If it's Mt. Morris, it must be wet. A narrow band of rain has come through the area, started around 9am local time - with any luck, it'll be clear in time for the National motos. Qualifying motos being run during the morning should help keep the track set up. But - look for the Euros and the mud studs to do well today.
Be sure to mark your calendar - this event will be covered on ABC's Wide World of Sports on June 3rd, check your local TV listings for air times.
This is the 25th anniversary for the Hi Point National Motocross. Tony Distefano won the first one here 1977; the only 3-time winners here at this track are Kent Howerton ('79, '80, and '81), and Damon Bradshaw ('92, '93, and '97). Rick Johnson won twice ('86 and '88), as did Jeff Stanton ('89 and '91).
If a rider's not in the top 10 in points, they must ride a Sunday qualifier to make the National motos. Notable 125 riders who had to ride in the Sunday morning qualifying races included Michael Brandes, Nick Wey, Steve Boniface, Scott Sheak, David Pingree, Bobby Bonds (first qualifying race), and Keith Johnson, Greg Schnell, Justin Buckelew, Brandon Jesseman, Matt Walker, Barry Carsten, Keith Johnson, Ivan Tedesco, Shane Watts (second qualifying race). Buckelew beat Watts in the first 125cc Qualifier, and Michael Brandes won the second. Pingree won the 125cc LCQ to make the main.
125cc National #69 MX rider Tom Welch suffered a broken leg on Saturday, will be on the DL for some time.
Unfortunate incident of the weekend: Someone stole a couple factory-replica MX bikes - one McGrath-replica Yamaha, and one Carmichael-replica Kawasaki from the Chevy Trucks display tent overnight - a $5000 reward is being offered by Chevrolet, and the NPG is offering a set of full-access MX round passes for the recovery of the bikes.
Steve Lamson is sitting out this weekend due to injuries from a 2nd turn crash and subsequent human speed-bump impression at Hangtown.
250cc riders who had to ride their qualifiers included Ezra Lusk and Robbie Reynard, and Jean Sebastien Roy. Lusk won his qualifier.
The parade lap is done - many of the riders declined to take a loop around due to the still-muddy course.
Grant Langston is having a problem while the rest of the bikes are revving - his mechanic is frantically trying to get the bike functioning - the AMA rule is they'll only let 'em keep their hand up for 2 minutes before they've gotta go...
Langston's bike is back running - they had to remove the tank and put it back on - but it's working, and he's getting back on it - the card is up and now sideways...
The gate drops - the lucky recipient of the first holeshot of the day is Fonseca, followed by Suzuki's Akira Narita...as they come thru the first few turns, Brandes falls...
Running order is Fonseca, Narita, Pastrana, Jesseman, Kelly Smith...
Pastrana moves up to second early on Lap 2...,Narita moves to the lead! - Pastrana still holding down 2nd, then Fonseca in 3rd...
Lap 3 - Narita leads, followed by Pastrana, Fonseca, Jesseman, K. Smith, Thain, Larry Ward, Brown, Sheak, Keith Johnson, Watts, Wey, Ramsey, Bonds, Langston, and Randy Valade...
Japanese ace Akira Narita is tearing up the 125cc class as he still leads his Suzuki teammate Pastrana by about 8 bikelengths...Fonseca, Jesseman, K. Smith, Thain, Ward, and Sheak make up the rest of the front runners during the 4th lap...
Apparently, the horsepower blues that Suzuki was experiencing in the 125 class at the past two rounds are over, with two of their pilots leading...
Narita gets his signals in Japanese from his mechanic board as he continues to show Pastrana the way around Mt. Morris on lap 6, about a 3-second lead...Fonseca is about 6 seconds back of them...
Lap time for Narita is running around 2:24, he's not really getting much pressure from Pastrana, who's running somewhat alone in second...
Narita, Pastrana, Fonseca, Kelly Smith, Thain, Ward, Brown, Jesseman, Sheak, and Bobby Bonds are the top 10 group, then Watts leads KTM-mate Langston...
