Windham Rolls

| July 27, 2003

The Washougal, Washington, 125/250cc MX National turned out to be what many pundits expected it to be: James Stewart (259) dominated the 125cc National for the fourth-straight race, moving into fourth in the 125cc National Championship along the way, and Kevin Windham (14) swept both motos for the second race in a row in the 250cc class. Windham is the only guy to beat Ricky Carmichael overall in a National in over two years, and he’s done it three times now, at Washougal in 2001, Unadilla last week, and Washougal 2003.

Things looked grim for Grant Langston at the beginning of the day Sunday, as he ran into a pileup after the checkered flag in the first 125cc practice session due to some confusing flagging and re-injured his left wrist, which had just recently stopped bothering him. He thought at first that it may have been broken, but it turned out it wasn’t – although it bothered him throughout the day. However, after getting beaten in the first moto by title-rival Mike Brown, who finished second to Langston’s fourth, it looked like Langston would lose even more points to Brown in the second moto until Brown went down on the backside of a jump, and in another apparent flagging mistake, Ryan Hughes came over the jump a few seconds later and hit Brown as the Kawasaki rider was trying to remount his KX125. Brown suffered a dislocated shoulder in the incident, and Hughes lost a spot.

But Langston came out on top because of the crash and now sits a full 11 points ahead of Brown heading into the two-weekend break before Millville.

Stewart made short work of the 125cc class in both motos, winning by almost 20 and 15 seconds, respectively, in each moto. Perhaps the most unexpected ride was turned in by Michael Byrne, who rode to a strong 7-2 finish for third overall, while Hughes’ 3-4 earned him second, Branden Jesseman’s 6-3 earned him fourth, and Langston’s 4-5 landed him fifth.

Similarly, the 250cc class was all Windham. He started the first moto in the lead with Carmichael, who suffered a bee sting on his nose early in the moto (Carmichael’s allergic to bee stings) right on his tail, and he immediately began pulling away from the champ. He ended up running away with the moto win, cruising across the finish line with almost a four-second lead.

The second moto started with Windham near the front and Carmichael, who only iced his stung nose between motos in order to avoid the lethargic effects of his bee-sting medication, mired in the pack. Windham got to the lead quickly, and by the time Carmichael got past Chad Reed, who put up a heck of a fight, for second Windham was long gone. Carmichael closed in some, but Windham rolled across the finish line with well over four seconds to spare. In a sport of streaks, it looks like Windham may have just started one of his own.

Mike LaRocco came from behind in both motos for a 3-4 score and third overall, making it a Honda sweep of the 250cc podium. Reed finished fourth overall with a 6-3 score, and Larry Ward finished fifth overall with a 5-9.

125cc O/A: 1. James Stewart (Kaw); 2. Ryan Hughes (KTM); 3. Michael Byrne (Hon); 4. Branden Jesseman (Suz); 5. Grant Langston (KTM); 6. Ivan Tedesco (Yam); 7. Michael Brandes (Yam); 8. Mike Brown (Kaw); 9. Brian Gray (Suz); 10. Andrew Short (Suz); 11. Ryan Mills (Hon); 12. Brock Sellards (Yam); 13. Matthieu Lalloz (Suz); 14. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 15. Bobby Kiniry (Suz); 16. Josh Woods (KTM); 17. Daryl Hurley (Suz); 18. Kelly Smith (Yam); 19. Tim Weigand (Hon); 20. Craig Anderson (Yam); 21. Michael Blose (Yam); 22. Cole Siebler (Suz); 23. Tommy Harrison (Suz); 24. Levi Reid (Suz); 25. Ryan Dudek (Yam).

250cc O/A: 1. Kevin Windham (Hon); 2. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 3. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 4. Chad Reed (Yam); 5. Larry Ward (Hon); 6. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 7. David Vuillemin (Yam); 8. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 9. Stephane Roncada (Suz); 10. Heath Voss (Yam); 11. John Dowd (KTM); 12. Nick Wey (Yam); 13. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 14. Clark Stiles (Hon); 15. Paul Carpenter (Hon); 16. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 17. Steve Lamson (Suz); 18. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 19. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 20. Jason Thomas (Hon); 21. Ryan Clark (Yam); 22. Shinichi Kaga (Suz); 23. Anthony Amaradio (Hon).

AMA/CHEVY TRUCKS 125cc U.S. MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 12 rounds): 1. Grant Langston (282); 2. Mike Brown (271/2 wins); 3. Ryan Hughes (254/1 win); 4. James Stewart (200/4 wins); 5. Brock Sellards (183); 6. Michael Byrne (183); 7. Ivan Tedesco (176); 8. Eric Sorby (160); 9. Craig Anderson (150/1 win); 10. Brett Metcalfe (149); 11. Michael Brandes (130); 12. Steve Boniface (122); 13. Kelly Smith (119); 14. Andrew Short (113); 15. Chris Gosselaar (110); 16. (TIE) Daryl Hurley/Brian Gray (97); 18. Branden Jesseman (87); 19. Stephane Roncada (77); 20. Ryan Mills (70).

AMA/CHEVY TRUCKS 250cc U.S. MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 12 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (382/6 wins); 2. Kevin Windham (335/2 wins); 3. Chad Reed (290); 4. Timmy Ferry (260); 5. Mike LaRocco (236); 6. David Vuillemin (203); 7. (TIE) John Dowd/Ezra Lusk (177); 9. (TIE) Larry Ward/Ernesto Fonseca (159); 11. Nick Wey (124); 12. Kyle Lewis (102); 13. Clark Stiles (92); 14. Stephane Roncada (78); 15. Nathan Ramsey (74); 16. Sean Hamblin (66); 17. Joaquim Rodrigues (60); 18. (TIE) Jason Thomas/Keith R. Johnson (47); 20. Heath Voss (45).

By Freelance