Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... and went down, "He kind of had the inside on the first turn," larrett said, "but then I would've had the inside on the next tum. and that's all I really wanted. For some reason, he Save it another squin of gas in between, and we locked handlebars and down we Joiner was done for the day because of a reportedly injured ankle. Watts, on the Fun 14art Cycles/ KTl4Hutt.com/M2R KTIY 200 XC, emerged from the first tum in the lead and $ 1000 richer. "l could see it happen right in front of me, so I went, 't)h. perfect!"' \y'y'atts said of the first-turn pileup. "So I tucked it in tight and took the holeshot, so that was great.'' Wans squirted away and led rhe firsr lap to pick up an additional $ 100, Another Brit, Paul Edmondson, and Jarrett, Thomas and Williamson chased him as they headed out for lap two. Over the next two-plus hours, the race settled into a two-man contest, with Jarrett, who had caught up, and Watts alone in front and taking turns leading the laps. "He had a good pace going,'' Wans said, "and it's easy to key off someone, so I did, and I knew at the pace he was going,.. I needed to stay with him. We went back and forth a few times and had a bit of fun out there." Jarrett said that he cauSht and passed Watts fairly easily. "l thought maybe I could run. and I'd catch a lapper [to hold him up]," Jarrett said. ''l'd get a gap in between trs, l'd catch a lapper, and he'd catch me- We did that all day, "l think we both realized we weren'r going to run from each other early, so we kind of senled down then," Jarreft said. "For a couple laps, we iust rode together" Meanwhile. Thomas had his hands full trying to keep his Fun Mart Cycles/PAR Homes/UFO-backed CR250R in front of Williamson's Williamsonracing.com/Ten Racing/Kenda-backed Y2250. Williamson, who said he was still recovering from strep throat, finally got around the Honda iust after the halfway point and began to pull away from Thomas. Thomas eventually slid out, which let Williamson 8et away for good. The anticipated last-lap showdown between.larreft and Watts suddenly evap- orated iust like the fuel out of Watts' gas tank. "Unfomunately my floats stuck open and I ran out of fuel!" Watts said. "l did the first three laps - used two gallons. Now I run out after 2 l/2 laps, so that's three gallons in 2 l/2 laps- That sucked." Despite the bad luck of running out of fuel, he had good luck in finding fuel. "The amazinS thin8 is,'' Watt said, "there was a guy who stopped and gave me fuel who was on a four-stroke KTM- We gravity-fed it through - I sat there for l0 minutes waiting for that to happed - and lhad straight fuel in my bike, and there was still, like, another five miles back lto the pits], but the bike ran per- fect! I had no oil in the fuel. I topped up and went out and did the last lap." Watts lost about six positions in the ordeal but claimed a few of them back to flnish fourth overall. Jarrett said that he was about to make his move when Watts ran out of fuel. 'About halfway through the next-to- last lap is when I plahned on making a break, so that's when I went,''Jarrett said. "He ran out ofgas about the same time as I took off, so it worked out." But looking back on the effon it took after his first-turn crash, he added, "l wouldn't want to do that again.'' Cta wrl.ocor I OO DECAIUR, ARXANSA5 REsurrs: APR|L 2, 2006 (2 or t O) The \Mldcat I 0O particip€rts, mainly Shane Watts and limmy giateful for the the t oor,s wx put up by Action Honda, Bill Edq/'s l4otorsports and Dick Lane's of Grand Lake for the holeEhot money, and Aolvspringdale RV Greenland Composites, Tune Concrete, Orark Cycle Cen- ter, Arv$t Bank and C Mayo Sheet Metal for the lap-by-hp monq/, For the second race in a row, Shane Watts suffered the safie stuck-floars s/ndrome. \rr'atts was at a loss O explain why the {loats stuck again, especially after riding two difierent 200s On the way !o ahe race, Trac, Baahman and his famit drove throuSh Memphis, Tennessee, and Tracy was bummed that they didn't have enough time !o stop at Graceland. He did say, however, that when he was a youn8srer, his father took him to two Efui5 Presley concerts. Speakir'g of Tr-acy Bachman. he once again raflled off a new HJC yodh helm6, cour- tesy of his sponsor Storm Lake Honde. Several Pros autoSraphed the helmet, and Former World Enduro Champion Paul Edrfiondson pulled out of ahe race on the sec- ond hp. "When l'm on rhe bike, I don't feel sE_ong or forceful," he