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/196545
VOL. 50 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 22, 2013 HAMPSHIRE SHINES IN AMATEUR ALL-STARS Coming into the Monster Energy Cup, North Carolina's Jordon Smith was undefeated in 2013. After signing with the GEICO Honda team to be a part of the elite team's amateur program, he'll then eventually get to graduate up into the pros just like so many racers before him. Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, Eli Tomac, Justin Bogle and Zach Bell have all graduated directly from the amateur program into the factory GEICO Honda squad before him. The Amateur All-Star event is for 250cc B and 250cc A racers to showcase their talent on the biggest of stages prior to graduating to the AMA Pro ranks, and Smith's qualifying time (on a 250F, as opposed to the 450s in the premier Cup division) would have only put him about a second per lap away from qualifying for the 22-rider Cup main events. However, Smith didn't get the start he wanted in the first of two motos and had to work his way past top amateur Jace Owen before setting out after RJ Hampshire. Hampshire led the entire race and Smith didn't seem to have much for him, but on the last lap, Smith – perhaps thinking of maintaining his "undefeated" status – just let her rip heading through the sand whoops, with only one turn left before the finish of the race. The result? A huge crash. Smith got out of shape and awkwardly jumped off the edge of a berm from the adjacent section of track, was sketchy and I just wanted to get out of here safe." Stewart took home a cool $100,000 for the win. "I told [my team] all along, physically I'm going to get way better," Stewart said. "But I wanted to be here racing and I think that's the thing I found [with some time off in the off-season]. Even through how bad the season went last year, I found like a 're-love' for the sport that I never had. And I think that's from having some of the downfalls that I did, just the weird things, this year. And then to be able to win those races and get that feeling again, P57 RJ Hampshire took the overall win in the Amateur All-Star class. then launched nose-first into the uphill "Talladega Turn," going down hard. Smith, luckily, wasn't badly hurt and was able to get up and get going in time to score ninth in the moto, while Hampshire was the ecstatic winner. In the second moto, Darian Sanayei got the holeshot over Smith, and Smith made much quicker work of him, snatching the lead away on the third lap and going on to win the moto. Sanayei hung on for second, while Hampshire proved his worth by coming through from the tail end of the top 10 to land third place in the moto and take the overall win, ending Smith's undefeated streak. Smith and Hampshire are both planning on going pro in 2014. I found that, every week I came to the race, I enjoyed it. Even though I got smoked a few times, I enjoyed it. Even coming to this race, maybe three years ago maybe I would have said if I'm not 100% I wouldn't have come, but I can show up 80% and be like, 'Dude, I want to race.' And that's cool." CN OVERALL 1. James Stewart (Suz) 8-1-1 2. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 6-3-2 3. Ken Roczen (KTM) 4-4-4 4. Eli Tomac (Hon) 5-6-3 5. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 2-9-8 6. Cole Seely (Hon) 13-7-5 7. Broc Tickle (Suz) 10-8-9 8. Justin Barcia (Hon) 7-2-18 9. Dean Wilson (Kaw) 20-5-6 10. Josh Grant (Yam) 15-10-7 11. Andrew Short (KTM) 12-11-10 12. Cooper Webb (Yam) 9-12-16 13. Tyler Bowers (Kaw) 14-13-15 14. Matt Goerke (KTM) 18-14-11 15. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw) 1-21-21 16. Nick Wey (Kaw) 17-15-12 17. Jake Weimer (Kaw) 3-22-19 18. Kyle Chisholm (Yam) 16-16-14 19. Jimmy Albertson (Hon) 19-18-13 20. Malcolm Stewart (Hon) 11-19-22 21. Chris Blose (Hon) 22-17-17 22. Zach Osborne (Hon) 21-20-20