Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Josh Grant, the only rider who had a mathematical chance of taking the title away from Millsaps at the final round, ended up with a mechanical DNF after coming together with Kawasaki Team Green's Donnie McGourry and Motosport.com's Roben Kiniry on the first lap- fu could be expected, Grant was bitterly disappointed, as he had suffered a similar fate at the opening round of the series in St. Louis but had baftled himself back into championship contention. Going into the final round in Houston, Millsaps needed ont to flnish lTth to clinch the title, provided Grant took the win. Grant was riding a two-race win streak after running away from Millsaps at Orlando and in Detroit, so Millsaps didn't take him lightly. But Millsaps wasn't willing to play it conservatively and came pre- pared to match whatever Grant was ready to dish out and busted out a lap in practice that was nearly a full second faster than anything posted by Grant up to that point. After lalng the groundwork for the title with sax consistent rides so far in the series, including three wins and three run- ner-up finishes, Millsaps was ready for the final challenge - the last main event of the East Region Lites season, The start of the main event was absolute chaos as Ward came away with the holeshot, while behind him severaltop riders went down in the lirst turn, includ- ing Star Racing's Bryan Johnson and Yamaha of Troy's Branden Jesseman. Millsaps exited the first rurn in seventh place, just a few positions behind Grant; however a heads-up duel between the two riders never materialized, as Grant went down with Kiniry and Mccourty a few turns later. The crash left Grant with a hole in his sidecase and was forced to call it a night, Kiniry and l''lcGourty got back up and continued on. It was hard to tell who hit whom in the turn, but Millsaps and Grant had their own ver- sion of the crash. "Grant hit Kiniry pretty hard and I was kind of laughing, because I don't know what he was thinking, he could have passed Kiniry in the whoops," Millsaps said. "When they both hit, they went down and I kind of laughed. Then I looked back and saw Tommy [Hahn] there." "l came inside Donnie McGourty and, I don't know about all of those Florida boys, but they had a plan tonight and it worked," Grant said. "But I'm not really wor- ried about it. I am going to go into this outdoor season and lay the smack Star Racings Martin Davalos held down second place behind Ward but he, too, went down before the flrst lap was com- pleted. At the end of lap one, the order was Ward in first, Millsaps second and Red Bull KTf'l's Jay Marmont third. Hahn came next, followed by Monster Enerry Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Chris Gosselaar and Team Faith's Kevin Johnson. By the third lap, Whrd had faded to fifth, with l.4illsaps having taken over the lead, ahead of Hahn, Gosselaar and Harmont. At one point Hahn looked as though he might catch Millsaps and challenge for the lead, but when the front-runners hit lapped traflic, Millsaps did the best job of negotiating the traffi€ and pulled away, "l was trying my hardest for a win, and then I started making a lot of mistakes and getting out of control in some places," Hahn said. Millsaps continued to ride a consistent .ace and crossed the line with three sec- onds to spare over Hahn, while Gosselaar finished all alone in third. Marmont turned in his best performance of the year with a founh, ahead of Goerke. "Me and Grant were fighting a battle, but I won the war," Millsaps said, "When I came into this year, I iust wanted to be consistent, and lwanted to win [the cham- pionship], for sure. But I knew as long as I was being consistent. I could get the championship." Millsaps had leamed a lesson from last year's series, in which he had been taken out a couple of times by other riders (including lapperc), lt was something that Millsaps thought had cost him the title lasr year and it was certainly something that cost Grant this year. "l think the key was staying away from other people," Millsaps said, "Last year, that is what ruined me. Every time I got next to a lapper and I was in the lead, I would tense up." As it turned out, Gosselaa( the Cinderella story of the series, ended up with second overall in the final standinSs after taking third in Houston. Grant ended up in third overall, while Hahn passed Jesseman in the final standings for fourth overall with his runner-up finilh in Houston. "l feel like I am gefting my old speed back," said Hahn, who just returned to action at the first ofthe year after blowing out his knee at the end of last year's out- door series. "l've just been working on getting my speed and my confidence back," Ct{ Sx UTES HEIIT 2 (6 Lps, l-9 to min)r I. D&i l'1ilk:p. (Hon): 2 Thoma Hahn (Hon)i3. M3n,n DaElos (/am)r { lind/ Haier (Kaw)r s. S6n Hdblin (sE); 6. B6Fden ler*nrr {Yarnj. 7. Chad rd (Hor). 8. KMr lohroon (Yam); 9.lohnny Hrle), (Hon)i 10. Grcs s.hnell (suz): I l. Rrn GEnron (Hon)i 12. Roy Honon (Hon)i ll coh Hlmphrey fYam)i 11. chad Johftoi tr m); ls. Ronny ,&k3oi (Hon)r 16.86ndon Flhon (Hon): 17 Chad c@k (Hon): 18. Tommy Har.iron (Hd); 19. Ch..hs EllG (Hon); ?0. Stephane RdEada C/am). RrcE tih.:4 mr 38.62 sec. SX LITES LCQ (4 laP3, l-,1 to m.in): l. Chris Bl6e (Hon)i2. chadlohnron Clam); L Gres S

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