Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

nd was clea rl y ha p py to b e ra ci ng mon g the lead ers afte r recentl y coming ack from a na ggin g Achilles tend on nju ry. " I fee l prett y good ," Sh eak sai d hartly after the second mota . 'The only hing I seem to be lackin g in right now s my s ta rts . W e' ve been testing a lot nd week by week I'm getting better nd better. I feel really stro ng out there, nd m y lap t im es a re co m pe t i tiv e. opefully, next w eekend at Tro y I'll be ble to do even better," Sheak's stro ng ride at Unadilla cata ulted the 24-year-old rid er from ninth a seventh in the series' stand ings. With se ven of 12 rounds now com lete, Carmichael lead s the points chase ith 307. Dowd, who lost five points to armichael at Unadilla, holds second ith 297. Johnso n is third with 228, folowed by Team Chaparral /Yamaha's immy Button with 180. Team Honda of ro y / Sin isa lo / O a k le y-b a ck ed M ik e Brown is currentl y fifth with 178 points. MOTOONE As the fie ld sho t fro m the 40-rid er nad illa g a te an d in to th e s weeping right-handed first tum for the beginning f mota one, it was the two title rival s, armichael and Dowd, side by sid e, folowed by Button, Johnson and Team Honda of Troy rid er Casey Lytle. By the time the riders hit the infamous "Gravity Cavity" for the firs t time , both Dowd and Button had moved a r o u n d Carmichael and began to battle for the top spot. With the lead position within his grasp, Button made an aggressive m ove on Dowd in the next corner and w ent d own, re-enterin g th e race d ead last. With Dowd now clear lv within his s ights, Carmichael attacked, tak ing the lead on the track 's extremely fast backsec tion s tra ig ht befor e th e end of th e firs t lap . With lap times on the l.l-mile cou r se hover in g in th e 2:08 ran ge , Ca rm ic hael put hi s h ead d o wn a n d c h a rged , closel y pursu ed b y Dowd , Joh nson , Te am FMF /Honda /Th o rbacked Brock Sellards and No leen/ K2/ Thor's Tim Ferry. On the third lap, Reyn ard, wh o starte d the mo to just inside the top 10, moved aroun d Ferry and Sella rds and in to fourth. As Ca rmichael a nd Do wd con tinued to battle ou t fron t, the cha rging Reynard zapped Johnson for third at the ent ry to the steeply inclined "ScrewU" section of the cou rse and then immediately went to work on Dowd for the runner-up pos ition, taking the spot on the sam e h igh-speed s tr a ig h t wh ere Carmichael had overtaken the lead earlier in the mota. With Carmichael leading by about five seconds, Reynard bega n to close the gap on the flying SplitFire/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki rider, taking over the lead as the d u eling pair hit one of the track's many fast, sweeping turns. "I ju st se t h im up ," Rey n ard said shortly after the completion of the mota. "He (Carmichael) tried to block my line, and I jus t do ve und ern eath him ." As the two-lap board came ou t it was Reynard w ith a five-second advantage over Ca rmichael , foll owed by a stead y Dowd in third. John son held fourth, followed closely by Sheak. Just after receivi n g the w hite flag, Reynard , with a regrouped Carmichael now nipping at his heels, had a tense mom ent when he came together wi th a lapped rid er entering 'an extremely tight chicane. "Yeah, that was pretty sca ry," Reynard sa id with a hint of reli ef in hi s voice. "I jus t to ld myself, ' Don ' t fall d ow n. Don't be a dummy.' Lu ckil y, I (Left) Yamaha' s Jo hn Dowdwent 3-2 for third overall. (Below) FMFlHonda teammates Scott Sheak (14) and Jason McCormick (32) diced near the front of the pack in the first 125cc moto. made it through okay." . Reynard wen