1998 Phoenix 125cc Main (FULL RACE)
3This is the 1998 125cc Main from Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ.
In 1998, Yamaha Frenchman David Vuillemin #934 came into the Phoenix round of the 125cc West Supercross season with a win in the last race in Houston. After a 7th in the opener, Vuillemin leaped into 2nd place in the series just 6 points behind series leader #9 John Dowd of Team Yamaha. Dowd was a last-minute addition to the West after Team Yamaha decided not to have a practice track out East.
Vuillemin took a 7th in the opener due to a flu bug. Vuillemin was only scheduled to race the first 3 rounds of the season before leaving for the GPs in Europe. As it turned out, Vuillemin wound up staying the entire series after his Indonesian GP was cancelled for unknown reasons.
In this race, John Dowd got the holeshot with David Vuillemin in 2nd place. Vuillemin quickly got around Dowd and rode away to win his second consecutive race of his season. Dowd went unchallenged for 2nd place, and Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada #18 went unchallenged for 3rd. Dowd held a 2 point lead after this race going into the next round in Seattle.
Vuillemin made it 3 straight wins at the next race in Seattle. Dowd got another bad start around 10th place and finished 3rd at race's end. Vuillemin's 3rd straight win coupled with Dowd's 3rd place put Vuillemin as the new points leader by 2 points 89-87. Unfortunately for Vuillemin, Dowd found himself with a clutch win at San Diego and took a 1-point lead before a 5-week break. Roncada won the next West race in Minneapolis while Dowd and Vuillemin finished behind him. The gap was 3 points going into the final round in Dallas. Dowd got the holeshot while Vuillemin crashed with Primal Suzuki's' Shaun Perolio #41 and had to fight up to the front. The 32-year-old Dowd won the race while Vuillemin finished a frustrating 5th place. Dowd was your West champ by 12 points over Vuillemin. Both Dowd and Vuillemin advanced to the 250cc class for 1999.
Enjoy.
NOTE: I do have 4 parts of this race, (and the full broadcast) posted on YouTube already, but I decided to make it all 4 parts of the race into one whole video just for the fun of it.