Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS Round 8: Houlihan's Stadium TOYOTA T U KSffH RIPAR S RC O T NLIMIT DAMAS E UPERCROSSSERIES &-- - - - - - -U .~ . ..• ,_~ i.'1· ~.\t .._." . ,,:.... . : -. ; . .Brieflv.... . ~ - - - - - ~ .,:, ,,,...:'J0 ~,~l- ~. ;.,~ .~~ '. "i: so li d wi n . " I h a d a b ad da y at that national last year and everyone made a b ig d eal about it. Tonight I s howed everyo ne that I really can ride in the mud and I'm comfortable in jus t abou t anv conditions." 'Carmichael was so fast in the mu d that he actua lly finis hed first and fif th, having lapped every rid er on the trac k exce p t for th e s econd -, thi rd - a n d fourth-place finisher s. And wi th another lap or two , he might have lap ped everyone but the formidab le Robbie Reynard . Finishing an ecst atic third was Martin ez, Geo rgia ' s Robbi e Horton , w ho unofficially became the first 125cc KTM rider eve r to fin ish on the pod ium in an AMA Su pe rcross eve nt. Ho rto n ba rel y edged out FMF Honda's Brock Sellards for the history-making third-place finish after the tw o collid ed together wi th just three turns left to go in th e race. With th e t r ac k cl e ar b eh ind th e tw o Ca rmi chael had lapped and relapped everyone else on the track before taking the checkered flag - the third-place troph y was decid ed by who cou ld get up and running first, Fittingly, it was Horton, who had held the spo t for mu ch of the race un til Sellard s went for a con tact pass on the last lap . "Th is m ean s so mu ch to m e a n d KTM, yo u don't even kn ow," said Horton as KTM execu tive Rod Bus h sho wered him wi th cha mpagne after the race. "I jus t tried to ge t a good start and the bik e d id that for me. I want ed to stay con sist ent the whole time, even if that meant rolling every jump every time." Ohio' s Sella rds, in ju red or sick fo r mu ch of the early season; go t up for a re spect able fourth p lace, w h ile Min nesotan Cory Keeney scored fifth at the - -- fi n is h a b o a rd an F MF /X tre me /Pr o Action-backed Yamaha. HEATS In the first 125cc heat race, H onda of Troy ' s Casey Lytl e r ock e ted in to th e h o lesh o t a n d w ou ld n ev er look back as th e rest of th e fi e ld seeme d to stru ggle with th e' m ud . Lytle d id feel so me la te-race p ressure fro m Reyn ar d , who had started ou t mid pack and s p en t m ost o f th e n ice trying to crea te s o me p assing lanes. Reynard go t close to Lytl e at the e n d , but a fa ll on th e w h it e-flag la p d a shed h is h eat-ra ce hop es. Suzuki of Ca nada' s Marco Du be - a near-qu ali fier in the 250cc cla ss as well - finished third . Wit h Reyn ard seeded in th e fir st heat , eve ryone expected Ca rm ichael to have an easy time in heat number tw o. However, after a strong start, the su perta lent ed so pho mo re fell on the second lap a n d lo st fi ve s pots . FMF / Honda/Tho r's Danny Smith , a su rprising second one week earlier in Atla nta, gra bb ed th e lea d and ap peare d to be head ed for a n upse t u nt il Ca rmichael settled down and climbed back into the lead jus t after the halfway mar k. Smith h eld o n fo r seco nd over Keen ey a nd Ho nda of Jackson's Ch ar lie Du naway. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Georgia favorite Shae Bent ley won the LCQ over KTM-backed Kelly Smit h, . Team Yamaha' s .John Dowd picked up S1000 from 1,900-PRORAC E for grabbing the holeshot in the 250cc main event. while .125cc main-event winner R icky Carmichael picked up 'S500 foi gett ing to the first turn first in the 125cc main. . (Above) Giving KTM it s fi r st podium f inish . In the 125c c class was Robbie Ho rt o n (68). (Left) Robbie Reynard w as t he only r ider to keep Carmichael in sight and finished second. but the big news here was w ho didn't m a ke it : A fte r n earl y ge ll ing on th e pod iu m seve n d ays ago, KTM rid er Jim Nees e go t a bad s tar t her e a nd co u ld onl y muster a fifth. Highly touted SplitFire /Pro Circu it / Kawasaki rook ie Nic Wey fell and cou ld not ge t back into the field . Yamaha -mounted Rob bie Skaggs and New Jersey Suzuki pri vateer Bar ry Cartsen (third and fourth, respec tivel y, in Atla nta) also failed to ge t ou t of the LCQ. Also failing to make the sho w was Span ish ju mp ing se nsa tion Edgar Torronteras, who stopped in Florida while on his way to a jumpi ng contes t in Las Vegas this week . MAIN