Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

into the second lap and had to restart his drive to the front. Meanwhile, Ferry had opened up· a comfortable lead, while Sheak moved into second, relegating Schnell back to third. Sheak's run in second, however, was short-lived, as he stepped off his bike and resumed racing in sixth place, just ahead of Pingree. With Sheak crashing, Schnell again found himself in second place, a pOSition that no one seemed to want to keep. Moments later, Schnell came up short over a double jump and went down in a heap. Taking advantage of this was Team Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada, who had worked his way up from a mid pack start. Roncada was determined to keep second and kept his Honda on two wheels but had no chance of catching Ferry, who was long gone. By this time, just past the halfway pbint, the first two positions were pretty much set, but Carmichael was entertaining the crowd with his come-frombehind ride. After riding around such riders as Sheak and Dowd, Carmichael soon had control of third, but ran out of time to catch Roncada. The only real battle left was that between Sheak and Dowd for fourth and fifth. Dowd chased Sheak down to the finish but came up just short. At the finish, it was Ferry breezing to victory over Roncada and Carmichael. Sheak edged out Dowd for fourth, while Pingree took sixth. Seventh went to Great Lakes Airlines' Heath Voss, followed by Dement, Skaggs, and Pro-Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki's Brock Sellards. Carsten dropped back to 12th arid Schnell ended up 16th after his crash. In the second heat race, featuring the East Coast S!!ries competitors, Windham and Noleen Racing USA/ProFIex/K2's Jeff Willoh went into the first turn side by side, but it was Windham coming out leading the way. A number of riders went" down in the turn, including Reynard and Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki's Casey Johnson, both of whom quickly got back up and charged up through the pack. Up front, Windham led the way, but Willoh wasn't about to give up without a fight. During the first lap, Willoh surprised the sold-out stadium when he forced his way by Windham and into the lead. However, that only lasted for a straightaway when Windham got him back in a turn. From there, the race was all Windham's, as he opened up a 12-second lead and cruised to victory. Willoh took second, but it was close. Decker worked his way up through the pack and chal. lenged the Yamaha rider on the last couple of laps, but could not make the pass. A distant third went to Lytle, followed by Reynard, Wheeler, Xtreme/FMF's Cory Keeney, Kawasaki Mexico/ Tecate's Erick Vallejo, Clawson Motorsports' Jeff Pestana and Ancae Heating's Travis Hodges. The last chance qualifiers were broken down to two separate East and West races, and in the East race, a small group of just seven riders went at it tooth and nail. Montgomeryville Cycle's David Kratz was the early leader before crashing with Buehl on the first· lap. Then, Honda rider Ryan Duff found himself leading the group, but the rider on the move was Buehl. After crashing and recovering in last place, Buehl got on the gas and passed his way into second in one lap, then stuffed his way by Duff for the lead. Buehl opened up a modest lead, while Carsten, Schnell, R&S Racing's Ryan Clark and Sellards battled closely for the last transfer. Sell- (Above>,John Dowd made It a Yamaha 1-2 sweep in the 125cc main. (Right) Team Pro ClrcultlSplltFlr elKawaS8ki's David Pingree made his return to action a success by placing third in the 125cc main. ards was on the move and had worked his way into third, then stuffed Clark in a tUrn for second place before washing out and finishing seventh. His night was over. At the finish, it was Buehl hanging on for the win, followed by Clark. Finishing one spot out of a transfer was Schnell. SMP /House of Motorcycles/Papa Joe's Pizza's Torn Clowers led much of the West LCQ. At one point, Clowers crashed and Kawasaki rider Travis Hodges passed him, but Clowers quickly remounted and flew by Hodges over a triple jump to retake the Lead. However, Clowers could do nothing about Casey Johnson, who came from behind and passed him late in the race. Johnson and Clowers went to the main, while third-place Hodges and the rest of the small field went back to the pits for the night. Nailing the holeshot in the IS-lap feature was Pingree, while Ferry got pinched off down the start straight and rounded the first turn near the back of the pack. WiIIoh slipped his Yamaha into second place, followed by Windham, Carmichael, Sheak and Buehl. During the