AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series
Round 4: Bank One Ballpar
"I got by Yogi [Lusk] on the first
lap and I checked out," Carmichael
said. "It was kind of clear sailing from
there; I was feeling good all night."
And he looked it. Not once did
Carmichael make an obvious mistake
all evening. He circulated the highspeed Phoenix Supercross circuit like
it was his own personal practice
track.
"The track was fast tonight, which
entailed a good start, and that's what
I did," Carmichael said. "The last
three races have been a digger for all
of us - except for Jeremy and the first
one - I was stuck behind Ezra there
[Anaheim I]. San Diego wasn't easy,
last weekend wasn't easy, but this
weekend made up for it. This win is
awesome, but I don't think it was as
special as San Diego, but I'm happy.
I'm stoked [because] I'm still kind of
new at this winning 250cc Supercrosses."
(Left! For Ricky Carmichael (4) and
Jeremy McGrath, the starts are
proving to be extremely Important in
this year's Supercross Series. This
time In Phoenix, Carmichael got a
good one and left McGrath behind.
(Below) McGrath (i) and Ezra Lusk (11)
had a good heat-race battle.
By KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
PHOENIX, AZ, JAN. 27
third-straight nail-biting fight to
the finish between Jeremy
McGrath and Ricky Carmichael was
perhaps just too much for the 49,236
Supercross fans at Bank One Ballpark to ask for. Unlike the steamy
dogfights between the two riders at
the previous two races at San Diego
and Anaheim, races that weren't
decided until the very end (or very
close to it), the Phoenix Supercross
round was, in stark contrast, somewhat of a sleeper. All hopes for
another Carmichael/McGrath clash
were erased when Carmichael
jumped out into the early lead and
McGrath was left salvaging what he
could from a bad start.
And Carmichael didn't let his good
jump go to waste. No way. After
passing Ezra Lusk before the first lap
was over, Carmichael saw his opportunity and kicked his Chad Wattstuned Chevy Trucks Kawasaki into
overdrive and pulled away from
everyone like they were standing still.
It became clear early on that no one not even McGrath - was going to
catch Carmichael on this unusually
cold and damp evening in the Arizona
desert.
A
6
FEBRAURY 7,2001
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