AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series
Round 9: Daytona International Speedway
CAbove) This was as close as anyone could get to Ricky Cannlchael 14) at the Daytona Supercrou by Honda. Here, Cannlchael
nails the hol. .hot ahead of Sebastien Tortelli 113), David Vulllemin 1934), Jeremy McGrath 11), Ezra Lusk 111) and Stephane
Honcacla 121).
(Below) Mike laRocco was solid for all 20 grueling laps, catching Ezra Lusk at the end to finish second.
By KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 10
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MARCH 21,2001
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his one was close, at least until they
reached third gear halfway down
Daytona's long start chute. That's
how long it took before Ricky
Carmichael's Chad Watts-tuned
Chevy Trucks Kawasaki hooked up
and jumped out in front of the other
29 riders in the 250cc main event.
From there on out, this year's Daytona Supercross by Honda was all
Carmichael's. And at this point, not
many people were surprised.
For a number of reasons, this race
had Carmichael's name written all
over it. For one, Carmichael considers Daytona his home track; two, it
was here, exactly one year ago, that
Carmichael won his first 250cc
Supercross race; three, Carmichael
loves Daytona's "outdoor" atmosphere and track layout; and four,
Carmichael is simply the hottest rider
on the AMAlEA Sports Supercross
circuit right now, having reeled off
five-straight wins coming into Daytona, so nobody was really going out
on a limb in predicting that
Carmichael was going to get his seventh win of the year. Yes, he got it,
and he got it without having to put up
much of a fight.
By the end of the first lap,
Carmichael had already carved out
about a four-second lead, and he