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(Far left) Robbie
Reynard won the
second moto, but a
sixth in the first
moto dropped him
to second overall.
(Left ) Casey
Johnson put in
another strong ride,
earning third
overall with 4·2
outings.
the wa y to the first tu rn for the holeshot.
As RC round ed the sha rp righ t-h and
hairp in , h e was fo llo wed by Dowd ,
Honda of Trov 'sMike Brown , Johnson,
Button a nd Sellards,
Reyn ard ha d another ridiculo usly
bad start after his back tire sp un to the
rig ht off the launch ing pad , leaving him
dead last going thro ugh the firs t turn .
As Reyn ard slowly sta rted to climb up
through the ran ks, he caug ht the front
wheel of.Shae Bentley in a hig h-ba nked
turn and too k the newl v cro wned AMA
Am at eur N a tion al Cha mp dow n and
out of the moto.
Before Carmichael could d o his usual
breakaway, he mad e a mi s take in the
first qua rte r-la p a nd fell on a n overly
watered off-ca m bered corn er. RC onlv
los t fo u r s p ot s b efore he q u ickl y
remounted, leaving Dowd with the lead .
"I just went into that corner and both
wh eels went ou t fro m und er me ," said
Carmichael later . "It was reallv wet ov er
the re, and I guess it was a d umb mis take, es p ecia lly on the firs t la p . The
track was wet and I went in. a little bit
hot a nd went down ."
Carmichae l wasted little time in get ting ba ck th e g rou nd h e lost. H e
e mp lo yed a h igh line off a downhill
tri ple tha t no one else was ju mp ing due
to the slickness of the takeoff. He passed
Button for fourth there on the next lap ,
the n worked past Johnson and Brown
b efore closin g up o n Dowd o n t he
h alfw ay mark. Ca r m ichael attem p ted
another pass for the lea d on the sa me
triple wh ere he moved by Button , and it
was obv io u s th a t RC was n' t goi ng to
pla y it safe in fro n t of the Binghamton
fans.
However, before Carmicha el co u ld
clear ou t, he had another problem.
"Th e fro n t wheel started br eaking
loose in the corn ers, and I was thinking
that I had a flat tire, " said Ca rm ichael.
" It started bothering me, and John took
advantage of that and got back by me."
A s the Bi ng hamton fa it hful
whooped it up for the New Eng lander,
Cannichael tried to ga ther his head and
go back after his MX des Nations teammat e. But Dow d rod e strong and sma rt,
and Ca rmichae l cou ld not ma ke it happ en . A ju b il a n t Do wd c rosse d t he
ch ecke red flag wit h two bik e len gths to
spa re, enjoying his first moto win since
the mid-June mu d fest at Sou thwick.
"Th a t wa s grea t," said a o ecs ta'tic
Dowd after br eaking ou t of his summerlong slu m p . " It wa s p retty close for a
while earlv. I was a little nerv ou s at the
beginningbecau se 1 kept thinkin g about
Rick y behind me, a nd that's d efinit ely
t he w ron g thi ng to d o . But o nce he
passed me back, I sna pped ou t of it and
sta rted rid ing my own race."
"I' m not sure what happened with
the bike, but John rode reall y well and
deserved to wi n," said Ca rmic hael afterward . " My co rn e r s p ee d was really
good , bu t John was making up time on
me so me w here else. I saw so me of his
lines for the next moto. I think it's more
importa nt tha t I just qu it mak in g mista kes. John hung in there and there was
nothing I could do. Just have to ge t after
him in the next mota , I guess."
Bro wn was abou t 15 seconds back,
follow ed by Johnso n and an out-of-sync
Button .
"I just had so me bad lines here and
there, and they got away from me," said
Brown of his third -p lace finish. "1 know
that I hav e to stay with them the whole
time and not let them get away when I
have a couple of bad lap s, beca use it' s
hard to catch back up to thos e gu ys."
Reyna rd was sixth, with a revitalized
Nick Wey next , followed by the fourth
SplitFire /Pro Circuit /Kawasaki in the
top eight, that of athan Ramsey. Ferry
was the top privateer in ninth, followed
by Ohio native Sellards.
The start of the second 125cc mot a
w a s a free-far -a ll. After Carmi ch ael
again seemed to get the jump, he hit the
turn a little hot a lon gside som e rid er s
fro m the middle part of the gat e and a
massive pileup ensued. Carmichael wa s
at the bottom, along with FMF/ Honda
ri d ers Jas on McC ormi ck a n d Scott
C:heak , HoT' s Brown and Stephane Roncad a, Axe -backed rookie Matt Walker ,
Ferry , and severa l others.
Fro m the outside, Suzuki pri vateer s
Ch r istopher Wheeler and Stiffie /GP
Spo rts' Jeff Willoh jumped into the lead ,
followed by Johnson, who chose a wayoutside pick on the gate to get up on the
ha rd-pack, ju st like Carmichael o n the
inside. The ga mble certainly wo rked as
he moved past Wheeler, Willow and a
q u ick-sta rti ng Travis Pr es ton fo r the
lea d . Dowd wasn't too far back in the
p ack , but in th e third turn he we nt in
too hot and fell.
