    |
 |
|
|
|
Racing Lines #57 – January 9, 2003
By Gerald Langston:
Since being back from Europe it’s been back to the routine of testing, practice etc. except we have had more rain last month than since I have been in California (anything above nothing is more). So for the first time we have had tracks that were closed because of flooding (an every winter day occurrence in Europe).
At about this time the news of Jeremy’s retirement spread like wild fire and we were inundated with calls/emails on what we thought and how it would affect us. First of all we were stunned by the timing of his retirement but secondly it doesn’t affect us at all. Grant and Jeremy never really shared any information and ran different settings on their bikes both suspension and engines. My opinion is Jeremy never underestimates any opponents, and Grant was not going to ask Jeremy for advice either. Maybe now if Jeremy stays on with KTM in some other capacity he may share some of his supercross knowledge with Grant. Getting back to the retirement we suspected the fire was out and that the may retire at the end of 2003.
With Anaheim approaching fast the team was flat out preparing our 250 team big rig which is also brand new and delivered about a week before the race. With 3 x 18 wheel big rigs KTM has gone from the smallest team in the supercross pits to the largest in 3 years. Oh, there is also the M2R/Red Bull hospitality bus as well. With all this comes growing pains and we raced Anaheim with a bike that was probably not as well set up as in Europe. A little one step forward, one step back. The 250 team as you probably know is Grant, Joachim Rodriguez and, for the first few rounds before going 125 east, Steve Boniface. Joachim is surprising a lot of people with his speed. He is not totally new to supercross as he is the as he is the proud owner of (I think) an Audi TT for winning the German SX series a year ago.
Race day arrived with a surprise in that the AMA were not accepting the points standing from Europe and all our guys and others like Chad Reed had to pre qualify. Although pissed off we realized this was just another chapter in the Clear Channel, FIM/AMA power struggle and got on with it, in fact we turned it into a positive by convincing Grant it was more time on the track and he would have an advantage over the others. Honestly though, it is nerve racking as you are racing with the good, the bad and the ugly. The sooner the AMA and Clear Channel get their act together the better. The last court case was basically thrown out and both parties issued press releases claiming victory.
The excitement in the night program came with the Pastrana/Carmichael heat race that had the crowd on their feet and screaming. Coming out of the tunnel Ricky put (in my opinion) a perfectly good block pass on Pastrana. (I have seen a photo before contact where almost the entire #4 bike is ahead of #199) For sure Travis saw it coming and any racer worth his # will tell you, you have 2 options – 1. Stand on the brakes and dive down the inside, 2. Keep on the gas and use you momentum to pass on the 6 inches left at the top of the berm. The trouble with the second option is that if your front wheel touches the rear of the front bike, YOU are the one going down, and that is what happened. Travis in a later interview pretty much said that. What happened after that was inexcusable, the whole stadium booed Ricky the whole race and did not give him a chance to give his side of the story on the podium. I thought Ricky handled things very well although you could see he was bewildered. I would have done the wrong thing if I were in his shoes, I would have done a slow down lap and given the crowd the finger (but, to all you young impressionable riders - that would have been wrong).
Onto the main event, Grant got a shocking start but moved forward from about 13th to 5th at halfway. I am sure he would have finished on the podium as he was ahead of Ferry who I am sure he had passed earlier. I sound unsure because I have never seen so may place changes due to crashes, I mean even Ricky crashed twice. Anyway Grant was one of the crashes as he went flying in the whoops quite spectacularly ending with the bike cart wheeling into him with a broken throttle assembly. Result DNF 18th place.
My commercial punt this week is that Joachim Rodriguez has chosen to use Doma Pipes as well which now means both permanent KTM USA 250 Team riders use Doma and YOU can get the exact same pipe from your dealer