first chaotic Lap, Willoh ran ar.ound Pingree, while Carmichael quickly made his move to the front. He whipped his Chad Watts-tuned Kawasaki. around Windham's Yamaha, Pingree's Kawasaki and Willoh's Yamaha before the first lap was completed, while Windham took another lap to get around Willoh, making the top running order after two laps Carmichael, Windham, WiIloh, Pingree, Sheak, Decker, Roncada and Dowd. Buehl slipped back to ninth and Reynard, another rider who many.figured would be a major factor in the race, got a bad jump and was running 10th. Back in 14th was the Eastern Regional champ Ferry and even further back in 16th was Johnson. Windham made quick work of Willoh and now the two riders everyone had been talking about - CarmichaeL and Windham - were running 1-2. Carmichael set the pace, but Windham matched his every move as the two riders detached themselves from the rest of the pack. Pingree settled into third when Willoh crashed out of the hunt, with Sheak posi tioning himself in fourth, followed by Dowd, Decker and Reynard. Windham made his move on Carmichael on the fourth lap, jumping to the inside of a turn when Carmichael went wide. Windham blocked Carmichael's line and assumed the lead. "I made a pretty aggressive pass on him (Carmichael)," Windham said. "I didn't make any contact, but I shut him down from doing a triple." However, Carmichael came right back and simply T-boned Windham in the next turn. "He came back with a big surprise on me," Windham said of Carmichael's move. "He rode me in real high and hit me pretty good. He was ready and wanted the win bad, too. It was definite-Iy a good pass, and it teaches me what fo expect from him. I've never really raced him that close before." Windham nearly went down while Carmichael shot back into the lead, a lead that would not even last a full lap, when the Kawasaki rider mistimed a whoop section and went tumbling to the ground. Windham rode right by the downed rider and into a semicomfortable lead of about,two seconds over Pingree, who also got by Carmichael before he could remount. Carmichael got back up in third and chased Pingree for a couple of laps, passed him, and moments later got out of shape again in the same whoop section that got him earlier, and he hit the ground - hard. Stunned and frustrated, Carmichael lay on the ground for a short time, curled up and face down, before getting back on his bike. '1 was going and there was a Lapper on the Il!ft, and I just kind of dropped in (his wheels into the whoops)," Carmichael said. Carmichael was not hurt in the crash, just "discouraged." At this point, Carmichael was all but done. He slciwly rode back to the startfinish area, where it appeared he was going to pull off the track and ride back to the pits, but Carmichael decided to at Least stay on the track and cruise around in first gear for the remaining five laps. Meanwhile, it was clear sailing for Windham, who now enjoyed an insurmountable IS-second lead over a tiring Pingree.. At this point, Dowd, in third, was on the move. He had moved around Sheak earlier in the race for fourth and inherited third when' Carmichael crashed. Dowd tracked down Pingree and put the move on th~ Kawasaki rider for second place three laps from the end, making the final finishing order Windham, Dowd, Pingree, Decker, Sheak and Ferry, who, at one time in the race, ran as far back as 15th place. "I had a slippery gate and when I went to take off I just spun real bad and didn't get so good of a start," Dowd said. "Then I just tried to be cool. In the . heat race, I got a little excited too quick, and went down, so I tried to relax a little bit in the beginning (of the main). A few guys went down here and there and, I don't know, I just picked my way through. I was pretty tired, too. It's been a while since I've been riding this supercross stuff, so my confidence wasn't really that great tonight. I really gave it my all the last few laps to get those guys. I figured they were getting tired, too, so I gave it 100 percent." Johnson finished seventh right behind Ferry, followed by Dement, Skaggs and Buehl. Carmichael was obviously disappointed with the outcome of the race and his 18th-place finish. I'--.. "I got a decent start and was winning 0\ for a while, and Kevin started catching ...... 0\ me," a dejected Carmichael said. "Then he kind of cut me off and passed me, which was good; I mean, I would've done the same. I came back in there and kind of hit him, got in front of him, then bobbled through the whoops, and he kind of pulled away. I got back into second when I crashed again. I'm just

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