Akira Narita is still not fading, still leading Pastrana...but wait - Pastrana suddenly puts a pass on for the lead - Narita pushes back, but cannot repay the favor, and Pastrana keeps the new pole spot...Fonseca's still running third...If a rider's not in the top 10 in points, they must ride a qualifier to make the National motos.
Lap 8 - Langston has moved into 9th place, looks like today is going to break his 4-moto win streak...Narita is trying all kinds of lines trying to get back by Pastrana, the national champ tries to wick it up to gain distance, but Narita manages to stay with him all the way around...last week, Narita only finished 28th overall - he's stepping it way up today.
Pastrana continues to hold his lead over Narita, then it's 7 seconds back to Fonseca...
Running order is Pastrana, Narita, Fonseca, Kelly Smith, Thain, Ward, Brown, Sheak, Bonds, Langston, Wey, Keith Johnson, Brandes...
FYI, we hear that '85 High Point winner Jeff Ward is current running 3rd in the Indy 500...but stay tuned for Mt. Morris for the real race between Pastrana and his teammate Narita...
The leaders are slicing through lappers - Pastrana still trying to keep a minimum distance on Narita, both come through traffic but it seems like Narita was able to get the most benefit, coming up on the rear wheel of his teammate - Narita's using all kinds of alternate lines to find a way by, he will not give up - now Narita passes Pastrana around the outside!
Akira Narita has put the moves on Travis Pastrana, taken the lead - and is now pulling away...the 2-lap board is out, and this kid on the 982 Suzuki is showing the other kid with the number one plate the way around Mt. Morris...
Here we go - the white flag is out, and Pastrana is going after Narita! Hold on to the edge of your seat...the crowd waves the Suzuki teammates along, both of them on the gas all the way around...Pastrana is putting pressure on Narita, trying to force a mistake - the collide down the hill, and Pastrana elbows his way back into the lead!
Pastrana holds on, Narita must have finally had enough as his teammate is able to slip away just a bit, they come around to the finish line set of jumps, Narita tries, but - Pastrana takes his first outdoor moto win of the season, followed by Akira Narita, then Fonseca, Kelly Smith, and Thain.
Official 125 Moto 1 Results: 1. Travis Pastrana (Suz); 2. Akira Narita (Suz); 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Yam); 4. Kelly Smith (KTM); 5. Rodrig Thain (Suz); 6. Larry Ward (Yam); 7. Mike Brown (Kaw); 8. Bobby Bonds (Kaw); 9. Scott Sheak (Hon); 10. Grant Langston (KTM); 11. Nick Wey (Yam); 12. Keith Johnson (Yam); 13. Josh Woods (Kaw); 14. Danny Smith (Suz); 15. Shane Watts (KTM); 16. Randy Valade (Hon); 17. Steve Boniface (Hon); 18. Justin Buckelew (Yam); 19. Brock Sellards (KTM); 20. Damon Huffman (Yam); 21. Ben Riddle (Suz); 22. Ivan Tedesco (Hon); 23. Nathan Ramsey (Yam); 24. Matt Walker (Hon); 25. Barry Carsten (Suz); 26. David Pingree (KTM); 27. Joseph Oehlhof (Yam); 28. David Oettel (Yam); 29. Johnny Marley (Hon); 30. Davey Yezek (Yam); 31. Nathan Miller (Hon); 32. Jason Fink (Yam); 33. Thomas Kelley (Suz); 34. Michael Brandes (Yam); 35. Chris Gosselaar (Hus); 36. James McNeill (Hon); 37. Chris Whitcraft (Suz); 38. Chad Sanner (Yam); 39. Ty Hadsell (Yam); 40. Branden Jesseman (Hon).
Most of the 250 riders took their parade lap - except Vuillemin, Carmichael, Tortelli, Hughes, and Ferry who chilled out in their slots on the LH side of the gate...
