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/1542337
Continued from pase 19 last-Chance Qualifier after pasirg Yarmha ofTroy's Brett Metelfe and Andrew McFarlarE. l'4otccpon Honda's Danny Smith wai a no-show at Plloenix. DurirE the Lites main last week at Aneheim l, Smith's bad< gave out, which caused him to crash. An MRI later in the wEek re,/e3led that had a hernialed disc in his back, and will lEve to rest for abour six \fl€€ks. Eria Sorby Gictured) was released fidn his contBct with Rokom Raa- ing to fill in ,or Smith on dle Mot6port team. Sorhy did a Sood job, too. winnirE the lirst Uter l€at race and going on to llnish l3ti in the rnain. Sorby sai/s dut he'll remain with the team *er Smhh retums. Team Yamahal Heath r,tcs ako miesed d|e Phoeoix race. V6s cr6hed while practicirE durinS $e week and $ded up widr "e)(tlenle sriffness in his neck and beck." Vocr is eleected to be b6ak in acti$ sooar, One of $e b€tt€r races of the niglt can1e in dle Superrroos-dass LCQ. Free Nirsan.com8eyrErd t4odilicrdion s Robtie Reymrd setded into the lead ahead ofCAT6oCal's Erick \r'a + and SoGl Sacing'sjiri Dostaland looked to be in control until d! Vall+ ard DosEl passed him in orl€ lap. Reynard, howsvei carrF back wifi \engearrce on dle last lap, sn-rfiing Dostal in a &m and puttinS him to the ground. Vallei{, and Reymrd fint$ed l-2 for $e last transfers of the niglll Ever irrce tle U.S. Open Sup€rcross in October Ri.lq Catmidlad har been struSSlirE with his statts - somefiint he's alwafs b€en exceptionally good at. \ry}rcn asked about tlE chan8e, he replied, "l don t know We char6ed some 6ings after *le U.S. Open. We had a problem with bogging on the four-stroke. We chahted a few thangs, and the downfall is it is not as good on the srars, but dl€ ttrinS never bogs and that is nice. But, definitdy, it's not cuttin' it [on dle starts]. lt's not the way that you want to do h, and it lbogging] delinitely increases your chances of sornetfiinS Soing wrong. These guys are on their game, ard I can't hare anything 8oin8 wrong. I have to do some$ing." What a difrer€nce a yeer fiEkes. L6t year at dis race, larncs Stewart broke hir arm in iust his second Supercross in dE 250 dass, but he has since taken a diferent applach on his once super-aggressive riding style. "l d$nk lat yeai I would have delinitey hrve pusk ttle is$re ltryint to go for *le win]," Stew"art said, "but in the four$ race of the season, I iun didn t see h $res worlh it to .ne - goint down. I knew tl|ese top gula were way out in dle lead, so I iust kind of made rry way up into third, and I \4as definitery fiinking about the championship. I know from watchirB all these old guys what it takes to win a champi- on+ip, and $at is to b€ up ofi th€ box every sirEle weekend." Last y€ar's top pri\rateer Trer Evans, on the Bloo&hot$acked Suuki Ri4-2450, got into d|e Phoenix rmin, unlike d ArEhejm l. He did it va a frf*rphce finish in the second semi-final. ln celebratiotr, E\rarE tossed hb iersq/ and Hrnet into the crowd, unfonuntely he didn t drow the helmet hr enough irto Ole seats and a couple of specuors wert tum- bliry into t€ fim-h dlgout k dkl not app€ar dut anyone \^rrs injured though. Brlier in the dry, El/ans' bike seized. and he liad to rebuild de rrEtor "l've b€€fi ha'/in8 sorne bad luck, but l'\ie beefi try- irE to tum it aro{rrd," he said. "Pt}sieJt, l'm all riSttq l'm good. Ply knee is still a litde bit sorE, but iis getting better dal ry day." Irate Evar|s, Jarnea Stewartt ageit, had a bit more on his mind tl|an usual at the Phoenix Supercross, ard thd's because his son, Parkk Evans, was competjnS in the KtM Jr Supercross Challenge. Young E\.ens, who requ€s-ted to ride lvili the number seven on his bike, only to find cut dl2lt he had already been as$gned that numbeE took sorne lde-race advice i'orn Stewart and went out and flnbhed fourth out of l5 ra.ers. E\.am linislEd jLtst ahead of William Simoni the son of long- time MX racer and magazine test rider lrvilly Simons. Mark Worth (pictured), from Queen Creek. Arizom, scored a slan-to-llnish win. CYCLE NEWS . JANUARY 2s, 2006 23 ..?i',!. jff, I ,t fii t. tt^ "r,iV, br( - fr 't-i Briefly... I I \ # , / r a I h a - ,.. . .-.ri , E -t {l, \> - Nolhoa Romsey pur himself ba.L inr6 rirle .6nranri6n widr the Liles-clqss win. I tire," Villopoto said. "l ,ust came in that turn and the Tuff Block grabbed his front brake and lust put him on the ground, and lcame in super hot, like, right behind him, and went right between his rear wheel and his fender, I was stuck there. I gave it throftle, popped a huge wheelie, and my rear tire went in the same spot, and just fell over." \ir'hile they were pulling their bikes apart, Collier suddenly found himself in the lead, ahead of Ramsey and Lange. Short got up in eighth place and Villopoto I lth. Collier held the point for two laps before Ramsey got him and opened up a small lead. By the haltway point, Ramsey was still leading and Collier had sole possession of second place and was riding well, but many of the class' heavy hitters had grouped up and were slowly gaining ground on both Collier and Ramsey- At this point, Laninovich had taken over third. while Shon had climbed back up to founh, as did Langston in lifth place and Villopoto in sixth place. Late in the race, the group had caught Collier and put rhe move on him during the last two laps, quickly relegating him to sixth place. Langston, however, wanted more, and made an aS8ressive pass on Short, who was now running in third place behind Ramsey and Laninovich, with the checkered flag in sight. ln the last turn though, Langston stuffed Short, nearly causing the Honda rider to crash, which was iust enough to let Villopoto through, too. "On rhar la$ lap, I got clo6e to Andrew and I was thinking, 'it's the last lap, I need to make this pass happen, / t: \ ar .!> 7 t