Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS THORIPARTS UNLIMITED AlIA SUPERCROSS SERIES (Left) Bromley Suzuki's Barry carsten (34) holeshots the 125c feature with the rest of the pack in tow. (Below) Team Pro Circuit! SplitFirelKawasa !d's Ricky Carmichael (70) leads the second-place finisher, Team Yamaha's Greg Schnell, through the whoop section. Carmichael crathed himself out of contention while trying to pass Roncada for the lead. (Left) Ohio's Brock Sellards made good use of an opportunity by taking his temporary Pro ClrcuitlSplitFireiKawasaki ride to the best 125cc Supercross finish of his young career, a third. AMA Eastern Regional125cc SUpercross series Round 5: Trans World Dome Roncada goes deep By Cameron Coatney Photos by Kinney Jones ST. LOUlS, MO, APR. 5 eam Honda of Troy's French import Stephane Roncada won his first-ever American 125cc Supercross when he outdueled fellow teen sensation Rick Carmichael and his Team Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki. Roncada's ride and win was impressive, yet it was the ultra fast Carmichael's race to lose - and that he did. Carmichael grabbed the lead early in the main and had fOUI seconds on the field by the second lap. But he crashed on lap five and dropped to third. Then, the young Floridian raged forward and was already pressuring Roncada for the lead on lap seven when he got impatient and chose a line that sent him careeni ng T over a berm. Carmichael emounted in 11th and finished 10th, while Roncada went on to win over Team Chaparral/ Yamaha's Greg Schnell. "I was completely last off the start," a jubilant Roncada said. 'There were a lot of crashes in front of me and I passed Ricky when he went down at the end of the starling line. Then I passed Greg Schnell. Ricky came back a little on me and he was right on my wheel. On the triple right before the comer, he almost killed me - he almost landed on me and I did not like it very much and I thought, 'He's kind of crazy - I have to do ornething: He was on my outside and I just looked at him and I think I touched his front wheel and he went over the berm - if it wasn't going to be him, it'd be me. Then I tri~ to open up some distance between me and Schnell and I won. Anybody can win a race, but I'll only really be happy when I win a championship." Carmichael was not around for com, ments, but his mechanic Chad Watts spoke about Carmichael's performance. "His first mistake was in that first turn taking a different line where he could jump all three bumps and cased it and slid out and crashed," Watts said. "He regrouped pretty fast and caught Roncada and that's when his inexperience came into play. He has too much speed for his own good right now. He' made a banzai jump to the right and pas ed Roncada, and Roncada's done it before - nothing against Roncada, he just took him wide on the berm. Roncada's done that to him before and Ricky needs to learn that if someone has done it before, they can do it again. He knows what he's done wrong and I guarantee that he's a second a lap faster than anyone else out there. This kid's never lost, he doesn't know how to lose and he doesn't want to lose. He's disappointed, but he'll regroup, go home, train and win next weekend:' Schnell started second in the main and finished there through all of the carnage ahead of him, earning his best finish of the year under somewhat ominous conditions. "I really wanted to win here tonight, but I just didn't have the pace that Carmichael and Roncada were setting," Schnell said. "At this kind of track you can't push it like Carmichael was - I knew sooner or later he was going to make a mistake. It's been so long since I've been up front. It's easy to hang in 10th or 12th, but it's a different story when you run up front. It's been a year to the day that I crashed at this race last year and hurt my wrist. It's been a long eight months of working back to where I was and my wrist is still only abou t 90 percent. But I'm really happy with secondplace." Team Green rider Brock SeIIards was bumped up to the Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki team for a few races and made excellent use of the opportunity by working steadily up to third place from his 10th-place start.. "I passed a lot of people out there tonight," Sellard commented. "I rode smart and stayed up, but I still feel like I could have done better if I was in a little bit better shape. You take advantage of opportunities when you can and this is my best finish ever. Thanks to Ron Heben and Mitch Payton for this oppor. tunity and to my brother for always being there:' Moto XXX/O' eal/HSKS of Ocala's Brian Deegan, a Western Regional 125cc rider, finished fourth, and Team Suzuki's Tim Ferry padded his points lead with another consistent top-five finish. Ferry now leads Roncada in the points standings, 104-88, even though Ferry has yet to win a race. F&S Suzuki/UFO's Tony Lorusso holeshot the first 125cc heat as Carmichael, Team Green's Jeff Dement, Schnell and Sellards gave chase. Carmichael bobbled while passing Lorusso for the lead, giving temporary teammate Sellards his chance out front. Carmichael passed Sellards in the whoops on lap two and was never headed. Sellards held second, followed by Schnell, Dement and Team Green's Paul Currie in fifth. Lorusso held on for sixth and Team Green's Robbie Horton, Great Lakes Airlines Heath Voss and Pro Action/BT Racing's James Evans made the final by making the top nine. Holeshot artist Barry Carsten took his Bromley Suzuki RM to the front of the field in the second 125cc hea t. Kawasaki of Mexico/Tecate's Erick Vallejo, Roncada and Deegan gave chase. Roncada had the lead by the middle of the first-lap shuffle and took the win going away. Team Manchester Honda's Robbie Skaggs passed Deegan for second on lap four, while Team Honda's Scott Sheak and Ferry finished fourth and fifth, respectively. R&S Racing/ American Suzuki's Ryan Clark took sixth, followed by Carsten, TMR/ Arai's Doug Deehan and Team Green/F&S Kawasaki's Charles Dunaway. Two-class rider Hedden just missed the cut to the main in 10th. Vallejo holeshot the 125cc Last Chance Qualifier and ran away with the win. Jim's Motorcycle Sales/FMF's Jim Neese finished second, Thomas took third and SCB/Xtreme's Trey Owens m went to the main with fourth. Carsten picked up the $500 holeshot award in the 125cc main. The Bayville, ew Jersey, privateer led Carmichael, Roncada, Schnell and Deehan into the first comer. Ferry was way back in 15th and had his work cut out for him. Sheak and Thomas went down in a pile together at the end of lap one; Thomas would retire and Sheak could do no better than 19th by the finish. Carmichael began to stretch out his lead immediately and had a fiv~ond lead on Schnell bu t crashed in the first corner on lap five, handing the lead to Schnell. Schnell's lead was short-lived as Roncada saw his opportunity and went around him for the lead as Carmichael remounted in third. Carmichael passed Schnell within a lap and was making up time on Roncada, who was having to double one of the track's triple jumps due to his bad line choice in the section. Carmichael was visibly the fa test rider on the track and became impatient while trying to pass Roncada. On lap seven, Roncada doubled the triple jump near the finish line and Carmichael had the speed to triple it, almost landing on the young Frenchman. Roncada sensed his presence in the next corner and took Carmichael wide,

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