Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By CHRIS JONNUM PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN NEW ORLEANS, LA, MAR. 3 he Crescent City is famous for encouraging hedonism over any semblance of restraint, so when the Supercross tour hit its midway point at the Big Easy, Ricky Carmichael decided to stick with the theme. Recognizing that it was just days after New Orleans' Fat Tuesday high-living climax, and just days before the self-indulgence of Spring Break, the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki rider decided to fill the intemperance vacuum. He gorged himself on a heat-race-triumph appetizer, followed that up with a large helping of main-event conquest, washed it down with an ample mug of points-lead enhancement, and topped it all off with a dessert of mid-season points fund. It was his sixth win of the season and his fifth in a row, giving him a healthy 16-point lead in the title chase. All of which makes one wonder what the opinion of R.C.'s notoriously strict dietician/trainer Aldon Baker might be on this blatant display of gluttony. "It was effortless," Carmichael said. "I was riding really relaxed, and really wasn't pushing superhard ... I don't want to change anything. All I can do is what I'm doing. I can't try to control the rest of it." Of course the flip side of Mardis Gras' excess is the abstention of the subsequent Lent period, and Jeremy McGrath continued his uncustomary month-and-a-halflong victory fast in New Orleans, crashing in the main and finishing off of the podium for the first time this year. Once the master of mental one-ups-man-ship, the King of Supercross has fallen victim to his own game, and it wouldn't be exaggeration to say that McGrath's search for the confidence that used to come so easily has turned frantic. "I think I'm just thinking too much about trying to go faster and faster," said McGrath, who admitted that Carmichael is beginning to pull away. "I'm getting a little bit of arm pump, and then I start making mistakes. I'm worrying too much about him, is basically what it all comes down to ... It's been pretty T (Opposite page top) Ricky Cannichael (4), and Kevin Windham (14) prepare for the main. Cannlchael beat Windham In heat two, and then repeated the perfonnance In the main. (Opposite page bottom) McGrath (1) got the holeshot and held on for the first two laps before Cannlchael (4) passed him. Ezra Lusk (11) got a great start but crashed mid-race, eventually finishing seventh. difficult. I guess I've never been in this position before, where I'm really, honestly chasing for it." With McGrath off of the box, Kevin Windham and Amsoil/Dr. Ma rtens/ Journey sIC om petition Accessories' Mike LaRocco stepped in. For the Cajun Windham, who has won in New Orleans and is a favorite with his home crowd, the night was especially Kevin Windham had his best perfonnance of the year, on his Louisiana home turf, finishing second In heat two, and second In the main event. sweet. The Team Suzuki rider has been struggling of late, but is reportedly seeing a sports psychologist, and second place was his best finish of the year. "Everybody goes through slumps, whether it's baseball, motorcycles or anything," Windham said. "I'm in one. I think tonight I came out of it, and I hope I can keep it going." Finishing third was LaRocco, who said he felt lucky to be there. "I was in California all week, and I didn't ride [because of the rain]," said LaRocco. "I didn't feel really good in practice, and we made some changes that I shouldn't have. It's been working awesome, and we tried to make it better. I think I went a little backward. I went back [to the original settings) for the main, and it ended up working fine." MAIN important holeshots that were once the sole property of McGrath, so many wondered if the champ's strong getaway would be what he needed to turn things around. In fact, McGrath rode smoothly early on, leading Carmichael through the first two laps before a decision to triple a difficult quad resulted in Carmichael pulling alongside and moving by moments later. The crowd's attention on the start was split between two Yamahas: that of Robbie Reynard, who performed a strange loop-out while exiting the gate, and that of McGrath, who entered turn one with a good gap on Carmichael. Over the past few weeks, it had been Carmichael getting the It's hard to believe it, but the 2001 AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series (presented by Speed Stick) is now halfway over, as New Orleans was round eight of the 16-stop tour. That being the case, some sort of a progress report may be in order. The big news is obviously the amazing success of Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael, a phenomena that no one could have predicted. True, Carmichael has been dominant in the AMA/Chevy Trucks National Motocross Series, but until this year, he had only won a single Supercross race (and that came last season at Daytona's outdoor-like circuit). This year, he has already taken six of eight main events, including the last five straight, and he now leads defending champ Jeremy McGrath by 16 in the points chase, 192-176. That fact is especially important In 2001, with the inclusion of a record 5325,000 points fund and a new policy of distributing 5100,000 of that at the season's midway point. The top 20 riders in the current points standings split up that sum among themselves, with Carmichael obviously getting the largest portion, (In addition to the normal bonuses, other cash winners in New Orleans were McGrath (the $1000 SFX 250cc Holeshot award), Nathan Ramsey (the $500 SFX 125cc Holeshot award) and Jean-Sebastien Roy (the $250 Racer X Gas Card award). As for the points fund, its final $225,000 will be awarded at the final round in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, a rather sparse crowd (compared to recent numbers) of 36,565 was on hand to witness the season's midway race in the New Orleans Superdome, which, by the way, remains the only venue on the current tour (not including the new round at Salt Lake City'S Rice-Eccles Stadium) where Jeremy McGrath has never won a main event. cue I _ n __ S • MARCH 14,2001 7

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