Elbows up...the gate drops, and the 250 Moto #1 holeshot belongs to Vuillemin, followed by Windham, Dowd, Hughes, Carmichael, Ferry, Tortelli, Carpenter...Lusk suffered a crummy start, and is running last...
Halfway around the first lap, Kevin Windham is pressuring Vuillemin for the lead...Dowd has put the big KTM 520 into third spot...then it's Carmichael, Ferry, Hughes, Tortelli, LaRocco, Roncada, Carpenter, Lewis, Roy, Plotts, Skaggs...
K-dub is pushing Vuillemin, it's a dogfight for the lead - Carmichael goes down HARD on the downhill, taking a good while to get the bike restarted...he restarts in dead last position...
Vuillemin and Windham are winding it out with about 8 seconds over the 4-way fight between Dowd, Ferry, Hughes, and Tortelli...
Vuillemin and Windhmam still lead after about 5 laps, the Yamaha rider has begun to pull away just a bit, Windham pursues...Ferry has established a somewhat solid spot for third, the Hughes, Dowd, and Tortelli are battling fiercely for 4th...LaRocco is about ready to complicate that battle, coming right up behind in 5th...
Dowd has a "moment" as he parted company with his KTM...
Vuillemin's gapping Windham by about 4.5 seconds, the Frenchman is back on his form, and looking to repeat his Mt. Morris victory from '00...running order is Vuillemin, Windham, Ferry (another 6 seconds back), Tortelli now up to 4th, then Hughes, LaRocco, Roncada, Dowd (back underway), Roy, Carpenter, Lewis, Reynard, Plotts...Carmichael is back up to 20th...
Ferry's got a good pace working, he's now less than 4 seconds behind Windham, and there's plenty of time and opportunity for him to catch the Suzuki rider...Carmichael and Lusk are battling - just inside the top 20 - tough day for them so far...
Twenty minutes away, and Ferry has closed the gap on Windham, they're only separated by 2 seconds, that amount of time was soaked up within the last lap...Vuillemin continues to control the first moto at the front...
Carmichael is up to around 17th...we may see some more rain soon - thunder can be heard approaching...Vuillemin leads by 10 seconds...the big battle right now is between the Honda teammates for 4th - LaRocco puts the move on Ryan Hughes to move into that spot...running order is now Vuillemin, Windham, Ferry, Tortelli, LaRocco, Hughes, Roncada, Dowd, Roy, Carpenter, Reynard, Lewis, Preston, Carmichael, Plotts, Lusk, Skaggs, and Crine.
As the moto winds down, Ferry has Windham in his sights, and is beginning to work on a strategy for a way around...Windham has other ideas, and has managed to pull back a little more time on the Yamaha rider, and they'll only have a few more laps to settle it, as we're at the 25-minute mark in this moto...
Carmichael is up to 13th spot, working hard to not lose any more points than necessary after the brutal crash he endured early in the moto...up front, Vuillemin continues to lead by 10 seconds, Windham still holding down 2nd over Ferry...
The gap between Windham and Ferry has tightened back up, and Windham loses his front wheel traction and crashes downhill, allowing Ferry to move into 2nd without the fight we was anticipating...Windham manages to run back and remount in 3rd, it was a lengthy gap back to Tortelli in 4th...Stephane Roncada is on the move, he's gotten himself into 7th...
Yamaha's running 1-2 with Vuillemin and Ferry, Windham is keeping himself podium-worthy in 3rd, they're pretty spread out...Tortelli's alone in 4th, LaRocco 5th, then the best battle on the track between Hughes trying to hold off Stephane Roncada - they're trading paint, rubber and plastic.
Roncada's trying everything he can to get by Hughes as the white flag comes out; Tortelli has picked it up, and is challenging Windham to try & move into passing mode, may not be enough time left for him to execute...Vuillemin sees the checkered flag and takes the first 250cc moto win...2nd will be Tim Ferry, Windham holds off Tortelli for third, then LaRocco in fifth.
