2001 Washougal 125cc Moto 2 (The Travis Pastrana Nightmare Continues)

This is the 2nd 125cc moto from the 2001 Washougal Motocross in Washougal, WA.
In 2001, Team Suzuki's Travis Pastrana was leading the 125cc Motocross Series by 18 points over KTM rookie Grant Langston, and by 21 over Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Mike Brown. Travis was looking to become the first rider since Mark Barnett in 1980, '81, and '82 to win back-to-back 125cc Motocross titles for Suzuki; however, Travis' season was beginning to crumble to pieces in the last 2 rounds at Unadilla and Kenworthy's.
Pastrana crashed on the final lap of the 2nd 125cc moto at Unadilla, and sustained a concussion. He would end up 22nd in the moto (after winning moto #1 by a half-second over Grant Langston) for 6th overall; at Kenworthy's, Travis finished with a 5-10 for 8th overall, and lost only 4 points to Langston. However, Mike Brown was on a roll with 3 straight moto wins (6 overall after winning the 1st 125cc Moto at Washougal), including a 1-1 sweep at the last round at Kenworthy's.
Coming into this moto, Brown won his 6th moto of 2001; Langston finished 2nd, and Pastrana fought back from a crash on lap 1 to finish in 8th. His points gap was now 7 over Langston, and 11 over Brown. Unfortunately, Travis' luck went from bad to worse in this moto. He tipped over while chasing down Moto XXX Yamaha's Larry Ward for 2nd place before he crashed again and sustained yet another concussion to go along with his last lap crash at Unadilla. After what happened in this moto, Travis went from the points lead to 3rd in the series... 16 points out of the lead.
Pastrana would later pull out of the 1st 125cc moto at Millville due to lack of conditioning while running 3rd, and that would mark the end of Travis' 2001 season, and his 125cc career altogether. In the end, Travis ended up 6th overall in the final points tally; his 250cc career wasn't any better. Injuries and sicknesses continued to haunt him and he eventually left the sport after 2005.
Enjoy.

[@Natedoc808]

Thanks for uploading all these old badass classic motos, have been looking for these to re-cap the old seasons for some time. Most of the time just find supercross so good on ya man!!!

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

You're very welcome. Hope you will see the other races from prior seasons I've posted -- despite I have nothing older than 1997.

[@rodbelding9523]

Time flies, I remember this like it was yesterday. That crash was essentially the beginning of the end of Pastrana's racing career. He hit his head so hard, honestly it was nuts that they let him keep going, but I guess concussions weren't taken as seriously back then.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Concussions were certainly not taken seriously at this time; if they did, Travis would still have a racing career. I do believe that as a racer, Travis Pastrana was a disgrace to the sport because he even said himself, "Racing has been my dream since I was 4 years old." After this race, I thought it wasn't long before Pastrana would exit the season, but after seeing that he participated in the X Games Freestyle, I'd thought to myself, "Is he injured or what???"

[@FalseHope61]

Man I’ve seen some riders throw titles away. But this was a masterclass

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

No doubt about it. Travis Pastrana seemed to have a lock on the title, but one bad crash at Unadilla was only the beginning, and eventually led to Travis pulling out of the series at Millville.

[@davehalcomb2258]

Mike Brown was riding that KX for all it had !! Impressive !!

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Totally! The way Brown was riding is exactly why I was pulling for him all summer long, especially when Travis dropped out after the 1st moto at Millville 1 week later.

[@kevinlong4084]

Mike wasn't always the fastest on the track, it's awesome to see him win.He was always one of my favorites because of his diehard efforts.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Well, he does have 2 wins at Washougal (1995 and 2001), but it's hard to believe this track would later cost him his run at the 2003 125 MX title because of his crash before Horsepower Hill. Brown certainly holds a place in my heart for sure because of his efforts. I was pulling for him to win this title, and I was overjoyed he won the 2001 125 MX title.

[@carpchef518]

You can't beat the 125s , used to love my RM

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

No disagreements on the 125s, but at the time, I didn't really mind the 250Fs in the 125cc class because I felt it was fair to run a 4-stroke in both classes and not just the premiere class.

[@jamesrobert7155]

Me too, it was an awesome little bike.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@jamesrobert7155 Yes it was. I rode a 125 myself -- Honda -- from December '03 to March '06.

