Monday, January 7

Vuillemin Wins SX Opener

By B.J. Smith
MotoWorld.com

ANAHEIM, CA (Jan. 5) - Unpredictable is the best way to describe the opening round of the 2002 EA Sports Supercross Series. With all the buzz surrounding Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael, the rest of the field seemed non-existent. But in the end it was Team Yamaha's David Vuillemin, who pulled out a huge upset victory in front of a sold-out crowd at Anaheim's Edison field.

David Vuillemin surprised the sold-out Anaheim crowd by winning the opening round, his first Supercross win since 2000.

250cc:

So what happened with the anticipated MC/RC standoff? McGrath, who faded in his heat from first to third and cited arm pump, got off to a bad start in the main event and could only muster a 13th place finish. In fact, McGrath's best lap time was three seconds slower than the fastest split of the race, set by Mike LaRocco. In the main event, during a fierce duel for second place with "The Rock," RC crashed so hard he was unable to re-join the race. Carmichael ended in 20th.

Vuillemin, already in the lead after passing POWERshot winner, Michael Byrne, had a comfortable distance only five laps into the race. LaRocco re-joined the main in sixth place and climbed to second by race's end.

Vuillemin, looking like the "Cobra" of 2000, set a smooth, fast pace and will no doubt be a force to reckon with this season. With the win, Vuillemin leads the Vans Triple Crown series worth $500,000 to the rider who wins Anaheim I, Atlanta, and Las Vegas.

"I felt very good, and I feel very confident. I don't want to do like last year, but I feel very confident for the rest of the season," Vuillemin said. "Everybody is fast. There are about 15 guys that can win a main event, there's not only two guys out there and that's why I'm here."

In other surprises, LaRocco, who just gets better with age, was setting the fast pace all night long, but he said the track was very technical.

"I got the start that I needed and was able to catch the front pack early," said LaRocco. "I started closing in on Ricky, and as we approached a difficult step-up jump out of the tunnel, RC lost control of his bike and clipped me and I went down with him. The track was deceivingly difficult tonight. It became very slick towards the end of the main event and the whoops were really hard to go through at a consistent pace. I'm just happy to come away from round 1 on the podium and look forward to Sand Diego."

And new Honda rider, two-time 125cc SX champ, Ernesto Fonseca turned a lot of heads en route to a podium finish in his first race as a 250cc rider. Fonseca's podium finish didn't come easy though as another surprise front-runner, AMS Oil Honda rider, Byrne ran third for much of the race before being passed. Byrne ended in fourth followed by Ezra Lusk on the Kawasaki.

Missing in Action Missing from the 250cc class were factory riders Tim Ferry and Sebastien Tortelli. Tortelli underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season to repair an injury that nagged the Honda red rider all throughout the 2001 season. "The shoulder is now 100%," said Tortelli. "I have been able to train since November and I am already able to lift weights. Hopefully I will be back in race form by February. It's tough coming to the races just to spectate, I want to get out there!"

Yamaha's Ferry was out due to a knee injury he suffered one week ago. (See interview on the SX page).

125cc:

Although James Stewart didn't annihilate the competition as the hype predicted, the 16-year old from FL still gets an "A" for effort. Stewart crashed in his heat race and was forced into the last chance qualifier. Stewart spent some time on the ground in his main event debut as well.

Taking the main event win in the opening round of 125cc West action was AMS Oil's Travis Preston who has shown major improvement since last season's title run. Stealing the show though was Stewart who battled for the lead, crashed back to eighth, and then played catch-up to second place again.

Preston's win came just like his first one at Houston last year. His teammate, Chris Gosselaar led for much of the race with Rodrig Thain in hot pursuit. A bobble on the last lap, in the exact same spot Stewart crashed, caused him to lose his balance and hand the lead to Thain. Gosselaar, still on two wheels charged too hard in the second whoop section on the next straight and plowed right into the back of Thain, sending both riders to the ground. In the end, Preston had plenty of breathing room to win the race, which was much to his surprise. Stewart finished second in his first-ever race and Gosselaar re-mounted for third.

Exiting the track, Thain deliberately rammed his bike into Gosselaar, despite the fact several crew members surrounded him. No official word on a fine.

250cc MAIN EVENT OVERALL AND FINAL POINTS:

1. David Vuillemin - 25
2. Mike LaRocco - 22
3. Ernesto Fonseca - 20
4. Michael Byrne - 18
5. Ezra Lusk - 16
6. Chad Reed - 15
7. Nick Wey - 14
8. Kevin Windham - 13
9. Stephane Roncada - 12
10. Jean Sebastien Roy - 11
11. Damon Huffman - 10
12. Heath Voss - 9
13. Jeremy McGrath - 8
14. Kyle Lewis - 7
15. Mike Brown - 6
16. Steve Lamson - 5
17. Nathan Ramsey - 4
18. Tyler Evans - 3
19. Travis Pastrana - 2
20. Ricky Carmichael - 1

125cc MAIN EVENT OVERALL AND FINAL POINTS:

1. Travis Preston - 25
2. James Stewart - 22
3. Chris Gosselaar - 20
4. Brock Sellards - 18
5. Rodrig Thain - 16
6. David Pingree - 15
7. Ivan Tedesco - 14
8. Travis Elliott - 13
9. Keith Johnson - 12
10. Michael Brandes - 11
11. Justin Buckelew - 10
12. Michael Young - 9
13. Isaiah Johnson - 8
14. Andrew Short - 7
15. Casey Lytle - 6
16. Tiger Lacey - 5
17. Tommy Harrison - 4
18. Kevin Johnson - 3
19. Erick Vallejo - 2
20. Casey Johnson - 1
21. Danny Smith - 0