The World Cup of Motocross, 9/29/02

By Tom Niemela

(click on thumbnails for larger picture)

Here is the unofficial results from the prestigious event. We all had an absolute gas at this event!  I will have a report and photos soon.

-Tom

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From www.supercross.com

September 29, 2002
Glen Helen Raceway
San Bernardino CALIFORNIA


Chad Reed leads Australia to the win! USA second, Canada third.


Most fans know the 2002 Motocross of Nations was to be held in California on September 29. Unfortunately, the event was canceled, and moved to Spain.

But enthusiasts and industry personnel in the USA wanted to go forward with an international event to be run on Sunday, September 29 at Glen Helen Raceway in California: The World Cup of Motocross.

Short notice to put together an event. But it happened! $100,000+ in prize money. Three motos, 20 minutes plus 2 laps each. No 125/250/500 requirements.

Chad Reed helped lead Australia to the win in the 2002 World Cup of Motocross. If there was an individual winner, Chad would be it. He raced a Yamaha 450 four-stroke. He won the first moto, was runner-up in the second moto, and won the finale. Michael Byrne and Chad's cousin Craig Anderson rounded out the team.

USA took second with team riders Tim Ferry, Kyle Lewis, and Sean Hamblin. Third went to Canada, with the team of J. S. Roy, Blair Morgan, and Marco Dube.


More details and photos at Supercross.com http://www.supercross.com


Results:

1. Australia: 20 Points (Chad Reed, Craig Anderson, Michael Byrne)
2. USA: 24 Points (Kyle Lewis, Sean Hamblin, Tim Ferry)
3. Canada: 60 Points (J. S. Roy, Blair Morgan, Marco Dube)
4. South Africa: 64 Points (Grant Langston, Greg Albertyn, Kevin Mcgovern)
5. Japan: 67 Points (Akira Narita, Yoshitaka Atsuta, Kazuyoshi Idagiri)
6. England: (James Dobb, Neil Prince, Rob Herring)
7. Costa Rica: (Ernesto Fonseca, Adrian Robert, Cristian Leon)

Other teams competing were Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, and New Zealand.


Notes: Two best scores for each country in each moto were used in the scoring. Today was Sebastien Tortelli's first ride in the USA on Suzuki. He fell in the first moto, and did not start in the other motos. Greg Albertyn came out of retirement to ride for South Africa. There were two other races in support of the World Cup - an 80cc invitational race, and a Fast Masters race. Doug Dubach won the Fast Masters overall, with Jeff Emig second, and Ryan Hughes third. Other riders in the class were Jeff Ward, Marty Smith, Erik Kehoe, Jeff Matiasevich, Micky Dymond, Danny LaPorte, Mike Healey, and Chuck Sun, along with others.

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From www.cyclenews.com

Team Australia - made up of AMA regulars Chad Reed and Michael Byrne, and soon-to-be AMA regular Craig Anderson - used sheer dominance on Reed’s part and consistency among his teammates to win the World Cup of Motocross yesterday at Glen Helen Raceway. Reed went 1-2-1 in the three motos, losing only to Costa Rica’s Ernesto Fonseca in moto two.

The American team - Timmy Ferry, Sean Hamblin and Kyle Lewis - finished a close second after suffering a combined total of five crashes and one stall among them during the three motos of racing.

Finishing up on the podium was Team Canada. Blair Morgan was the top Canadian in every moto, and the team, which also included Marco Dube and Jean-Sebastien Roy, eked out the podium spot over the South African team when Greg Albertyn’s RM250 broke down in the third moto.

South Africa finished fourth.

The race was costly for Team France, as Sebastien Tortelli crashed out on the first lap of his inaugural SoBe Suzuki ride and reportedly punctured a lung, while Eric Sorby crashed out of race two.

Another notable crasher was Fonseca, who crashed spectacularly while running third in the last moto. He eventually walked away.

"Today was a good day for me," Reed said. "I felt good coming into today's race. I've been doing a lot of testing on the [YZ]450, and I'm more comfortable on the bigger bike. It does things that I want it to do, and when I'm ready it's always ready. I'm really looking forward to next year. This is just a good race to see how that bike is at racing level, and next week I go ride the 250 [two-stroke] and see how good we can make that. I'm just really proud to be a part of the Yamaha team. It's good when you can have two bikes to choose from."

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