[@jamesrobert7155]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames had a 250 too, rm, I loved the little bike though, less momentum lotsa little power, at least mine was, had it loaded, I wished I would've gotten a 4t to get used to it, my buddy had the yz426, I had a hard time on that bike!

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@jamesrobert7155 My Dad wanted a 450 when Honda introduced it to the USA in 2001, and then he got one in 2005; I got a 250F in '06 and rode it for 13-14 years.

[@tg8150]

A totally different world we lived in back then. Times were good, then on 9/11, it all started going south and hasn’t let up since. Even the new bikes are worse. 😔

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

I don't know if 9/11 was the start of things going south, but I think that all started when Trump took the presidency after Obama, and currently, this world is reaching new all-time lows, with the COVID-19 pandemic being the pinnacle of it all. If this lifestyle were still brought about today, we'd all still be living our lives this way; instead, overreacting has reached an all-time low, and the mindset of this sport has changed, too. McGrath and Carmichael did everything they could to crush the hopes and spirits of every rider out there at this time. Unfortunately, McGrath's reign of terror was stopped unexpectedly, and Carmichael was talking about riding for 4 or 5 more years.

[@tg8150]

MathewV21688 uh yeah. Whatever dude. 🙄

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@tg8150 Well, in a nutshell, back then, riders weren't OK with settling for 2nd or 3rd, and do everything they can to extend their leads come what may; today, guys like AC, Anderson, Tomac, etc. are OK with a small deduction in their points leads when races like that can add up on you quickly.

[@npage.]

I was about 30 feet away from Pastrana’s crash, and it shook the ground.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Lucky you that you were that close. That crash basically made Travis Pastrana's points lead totally extinct. The fact he was racing X Games the following week was just totally mind-blowing, too. What one thought might be a replay of what happened in 2000 after Travis won the Freestyle MX gold medal, which saw Travis win out the final 7 motos and 4 overalls, was not meant to be as Travis pulled out at about the halfway point of the first 125 moto at Millville the very next race.

[@greggglass8062]

I was about 75 feet away,saw the whole thing

[@ryanbarker4422]

Good ride Brock.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Yep -- a lot better than the first moto when he was 11th I believe.

[@ryanbarker4422]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames I've been racing with Brock's family he lives an hour away. He was on 80s and on the gas. I was on the 125 then.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@ryanbarker4422 Lucky you. Bet you witnessed him winning at this facility in 1999.

[@DM-qp7do]

I haven't seen that crash in a long time, I forgot how bad that was. It's in my state....shoulda went to watch. The race that is, not the crash.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Yes, that was a terrifying crash from Travis Pastrana. The worst part is that Travis did not look like he was trying too hard to save his points lead -- no urgency, no panic, no nothing. The worst part was that at this time, concussions were not taken very seriously as opposed to today; if they used this same thing back then, Travis may very well still have a racing career. On the other hand, we saw a battle go down to the wire from a rivalry that started in Europe between Langston and Brown with Brown winning the war.

[@DM-qp7do]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames Between Pastranas night terrors and all of his concussions I worry for his future. Never met him, we're not friends but he is just one of those guys you want to root for. The body can take a lot of abuse, the brain is still such a mystery to science I give him 50/50 on him dying from it, or having mental issues and illness.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@DM-qp7do True there. I commend Travis for stepping down for the season after the first moto at Millville when he said he was physically beat. Unfortunately, when Travis didn't let his knee heal properly, that pretty much killed his racing career, thus resulting in me losing a considerable amount of respect for him as a racer. I still believe the only thing Travis really "gave" was a personality you just can't beat.

[@DM-qp7do]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames 17 x games medels including 2 gold in rally car is a nice achievement. When he was racing it was "wreckers or checkers" with Pastrana which is hard for a racing enthusiast to wrap their head around. He made a choice to do what was fun for him. I don't know man, I think he's doing good, but like I said...if I were him I'd be worried about those injuries. But I'm not him.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@DM-qp7do I don't disagree there; there was a time where my dad and I were saying Travis didn't realize his full potential in racing, but Travis did make the most of it after he left Supercross.

[@johnnycash578]

if it rained for 10 minutes they would cancel baseball

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

This is Motocross, not baseball first of all. I think the only way they'd cancel the rest of a moto is VERY BAD adverse conditions like endless rain and floods or lightning (just like in Canada).

[@robertbouchardt3357]

that quality tho

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

What you see is what you get.