1998 San Diego 125cc Main (David Vuillemin Goes for 4 in a Row)

Описание: This is the 1998 125cc Main from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA.

In 1998, Yamaha's David Vuillemin #934 came into the fifth round of the 125cc West AMA Supercross season having won the last three consecutive races at Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle. After a 7th in the opener at Los Angeles due to a case of the flu, Vuillemin had managed to take a 2-point lead over Team Yamaha's John Dowd #9 from his 3-race win streak. However, Dowd was a last-minute addition to the 125cc West after Team Yamaha elected not to have a practice facility out East. Originally, Vuillemin was planning to journey back to Europe for the GPs, but a GP in Indonesia was cancelled, which allowed Vuillemin to stay in the states full-time for the 125cc West season. This gave Vuillemin a golden opportunity for a 125cc Supercross Championship.

Dowd won the season opener in the mud at Los Angeles. He'd suffer a bad start in Houston while Vuillemin got the holeshot and led all 15 laps en route to the win; Dowd would finish 3rd behind Vuillemin and #29 David Pingree of FMF Honda. At Phoenix, Dowd got the holeshot, but was passed by Vuillemin on lap 2. Dowd would finish 2nd. At Seattle, Dowd got a bad start again and fought his way to 3rd behind Vuillemin and Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada #18.

In this race, Primal Suzuki's Ryan Huffman #28 took the holeshot, but was quickly overtaken by #85 Greg Schnell on his privateer YZ125. Vuillemin got a bad start in 12th while Dowd got out of the gate in 3rd. Schnell led the way with Vuillemin coming through the pack and Dowd still fighting a mental demon of his own following the last-minute change to ride the 125cc West. Roncada managed to fight his way up to the lead, which he held for several laps. Dowd managed to beat the mental problem and passed Roncada for the lead with 3 laps to go. Vuillemin got around Roncada immediately, but he couldn't pass John Dowd. Dowd's win put him back in the points lead by 1 over Vuillemin with 2 events to go.

Stephane Roncada would win the next round in Minneapolis, but Dowd and Vuillemin finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Dowd stayed busy riding the 250cc class out East while Vuillemin journeyed back to France for training. Going into the final round at Dallas, Dowd held a 3-point lead over Vuillemin. A win by either one would make him the 1998 125 West champ. At Dallas, Dowd got the holeshot while Vuillemin started in 6th. Vuillemin later crashed back to 14th; at race's end, he came back to finish 5th while Dowd won his 4th race of the season. For John Dowd, he became the oldest man to win a 125cc Supercross title (age 32), and it turned out to be his one and only Supercross title, while Vuillemin never claimed a Supercross title. Both Dowd and Vuillemin would advance to the 250cc class for 1999; Dowd stayed full-time while Vuillemin left back for Europe after a 6th at Anaheim 2 1999.

Enjoy.

NOTE: I do have the full broadcast of this race posted on YouTube already, but I decided to make it the 4 parts of the 125cc main into one whole video just for the fun of it.