Costa Rica’s Fonseca Ready to Step It Up

What is the state of AMA supercross, motorcycling’s most successful series, as the season is ready to start Saturday night before a packed house at Angel Stadium?

Ricky Carmichael, the three-time defending champion, is out for the season because of injuries. Chad Reed, the world champion and Carmichael’s top challenger last year, is recovering from a shoulder injury.

Jeremy McGrath, the seven-time champion, has retired. James “Bubba” Stewart, the teenage Florida phenom most regard as the heir apparent to the Carmichael-McGrath legacy, has elected to remain in the 125cc support class.

Who will step into the vacuum and emerge as a dominant rider?

Ernesto “Fonz” Fonseca, a 22-year-old Honda factory rider from San Jose, Costa Rica, may be the one. Fonseca, who rode in the shadow of teammate Carmichael last year, jumped into the headlines by winning the second round of the THQ world championship series three weeks ago in Arnhem, Netherlands.

It was his first win on a 250cc bike after having won both the East and West AMA regionals as a 125cc rider.

“Now I feel I can win a U.S. supercross,” Fonseca said during a lull in training this week at the Honda track in Corona. “I feel much more confident.”

It was an impressive win. Fonseca got off the line in second place, passed the leader in the second turn and led all 20 laps on the No. 24 Honda CR250R.

He is only seventh in the THQ standings, however, since he failed to finish a qualifying moto in the opening race at Seville, Spain, a race some call the muddiest in motocross history. Grant Langston, a South African KTM rider living in Lake Elsinore, is the leader after finishing second to Daryl Hurley of Corona in Spain and fourth in the Netherlands.

The 16-race AMA national championship series, of which Anaheim is the first, is part of the THQ world championship.

Fonseca, who finished the 2003 season with six consecutive third-place finishes, wound up third in the final standings behind Carmichael and Reed.

His victory in the Dutch world championship race was a big event in Costa Rica, moving him alongside Olympic swimming gold medalist Claudia Poll Ahrens and English Premier League soccer star Paulo Wanchope as the Central American nation’s favorite sports figures.

When he was just past 5 years old, Fonseca’s father bought him a little bike.

“I remember, it was on a Wednesday, and on the next Sunday I began racing,” Fonseca said. “There are only about 300 riders in all of Costa Rica, so I knew when I was very young that if I wanted to be like the guys I watched on television, I would have to ride in the United States.”

He was 11 when he made his first trip to Florida to race in amateur events.

“It was tough competition, guys like Carmichael, Stewart, [Travis] Pastrana and [Kevin] Windham were there, the same guys riding in supercross today,” Fonseca said. “I rode a 60cc bike in the 7-11 class and won the championship. Then I moved up to an 85cc in the next class and finished fourth. Pastrana won it.”

Fonseca turned pro at the end of the 1998 season. In his first race, at Steel City, Pa., he finished 13th overall.

“It was quite an experience, a whole different level from riding against amateurs,” Fonseca said. “I have been very lucky, though, having Erik Kehoe as team manager and Kenny Germain as my crewman right from the start. They were both with me for three years with Yamaha of Troy and we all moved to Honda together in 2002.”

In 1999, he was named AMA motocross-supercross rookie of the year after winning the Eastern regional 125cc crown. In 2001, he won the Western regional, becoming the only rider to win them both.

Fonseca regards David Vuillemin of France, the 1999 world champion, as the favorite, now that the others are sidelined.

“You never know how things will turn out, but I think the guys to beat will be Vuillemin, Mike LaRocco and Kevin Windham,” Fonseca said. “I am really surprised that Bubba is not moving up to 250. I don’t see what he has to gain by riding in that class again.”

Stewart, who turned 18 on Dec. 21, had seven victories and one second place in eight 125cc starts last year riding for Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki. Outdoors, he won all eight events he entered.

All-American Team

Members of the 2003 American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Assn.’s All-American team -- those not testing, racing or tied up elsewhere -- will be feted Jan. 10 at the 34th AARWBA banquet at the Sheraton Suites in Pomona.

The team: Open wheel -- Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon, Paul Tracy. Stock car -- Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth. Road racing -- Scott Pruett, Ron Fellows. Drag racing -- Larry Dixon, Tony Pedregon. Short track -- J.J. Yeley, Steve Kinser. Touring series -- Brian Vickers, Frank Kimmel. At large -- A. J. Allmendinger, Mark Taylor.

The driver who received the most votes overall will receive the Jerry Titus Award, emblematic of the team’s driver of the year. The public is invited. Details: (818) 842-7005.

Last Laps

Terrible Herbst Motorsports drew the No. 1 starting positions for the 10th Laughlin Desert Challenge, which will launch SCORE’s six-race desert series Jan. 15-18. Ed and Tim Herbst drew the pole for the feature trophy-truck class, and Troy received the top spot for the unlimited Class 1.

Inductees into the 2004 Sprint Car Hall of Fame include West Coast drivers Chuck Gurney and Billy Wilkerson, and promoters Keith Hall and Don Peabody. Induction will be June 5 in Knoxville, Iowa.

Charlie Hill, 18, of Camarillo, and Ryan Millen, 19, of Newport Beach, will receive Team USA scholarships to compete in the six-race Talley’s New Zealand International Formula Ford series this month. The second race will be the New Zealand Grand Prix, which Millen’s uncle, Steve, won in 1980.

Gale Banks, whose 222 mph Banks Sidewinder is the world’s fastest pickup truck, was presented the WyoTech 2003 High Performance Industry Leadership Award for “bringing innovation and inspiration to the ... industry.” He is president and founder of Gale Banks Engineering of Azusa.

Passings

John Lingenfelter, 58, a longtime National Hot Rod Assn. competitor, died Dec. 25 in Decatur, Ind., of injuries suffered Oct. 27, 2002, in a drag race at Pomona Raceway during the Mazda NHRA Sports Compact World Finals.

Lingenfelter, founder of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering 30 years ago, had been in a semi-comatose state since November 2002.

In a semifinal round against R.J. Simrock he lost control of his Chevy Cavalier, crossed the center line and hit the guard wall in the opposite lane.

John von Neumann, 82, one of the founders of the California Sports Car Club and a pioneer in distribution of Ferrari, Porsche and Volkswagen cars on the West Coast, died Dec. 25.

Jim Ahrens, 74, a Bonneville Salt Flats land-speed motorcycle record holder, died Dec. 24 of a stroke at Sherman Oaks Hospital.