Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

25t h N M A Grand N ational C h a m p io n s h ip AMBUC Motocro ss T r a c k Although they ' re both many years aw ay fro m sig ning thei r first factory c o n t rac ts w ith o ne of th e m a j or m ot oc ross te a ms , 10-ye a r-o ld Ales s i and 13-yea r-o ld Lor d ha ve obviously been doi ng the ir homework, giving it their a ll and , in turn , winni ng ra ce s . As a resu lt, they a re al ready on th e m ind s of th e fa ctory team bos s es . At th is yea r's 25th a nniv e rsary of th e NMA G ra nd Na t ion a l Ch a m pions hip a t Pon c a City, Ales s i and Lord certa inly showed off their stuff, Alessi to pping four classes a nd winn ing the Jr . Cycle Ch am p io n sh ip , and Lord topping two classes and winning the Minicycle Champ ionshi p. Aless i's wins ca m e in the Jr. Cycl e 60cc St o c k and Mod ified ( 9- 1 1) classes , while riding KTMs , and th e aocc Stock and Mo d ified ( 9- 1 1 ) classes, while p iloting a pai r of Yamaha s . Rick y Renn er (KTM), Rya n Villop o t o ( KTM) an d De nn is Jo non (Ka w) a ll gave it th eir be st to be a t Ale s s i, but ca me up a little s hort. Re nn er a nd Villo po to finis hed second to Ale ssi in th e Stoc k a nd Mod ifie d 60cc (9 - 1 1) c la sses, re sp e cti ve ly , while Denn is J onon (Kaw) twice fin is he d second to Alessi in th e Stock a nd Modified aocc (9 -11) cla sses . Suzuki's Lord wa s almig hty in th e aocc Stock a n d Mod ified ( 14- 16) S T O RY A N D PHOTO S BY K IT PA LMER PONCA CITY, OK, AUG. 2-5 f yo u' re young (really yo ung ), fas t, a nd yo u r lo n g -te rm fut ure p lans inc lude moto cross , th en t he Po nc a Cit y NMA G ra nd Natio na l Champ ionship is on e of a bout five or si x ev e nts among you r y earl y mu s tatte nd ra ces . Ponc a City is defi nit e ly one of the "big gies ," where emphasis is p lac e d on the m inic ycl e ra c e r, o r th e "jus t -m oved -u p -to- the -m oto rc y ole-class" ride r, who is looking for a good place to show off their stuff, to m ake a name for the mselves and perha ps to get a star p laced next to th e ir name in the scouts' no tebooks. He c k , 11 ye ars ag o , ha rdly a nyone had he ard of Jere my McG rath , but 10 ye a rs ago, when McGrath bea t Rya n Hugh es by one p oint t o w in th e Moto rc ycl e Champ ionsh ip a t Ponc a City , we ll.. .yo u know th e rest. S ince that win (a nd well befo re , for th at matter ), hundreds of riders - and th e ir parents - a re still spending the ir pr e ci o u s s u m me r va ca tion s in th e sma ll (but gr ow ing ) Midwest town of Po nca City , O klahoma , work ing ha rd a nd trying th e ir best to be c ome the n e x t J ere m y Mc G ra t h . E x ampl es : Mike Ale s s i a nd Dylon Lord . If 22 AUG U ST 2 3 , 2000 ' eye I e n e VII' Sf classes. Lord was going for a sweep in the S u per Mini (Thru 16 ) class , but Yamah a's J im m y Nelson put a sto p to tha t, howe ver not witho ut a fight by fellow Yamaha rider J es se Casi llas . Ca s illas a nd Nelson were ba ttling for the lead in the Supe r Mini run -off, the final race of the we ek , when Casillas grabbed a handful of throt tle a nd had his YZ s lide out from und erneath him . Nelson s cooted by Ca sillas a nd into the lead and stayed there, while Casillas quickly got ba ck up and took second. Kawasaki's Se a n Collier and Lord rounded out the top four. Nelson was in vol ve d in another thriller in th e aocc Mod ified (1 4 - 16) run - off w he n he and Lo rd came together on the last lap . Nels o n had e arlier passed Lord for the le a d and was less tha n a half la p from the finish line when Lo rd trie d to make a pa s s in a turn. The two riders ma de contact a nd they both we nt down . It wa s now a race to re m ount a nd get goi ng aga in. As Ne ls on tri ed ridin g his bike ba c k o nto th e tra ck , his rear whee l c a u g ht a n off-ca m ber b e rm and sl id o ut, le tt ing Lor d get away . Wit h t he re s t of t he pa c k ra pid ly a p p ro a c h in g , Nelso n w as now in dama ge -c on tro l mod e , b ut two turns la te r, he aga in slid out, a nd dropped to eighth. Dylon Lortl 1130) was involve d in many battles, like this one w ith Sean Collier, 163) through out the week at Ponca City, and he usually won them. He topped both the 80cc Stock and Modified 114-16) classes and the Mlnicycle Championship. N e ls on d id g et th e la st la ug h , thoug h , wh en he won th e Super Minis th re e races lat e r. The re were a nu m ber of ride rs who came to Po nc a City with a realistic s hot at winn ing the Minic ycle Ch a m pionship , and one of them was S uzu ki rider Kyle Pa rtridge . Afte r having wo n his first motos in the a oc c Stoc k and Modified ( 12-13 ) cl a s s e s, Pa rt rid ge wa s ru nn ing among the leaders in the second Modified moto wh en his bike suffered a top- e nd heat-seizure on the la st la p. He wa s close enough to the fin is h that he was a ble to pu s h the bike acro ss the line in fou rt h pla c e , but NMA rules fo rb id push ing bikes ac ross the finis h line a nd he was thus credit ed with 29th p lace. As a result, a visi bly ups et Pa rtri dge was un able t o tr an s fer to th at c la s s ' run -o ff, whic h ult im a tel y e nded his ho pes of w in nin g th e Pon c a C ity Min ic y cl e title . Partridg e did' go o n , how ev er, to win t he a occ Stoc k (12-13) run-off mo to , but a rath er h igh score of seven going into the ru n-off p re vent-

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