Official 250 Moto 1 Results: 1. David Vuillemin (Yam); 2. Tim Ferry (Yam); 3. Kevin Windham (Suz); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 5. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 6. Ryan Hughes (Hon); 7. Stephane Roncada (Kaw); 8. John Dowd (KTM); 9. Robbie Reynard (Yam); 10. Paul Carpenter (KTM); 11. Kyle Lewis (Yam); 12. Travis Preston (Hus); 13. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 14. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 15. Damien Plotts (Hus); 16. Jon Sebastien Roy (Hon); 17. Jason Thomas (Hus); 18. Kevin Crine (Hon); 19. Robbie Skaggs (Suz); 20. Aaron Dieter (Yam); 21. Clark Stiles (KTM); 22. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 23. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 24. Jeffrey Baker (Yam); 25. Brian Stone (Kaw); 26. Ty Wallace (Yam); 27. James Povolny (Hon); 28. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); 29. Steve Andrich (Hon); 30. Ryan Clark (Yam); 31. Jeremias Israel (Hon); 32. Scott Carter (Suz); 33. Donald Baker (Hon); 34. Dennis Stapleton (Hon); 35. Jason McDonald (Suz); 36. Joshua Sterritt (Yam); 37. Clint Johnson (Yam); 38. Michael Kann (Yam); 39. Vincent Karnow (KTM); 40. Bruce Stratton (Suz).
Rain's done for now, and the 125 riders are lining up...most of them took the parade lap this time, and good indicator that the muddy conditions are over for now. What little rain that happened during the intermission was inconsequential, and the track, riders and fans are ready for the second wave of action.
We're ready - all the 125 riders are on the gate, the 30 second board has gone sideways, and the 2nd moto 125 holeshot will go to - Narita - again!...
It's Narita, Pastrana, Fonseca, Brown and Boniface...Boniface crashes on the same downhill that Windham crashed on earlier...
It looks like the first moto was no fluke, as the Suzukis of Akira Narita and Travis Pastrana lead at the beginning of lap 2, followed by Brown, Fonseca, Sellards, Smith, Brandes...
Up front, we have a repeat of the way the first moto unfolded. Narita has just a small gap on Pastrana, who's currently finding himself occupied with Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Mike Brown behind him in third...
Pastrana shakes off Brown, and jams up to pass Narita for the lead - those three have about 5 seconds on Fonseca back in 4th, then it's Danny Smith, Sellards, and Brandes battling...Langston is running inside the top 10...
Lap 3, and Travis Pastrana holds down the lead, running a freight train ahead of Narita and Brown, then Fonseca, Smith, Langston, Sellards, Brandes, Bonds, Thain, Sheak, Ward...and Narita goes down at the bottom of a hill, lost his front end in an off-camber corner, he's back up...Gosselaar crashed in the mechanic's area, got up looking like his wrist took some damage, he's parking it for the day...
Lap 4 - Pastrana, Brown, Narita, Fonseca, Langston, D. Smith, Sellards, Brandes, Thain, Sheak, Ward, Kelly Smith comprise the running order...
Lap 5 - Pastrana has about 5 seconds on Mike Brown, then about the same back to Narita, Fonseca, Langston, Danny Smith, Sellards are all spread out a bit...Brandes is leading a big group of riders after that, getting pressure from Thain for that 8th place spot...
Up front, Travis Pastrana has it hooked up, everything's working for him as he continues to lead...the biggest speculation is how long it may take for Langston to catch Fonseca to battle for third, right now he's about 3.5 seconds adrift...
The crossed-flags signaling the halfway point in the moto is out, and the running order is Pastrana, Brown, Fonseca with Langston slowly reeling him in, then Thain, Sellards, Danny Smith, Sheak, Kelly Smith...Narita has dropped out, tough break for the likeable Japanese rider...
Grant Langston has pulled to within about 5 bikelengths on Ernesto Fonseca, less than 1 second separating them as Langston will have the opportunity to study the lines of the Yamaha rider...Langston cranks it up, bearing down on the Costa Rican...Langston sets it up, and shows Fonseca a wheel...not yet - Fonseca holds the position for now...
