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/128629
S T O RY B y J E RRY A TH EY P HOT O S BY S T EVE B RU HN BINGHAMTON, NY, AUG. 27 ho wou ld have th ought that th e battl e fo r t he 2 0 0 0 125c c Nati onal Ch ampi on sh ip would go down to the wire? After a ll, T eam Yamaha of Troy 's Steph ane Ron cada was s im p ly invincibl e during th e ea rly sea son ra ces - enjoying as much as a 41 -p oint lead just a fter th e halfwa y point in t he ser ies . But , o h , ho w things change - and ch ange quickly. Team Suzuki 's 125 c c rookie pro , Travis Pastrana , now seems to ha ve found h is outdoor stride as th e 16 year -o ld from Annapolis , Mary land , charged to a commanding 1-1 ov erall win at the rough and rutted Broome T ioga Sports Cente r. Pastrana h a s now won the last three events in a row and is t ied with the series lea der, Roncada , for wins on the season with four. More im p o rt a n t ly , the win moves Pastrana to within just s ix points of th e Frenchman with just two motos left in th e s eries. After starting th e first moto on the heels of Bill's Pipes/Motorious.com/Suzu k i's Br anden Jes s eman, the lanky teenager swept past his fe llow Suzuki rid er at the top of Broome -T iog a ' s gi ant d ownhill and ne v er looked ba ck , rock eting to the decisiv e moto vict ory . Pastrana ' s se cond o uting followed a similar pattern , although this W tim e it was Te am Ya ma ha of Tro y's J usti n Buck el ew who gra bbed the hol eshot and had to de a l with th e flying S uz uki p ilo t. On c e aga in , Pa s trana used th e ma ssive , curb- infested d ownhill to m ak e hi s m o ve for t he le ad and, once o ut fro nt, pull ed o ut to an e ve nt ua l 20 · p lus s e c ond lea d o n th e second-place rider - in this c a s e, his title riva l Ron c ada . "I'm defi nite ly rea dy for the s how d own at Ste e l C it y : sai d t he X Game s Ch ampion . "I'm jus t o ut her e ha ving fun a nd I th ink that's the key to th e whole season. I'm comi ng off five st ra ig ht m oto w ins , s o to ge t seven seems like it would a lmost be im po ssib le , bu t that's what I'm go ing to ha ve to d o . St ep hane is a gre a t rider, s o it' s go ing to be really tough." Finish ing in the runne r-up po s ition was th e afore menti o n e d Ro n c ad a . Th e 21 - ye a r -old fro m Chamb er y , France , suffered a poor start in moto one , co m pleting the first lap in eighth pla c e. Despite the lackluster beg in ning , the ultra-strong Ron c ad a wa s ab le t o c h a rg e through the pac k, ev entuall y ' s lic ing und er Team Sp litF ire /Pro C ir c uit Kawasaki ' s Tall on Vohland for th ird o n the final la p of th e 30 -minute-plus -tw o -lap moto . Ron cada far ed better in th e s e c ond rnoto , sta rting out in sixth a nd pass ing his wa y into the runner-up pos ition by the th ird lap . "T h e sec on d mo to I ro de rea l good : said Vohla n d . "In t he first m oto , I had some pro b lem s with the s us pension and my arms pu mpe d u p a little b it , so I didn 't really feel th at good. Th en , Ron c a da a lmo st c rashed me o n t h e las t lap , so I e n d e d u p dr o pping from th ird to fou rth . In the second moto I wa s rid ing qu ite we ll. I ca me into th e th ird po s it ion , and Brock was right beh ind me. He came down th e hill a nd took m e out , and I los t the position , so I got tw o times fourt h . It was kind of a stressful week , n eg otiating my n ew co nt ra c t, so I wasn 't abl e t o pra ct ic e and do my normal training s ch edule. I wo uld like to try to get at least on e outdoor win this year , so I'll b e going for it next