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SUPERCROSS
I
THORIPARTS UNUMITED
AltA SUPERCROSS SERIES
AMA Eastern Regional125cc Supercross series
Round 6: Silverdome
By Kit Palmer
Photos by Kinney Jones
'C
~
14
PONTIAC, MI, APR. 12
n a race that saw three lead changes
and another sure win blown, Honda
of Troy's Stephane Roncada prevailed for the second week- in a row in
the Eastern Regional 12Scc Supercross
Series main event at the Silverdome.
Roncada got away in sixth place,
while series points leader Tim Ferry
fought his way to the front at the start of
the IS-lap race. Ferry, seeking his first
win of the series, was in good shape to
get that first win, especially when you
take into account that the red-hot Ricky
Carmichael had crashed on the first lap
and was back in 13th place.
However, Ferry was not expecting
Honda's Scott Sheak to come on so strong,
and the series points leader soon found
himself hanging on for the lead. Sheak
eventually got around Ferry as did a
hard-charging Roncada, and the factory
Honda rider started pulling away. Now
Sheak was in the position to score his, and
Team Honda's, first win of the season, but
a small crash on the 10th lap ended all
that. Suddenly, Roncada was the frontrunner with five laps to go. Ferry could
not get that extra drive to challenge Roncada and would settle for yet another second-place finish (his fifth of the season).
But perhaps the ride of the night was
turned in by Carmichael, who went
down' over a double jump during the
first lap and resumed in 13th place. The
Pro Circuit/SpJitFire/Kawasaki te~m
rider quickly began picking off riders
one, sometimes two at a time, and
would finish a remarkable third after
the IS-lap race.
Sheak continued having problems
and would finish a disappointing
fourth, while Jim's Motorcycle Sales' Jim
Neese put in a strong performance to
round out the top five.
Despite not having won a race yet,
Ferry enjoys a modest 13-point lead
over Roncada going into the final round
of the series next week at Charlotte
Motor Speedway. Should Roncada win,
Ferry would need to finish ninth or better to clinch his first championship.
(Lett to right) Windham, Lusk and Ward
calebrate on tha podium.
. Carmichael is third in points but has
no chance of catching Ferry.
Moto XXX/O'Neal's Brian Deegan
jumped out to the early lead in the first
12Scc heat race and would lead the way
for two laps before giving way to both
Roncada and Suzuki support rider
Charlie Bogard on the same lap. Bogard
hung with Roncada for a while before
Roncada started pulling away ever so
slightly.
By the halfway point, the top positions were fairly spread out with Roncada leading the the pack across the finish
line ahead of Bogard, Deegan, Sheak,
Bromley Suzuki's Barry Carsten, Neese
and Yamaha rider Jeromy Buehl.
The second heat race was an allCarmichael affair as he led from start to
finish. Ferry was Carmichael's only real
threat, though that threat came only in
the early stages of the race. Carmichael
was able to put some distance on the
Suzuki rider before taking the checkers.
Third went to Team Green/HSKS of
Ocala's Paul Currie, who edged out
Kawasaki of Carrollton's Jeff Dement at
the finish.
F&S Suzuki's Jeff Hedden won a
close race over Chaparral/Yamaha's
Greg Schnell in the last chance qualifier.
Kawasaki rider James Evans and
Honda-mounted Ryan Duff finished
third and fourth, respectively, filling out
the last two spots available in the 12Scc
main.
Ferry edged out Dement for the
holeshot in the main event, with
Carmichael slipping into third, Neese
fourth, Sheak fifth and Deegan sixth.
Deegan would pull out after the first
lap, handing Roncada sixth.
Trying to make a move on Dement
over a tricky double-jump section,
Carmichael went down, and by the time
he could get going again more than half
the pack had raced past.
On the second'lap, Sheak got around
Neese for second as did Roncada for
third a lap later. Ferry looked to be in
command, but Sheak had other
thoughts.
Sheak slowly chewed away at Ferry's
small lead and would soon be trying to
pass the Suzuki rider. Ferry lost some
momentum when he got kicked over a
double jump and was forced to double
the following triples. This allowed
Sheak to catch right up to Ferry and,
two laps later, Sheak tripled right past
the Suzuki rider and claimed first place.
Meanwhile, Roncada had worked his
way into third and was now pressuring
Ferry. A lap later, Roncada cut underneath Ferry in a tum and passed him for
second then rode right around Sheak,
who had lost his front wheel in a rut
and crashed. Both Roncada and Ferry
got by before Sheak could get going
again. Sheak just couldn't get his
rhythm again and nearly crashed in the
exact same spot a lap later. Before the
race was over, Sheak would fall over
again, gjving Carmichael, who had just
gotten around Neese, an easy ride into
third place.
Roncada pulled away from Ferry and
would go on to take the checkered flag
with three secon·ds over· Ferry.
Carmichael finished an amazing third,
followed by Sheak and Neese. Dement
came in sixth, Carsten seventh and Currie eighth. Bogard and Schnell rounded
out the top 10, respectively.
"1 feel happy," Roncada said. "1 started far away. I saw Ricky and Sheak and
those guys up front (off the start), and I
thought, 'Ah, it's going to be very hard
to finish first: Then I saw Ricky fall, so I
thought I had a good chance to win. I
came up very fast. I think it was a good
fight between me, Scptt and Tim, and I
think Tim got a little tired in the middle
of the race, so I got by him then Scott
slid out in the comer, so I was first:'
"1 was runntng real strong," Ferry
said. "Then I made a bad mistake in the
whoops, then cased something before
the triple. I had two real bad laps, and
they (Sheak and Roncada) were right on
me. Once they got by me I stayed right
with them, I don't know, I just could've
ridden a little bit better. At least I'm not
crashing out every race.
"I've run consistent seconds (this season), and I'm pretty unhappy with
that," Ferry added. "I have one race left,
a 13-point lead, that's a good thing, and
hopefully I can go out with a win. That
would really top the season off."
f.N
Silverdome
Pontiac, Michigan
Results: April 12, 1997 (Round 6 of 7)
125 HEAT 1 (6 laps, 1~9 transfer to main); 1.
Stephane Roncada (Han); 2. CharUe Bogard (Suz); 3.
Brian Deegan (Suz); 4. Scott Sheak (Han); 5. Barry
Carsten (Suz); 6. Jim Neese (Suz); 7. Jeromy Buehl
(Yam); B. Ryan Clark (Suz); 9. Heath Voss (Hon); 10.
Trey Owens (Kaw); 11. Eron Ezerins (Suz); 12. Lenny
Baker (Han); 13. Chad Rhine (Kaw); 14. Brad Jerominski
(Kaw); 15. Adam Martin (Han); 16. Jeremy Booher
(Kaw); 17. Jeff Hedden (5uz); 18. James Evans (Kaw); 19.
Tommy Johansson (Suz); 29. Robbie Sknggs (Han).
Time: 6 min., 15.840 sec.
125 HEAT 2 (6 laps, 1·9 transfer to main): I. Ricky
Carmichael Q