said. "l f€el weak on the bike. I don'r know wtry. wherher I s a concen- tratjon thifl8 or what- I feel like the bike s rlding me and I m not riding it. I dont know whether I'm run down because I have to work now, I ve b€en working at home over the winter, six days a week. I need to get it figured our. I should probably go for a blood test this week now, straiSht away. Sornedlir8 s not quite right." Expect to see both grits - Paul Edmondson and rason Thomas - more througholt ahe year. According to Edmondson, the plan is for him to fly over for both the OMA Nationals and the GNCCS trom his home in Great Britain and leave his Fun Man Cy.les/PAR HomeVUFO CR250R in lllinoiswith Fun l.,lan's Tim Tab€r. Chris Robertson found himself stuck behind a fallen Chri! Bach in the first turn but 8ot back in the Eame by latching on toJimmylar- rett, who had an even worse time in the first tum. Unfonunately for Rob€rtson, his len Racing/Renthal YZ2SoF quit in a creek cross' ing. costinS him a lot of time- And things didn't 8et mu.h b€ft€r: Later on, he was forced to ride on a flat tire for three laps. Needless to say, his day did notSo well. Shane Klimek also found his charSe slo\,red by a flat rear tire on his Fl'4F/Din Gear YZ2S0 But when he tot to a long creek section, the rim started to spin on the tire and forward rnotion soon stopped ahogether. PRO: I Jimm/J&rett (Suz): 2. Ju*in williamson (Yam): 3. ldon Thom6 (Hon): a. she \45ns (KTl!l)i 5. Ad.m Bonneur (Yam)r 6. A.ron Shiham (Hon)i 7. Chris Robercon (Ys) 8 AIdn weserl.etd (GG). 9. TE.y Bachman (Hoil: 10. |1nt Diselr (KtM). PARTS UNLIMITED OFf.ROAO I{OTORCYCLE AND ATV NATIONAI POINTS STANOINGS (Aftcr 2 ol l0 roundr)r I Imdy Jrrcn (60/2 {h!l: 2. lusnn williahson (46)i 3. sheE whns (all; 4. Adam Sonneur (32)i s. Al westerneB (26): 6. Aaron S@hm (25): 7. Matt Crokh (24)i g. Chris Bach (23)r t. (TIE) Edc oobn.r/rEcy B&hman (2 l). 2 JustinWilliamson 2nd Place JimmyJarrett and Tony.loiner weren't the only ones to have problems in the first rum_ .lustin Williamson found himself with nowhere to go when KTH racer Chris Bach fell in front of him. "When we came ro thar first turn there with the hill, I think it was Chris Bach maybe that slid out right in fronr of me," Williamson said, "h was weird. I saw him slide one way, his bike slid righr in lront of me. I was sitting down on the bike and I launched right up and over his bike, over his handlebars! I was surprised I made it over that one." I 4 Jason Thomas 3rd Place A motocrosser from Great Britain, Jason Thomas, surprised many - including himself - when he passed Shane Whtts for the lead right after the start. "This weekend was nry first big race in the USA," Thomas said. "l lined up next to my new reammate Shane Watts and was lookinS for a good start. lgot a good jump and aame out of the first turn in second, behind Watts- Three turns later. I moved into the lead. At llrst I found it hard to find the fast lines but did pull a small lead. Then I followed the wront [ATV] arrows, and by the (ime I realized what I had done, I was back to seventh. I passed the riders in front of me fast, and soon found myself in fourth, behind my other teammate Paul Edmondson. I fol- lowed his lines for the rert of that lap, and it was a big help. Lap three, lwas into lhird and feeling good. I did lose my drink system and stafted to feel dehydrated. At the fuel stop, I took a little longer rhan normal, a5 I tried to hydrate. I crashed a few rimes, and I believe it was because I lost too much fluids. At this time. the leaders staned to pullaway and... I just tried to pace m/self to rhe finish. To finish on the podium ar my firsr big race in rhe USA is lust Ereat. I would like to thank Fun Man's Tim flaberl and my dad for getting me ro the U-S. and taking me to the races." 2l Adam Bonneur 5th Place Rookie Pro Adam Bonnet r placed {ifth for the second race in a row, though he lvas in fourth at one point on his Fun Man Cycles/MaxxivMoose f2250. "l'm very happy that lgot fitth place again," he said. "Cant com- plain about a frfth overalllwo times in a row, righr? On the start, I got pinched off really bad. I kind of let ever,,- body go, because I didn't wam to 8et tantled up and go down. lt ended up tha! a lot ofother people went down. At the beginning ofthe stan, I did really bad, brir from about the second turn, I was foufth overall. and I \rrEs really excited about that!" G !i CYCLE NEWS APRrr r 9, 2006 39 /- { if,!, I Spencer Zick was the lucky winner. Mv Owru F[nce

• Cover