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AMAlEA Sports Supercross Sef"'ies Round 9: Daytona Intef"'neeional Speedway to run while riding alone, a problem that would later cost him a position. Meanwhile, back in the back, McGrath wasn't making up much ground, having a hard time getting his rhythm going on the rough track. ~ - On the fifth lap, he went from eighth to seventh by passing Tortelli, and a few laps later, he got by a fading Windham for sixth. And that would be it for McGrath. "If you don't get out with the leader, it's really hard to get those In the first eight-lap heat race, from which the top-five riders transfer directly to the main, Kevin Windham put his factory-backed Suzuki into the early lead and steadily pulled aWllY from the 25-rider field Windham easily won, finishing the TlIce in 12 minutes, 34.850 seconds. Finishing well behind Wondham in second place WIlS Mike laRocco. The lionda rider started right behind Windham but couldn't hang with the Suzuki rider, nor could Sebastien Tortelli hang with laRocco in third. LaRocco opened up about a five-second lead over Tortelli much success. Ferry's 426cc thumper appeared to have the power advantage over Lusk's 250cc twostroke on the fast and sandy track, and Lusk had to wait longer than he wanted to for an opportunity to pass. That opportunity didn't present itself until the ninth lap, when Lusk pulled alongside Ferry through a rhythm section. Ferry started swapping and nearly crashed, while Lusk shot into second and pulled away from Ferry. "I got a good start behind Ricky and Tortelli," Ferry said. "I then got around Tortelli and felt really good. Then my arms got a little pumped up and I started making some mistakes and went off the track a couple of times." Feny was fast all day at Daytona. He nearty won his heat race over McGrath and Lusk, and ran second for a while in the main event. Feny ended up a strong fifth. Once" Lusk got by Ferry, the Yamaha rider turned it down a notch and was later passed by VuiJlemin. "I figured if I kept it up at that pace, I might end up on the ground for good," Ferry admitted. "So I kind of mellowed out and took a few laps to regroup." By the time Lusk got in to second, Carmichael was long gone, so Lusk had no chance of catching him, and then Lusk found it difficult to gauge the pace he needed Former factory Yamaha rider Damon Bradshaw showed up at Daytona in hopes of qualifying for the 125cc main event. "I've been racing a little bit back home in North Carolina, but it's been cold there lately," Bradshaw said. "I didn't know this was going to happen until Thursday." Mike laRocco's Amsoil/Dr. Martens/Journeys/Competition Accessories team offered Bradshaw a Honda CR125 to ride, with Wyatt Seals tuming the wrenches for Bradshaw, and he went out and rode Saturday's moming practice session. After the first session, Bradshaw said, "I'm trying to get used to the track. It takes me longer to get the jumps down, but I didn't feel too bad.' Apparently, things didn't go too well in the second practice session, after which Bradshaw came back in a decided that he wasn't ready to race Supercross quite yet. At that point, Bradshaw packed it in for the day. He did, however, say that he might compete in a few outdoor Nationals later in the year. Another rider hoping to qualify for the 125cc program at Daytona was Grand National Cross Country Champion Shane Watts. Watts, who a few days earlier bad won the opening round of the 2001 GNCC Series in Okechobee, Florida, and who was going to compete in the next round in Georgia the following day, did not make the cut. But he did come close, finishing just a few spots out of a transfer in the first preliminary heat and in the Last Chance Qualifier. 14 MARCH 21, 2001 • c u e I .. n e _ • and held that advantage to the end. Well back in fourth finished Steve Lamson on his factory-backed Fast by Ferracci Husqvama, while Kevin Crine, on a Shenandoah Honda-backed CR250, finished all alone in fifth place, nabbing the final transfer position. Motoworldracing.com/Answer Yamaha's Damon Huffman finished sixth, followed by Keith Johnson and Marco Dube. KTM Red Bull's Grant Langston was in a qualifying position early on but, on the third lap, he mistlmed a rhythm section and cartwheeled off the track and into the semis. The second heat race looked to be another runaway unlU Tim Ferry augured in while riding way out in front just past the halfway point. Ferry had powered his big VZ426F thurnper into the early lead and immediately opened up a big gap, while Jeremy McGrath and Honda's Ezra Lusk had to make short work of a couple of riders before settling into second and third, respectively. Even though McGrath was gaining slightly on Ferry, the four-stroke rider had this one in the bag until he suddenly went down while running all alone. McGrath inherited the lead but couldn't relax too much, because Lusk was beginning to put some pressure on the defending champ. On the last lap, McGrath was within Lusk's sights, but the defending champ was'in control and held off Lusk to the checkered nag. Kyle Lewis, on the Moto XXX/Atomic 22 Yamaha, fmished a distant third, followed by Ferry, who had caught up after his earlier crash. Finishing in the final transfer was Planet Honda's Mike Craig, followed by Santa Fe Motorsports' Ryan Clark, and Blackfoot/MSR/Honda Canada's Jean-Sebastien Roy and James Povolny Jr. McGrath's winning time was 12 minutes and 49.120 seconds, approximately 14 seconds slower than Windham's. As expected, Ricky Carmichael won the third heat race, and he did so rather easily. David Vullemin, however, gave Carmichael a smaJJ battle through the first couple of turns, but that was about it. Once Carmichael got into the lead, the series points leader ran off and hid. Robbie Reynard, on the Reynard Modlficlltions/pete's RVlThousand Oaks Yamaha, got in on the action and started challenging VuUlemln for second. While they were battling, Vullemin went down and lost a couple of positions. Vulllernin, however, regrouped and suddenly found himself in another heated battle with Chevy TrucksIKawasaki's Stephane Roncada. Vuillernin eventually got the upper hand on that scrap and moments later had control of second when Reynard stepped off. Vuillemin ended up taking second, well ahead of Roncada, followed by Reynard lind TheEdgeSports.com KaWllSllki's Casey Johnson, who grabbed the frnal transfer. Sixth went to Voss, followed by Johnson's teammate Michael Byrne, who was running among the leaders on the first lap before going down. Carmichael's winning time was quicker than the previous two at 12 minutes, 26.460 seconds. In the first six-lap semi, from which the top six riders transfer, Huffman ran down Ryan Clark on the first lap and rode off to victory, but Langston made things close. While Huffman was setting the pace up front, Langston was busy making up for a sixthplace start. He picked off riders one by one until he had control of second place alter passing Clark. Langston closed the gap on Huffman with two laps to go. Huffman, however, looked back, and when he saw that Langston was coming, he tumed it back up a notch and didn't let Langston get any closer than about five bikelengths. Huffman took the win, followed by Langston, Clark, Povolny, Team Blackfoot Honda's Doug Dehaan and Thomas. Voss led from start to finish in the second semi, fmishing up with room to spare over Blackfoot/Honda Canada's Jean-Sebastien Roy. Byrne had another dose caJJ, again falling while running up front early on. But this time, he was able to get back going again before too much damage was done. He passed his way back up to third before it was allover. Ted CampbeU, on the FSS Suzuki, fmished fourth, followed by Nicholson Yamaha's Jimmy Wilson and Sarges Cycles' Clark Stiles. Finishing one spot out of a transfer was Michael Kann. In the Last Chance Qualifier, Brian Stone, on a Shrout's Kawasaki-backed KX250, scored a wire-to-wire win, but KTM Canada's Marco Dube kept him honest throughout the race. At one put, it looked as though Dube would give him a run at the end, but a bobble by Dube prevented that from happening. Taking the last transfer position of the day in third was Keith Johnson.