t on to ta ke h is fir st malo win of the seaso n and became the first rider other than Carmichael and Dowd to score a mota victory this year. Carmichael followed Reynard in for second. "Robbie had one of thos e races where he was just on fire ," Carmichael said. "At that point in the race, I just didn't have anything for him. My arms kind of bl ew up toward th e beginning, an d I was rid ing tigh t. Alth ough I was able to reel him ba ck in toward the end , I made a mistake on the last lap, and that was all it took." Dowd hung in for third , followed by Johnso n in fou rth and a stro ng rid e fro m Sheak for fifth. Ferry was sixth, followed b y Sellards in seven th. Team Sp litFire/ Pro Circuit's Nathan Ramsey was eighth, followed by Team Hond a of .Tro y /Sinisalo /Oakley's Mike Brown in nint h. Team FMF/ Ho nda /Tho r-backed Jason McCormick rou nded ou t the top lO. MOTO TWO Do wd rocke ted to th e ho les ho t in mota two, chased by Carmichael, Lytle, Johnson and Button. By the end of the first lap Carmicha el had cha rged into the lead , followed clos ely by Dowd , John son a nd Lytle. Firs t mot a w inner Reynard, w ho again started just insid e the top lO, bla st ed into th e fifth s po t after brie f ba ttles with Ram sey and his Te am Splitfire /Pro Circuit teammat e, icholas Wey, early in the first lap. Carmichael, eager to improve upon his first- mota second-p lace finish , tri ed in vain to shake Dowd while the two ' riders im medi a tely be gan to d ist ance themselves from the pack. Johnson was third, followed by the ha rd-cha rging Reynar d and Button, who ba ttled back into the top five after dropp ing to eig hth d u ring the opening lap. At the lO-minute mark Dowd moved in on Carm icha el a nd the tw o rid ers began an in cred ibl e battle for th e top p o sition, s wa p p ing th e lead severa l times during the lap . With Dowd now leadi ng, Carmichael moved aggressively to the inside of the Team Yamah a rid er on the tight turn befor e the "Screw -U" section, forcin g Dowd to the outsid e of the turn, which resulted in him clipping a hay bale and falling. "We went into that turn, and I went on the inside of him," Carmichael sa id . "I actually thought he was goi ng to hit the brakes, square it 'off and go undernea th me , but he we nt on the outside and we bumped." . Luckil y for Dowd , his intense battle with Ca rm ichael had all owed him to am ass enoug h of a cushion to rem ount bef ore being p assed . A la p later, the extremely motivated Reyn ard took the measure of Johnson and moved soli d ly into third . Ca rmichael took the mota wi n as a d isappointed Dowd rolled in for second. Reyn ard was thi rd , followed by a consisten t ride from Johnson for fo u r th. Button held on for fifth , foll owed by Sheak in sixth. Brown improved upon his firs t-mota score by taking seventh, followed by Ramse y, wh o mirrored his first-mota sco re of eighth. Ferry was ninth, with Wey filling out the top lO. ,~ Unadilla Valley Sports Cent er New Berlin, New York Res ults : Ju ly 19, 1998 (Round 7 of 12) MOTO 1: 1. Ro bbie Reynard (Suz); 2. Ricky Carmi ch a el (Ka w ): 3. John Dowd (Ya m ); 4 . Casey Johnson (Ka w); 5. Scott Sheak (Hon); 6. Tim Ferry (Yam ); 7. Brock Se lla rds tHo n); 8. Na than Ramsey (Kaw): 9. Mike Brown IHo n): 10. ja son McCormick (Hen): 11. Ni chola s Wey (Kaw) : 12. Casey Lytl e (H u n ); 13 . Steph ane Ronceda (Han); 14. Jimm y Button (Ya m); 15. Rya n Hu ffm an (Su z ); 16. [iri Dosta l (Su z); 17. Tony Loru sso (Suz ): liS. Damien Plot ts (KT M); 19. De rrick Sha e Bentle (Kaw); 20. Brad Woolsey (Ka w); 21. Robb ie y Ho rton (Kl'M); 22. Isaiah Ic hnso n U

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