Moorewood of the NM A . "We 're glad they' re here, but we really haven't talked to them much." Word in the pits is that PACE is looking into buying some of the big amateur motocross eve nts. "That wouldn't be a bad idea ," said one minicycle racer's parent. "That way, w e' d have the same rules and specs across the board and wouldn't have to make so many changes [to the bikes] from race to race . " According to the NM A 's Ron Henrickson, 16 4 0 entrie s were filed at this ye ar' s 2 5t h ru nn ing of t he Gra nd Nat ional C hampionship M otocr oss at Ponca City , There were also 29 classes and 125 mot os run. S o which motorcycle manufacturer won the most c la ss c h amp ion sh i p s at Ponca City ? Yamah a with 13. Suzuki w as nex t w it h sev e n , fol low e d by Kawasaki wit h five , Cob ra wit h fo ur, KTM with t hree, and H onda with one. Kawasaki rider Daton Beavers (right) was dicing for the lead with Je sse Casillas and Co lt Humphries in the 125c c Open Non-Pro nun-off when he crashed over a jump and dislocated his shoulder. He reportedly popped the shoulder back into place when he got back to the pits , cue I e n e vv s AUG UST 23 . 2000 25