Whe n the 12Scc main we nt off in the midst of the mou n ting fog, Ca rmichae l .bu rs t fro m the m iddle inside ga te to snag the hol eshot , just ahead of Rey- crashed in both his heat race and the LCQ and did not make t he main 'event. "The X-rays they too k were negative so they putme on a pretty intense therapy program ." said Wey: who is 17. " I did all oft hes e exercise s to strengthen the muscles around thesocket and I cou ldn't believe- how much better it felt. butit still hurts when I ride." . . . nard, Lytle, Smith, Horton and Keeney. But w he n Carmichael wen t to gra b a couple of qu ick tearo ffs on the first double ju m p, Reynar d seized the opportu nity to snag the lead. "I go t off the sta rt go od and passed Ricky in the second tu rn, but af ter that I just kept makin g mistak es," Reyn ard ad mit ted . "I cou ld n' t stay smooth and cou ldn' t fl o w . It se e m ed like I w as fig h tin g t h e b i k e th e w ho le m ot o . Ricky was ju s t on a nd h e rode mistake-free. I wa s hop ing he woul d slip but he did n' t - he ro d e just abo u t perfeet." "The mis t wa s so bad it wa s hard to see ," Carmich a el sai d. "I w as kind of worried abo ut Robbie (Reyna rd) at first, but w hen I was behind him I saw that I had so me bett er lines so I relaxed a little bit ." For th e next th ree lap s, Carmichael sey 's Har old G l i s sen became the fir st one ' armed s u per• cross rider to try to make it into 125cc SX main event. Glis: sen wa s born without a: left arm from the elbow down but never theless picked up the sport of dirt bike riding back in 1979 . "I've been racing fo r years and it has always bee n a dream of mine to try to qualify fo'r a superc ro ss ." said Gli ssen, who is a landscaper bytrade . He's also an expert-ratedrider in New .Jersey ..Gussen has a special set up for h andlebars in wh ich a double.c lamp sets the base of the control s higher and closer to his body. The '. bars themselves are' modified ATV bars with the left side .raised 2 inches higher than t he right : He 'works the clutc h by bracing the stump of his left arm on the bar and using his elbowjo int to squeeze the cl utc h -whe n nece ssary . It wa s 'obvious in Tampa ' that he's more of a dry , hard-pack track rider than a mud rider. but Gli ssen had a. blast even th ough he fa iled to make the even ing program. "I'm 'going to do Dayton a next week and then abo ut f iv e outdoor nat ion al s . " sa id the A cti on M ot or sports/KPS / BoyesenlTwin-Air/Scott / FM F-backed racer , "The mud was kind of to ugh because I couldn't push through ' the ruts like everyon e else. but I'll do fine whenever we get to a . dry race." ' . a It seems that We'y has also had some problems with the AMA and preregi.stration . Whe n Wey got to the opening round lnIndianapolis. It was discove red that he had not been' pre-entered La rry .Ward 's win in the ' 250cc main event had race watchers by either his team. his parents : or himself . so he was ineligible to thumbing through the AMA record book s to ' find out the last time that all four Japanese brands had won a main event in 'an A MA . ride in the Friday practice' sessions. And because the preregistration deadline is approximately one month before each event. Wey 250 Supercross Series . The most pop ular .guess seem s to be co uJ d not ride in any' Frid ay pra ct ice s until aft e r the D ayt o na 1985 . Kawasaki' s Sebastien Tortelli , Honda' sEzra Lusk, and Chaparral Ya maha' mounted 'Jeremy. McGrath had notched the . round. yvey's disadvantage wasn't a concern in Tampa' because' practic e was canceled anyway, and Daytona does not have. any otherwinsin 1998. pre-race riding in the infield.. . Speakinq of Sebastie n To rt e lli . the Fr ench wu nderkind W hen did this front·wheel wheelie rage come into vogue? All .skipped Tampa to return to Europe to prepare for his 250cc World year long, fans have been treated to Kevin Windh am's spectacuMX C hampi o nship Serie s sho w do wn w it h Bel giu m' s St efan lar opening-ceremony ncse -wheelies , sometimes ' with less-thanEverts. Even thou gh he missed several races with injuries. the perfect execution' (he went over the handlebars co mpletel y in . Kawasaki-mounted Tort elli holds 13th in the point standings. His Brock Sellards nearly made t he podium in the 125cc race At lanta). And in the new Terra Firma 4 video from Fox Racing. two best Finishes were his