Two for the future
Aug. 8 - You want to see the future? You don't need a crystal ball. Don't waste your money calling Miss Cleo. All you had to do was watch the 85cc Modified (9-13) class at the AMA Amateur Motocross Championships on Thursday, and you would have seen an eyeful of great racing to come from two future stars. Ryan Villopoto of Poulsbo, Washington, lined up at the starting gate knowing exactly what cost him a chance at the win in the first moto: his poor start. In that race, young phenom Mike Alessi pulled away to a convincing win, with Villopoto finishing a distant second.
In the second moto, Villopoto corrected that error by getting the holeshot and setting off one of the most exciting and tightly fought battles of the week. Alessi and Villopoto swapped the lead several times, lapping half of the field in the process. Picking off lapped riders at speed and running so close their knobbies nearly touched, they proved you don't have to have big machines to have a great race. It came down to a photo finish. Villopoto took his favored outside line through the Dunlop sweeper while Alessi kept to the inside and held the lead going into the last turn. Villopoto threw the bike into the rut as hard as he could and powered out, coming up just a bike length short of victory. "We came into that last corner and I tried to go underneath him," Villopoto said afterwards. "I got close, but not enough."
"I definitely wasn't going to settle for second," said Alessi. "Man, we were going fast." The win left Alessi undefeated after three motos in his two 85cc classes.
Day three of racing began with unusually cool breezes that had some fans in the stands wearing sweatshirts to watch the 250/Open A class begin the day's competition. They saw the first chapter in a very up-and-down day for Kawasaki rider Gavin Gracyk of Blisfield, Ohio. Gracyk took advantage of a better start than his rivals in the class and took the win to put himself in a strong position for the title with 3rd-place and 1st-place results. But his luck turned later in the day against some of the same riders in the 125 A/Pro Sport class.
Gracyk and Evan Laughridge, of Forest Ranch, California, pulled away from the field in a tight, two-man battle on the 125s, with Gracyk leading until mid-race. Then he got sideways over the Gatorade jump just past the finish line and crashed. Laughridge, right on his tail, somehow hit the small gap between Gracyk's sprawled body and his Kawasaki and motored on to the win. Gracyk got up but finished outside the top ten. "I followed him for a few laps and waited for him to make a mistake, and he did," Laughridge said of the battle.
In one of the last motos of the day, Ryan Mills, of Clintondale, New York, finally broke through with a victory after podium finishes in his first three motos. Once again, Gene Stull got the holeshot but faded in the final laps as Mills pulled away to a solid victory on his Honda. Hampered again by a mid-pack start, Jesse Casillas pushed through the field on his Yamaha and ended up with his third consecutive second-place finish, leaving him tied with Mills in the 125 A class going into the final moto.
Mills is also in the hunt in the 125cc Modified (12-15) class where he battled once again with Nick Adams, of Hastings, Michigan. Adams and Mills each have a second and a third in the class, but neither has yet been able to chase down Davi Millsaps, one of the fastest riders in any class at the amateur nationals this year. Millsaps' win in the class gave him his fourth victory in four motos.
Also putting in a strong performance with back-to-back moto wins in the 65cc Stock (10-11) class was Kawasaki rider Trent Pugmire, of Simi Valley, California. Pugmire went down in the closing laps, but by then his lead was so big he had time to get the bike upright and still notch up an uncontested win.
Larry Witmer, of Elkhart, Indiana, was just as successful among the most experienced riders on the track. He added another win to remain perfect in the Senior 45 Plus division, the highest age group at the amateur nationals this year. For the second time in two motos, Fred Vertucci, of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, finished second behind Witmer. The Women 80-105cc (12-15) class is set for a third-moto showdown after Marisa Hampshire, of Hudson, Florida, finished ahead of Leah Cantrell, of Marietta, Georgia, giving each girl a win and a second-place finish. Racing continues through Saturday. © 2002, American Motorcyclist Association |
