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2002 AMA EA Sports U.S. Supercross Championship
Round 2 of 16: Jan. 12 - Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA

David Vuillemin has proven he's the fastest, and smoothest, out there right now. Two races, two wins. Steve Bruhn photo

SAN DIEGO - Yamaha rider David Vuillemin has momentum on his side. The 24-year-old Frenchman earned his second-straight AMA EA Sports U.S. Supercross Championship victory Saturday night before 68,415 enthusiastic fans at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. That extends his lead in the series after two of 16 rounds. Travis Pastrana turned in a solid race on his factory Suzuki to take a close second after a frantic last-lap charge. It marked the first AMA 250 Supercross podium for Pastrana. Mike LaRocco finished third on the Factory Connection Honda, his second podium finish of the young season putting him second in the series standings. James “Bubba” Stewart broke through to take his first AMA 125 West Region Supercross victory over Rodrig Thain.

The big question mark coming into San Diego was how defending champ Ricky Carmichael would ride after suffering a hard crash last weekend in Anaheim. RC answered the question by winning heat race two; at five seconds faster than Pastrana’s victory in heat one. But in the main it appeared that Carmichael’s fitness was understandably a tad off. He scrapped with LaRocco most of the race, but when “The Rock” got by RC with four laps to go, Carmichael seemed reconciled to his fate and finished a distant fourth.

Travis Pastrana rode a very good race, dicing with Vuillemin for the lead until he was passed on lap 4. But Travis was not done, he came back at the end and nearly passed Vuillemin for the lead and the win.   Steve Bruhn photo

And what about McGrath? It was another off night for the seven-time AMA Supercross champ. He again battled just inside the top-10 with three other riders most of the race. In the end he finished 10th, but again suffered the indignation of being lapped by the leaders.

Two weeks ago would anyone have bet that RC and MC would leave San Diego tied for 11th in the point standings?

Up front Kevin Windham got the holeshot, but was quickly passed by Suzuki teammate Pastrana. By lap two it was Pastrana and Vuillemin already beginning to pull away from the rest of the 20-rider field. Pastrana led until lap four when Vuillemin made a smooth pass to take over the point through the whoop section before turn three.

Once in the lead Vuillemin turned in a set of precision laps and stretched the margin to over three seconds from Pastrana. Mid-race a great battle for third developed between Windham, Carmichael and LaRocco. RC and LaRocco pushed ahead of a fading Windham and would be no more than a second apart until the very end.

On the final lap Pastrana brought the big crowd to its feet when he made a last-ditch effort to close on Vuillemin. As the checkered flag waved Vuillemin crossed the line one-second ahead of Pastrana. LaRocco was a lonely third about five-seconds behind the leaders.

“Vuillemin gave me a riding lesson out there,” said Pastrana, on the podium in a Supercross 250 main for the first time in his life. “He was just so smooth and perfect every lap. The first half of the race I didn’t know what to do. I mean I was leading my first ever 250 main event, but now I know what it takes.”

Vuillemin didn’t get flustered after being forced to ride a semi to make the main event.

“The night didn’t start out really good for me,” said Vuillemin, who leaves San Diego with an eight-point lead over LaRocco. “I had to go to the semi so I had a few laps more than the other guys. I knew on this track the start was really important. I rode with Travis, he rode a great race, and I passed him in the whoops. After that I gave everything I had to stay in front and make a little gap. The traffic was crazy in the end and it was kind of difficult, but I got around them to win this race holding off Travis at the checkered flag.”

It appears all the buzz about Chad Reed was true -- he flies. And with his fifth last night, he's third in 250 points. Not bad for a rider who was just racing in the 250 class until the 125 East Region Series kicks off.  Steve Bruhn photo

Aussie newcomer Chad Reed took fifth and moved to third in the standings.

In the 125 West final Thain took the early lead on his Yamaha followed by David Pingree and Ivan Tedesco. On the second lap Stewart moved up quickly on his factory Kawasaki from fourth and began pressuring Thain. A big cheer went up from the crowd that lap when Stewart made an aggressive stuff pass on Thain. Stewart looked back to make sure Frenchman stayed on two wheels after the contact.

From that point on it was all Stewart. He made a few bobbles halfway through the race allowing Thain to temporarily gain back some real estate on the leader, but Stewart recovered and pulled away to a 3.5-second margin of victory. Tedesco finished a lonely third on the Boost Mobile Yamaha. David Pingree worked his way back to fourth after crashing on lap three. Last week’s 125 winner Travis Preston was fifth after a poor start.

“I felt really good out there,” said Stewart after his first AMA Supercross win in only his second-career start. “Halfway through the moto I tightened up. I kind of over-jumped the table top and cased it and I was like, ‘Oh, oh, oh’ and I saved it. It’s great to be up here.”

Stewart leads Preston by six points in the 125 West standings.

Race Notes

Hayden brothers on hand in San Diego
The Hayden brothers, Tommy, Nick and Roger Lee, were in Southern California in preparation for road racing testing next week and stopped by the San Diego Supercross. Tommy and Nick said that they might again race the occasional AMA Grand National event this year, although Nick said he was going to mainly concentrate on trying to win the AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike title. Tommy said that since the road-racing season is over so early this summer that Kawasaki might prepare for him a short-track and TT bike to race in the late-season Grand Nationals.

Elbow injury forces Fonseca to the sidelines
Honda’s Ernesto Fonseca left San Diego deeply disappointed after injuring his right elbow in a practice crash and missing the final after pulling off the track in his heat race in obvious pain. After such a promising start at Anaheim last week, where he earned a podium finish (3rd) in his very first 250 AMA Supercross race, Fonseca will be forced to regroup to try and get back in the championship. The former AMA SX/MX Rookie of the Year moved from third to 10th in the standings after missing the race.

Ferry back from knee surgery
Yamaha factory rider Tim Ferry made a quick recovery from knee surgery and rode to 12th at San Diego. Ferry was not expected to return until next Saturday’s Anaheim II.

Photo Gallery - coming

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Photos by Steve Bruhn

Copyright AMA Pro Racing, 2005.