Partridge overcomes spill to finish 11th in supercross event at LVMS

Jason Partridge didn't set out to win the 10th annual GFI Las Vegas Invitational SX supercross event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But four laps into the 30-minute timed event, the 20-year-old Las Vegas native found himself leading his 250cc class -- and eyeing a possible $20,000 pay day.

A brief concentration lapse, however, led to a spill that took Partridge out of contention -- although he rallied in the second half of the race and finished 11th in class and 20th overall on his Suzuki.

"I was pretty happy with the way I rode, I just wish I hadn't fallen," Partridge said. "It was a lack of concentration. I fell there when I was leading and that dropped me back a ways."

Ryan Hughes of Temecula, Calif., rode his 250 Honda to the win before a crowd estimated at 5,000 and earned the $20,000 first prize. Tallon Vohland of Corona, Calif., finished second overall and first in the 125cc class on a Honda and pocketed $10,000.

After a rough 1998 season that saw him sidelined for several months with a serious eye infection, Partridge was just hoping to tune up for the 1999 West Coast Supercross campaign in Sunday's event at LVMS.

"I just wanted to come out here and get ready for next weekend at Anaheim Stadium," Partridge said of the West Coast Supercross season opener in Southern California. "I didn't really come here expecting to win."

A former national and world amateur champion in Pee Wees, 60cc, 80cc, 125cc and 250cc, Partridge is hoping to add another world title to his resume -- as a professional. But he is setting a more modest goal for the 1999 season.

"My (long-range) goal, hopefully, is to be a Supercross and Outdoor National champion," he said. "This year, I just want to be consistent all year long and hopefully end the season top five in the points."

The 1997 Bonanza High School graduate was well on his way to a career-best season in the West Coast Supercross series in 1998 before -- once again -- he was sidelined with health problems.

After finishing a career-best 11th place in the 125cc division at the Los Angeles Supercross early last year, Partridge began having vision problems, the result of a mysterious infection.

"Both of my eyes were swollen shut," Partridge said. "It was terrible -- the worst thing I had ever gone though in my life.

"The doctors said they had no idea (how it) happened, and they had never seen such a thing. It took about five months to get well."

Partridge is becoming an expert at recuperating from injury and illness. In 1995, he underwent back surgery to correct two vertebrae he shattered in a crash during a race in Oklahoma.

"Getting well from the (back) surgery and the eye problems were the low points of my career," he said.

Sunday, in one of two events in which he will compete in his hometown, was almost the high point.

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