se€rle
SUPERCROSS
Round
I
April 29, 2()(}6
Amp'd Mobile AMA SX LitEs
W€st€rn R€gional Supcpcross
S€ni€s
ile this
year's
Seattle
Supercross
might
have
set the stage for a final-
round
showdown in the
Supercross class next
week in Las
Vegas,
it also settled the
2006 SX Lites
West
Championship.
which also came down to a last-race
shootout, this one between two riders,
Andrew
Short
and
Grant
Langston.
And
when
the smoke
had
cleared, Langston
was the last rider standing.
Short,
who was looking for his flrst
title,
went into the linale with a sliSht ad\antage,
as
he held a four-poirt Iead over Langston,
a
three-time title holder This meant that
Short's
fate was in his
own
hands, in
that
if he
won in Seattle, then he'd win fle 2006 West
Lites title no matter what Langston
did.
And
even if Largston won the race, Short could
still wEap things up with a second-place fin-
ish; a third
place,
however, wouldn't do it.
But
no matter how you
looked at, Shon
looked liked a
pretty good
bet to
get
that
elusive flrst tirle
-
until those first drops of
rain
started
falling. Ar everyone knows, mud
races car! change e\.ery*{n8 drastically, and
no
one
really wanted
to see a
mud race
determine the outcome of a championship,
except for
perhaps
LanSston.
"When
I saw it raining
-
I might not be
the best mud
rider
or a
mud
specialist,
but I know that Andrew is
pretty
bad
[in
the mudl, and
l'm like,
'This
might not
be
a bad thing,"' Langston said.
And it wasn't
-
for him. But it was for
Shon, who said that
he really doesn't
mind the mud.
After riding tight
and
flnishing
third at the
Dallas Supercross the
previous
weekend,
Langston turned things arcund and rode
flawlessly in the Seattle soup, while Shon.
on the other hand, had everything fall apan.
For Langston. though. everything
just
went righc About the only thing that did-
n't
go
his way was that he didn't
get
the
holeshot: that,
of course, went to Red
Bull KTl4's
Mike Alessi,
while
Langston
found himself in third after the first lap.
Shon
was fifth.
Alessi's lead, however, was short-lived.
He crashed in a rhythm section on the
second lap, and now Langston found him-
self in second
place
with
iust
one rider
ahead of him, and the South African could
not have asked for a better rider
to
be
chasing - his teammate Ryan
Villopoto.
By the third lap, Langston was right
behind
his fellow Monster EnergylPro
CircuivlGwasakiteam
rider,
and, as expect-
ed, Mllopoto made it easier for Langston by
giving
him
a wide
berth and lening him have
the lead. And, momefts later things ont
got
better for Langston when Short crashed
and dropped to lfth. So for Langston, all he
had to do at this
point
was to keep the ruL
ber side down, and the tide would be
his.
And that's el