"I wa s thinking, 'A ll right, here's my
chance, becau se Ricky' s down: and then
I go in to that corne r and d o a baseball
sli de:' grumbled Dowd later. "I rea lly
thou ght I blew it right then ."
Johnson was on a mission to record
his first-ever 125cc National moto win,
a nd after Dow ds fall a nd Bro wn and
Ca rmichael 's first-tu rn p ileu p , he sud d enly looked ' good fo r the overa ll as
well. He opened a lead of mo re than 10
seco nds after jus t a few laps on seco ndplaced ella rds (w ho also survived the
two start cra s he s), Wheeler, Button ,
Willoh and Preston. However, after a
few laps, Rey na rd s tarted to e merge
from a 22nd-place start .
"I d idn't get a very good start, but so
mu ch was goi ng on th at I was abl e to
just ki nd o f p ick m y way throug h to
w here it wasn' t so bad: ' said Reynard .
" Prett y so o n I was up in secon d, but
then 1fell and wen t back."
Re y nard ha d ca r ve d through the
pack to cla im seco nd before the end of
the fourt h lap, bu t the n he fell jus t about
at the mechanics' area and went back to
fifth ag ain. Aft er rea djusting his controls
and lettin g Sellards , Button and t he
hard -charging Dowd by , Rey n a rd
would g o ba ck to work and s lice
through to second again . At this poi nt,
Joh nson w a s s ti ll about 15 se co nds
ahead , but Reynard was on a mission .
He would erase the Kawasaki rider's
lead in three laps and blitz past for the
win on a rough downhill.
"I saw him co m ing , but there was
reall y no thing I cou ld do: ' said Johnson
of the Reynard charge. "It's ha rd to fight
with a gu y who's coming up behind you
like that, because you don't have anyone
to push yo u until he' s right there, and
then he' s got the momentum. Reynard
was just goi ng too fast."
"I guess I ma de it pretty ex citing:'
sa id Revnard in the winner's circle. "I
thoug ht I blew it, but I just kep t pushing
a nd pu shin g , a nd it w orked out m y
wa y . The Suzu ki was running really
g ood , and I've been riding well ever
since I got my head together af ter Red
Bud back in July. I really wa n t to win
the last National at Steel City."
Further back, Ca rmichael was having a mise rab le march to t he tit le ,
falling again and droppi ng as low as
30t h before pull ing h imself together.
O nce he sta rted moving up aga in - his
back w heel fu ll of banners - he blitzed
t hrough the fiel d . C a rmi ch ael kn ew
th at he only needed to fi n is h a fe w
s pots beh in d Dow d to w rap up th e
title, and he charged to fifth by moto's
e nd a nd pumped his fist in the air to
sig na l t he cl inc hi ng o f hi s seco n d
st raigh t title.
Dow d had already crossed the finish
line with a bittersweet victor y, having
won the dav but lost his sho t at a firstever AMA ,- atio nal title.
"I wo rked my way through and go t
the overa ll, but I rea llv cou ld n' t do anvhmg abou t the cha m p io ns h ip." sa id
owd . "Ricky has been rid in g well all
ye a r and he d ef in itely deserve t h e
0
title."
Broome-TIoga Sports Center
Binghamton, New York
Results: August 30, 1998 (Round 11 of 12)
MOTO 1: I. Joh n [Aw..d (Y.l m); :: . Rickv Ca rrmc nael
l K.1WI; 3 Mich .u·J Brown (H o n ); ·J. C asey John!'>un
( K.H~ );· 5 Jimm y Burt on (Yam '; b. Robbi e Rcvncrd (Suz );
7 , ' "ichu ldt;, w ev ( Kaw ); S. 'vathan Ramsev ( K.1 W) ;~.
Ti m mv Ferr v (Ya rn) : 10. Bro ck Se-l la rds ' ( H o n ); 11.
f;tl·ph,{IH.· ROI;C.ld., t Ho n): 12. Travi.. Pre-ton (5uz); 13.
Rv.m Hu ffma n tSu zJ: H. Scott Sbca k (H en): 15. je rtrc v
Willu h (Suz ); 16. 1\1 Cu rrie ( K .1 W ); 17. 8.1m ' c.lI...tl'n
ul
(SUl ): lS . Ru ..t v Hofland (He n ): 19. C hris tup hl.· r
GO.."l'1.1.lr r Hon ]: 20. Robbi e Ska ggs (Ya ml: 21. Jiri
Dc.t'ot.ll <
Suz) ; 22. C hris Wht't'ler (Suz ): 23. J ,Jml.~ Pov o lnv
[r ( K"'Th'Il; 24. Ryan Dutf (He n ): 25. Jim Nce,c (H u.. 2b.
-;I;
To d d De l -loop ·(Y.l m l; 27 . jeff rey Baker Jr. ( K.1W); :!H.
\tl.11l walker ( H on ): 2'1. S te ve A n d rich ( Yam t: 10 .
Richa rd Rogers ( Ka w j: 31. Steven Herman (SUL); '\2.
Scu tt D.w is (Su7o ); : 3. De rrick Sha e Bentlev ( Ka w j: 34
1
Tr.w l!'> Rile I,' (K.1\v, ; 35. [a -on McC (lrm ick (Hen): 36 .
K__-ith Jnh n~m (Ya m ); 37. Do nov a n Mitche ll (V.l m ); 38.
0 1