Ramsey and CRF250R Get Their First Win

AMA Supercross Series 250cc/125cc West
Round 6: San Francisco, CA
February 7, 2004

Ramsey and CRF250R Get Their First Win

Nathan Ramsey is no stranger to winning main events and he's no stranger to
winning on a Honda CRF four-stroke either. At the Pontiac Silverdome in
2002, Ramsey gave the CRF450R its first 250 Supercross win and he
accomplished a similar feat this weekend at San Francisco's Pacific Bell
Park in front of 39,621 bay area fans. The former 125 Supercross champ
chased down and passed race leader, Ivan Tedesco, in the closing laps of
the 125 main, and became the first man to put the Honda CRF250R on top of
the podium. Amsoil/Chaparral Honda's Travis Preston, also on a CRF250R,
joined him on the box, finishing third.

While Ramsey and Preston were celebrating their Honda-strong performance, a
two-stroke-mounted Red Rider by the name of Mike LaRocco was finishing up
his second consecutive third place finish. LaRocco's fourth place start in
the 250 main event catapulted the Amsoil/Chaparral Honda CR250R rider into
the lead group and after 20 laps of racing, the poster boy for toughness
was again popping the top off another bottle of bubbly. Unfortunately his
Red Rider teammate, Kevin Windham, wasn't by his side at the conclusion of
the main event. On the fourth lap, while running in fourth place after a
mid-pack start, Windham ran off the track in the whoops and didn't resume
racing until he was in last place. A shorter than usual race track and main
event time of just over 16 minutes didn't allow Windham enough time to make
the podium.

125

Going into the heat races, Preston and Ramsey had the fastest lap times in
practice so it was no surprise when Preston won the first 125 heat by over
nine seconds. Ramsey planned a similar routing in the second heat, but
instead finished fourth. "I did everything wrong you can do without
crashing," said Ramsey about his heat race.

All that changed in the main event. Ramsey exited the first turn in third
place, but before long was in the runner-up position and bidding for the
lead. "In the main I felt confident and smooth when I got into second
place," said the 29-year old. "I knew if I rode smart and found my way
through the whoops and picked the right lines and pushed as hard as I
could, I'd come out on top. It was a short track and shorter than normal
race, so you had to be patient, but not too patient."

Ramsey's timing was perfect. On the twelfth of 15 laps he glided by Tedesco
onto a step-up jump and then carved into the next turn, taking the lead
with him. The end result was a 1.4-second margin of victory. Preston also
made up time on early race leader, Tedesco, but a somewhat slow start
prevented him from advancing higher than third place. Nevertheless,
Preston's showing in San Francisco is another in a long line of podium
finishes. The 2002 125 West Region Supercross champ has finished third or
better since the second race of the year and he plans a similar pattern in
the 250 class as the Supercross series heads east. Both Preston and Ramsey
will switch to a CRF450R during the West Region's two-month hiatus.

"I'm really happy because now I get to go ride the CRF450R on the east
coast," said Preston, who showed great speed on the bigger motorcycle in
select 2003 Supercross event. "I'm going to skip next weekend in Houston so
I'll have more time to get used to it again, but I'll be ready for
Minneapolis."

Ramsey on the other hand, has already started getting familiar with the
powerful mount. "I actually did a couple days on the CRF450R last week just
to feel it out," confessed Ramsey. "It felt great. Kevin (Windham) has done
a good job with the testing process and the improvements he's made to it. I
got back on that thing and it only took a few laps to get comfortable on it
again. I'm looking really forward to next weekend as well as the rest of
the east coast rounds on the CRF450R. I think for me it's just a good idea
to keep racing. I have some history on the CRF450R, so I feel good about
that."

250
Windham started the evening with his fifth heat race win of the year and he
did it with a 15-second advantage, but getting in the 250 main wasn't
exactly a cake walk for LaRocco. A crash in his heat race sent him to a
semi-final, which sent him to the ground again after a first turn crash got
in his way. He rebounded quickly, moved through the pack and finished an
impressive second. In the main the #5 CR250R got a much better start, even
out-dragging teammate Windham down the long straight to the first left-hand
turn. After completing the first lap in fourth place, LaRocco felt in
hindsight that a second or a first place finish would not have been out of
the question had he ridden more aggressively.

"I was just picking my way through the obstacles instead of racing the
race," confessed LaRocco, who actually moved into second place on the 13th
lap. "If I would have started out more aggressive, I would have finished
higher."

An aggressive David Vuillemin slipped by the veteran Red Rider with three
laps remaining and nearly caught race leader Chad Reed. Moving equally as
fast, but from back in the pack was Windham, who looked on pace to win his
third event of the year until the incident in the whoops. Windham's CRF450R
actually ended the evening in sixth place, but a five-second penalty
assessed to Grant Langston for rough riding pushed Windham up to fifth in
the final results.

The Red Rider contingent will be even stronger when the series heads to
Reliant Park in Houston, Texas on February 14. The event will kick off the
first 125 East Region event, which will see Amsoil/Chaparral youngsters
Ryan Mills and Billy Laninovich in action. The talented duo plans to
represent the Red Riders in the east as valiantly as Ramsey and Preston
have in the west. And before long, Ramsey and Preston may be joining
Windham and LaRocco on the 250 podium too.

250 Main Event Results
1. Chad Reed - Yamaha
2. David Vuillemin - Yamaha
3. Mike LaRocco - Honda
4. Nick Wey - Suzuki
5. Kevin Windham - Honda
8. Damon Huffman - Honda
13. Joe Oehlhof - Honda
16. Robbie Reynard - Honda
17. Craig Anderson - Honda
19. Ted Campbell - Honda

250 AMA Supercross Point Standings
1. Chad Reed - Yamaha - 144
2. David Vuillemin - Yamaha
3. (Tie) Mike LaRocco - Honda/Kevin Windham - Honda - 112
5. Michael Byrne - Kawasaki - 84
6. Damon Huffman - Honda - 82
17. Robbie Reynard - Honda - 29
18. Ernesto Fonseca - Honda - 28
20. Joseph Oehlhof - Honda - 21

125 West Main Event Results
1. Nathan Ramsey - Honda
2. Ivan Tedesco - Kawasaki
3. Travis Preston - Honda
4. Brock Sellards - Yamaha
5. Stephane Roncada - Kawasaki
13. Greg Schnell - Honda
16. Sean Collier - Honda
18. Stephen Demartis - Honda

125 West AMA Supercross Point Standings
1. Ivan Tedesco - Kawasaki -147
2. Travis Preston - Honda - 117
3. Stephane Roncada - Kawasaki -116
4. Nathan Ramsey - Honda - 109
5. Brock Sellards - Yamaha - 92
8. Greg Schnell - Honda - 67
10. Chris Gosselaar - Honda - 42
20. Johnny Marley - Honda - 18