weekend at St eel City ." Finishing fourth ove ra ll was Sell a rds . Th e 22 -y ear -o ld fr om New Philadelphi a , Oh io , suffered a poo r start in th e first moto and , after c irculating th e first la p in II th positio n, fou ght his wa y to s eventh before running out of ste a m in th e m ot o . Sell ar ds ca me ba ck stron g in th e second moto , finishing th ird behind c ha m p io ns hi p contender s Pastrana and Ronc a da . "I got off to a pr etty to ug h start," s aid Sellards . "But m y bike wa s run n ing re all y go od fo r m e and I manag ed to m ake m y wa y up th rough the pack - n o t as fa r as I wou ld h av e like d ; I'd like to ha ve wo n it - but I salva ge d what I co uld get out of the d a y. Hopefu lly , I' ll ta ke it into Steel City with so me hol eshots a nd come out of there with a victory. " Fifth ov erall went to Fo nsec a. The 18 -year-old Costa Rican rider started the first moto in the top th ree , but s urrende red to the attacks of Vohland and - la te r in the moto - Yamaha of T roy teammate Ron cada , e ve ntua lly finishi ng fifth. Fonseca held fourth for most o f the second moto before Voh la nd and Sellards blitzed by with just a few laps remaini ng . Sixth o vera ll went to Team SplitF ire /Pro Circuit Kawa saki 's Natha n Ramsey , who went 9 -6 . Ramsey 's SplitFire teammate, Nick Wey , finished seventh overall with I 1-7 moto scores, followed by Team FMF/ Honda 's Danny Smith, who went 10-8. Plano Honda 's Ivan Tedesco went 8-1 1, for ninth overa ll. followed by Jesseman, who , despite a second-m oto DNF , fin ished 10th overall du e to his outstanding runnerup ride to Pastrana in moto one. Going into the final round at Steel City, Roncada leads Pa stran a , 440 -434. Vohland has third wrapped up with 3 73 points, followed by Sellards, who oc cu pies fourth in the standings with 318 poi nts . Wo rks Connection /D GY/ Troy Le e De s ign s /H ond a ' s Steve Lams on holds fifth, with 304 points, followed by Ya ma ha of Troy 's Casey Jo hnso n (258 ) and Fonseca (24 1). SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammates Ramsey (22 7) and Wey (240 ) oc c upy e ig hth and n inth , res pe ctive ly. Danny Smith Suzuki 's Travis Pa strana scored an im po rtant 1·1 victory in the 125cc cl ass. He is now j ust six points behind series leader Stephane Roncada (2 6) with two motos left. "T h e last co u p le of ra c e s h av e be en a littl e to ugh for m e : said Ron ca da . "I' m g oi ng to go ba c k h om e a n d t rai n re all y h a rd this we ek , reg ro u p m yself and h op efull y win Ste e l C it y and th e c h a m p io ns hi p· that wo uld be awesome ." Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit Kawasa ki ' s Ta llon Voh land fin is he d third o ve rall. The 28 -y ea r-old from Citrus He ights, California , c a n n ever be counted o ut and Binghamton was no exception . After starting jus t o utside th e to p five in moto one , Vohland c ha rg ed into third p lace early in th e ra ce , ma int a ining th e position until a last -lap bump- and-run by Ron c ad a dropped h im to fourth . The second m oto went bett e r for th e former Grand Prix contender. Despite being sco red 10th on th e initia l lap of the sec o n d moto , Vohland was able to move through th e pa ck , eventually pas sing Team Yam aha of Troy's Ernesto Fonseca for third with just a few laps to go. Another aggressive la st -la p pass , this time administered by Team FMF/ Ho nd a ' s Bro ck Sellar ds , again dropped Voh land t o fourth , but the f r ie n d ly r id er s t ill rema ined upbeat a bout his day . cuc le n e _ S • S EPTEMB ER 6 , 2000 9