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AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series Round 5: Edison International Field of Anaheim The cards were stacked in McGrath's favor going into Anaheim III, but Carmichael didn't care. McGrath had already won the first two Anaheim races, and a bad start the previous week at Phoenix, which prevented the defending champ from challenging Carmichael for the win, only added fuel to his fire. With this also being the final Anaheim race, and with the series about to switch gears and head east - Carmichael's country - McGrath needed an Anaheim III win to keep his own confidence up and the hot Carmichael in check. And when McGrath nailed the holeshot in the 250cc final, with Carmichael buried in the middle of the field (just like what happened to McGrath last week), this one looked like a sure thing for the Mazda Yamaha rider. Little did anyone know, how- By KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN ANAHEIM, CA, FEB. 3 ~ith the first five rounds of the " ' AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series held about as far west as possible, Florida's Ricky Carmichael was simply hoping to get out of California (and Arizona) - with its hard-packed and dry dirt - alive. After all, California is Jeremy McGrath country, and no one was really expecting to put much of a dent into the seven-time Supercross champ's armor during those first five races. But not only did Carmichael survive the West Coast swing, he seriously roughed up the seven-time Supercros~ Champion by beating him in San Diego, Phoenix and now outriding him at the third and final stop at Edison Intemational Field of Anaheim. 6 FEBRAURY 14, 2001 • cue I • n e _ s Just how fast was R1c~ Cannichael at Anaheim III? He came from 10tt0 place to track down and pass Jeremy McGrath for the lead and eventual win. ever, that Carmichael was about to dig way down deep and pull out the ride of his life. Carmichael was simply amazing at Anaheim. The Chevy Trucks Kawasaki rider got off to a midpack start, which only seemed to fire him up. Seemingly at will, Carmichael picked off riders one by one, sometimes even two by two. He rode around Mike LaRocco and Stephane Roncada like they were standing still, and then he blew past David Vuillemin, Robbie Reynard and Nick Wey. By the fourth lap, Carmichael was already in fourth, where things got tougher - but not much - for for the Floridian. Team Suzuki's Kevin Windham held Caimichael off for a while, but it was only a matter of time before Carmichael would get into third. A few laps later, Carmichael got around Team Honda's Ezra Lusk, and by the halfway point there was only one rider ahead of him, and that rider was McGrath. McGrath had built up a four-tofive-second lead, but it was obvious that that wasn't going to be enough to hold him to the finish line considering the lightening speed at which Carmichael was traveling. The Kawasaki rider was gaining about a second a lap on McGrath, and by the 15th lap, Carmichael had caught him. On the 17th lap, Carmichael pressured McGrath into making a costly mistake. The champ over-cooked it leaping off a tabletop jump and landed into the face of a Long triple jump that he was then forced to single. Carmichael immediately pounced and flew past McGrath and into the lead. McGrath, of course, retaliated in the following turn, but CarmichaeL came right back, and the two diced side by side to one of the track's most spectacular jumps, a step-up that sent the riders unbelievably high into the air, all the while negotiating a small turn. Carmichael had the quicker inside line and forged ahead of McGrath, taking the lead for good. Carmichael officially took the win less than three seconds ahead of McGrath. "That's the best way to win - to come from behind," Carmichael said. "I didn't get the start I wanted; I knew I had my work cut out for me. The last couple of weekends - San Diego, I beat Jeremy hands down, last weekend, he got a bad start and I was able to get a gap at the beginning, but this is the way 1 wanted to do it - to come from behind like that. To me, that's the most self-satisfying win you can have." "I thought RC rode a great race," an obviously winded and dejected McGrath said. "I got a great start, got out in front, was riding as fast as I could. I could see him coming - it was a long 20 laps. You can't take anything away from him; he rode an awesome race." Another rider who rode a pretty awesome race was Windham. The Team Suzuki rider was always a factor among the leaders, running third behind Lusk for a long time before Carmichael got him on the 10th lap.