Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I came up a little short, and said, 'I'd better cool it and let this race pan out,'" Carmichael said. After a few laps, Carmichael was ready to take another shot, using his consistently swifter navigation of the rhythm section to once again pull up behind McGrath on lap seven, and he barely squeezed by on the short straight after the whoops. McGrath quickly pushed back in front, however, and led Carmichael over the finish line to start lap eight. At this point, the pace was torrid, with both riders pushing themselves to the utmost and violently attacking every obstacle. That said, the racing was also surprisingly clean. "It was good, clean racing, and I know that's the way Jeremy likes to race," Carmichael said. "I'm sure if it was the last race for the points battle, it would have been a little different, but it's still early in the season." On lap nine, Carmichael tried to get by in the turn after the finish line, then again over the first triple. His next attempt - in the long, rough whoop section - was successful, but McGrath once again retook the lead by block-passing Carmichael in the lap-" final tum. The race was now at the midway point, and ;~ tbe very next turn, McGrath made a rare mistake that would prove his undoing. "I was really bad in. the finish-line corner," McGrath said. "I leaned wacy over and I started to fall, but I just kept the gas on. It slid and slid, and then it came back finally. He could have center-punched me, but it's because I went right in his line." Carmichael now had the lead along with a bit of breathing room, but he had his rhythm slightly disrupted by some lappers on lap 12 and allowed McGrath to close. Cannlchael (4) emerges from the first tum In the lead but things would quickly change. as David Vuillemin (934). Mike LaRocco (5). Jeremy McGrath (1), Kevin Windham (14) and Mike Craig (39) give chase. the struggling McGrath's rear fender McGrath was unable to capitalize, with a few laps remaining. Beginning the 19th go-around, laRocco made a block pass in a turn, and there was however, and within a couple of laps, Carmichael again stretched his lead, taking it to over three seconds with five laps to go. "When I got caught up racing with him, I started not breathing and relaxing, and I got tight," McGrath said. nothing McGrath could do. Similarly, there was nothing laRocco could do to catch Carmichael with so little time had control of the corner, so he just remaining. "I caught those guys when they were battling," LaRocco said. "They had to let me go. This track, I think I was the fastest guy. If I would McGrath's tightness meant that his troubles weren't yet over. While his battle with Carmichael had dominat- were slowing a lot - I caught them fast - but then I ran into a pack of ed everyone's attention up front, LaRocco had been mounting one of about three guys in the whoops and I lost everything I gained. Fortu- his customary charges through the pack - a charge made necessary after he completed lap one back in sixth. nately, I caught back up. I had a really good line before the finish McGrath said. "Mike was on the line, and I just jumped to the inside of him. He knew I was there, and I just went by me. No big deal." "I got good starts, but I came out bad through ~ second turn," LaRocco said. "In the main, I went in the corner good, but I came out on the outside about sixth or seventh. I had a rough first lap, but I got things ironed out. I felt good riding, and my pace was good." LaRocco had made it to third by lap nine, and he slowly crept up to Before this year's opener, many people - including Jeremy McGrath - predicted that David Vuillemin would be the one rider to give the champ the most trouble this season. That hasn't proven to be the case so far, as the Frenchman has struggled to sixth-place fmisbes at each of the first two rounds. Vuillemin was noticeably out of sync III Anaheim, and then he crashed on Tuesday at Yamaha's test track, banging up his ribs. Friday's cancelled practice robbed him of a day to find his rhythm, and then he crashed hard in the whoops in the Saturday moming practice, landing on his sore ribs. As a result, he never looked comfortable during the night's program, even crashing in a tum at the beginning of the main event's fourth lap. "There was for sure pressure on me [this year), because I did good last year and I did good for the European races," Vuillemin said. "I don't feel good since the beginning of the year. The bike works good, but I'm just off." Said Vuillemin's mechanic, Craig Monty, "Maybe last season he never really thought about winning the championship or being there, so it may have been a lot easier to win a couple races when you didn't have the pressure on you." Monty went on to say that the season is young, and that he's confident his rider will get over his case of the nerves and do better in short order. Vuillemin, who admits to the mental aspect, definitely has one thing figured out, and that is his starts. He has pulled the holeshot every time he's raced thus far - in his heat race and the main event at both Anaheim and San Diego - but has quickly lost ground on every occasion. "I trained hard this winter, and my body shape is much better than last year, but nothing went good," Vuillemin said. "It seems like a lot of things are against me, and that's bothering me, but I know I can be with those guys. I'm not scared about anybody. I just want to get my body healthy again, and get the confidence back. I think I can corne back pretty good." have been one place closer earlier, I think things could have been different." "At that point I was tight already, and I was sucking in the whoops," charge, just like he always is, and he ~~O !1!iJ&J~@j&J f?l@@@@ ®G!JfiJODVi2D[JD@~_ ©OD@\5fl 0 One hardly dared hope for a main event battle like the one that occurred at San Diego, but if close attention were paid to the night's qualifying races, there was evidence as to what might unfold in the climactic main event. That race's main two protagonists - Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael and Mazda Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath - each won a heat race in convincing fashion, and Carmichael the eventual surprise main-event winner - posted a winning time over eight seconds faster than that of the defending champ. Carmichael led his heat by the exit of tum one, getting around holeshot-taker David Vuillemin and immediately stretching out a comfortable advantage over teammate Stephane Roncada. Team Honda's Ezra Lusk was on the warpath following a poor start, and he displaced Yamaha of Troy's Nathan Ramsey on a lap-five straight, then got Roncada in a tum two circuits later. Carmichael whipped it over the finish, with Lusk taking second ahead of Roncada and Vuillemin. Pro Circuit!Kawasaki/SplitFire's Mike Brown grabbed the heat-two holeshot, but was overtaken in the whoops by McGrath on lap one. While the champ pulled away to a nearly ll-second advantage, Team Yamaha's Timmy Ferry put his YZ426F by Brown for second, only to succumb to Team Suzuki's Kevin Windham on lap five. Amsoil/Dr. Martens/Joumeys/Competition Accessories' Mike LaRocco also overtook Ferry for third, making the Yamaha rider the last one to qualify directly to the main. Team Suzuki youngster Travis Pastrana had seemed a sure transfer, running third on the penultimate lap, but a spin and a crash (more main-event previews) bumped him into semi competition. The first semi was all Great Lakes Aviation privateer Heath Voss', with TheEdgeSports.com Kawasaki's Michael Byme a comfortable second. Ramsey, Planet Honda's Mike Craig and Motoworldracing.com/Answer Yamaha's Damon Huffman also made it through. Brown once again took the holeshot in semi two, but he wa.s qUickly passed by Yamaha of Troy's Nick Wey, who held off a charge by Pastrana to emerge victorious. Brown took third over TheEdgeSports.com Kawasaki's Casey Johnson and Thousand Oaks Yamaha/Pete's RV/Reynard Modification's Robbie Reynard. Motoworldracing.com/Answer Yamaha's Isaiah Johnson and Fast by Ferracci/Husqvarna's Jason Thomas were the final riders to make it into the main, transferring through the last-chance qualifier. and Moto XXX/DGY/Atomic 22's Kyle Lewis took home the $250 Racer X Gas Card award for being the fastest rider not to qualify. cue I e n e _ so • JANUARY 24, 2001 7

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