shocking season -openinq win in Los Jeremy McG rath can be seen actually performing one while landeven tho ugh he has 11 stitc hes in his clutch hand and has been Angeles and a fourth two weeks ago in Indianapolis. Tortelli had ing down the backside of a huge tabletop. A cc or d ing to batt ling br o nc hiti s si nce earl y in the year. A cc ord in g to his earlier confirmed that he will compe te full-time in the 'United Mc Grath 's teammate Jimmy Butt on, McGrath and Butt on started brother and mechanic. Marcus. every time Se llards rides. he States next year. though he is not contracted with any teams yet. doing the trick during testing sessions and gradually perfected the pulls the. stitches out of his hand. " He come s bac k in bleeding rare trick . " It' s something you just can't do with standard brakes and all but he's not going to let that hold him back at this point Look for Honda of Troy' s resident f renchman Step ha n e Ron· because they have to give a littl e." said Button. who admits to in the season ," said t he older Sellards. w ho is a for mer pro cada to join the 250cc ranks at the New Orleans SX. Roncada is having cr ashed sever al ti mes at the practice track whi le trytrig to racer himself. campaigning the 125 West Region Series in 1998 but . according outdo his mends. " I knew Windham would go over the bars doing to HoT boss Phil Alderton. the kid needs to get some 250cc races that before the race soo ner or later. but I didn't make fun of him Kevin W indham was celebrating his 20th birthday at Tampa under his belt. "We feel that S tephane still has an outside shot at because I know how hard it is to pull that wheelie off. " Has on Saturday night. so the crowd serenaded him with a 35 .000the West Region title. so we want to keep him sharp for the last Mc Grath ever crashed while ' doing the stu nt? " Never: laughs voice rendition of " Happy B.rthday To You' during the abbreviati 'few races. " Alderton said. " He just got back from a few wee ks in . Butt on. ' Not even close . It' s amazing what that guy can do on a ed opening ce rernorues. France and he really wants to race soon." bike .' The Tampa fans were not treated to the W indham trick .Jeff Emig's Saturday' night ride may have been less stellar than Unc onfirmed reports also have Spll.tFire/Pro C ircuit 's R icky because the openinq-cerernony parade lap was scrubbed due to Carmich ae l jumping up to the 250cc ranks for the Apr il 25th . the poor weather. . . .he or his fans desired:,but he did have one highlight to his Tampa ' Dallas Supercross, which is set to be featur ed on ABC's W ide . . w eek end : Emig got to play goif on Friday with PGA pro Paul Wo rld of Sports the very next day. ' There's been .so me ta lk to When Friday' s practi ce session was canceled due to the .muddy Azinger.. The golfe r then went to the races Saturda y night and l that effect but noth ing 'is confirmed." 'said Jim " Bones " Bacon of . track. the trip to the stadium wasn't a complete w ash for-t he rtd- . enjoye d the main eventsfrom the muddy.infield. . . ) the Pro Circuit team.' . .... e rs and team s. PACE M oto rsports ·put togethe r a h'uge , catere d ba.rbecue to celebrat e the halfw ay mark of the 1998 So ;"'hat's ;';''On9 with .Jeff Em ig? Depending on who you Michigan roo kie Nic Wey has had a disastrous start to his first AMA Toyota SX Seri es. ' It's mid seaso n. eve ry t hinq is go ing talked to, the problem could be anything from Poor night vision .(a 125cc Supercross Series . After dislocating his .shoulder during great and eve ryo ne sho uld be happy ,." said Gary Becker. th e ' dominant right eye) to a once-bro ken verteb ra in his back that has prac tice at the opening round of the East Region tour at IndiPAC E boss himself. "W e're here to have fun. and get-togethers been out .of alignment for some time. There are .other unfounded like this are a good way to do that. " . . anapolis. Wey rode the main event anyway and 'soldiered out a conspiracy theories out the re as we ll. but Emig sums it up this ninth-place finish. He decided to sit out Atlanta in orde r to rehab . way: "I am in a terrible slump. just terrible. And I'm taking suggesHere 's another one for the. record books: Unoff iciaJly . New .Jer-' tions on how to get out of it. • his Injured right wing as qui ck ly as possible '. but at. Tampa he . . . " ,

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