1998 Seattle 125cc Main (David Vuillemin's Last 125cc Supercross Win)

This is the 1998 125cc main event from the Kingdome in Seattle, WA.

In 1998, Yamaha's David Vuillemin #934 came into round 4 of the 125cc West Supercross series just 3 points behind points leader #9 John Dowd of Team Yamaha. Vuillemin had momentum in his corner, as he had won the previous two races at Houston and Phoenix. Dowd, however, was having trouble with a 3rd and a 2nd the following two races; however, Dowd, who was scheduled to race the 125cc East, got moved over to the West.

Dowd began the series at L.A. with a win in his unexpected first race of the season while Vuillemin, who was fighting a flu, finished 7th. Originally, Vuillemin was planning to leave the series after Phoenix for the GPs in Europe, but the Indonesian GP was canceled for unknown reasons, which allowed Vuillemin to stay in the states all year long.

In the main, Primal Suzuki's Ryan Huffman #28 got the holeshot with 2-time 125cc Supercross champ Jeff Matiasevich of Pro Circuit Kawasaki in 2nd place. Vuillemin got out of the gate around 5th while points leader Dowd started around 10th. After the first set of whoops, Vuillemin was already up to 3rd. He moved around Matiasevich and Huffman shortly thereafter and checked out for win #3 of the season. Behind him, chaos erupted.

Local boy Jason McCormick #32 of FMF Honda managed to get through the pack to run in 2nd for much of the race. Unfortunately, McCormick burned himself out and would eventually fall to 4th. Dowd put on a charge to save his points lead and finished 3rd at race's end ahead of McCormick. Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada #18 would finish 2nd.

For Vuillemin, Seattle was his 3rd straight win of the '98 125cc West season. Unfortunately, it would also turn out to be the last 125cc win of his career. Vuillemin found himself the new points leader by just 2 points over Dowd.

Unfortunately, from that point on, Vuillemin never finished ahead of Dowd for the rest of the season. Dowd would pick up a clutch victory at round 5 in San Diego, CA, and reclaim the points lead. Roncada would win the next race at Minneapolis with Dowd and Vuillemin finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively, which gave Dowd a 3-point lead over Vuillemin going into the last round at Dallas.

At Dallas, it was Vuillemin who got the bad luck. Dowd got out front early while Vuillemin crashed with Suzuki's Shawn Perolio #41 and had to play catch-up the whole race. Dowd would win the race while Vuillemin finished a disheartening 5th. The 32-year-old Dowd claimed his one and only Supercross title while Vuillemin never claimed the big prize.

Enjoy.