Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Toyota TruckslThorlParts Unlimited AMA Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross series Round 4: Day10na International Speedway Carmithatl ptrtttt By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones DAYTO ABEACH, FL, MAR. 7 icky Carmichael's bid for a perfect East Coast 12Scc Supercross season is still going strong, as the Florida native thoroughly demolished the competition in the IS-lap 12Scc main at Daytona International Speedway. The SpIitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team rider shot his Chad Watts-tuned KX125 into the lead right off the start and then proceeded to pull away with relative ease. Carmichael's lap times were some two seconds per lap faster than anyone else's on the track, and when the beating was over, Carmichael had taken the checkered flag 37.001 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, that being Robbie Reynard of the An wer-backed, Primal Impul e/Bill's Pipes/Suzuki Racing Team. uFour wins in a row - that's nice," Carmichael said. "I'm going to try (to win every race), but I don't want to put any pressure on myself. But I'm going to give it my besl. I'm really happy to win this race. It's an important race. There are a lot of important people here." Third place went to Ohio's Brock Sellards on the FMF / Honda CR 12S machine. Sellards ran second for much of the race before becoming one of Reynard's victims. Sellards finished comfortably ahead of Kingsport KTM/Pro Action's Jim eese and Team Sliffie/TMR Suzuki rider Shaun Perolio. R Of the four races run thus far in the 12Scc Eastern Regional Supercross Series, Carmichael has won all of them, and he has a perfect 100 points to show for iI. His closest competitor is Reynard with 79, followed by Honda of Troy's Casey Lytle, who finished eventh in Daytona, with 6S points. Sellards is fourth with 61. HEATS The first 125cc heat race was won by Reynard, who opened up a five-second lead before the first lap was completed. He did have to get around both Lytle and F&S Suzuki's Tony Lorusso right off the start, but after that it was all Reynard. He would stretch out his lead with every long lap until he had a 17-second cushion over Lytle at the finish. Lytle mixed it up with Suzuki rider An thon y Pocorobba before breaking away. Pocorobba finished third, followed closely by Ryan Clark on the Kawasaki of Mexico/Tecate/Thor KXl25. A distant fourth was Lorusso on the F&S Suzuki RMI25, and Matt Shue on the FMF / AXO Honda was fifth. Making the transfer were Jason Thomas, Danny Smith and Jeff Pestana. Carmichael dominated the second heat race, winning it in much the same manner as Reynard. Carmichael passed Sellards on the first lap and waved goodbye. Like Reynard, Carmichael stretched out hi lead with every lap and had more than 10 seconds on Perolio. PeroIio ba ttled with Sellards for a while before pulling away. Sellards finished all alone in third, followed by Moto XXX/Kawasaki's Paul Currie, Team Green's Shae Bentley and Neese. 2Xtreme/Performance International's Jeff Dement passed KTM rider James PovoInyearly in the race and rode off to victory in the last-chance qualifier. Povolny had a comfortable spot in second, followed by East Coast KawasakiSuzuki/Next Racing's Brian Carroll. Grabbing the final transfer position in fourth was Ty Wallace on the RRP /MontgomeryviIle Cycle Center Yamaha YZI25. Seventh place went to Lytle, who got off to a midpack start. Bentley ended up dropping back to eighth, followed by Lorusso and Currie. 0 MAIN For all intents and purposes, the 12Scc main was over almost before it began. Carmichael nailed the holeshot and produced a five-second lead over Sellards after the first lap. Carmichael would build on that margin by at least two seconds per lap, scoring an uncontested win. "I got the holeshot. That's two holeshots in two weekends - that's good for me," Carmichael said. "It makes life easy when you can get a big lead like that. Overall, it was just a matter of getting out in front and putting in consistent laps - pull a good lead and enjoy the margin." As mentioned, Sellards ran second in the early stages, ahead of Neese, Bentley and Reynard, who slipped by both Bentley and Neese on the second lap. From there, Reynard charged after Sellards, who wasn't about to give up second place without a fight. Sellards held his ground until about the halfway point, when Reynard finally got his way. By the time Reynard had moved into second, Carmicjlael was already 21 seconds out in fronl. All Reynard could do was hope for a mistake by Carmichael a mistake that never came. Reynard took second, followed by Sellards, eese and Perolio. Pressuring Perolio all the way was Dr. Medsker/KTM's James Povolny, who shadowed Perolio for the last half of the race but couldn't make a pass stick. Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 7, 1998 (Round 4 of 8) (Top) Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael was almost In a class of his own, as he annihilated the competition In the 125cc Eastern Regional main event. He finished 37 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor and kept his win streak alive. (Left) Primal ImpulSe/Suzuki's Robbie Reynard (21), here passing FMFlHonda's Brock Sellards, finished second In the 125cc main. Sellards took a well-earned third. 125 MEAT 1 (6 laps, 1~9 transfer to main): 1. Robbie Reynard (Suz); 2. Casey Lytle (Hon); 3. Anthony Pocorobba (Suz); 4. Ryan Oark (Kaw); S. Tony Lorusso (5uz); 6. Matt Shue (5uz); 7. Jason Thomas (Kaw); 8. Danny 5mith (Hon); 9. Jeff Pestana (Yam); 10. Tom Clowers (Hon); 11. Steven Herman (5uz); 12. Joseph Oehlhof (Hon); 13. Jeff Baker (Kaw); 14. Jeff Curry (Suz); 15. Grayson Goodman (Kaw); 16. Thomas Barron (Hon); 17. Ronnie Renner (Yam); 18. Jeff Dement (Yam); 19. Brian Thornburg (Yam); 20. Robbie Horton (KTM). Time: 7 min.• 27.920 sec. 125 HEAT 2 (6 laps, 1~9 transfer to main): 1. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 2. 5haun Pcrolio (5uz); 3. Brock Sellards (Hon); 4. Paul Currie (Kaw); 5. Derrick Shae Bentley (Kaw); 6. Jim Neese (KTM); 7. Tyler Evans (Suz); 8. Charlie Bogard (Suz); 9. James Eickel (Kaw); 10. Jamcs Povolny O

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