Langston's using alternate lines, putting serious pressure on Fonseca, and passes into the number three spot, as Fonseca shakes his head when the South African blows on by, on an uphill jump right after a big g-out...
Running order is now Pastrana, Brown, Langston, Fonseca, Danny Smith, Thain, Sellards, Sheak, Kelly Smith, Ward, and Boniface...
Pastrana's in warp speed mode right now, he has checked out with a huge lead and can smell victory as the laps wind down...Brown is still all by himself in second, and Langston - running third - has not quite shaken off Fonseca...only 1 second and change ahead of the Yamaha rider...then Danny Smith, Thain, Sellards...
Three laps remaining...Pastrana leads Brown by 13 seconds...then it's 15 seconds back to third, Langston, but perhaps not for long...wait...right when Fonseca was setting up a pass, his bike quit...he's trying to restart, but it doesn't look hopeful - now his goggles are off and Fonseca will get to watch the rest of the riders finish the race...
The white flag is shown to Travis Pastrana who styles his way around Mt. Morris on the final lap (his mechanic Lee McCollum shows him "Snow Cone Time!" on his pit board), Brown's doing the same, secure in second...Langston's safe at third, and Danny Smith will bring it home with no pressure in fourth, then it's Thain, Sellards, Sheak, Smith, Ward, Wey, Ramsey, Jesseman...
Pastrana throws a no-handed-lander at the checkered flag to secure his first 125 National MX win of the season via 1-1 moto finishes, followed by Brown, Langston, Danny Smith, Thain this moto.
Official 125 Moto 2 Results: 1. Travis Pastrana (Suz); 2. Mike Brown (Kaw); 3. Grant Langston (KTM); 4. Danny Smith (Suz); 5. Rodrig Thain (Suz); 6. Brock Sellards (KTM); 7. Scott Sheak (Hon); 8. Larry Ward (Yam); 9. Kelly Smith (KTM); 10. Steve Boniface (Hon); 11. Nick Wey (Yam); 12. Nathan Ramsey (Yam); 13. Branden Jesseman (Hon); 14. Joshua Woods (Kaw); 15. Bobby Bonds (Kaw); 16. Keith Johnson (Yam); 17. Ben Riddle (Suz); 18. Justin Buckelew (Yam); 19. David Pingree (KTM); 20. Michael Brandes (Yam); 21. Damon Huffman (Yam); 22. Ivan Tedesco (Hon); 23. Randy Valade (Hon); 24. Davey Yezek (Yam); 25. Joseph Oehlhof (Yam); 26. Jason Fink (Yam); 27. David Oettel (Yam); 28. James McNeill (Hon); 29. Ernesto Fonseca (Yam); 30. Chad Sanner (Yam); 31. Matt Walker (Hon); 32. Christopher Whitcraft (Suz); 33. Barry Carsten (Suz); 34. Johnny Marley (Hon); 35. Akira Narita (Suz); 36. Tyson Hadsell (Yam); 37. Thomas Kelley (Suz); 38. Nathan Miller (Hon); 39. Chris Gosselaar (Hus); 40. Shane Watts (KTM).
Windham tries to lay down the pain, measuring out about 8 bikelengths over Dowd, he knows Carmichael is going to be coming after him...
Lap 2, running order is Windham, Carmichael, Hughes, Dowd, Vuillemin, Roncada, Tortelli, LaRocco, Roy, Reynard...
Up front, Carmichael has a clear shot at Windham, 3.7 seconds separate the two...
Windham keeps it pinned as they come around on lap 3, Carmichael is some 7 seconds ahead of Hughes, who's getting major pressure from Vuillemin for 3rd...then it's a great battle between Tortelli, Dowd, and Ferry...Vuillemin gives Hughes a not-so-subtle bump, and shoves his way into third...Carmichael has picked up 1/2-second in his pursuit of Windham in the lead...Vuillemin's third, then Hughes, with pressure from Tortelli on the move, then Ferry, LaRocco, Roncada, Lusk, Dowd, Reynard, and Roy...
