Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Che vyTrucks U .S . M otoc r o s s Championship S eries Roun d 1 1 : B r o o m e-Ti o g a S p o rts Center rou nd s out th e c urrent top l O in the standings with 218 po ints. MOTOONE Je s sem an took th e first -m ot o hol eshot , follow ed by Buckelew, Pa s tr ana , Fons ec a a nd Husqvarn a /Fa st by F e rr a c c i' s P au l C arp ent e r. Amsoi l/Factor y Conne ction /Compet ition Acces sori e s /Ja ck in the Bo x' s Ch ris Gosselaar was next in line , fo llowed c los e ly by Vohland. Ron cad a was the vi ctim o f a bad s t art a nd completed th e first lap in eighth. "I got off th e gate pretty good , bu t it seem ed like everyone sque ezed in on m e tow ard th e e n d of t he first stra ightaway ," explai ned Roncada . "I got kind o f stu c k, but I worked m y way out pretty good ." Jesseman 's lea d was short-lived , as the charg in g Pastr ana took ov e r th e lea d just before the riders hit BroomeT ioga's massive down hill for the first time. O nce in front , Pastrana pulled out to a so lid lead while J essema n held on for second. On the next la p , Vohland moved past Fonseca for third , drop ping the Yamaha of Troy rider into the cl utc hes o f his ch arging teammate Ro ncada . On la p five of th e 15 -lap moto, Roncada made his move for the fourth spot a nd beg an to close the gap on Vohland, who , in turn, was ga ining on Jess em an . With the laps winding down and Pa stran a solidly in the lead, Roncada s lic e d under Vo h la n d in a tight , 180-degree hairpin, bumping the Kawasa ki pilot back to fourth. Pa stra na aced t he moto , fo llowed b y an im p re s s ive ride from Jes se man, who he ld on for second. Ronca d a (26) a n d Pa st ran a (1 9 9) appear relaxed before t h e start, unlike Past ra n a ' s' tune r L ee McCollum (c e n t e r) . "I've nev er led so many lap s ." Pastra na s a id from the winn er 's ci rcle. "I led pretty m uch from the first lap , so it seemed like the long e st ra c e I'v e ev er been in." "I got a g reat start," said J e s s e man. "When you get a good s ta rt like that it's pretty ea sy to run up th er e ." Roncada was third at the chec kers . "I was trying to c ha rge as hard as I could, but I wasn't going an ywhere ." said Roncad a. "I se ttled down a little bit and thought a bo ut the rac e . Then, towa rds the end, I started going a little faster and I got more co mfortable with the track. I'm racing for a cha m p ionship her e , so it's good not to lose too many po ints." There's a new website in town . Brought to you by the same folks responsible for the Racer X Gas Card. www.mxdesnations.com is based entirely on raising aware ness and funds for Team US A at the M otocross Des Nations. America has not wo n the race since 1996 and the site-o rqanizers feel that it' s time for our country to start focusing on the race again. In additio n to providing information about the event and rider s, the site also offers Team USA memorab ilia for sale. In addition to t-shirts. the hot item this year is a collection of stickers autogra phed by 2000 team members Travis Pastrana. Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Hughes. as we ll as Team M anager Roger D eC oste r. O ne hundred percent of the money raised goes to Team USA to help defray the enormo us cos ts of com peting in suc h an event. With his overa ll victo ry. Ricky Carmichael joins the list of most National wins at Broorne-Tioqa Sport s Ce nter. Carmichael. J ohn Dowd, Doug Henry and Mark Barnett each have three wins at the facility. In a rather odd show of sportsmanship, 125cc winner Travis Pastrana sported a RonRonM X.com (Step hane Roncada' s website) sticker on the back of his chest prot ect or a Binghamton. "Since S tephane 's given me that sticker, I've w on five mot o s in a row ," joked Pastrana from the podiu m. Jeff Emig was on hand at Binghamton, supporting his TheEdgeSports.com Team of Phil Lawrence and Au st ralian M ichael Byrne. " I wouldn't say that I've officially natired yet. - said the four-time National Champio n. " I'm still going to cling to it as long as I can. seeing as being a professional mo tocrosser is suc h a great job . Wh en yo u mention the word 'retirement .' it still kind of hits me hard. Right now, we' re in t he process of form ing next year's team . I'm als o goin g to have more invo lvem ent w ith o ur ridin g gear sponso r. Shift . " Emig is also adjusting to the idea of rider development. " It' s proving to be kind of hard to sit back and relay messages to the riders. I think I'm still in that stage of 'If I could ge t on the bike. I could do it bett er .' yo u know . but just like it takes time to learn the riding skills. I think that it's going to take SEPTEMBER 6 , 2000' c u e I Ie M OTO TW O Bu ck e lew took th e holeshot, followed by Pa strana, Ramsey , Fo nseca , Ted e s co , Roncada and Vohland. In a virtu al re pe a t of the firs t m oto , Pas tr an a s e ized th e top spot before th e compl et ion o f th e lap . Not wa nting Pastrana t o get away , Ron ca da moved a rou nd his te amm ate for sec o n d on th e n ext la p . Fo n s e c a was fourth , pursued by J ohn s