Mammoth Motocross 2005 - Vet Weekend

At this time last year, motocross fans and racers headed up to Mammoth Mountain for what they were afraid might be the last Mammoth Motocross. But thanks to the combined efforts of a lot of organizations and individuals, the classic event lived another year. Due to expired use permits, it appeared very unlikely that perhaps the longest-running annual motocross would continue, but the city of Mammoth, the Forrest service, the event organizers and several regular participants pulled together to get the permits renewed for another year. It now appears likely that they will be able to renew them annually.

The 2005 Mammoth Motocross week has officially begun, kicking off with the Vet races which took place over the weekend (June 18, 19). The week continues with Minis on Tuesday and Wednesday June 21-22. Friday, June 24th, is limited to Open class bikes and Women's classes. The week wraps up with the 125 classes on Saturday, June 25th, and the 250 classes on Sunday, June 26th.

The Vet classes competed in separate events on both Saturday and Sunday, with the weekend's results combined for the overall. Jeremy McGrath has been a regular participant at Mammoth, and again competed in the Vet Pro class.

MC dominated both motos on Saturday, and again won moto one on Sunday. Before running away with a fourth victory, Jeremy decided to make things interesting for the fans and give himself a challenge. Like he did two years ago, he let the entire field take off, waiting until they reached the top of the long start hill before taking off in hot pursuit. The challenge was lessened when his two strongest competitors had problems.

Doug Dubach had finished second to McGrath in the first three motos, but crashed on the third lap. Then Ty Davis—who had finished third in the previous three motos—aggravated a shoulder injury and pulled off. It didn't take McGrath very long to reel in the pack and start picking off riders. He passed Jeff Ward for the lead just as they completed the fourth of ten laps. Dubach recovered from his crash and made it back up to third place behind Jeff Ward to secure second overall for the weekend. Ward finished third overall with 5, 4, 4, 2 results. Davis' unfortunate DNF in the final moto kept him out of the overall podium.

The Senior (40 plus) Expert class was exciting as former top-pro Bryan Myerscough dominated both motos on Saturday for the overall in front of Willy Musgrave. Myerscough then dominated the first moto on Sunday with only one more to go. He started off strong and opened up a big lead—looking like the overall was in the bag—but two crashes in one lap handed Sunday's, and the weekend's, overall win to Musgrave. Eddie Davis was third overall for the weekend with 4, 5, 3, 3 results.

DR Publisher Sean Finley, a devout Mammoth Motocross fan himself, raced the Vet weekend in the Intermediate class. He qualified for the main (out of about 80 guys), scoring 17th place on Saturday. He was looking to better his overall results on Sunday until getting caught in a huge first-turn crash.

Following are the class results from the Vet weekend. Watch for more updates on other classes throughout the week on Dirtrider.com.

Vet Pro
Jeremy McGrath 1, 1, 1, 1
Doug Dubach 2, 2, 2, 3
Jeff Ward 5, 4, 4, 2

Vet Intermediate
Victor Sheldon 3, 1
DL Wood 8, 2
Don Goettling 2, 8

Vet Junior
Mike Hibner 2, 1
Jason McCune 1, 3
Ross Robinson 3, 2

Senior Expert
Willy Musgrave 2, 2, 2, 1
Brian Myerscough 1, 1, 1, 2
Eddie Davis 4, 5, 3, 3

Senior Intermediate
Kenny Alexander 5, 2, 1, 3
Don Goettling 1, 1, 13, 1
Robert Fudge 4, 6, 3, 4

Senior Junior
Scott Bell 1, 1
John Caper, 3, 2
Mike Lapaglia 6, 3

Master 50+
Mark Anderson 1, 1
Chip Howell 2, 2
Greg Briles 4, 3