Lap 5 - Windham leads Carmichael by just 2 seconds, then it's 10 seconds back to Vuillemin, but Tortelli's on it...right behind are Hughes and Ferry, and LaRocco, Roncada, and Reynard chasing...
2.25 second lead for Windham over Carmichael, Vuillemin's about to have company as Tortelli moves up to challenge for third...Hughes and Ferry are banging their way around trying to out muscle each other - each corner looks like "My 4-stroke's badder than your 4-stroke"...
Kevin Windham is just one second ahead of Ricky Carmichael, and the two are running in overdrive, Carmichael looks back and sees only daylight, they're a long way ahead of third - which just happened to have been taken over by Tortelli, as he blasted his way past Vuillemin for that spot...right now there are battles all over the place...
Carmichael moves past Windham into the lead! - Windham's mechanic shows him "Fight" on the pit board...Tortelli and Vuillemin running in close formation...then Ferry, LaRocco, Hughes, Roncada, Lusk...
Halfway point at Hi Point...Carmichael leads Windham by 2.2 seconds, then Tortelli's gapped Vuillemin, then Ferry and Hughes continue their slugfest...then Roncada, Lusk, LaRocco...
Six laps remain in this moto...LaRocco, Lusk and Roncada hammer away...Lusk crashes, going over the bars - restarts but lost distance and position with his rivals...
As the track has dried out, the lines have deepened and moved around...with 4 laps left, Carmichael has 5+ seconds on Windham, then it's 9 seconds back to Tortelli in 3rd...Vuillemin, Ferry, Hughes, Lusk, Roncada, LaRocco pursue...
Three laps remain - Ricky Carmichael has the moto win and valuable championship points in sight...running order is RC, Windham, Tortelli, Vuillemin, Ferry, Hughes, Lusk, Roncada, LaRocco, Reynard, Roy, Dowd, Lewis, Plotts...
Ricky Carmichael is shown the white flag, signifying the final lap if the top positions stay the same, Vuillemin is expected to be the 250 overall winner for the day...
Carmichael takes the moto win, followed by Kevin Windham, Sebastien Tortelli, David Vuillemin (today'overall 250 winner), Tim Ferry, Ryan Hughes, and Ezra Lusk.
Official 250 Moto 2 Results: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 2. Kevin Windham (Suz); 3. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 4. David Vuillemin (Yam); 5. Tim Ferry (Yam); 6. Ryan Hughes (Hon); 7. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 8. Stephane Roncada (Kaw); 9. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 10. Robbie Reynard (Yam); 11. Jean Sebastien Roy (Hon); 12. John Dowd (KTM); 13. Kyle Lewis (Yam); 14. Damien Plotts (Hus); 15. Travis Preston (Hus); 16. Robbie Skaggs (Suz); 17. Jason Thomas (Hus); 18. Jeffrey Baker (Yam); 19. Brian Stone (Kaw); 20. James Povolny (Hon); 21. Ty Wallace (Yam); 22. Steve Andrich (Hon); 23. Aaron Dieter (Yam); 24. Ryan Clark (Yam); 25. Jeremiah Israel (Hon); 26. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 27. Bruce Stratton (Suz); 28. Scott Carter (Suz); 29. Donald Baker (Hon); 30. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 31. Vincent Karnow (KTM); 32. Dennis Stapleton (Hon); 33. Michael Kann (Yam); 34. Clint Johnson (Yam); 35. Joshua Sterritt (Yam); 36. Jason McDonald (Suz); 37. Kevin Crine (Hon); 38. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); 39. Paul Carpenter (KTM); 40. Clark Stiles (KTM).
Broadcast By: Mark Thome - New Media Division
Spotter: Dave Deringer, Steve Bobrofsky
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