on . Ramsey dropped to sixth . With just a few laps comp let ed in t he mot o, Ronca da m oun ted a charg e fo r the fleei ng Suzuki rider and clo sed t he gap to a b o ut s ix -bik e - Iengths . J o h n s o n p assed Fo nseca fo r th ird , while Tedesco , Sellards , Vohland and Ram s ey battl ed fo r fift h. Just after the halfway m ark, Pastra na bega n to pull aw ay from Roncada. Johnson still held th ird , follow ed by a three- rider battle for fourth cons isting of Fonse c a , Vohland and S ella rd s . Dis a s t e r s truc k Johnson on the I I th lap , a s the Yama ha rider went down ha rd on the tra ck 's ' u p p e r' section and was time for me to develop my relationship skills with my rlders where i look at it from a different point of view and can relate to them in a way that is going to make them better on that day or in the long run. " BRIEFLY. •• 10 Vohland rolled in fo r fo urth , fol lowed by Fonseca in fifth. Yamaha of Tro y's Casey J ohns on finish ed sixth , foll o wed b y S e ll ards in seve n t h . T ed esc o was eig h th , Ram s e y was ninth a nd Danny Sm ith was l Oth. n e class and M otoworld of EI Cajon's Greg S c h n e ll and Br omley Suzuki/MSR 's B a rry Carsten in the 125cc class . The top privateer in each class rece ive s $1000 , wh ile the runner-up rece ive s $500 . Series sponsor Chevy Truc ks awarded GT Mountain Bikes to two lucky fans at Binghamton. Dubbed the C h evy Tracker B ike G iveaway. the first drawing was held on Saturday and the secand on Sunday. Speaking of privateer awards. Double Aught Lumber. from nearby Owe go. New York. donated an additional $500 to the top 250cc privatee r and $250 to the top 125cc privateer. The co rnpany wa s also re spo nsib le for donating t he saw d ust th at was applied to the track surface prior to the National. It' s a done deal. T a llon Vohl and co nfirmed that he will indeed be back w ith M itch Payt on 's SplitFire/P ro Circuit/Kawa saki team next year. Vo hland is slated to co mpete in the 125 East Supercros s Series. but says that may change as the season approaches. He will. of course. also com pete in the 125cc Nationals. as we ll. N oticeably absent this w eek was W ork Connecti on /DGYlTroy Lee/H ond a' s Steve Lamson . The tw o-t ime 125 cc N ation al Champion injured his knee at the previous round at Mi llville and was a no -show at Binghamt on. A se ries of qualifiers we re run o n Sunday mo rning to narr ow the field to 40 riders per National class . KTM' s Shayne King took the first 250cc qualifier. which clocked in as the faste st of the day at 9:27 :02 minutes. Great Lakes Aviation/Sinisalo-backed Honda rider Heath Voss score d the second 250cc qualifier win and Jeff Gib son piloted the Cannondale thumper to the 250cc consolation victory . Bill' s Pipes/Motorious.corn/ Suzuki's Branden Jesseman charg ed to t he first 125 cc qu alif ier win and M ot ow orld o f EI Cajon 's Greg Schnell won the seco nd 125cc qualifier. BSY/ Pro Circui t Yamaha rider Tyson Hadsell wo n the 125cc co nsolation race . THQ continues to reward the fastest starter in each of the four National moto s wi th its $500 Holeshot Awards. The recipient s at Binghamto n were Branden Jes seman and Justin Buckelew in the 125cc class and David Vuillemin and Phil Lawrence in the 250cc class . This w eek's w inne rs of the U.S. Tobacco Top Privateer Awards were Great Lak es Aviati o n/Si nisalo' s Heath Voss and VPElM ontgomeryvilie Cycle s' Damien Plotts in the 250cc vv s Team FMF/H onda' s Michael Brandes showed up at Binghamton on a 250 . Brandes. who was hopes to land a 250 cc ride for 2001 . looked good on the larger machine. but injured his wrist in Saturday ' s prac tice and wa s for ced to sit o ut the National on Sun day. Despite rumors that he had broken his femur racing at Carlsbad a week prior to the race. KTM 's Rodrig Thain was prese nt at Binghamton and ready to race . " I had a big crash." explained the yo ung Fren chma n. " I have big bru ises o n my legs, sho ulde r and arm. but I am okay. I feel goo d " . Thain raced to a 16th place finish in the first 125cc mot a. but pulled out of the seco nd mota early in the race. Rising-star Ben Riddle made his Pro-National debut at Bing. hamt on as a member of the Bill' s Pipes/Motori ous.com /Suzuki squad . " This is my fir st N ati on al. " said the tw o-ti me Lo rett a Lynn' s C hampion after taking the win in his Saturday pre-qualifier . - I feel real good . I was riding a litt le tight · maybe because it's my first National - but other than that. I feel really great. I like the track here a lot · it' s real fun" . Riddle went 22·16 in the Nati onal. finishing 22nd overa ll. Returning to act io n at Bingh amt on w as Chris Gosselaar. A s report ed in a previou s edition of Cy cle News. the Amsoil/ Factory Connection/Competition Accessor ies/ J ack in the Box-sponsored rider was forced to sit the previous round at Millville afte r a nasty first -tum cras h in his 125 cc co nso lation race . " I feel pret ty good, " said G osselaar sho rt ly afte r Sunday 's first practice session. Gosselaar we nt 38·22 in the National.

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