Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series Round 1 1 : Astrodome you gotta be just about a hundred percent - that was the card I was dealt, and to be a champion you have to work through those things." McGrath thought about his night, as well. "I think I need to be a little more aggressive and stuff, and pass 'em quicker," McGrath said. "I needed to pass Windham [quicker]. That was the key; I needed to pass Windham faster than I did. I got around Ferry really fast. I didn't wait, and I was in the mind frame like I needed to pass quickly and get on with it. I did that until I got to WindJ1am, and then I kind of blew it." Mike laRocco finished third, making the podium for the seventh time this year. "The lappers were terrible again tonight," Carmichael said. "I was pulling, pulling, pulling away and then, boom! I got behind a lapper and they [Windham, McGrath and Lusk] were closing the gap another couple of seconds, and I'd have to work my butt off again." Windham, meanwhile, was about to begin his slide back to fifth, though he djd give McGrath a tremendous fight. But once McGrath got by him after the Suzuki rider bobbled coming out of a turn, Windham was done. On the next lap, Lusk got him; and the lap after that, LaRocco got him, too. "I felt like I was riding good," a very dejected Windham said. "Tonight, it would've been better for me to start third or fourth. I got the holeshot; I tried to make a little run for it, made a little ground, but they caught me quick, and I tightened up. "You know, the season hasn't been going as well as I'd like it to," Windham added. "The bike is working great, but I need to be riding it a little better." At this point, the race settled down, with Carmichael cruising out in front, well ahead of McGrath, who was maintaining a small advantage over Lusk. The only rider that seemed to be making any headway was laRocco. By the 15th lap, LaRocco was running close to Lusk, who suddenly, and briefly, went down while exiting a turn. By the time he got up, though, LaRocco had ridden around him. "' lost both wheels," Lusk said. "There was a lapper in there that I wanted to try to squirt around, but it was my fault, and I lost it there." LaRocco continued to make up ground and was within striking distance of McGrath with one lap to go. S APRIL 4. 2001 • r:: U r:: • e Any hopes LaRocco had of passing McGrath, however, were dashed when he cased a double jump just before taking the white flag. laRocco's miscue only cost him about a bikelength, but that was all McGrath needed to sew up second place, with laRocco taking a close third. "There were lappers. and I cased it," LaRocco said. "That gave him just enough to get away. "I felt really good. I felt good and smooth and was picking up time, but it was the same 01' song and dance - I gave it away early. The starts are killing me. I've got to get that fixed. I cross-rutted right out of the gate, and I was done then." Well back of LaRocco finished Lusk. while even further back finished Windham, then Ferry and Tortelli, the last rider not to get lapped by Carmichael. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Motoworldracing.com/Answer's Huffman, Great Lakes Aviation's Voss and Byrne. "I got a fifth-place start, got into fourth and was behind Jeremy," Carmichael said, summing up his race. "I was riding really, really comfortable and settling into my pace. I got by Jeremy and got by Windham pretty quick; that's when I put in some hard laps - from lap five to 15. I really charged hard and put it on cruise after that." Carmichael added that he had his doubts about winning going into the final. "I got a cold last weekend, and my ears are all stuffed up and just everything. Plus, I crashed in my heat race and jammed my thumb," Carmichael said. "I came back in, and it was super-sore. I'll tell ya, I was kind of down in the dumps, because, you know, in order to win these things, n e _ !IS CN Astrod...e HO_,Teus llesults: M8l"Cb 24, 2001 [Round 11 of 16J 250 HEAT 1 (8 laps. 1-4 transfer): 1. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 2. Tim Ferry (Vllm); 3. M.ichael Byrne (Kaw); 4. Kyle Lewis (Yam); 5. Damon Huffmlln (YlIm); 6. Jean-Sebastien Roy (Hon); 7. Jason Thomas (Hus); 8. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 9. TIger Lacey (5uz): 10. Brya Piccirelli (Hon); 11. Robb Floth (Hon); 12. Ronnie Ramiscal (Hon): 13. Todd Robertson (Vern); 14. Tim Hawthorne (Yam); 15. Nick Welsh (Kaw); 16. Isaiah Johnson (Vam); 17. Jeff Heden (5uz); 18. Dax KaSlrin (Yam); 19. Isaac Funk (Hon); 20. Jeremy McGrath (Yaml; 21. Dennis Owens (KZlIw); 22. Kevin Townsend (Suz . TIme: 7 min., 46.900 sec. 250 HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 transler): 1. Kevin WindhZllm (Suz); 2. Ezra Lusk (Ho); 3. SebZllstien Tortelli (Hon); 4. Ricky Canmichael (Kaw); 5. Robbie ReynZllrd (YZlIm); 6. CZlIsey Johnson (KZlIw); 7. HeZllth Voss (Hon); 8. TrlIvis Elliott (Hen); 9. James Povolny Jr. (Hon); 10. Marco Dube (KTM); 11. Ted Campbell SUZ); 12. Jimmy Wilson (Yem); 13. Kyle WilLiZllms Yam); 14. Jason Frenette (Hon); 15. Brien Mason Kaw); 16. Jeremias Israil (Han); 17. Joel Nelson (Vern); 18. Brtlndon Hickman (Yam): 19. Thomas Holmaster (Hon); 20. Doug Dehaan (Hon); 21. Chris Shellenberger (Hen); 22. Earl Ray Kephert (Kaw). Time: 7 min., 42.670 sec. l It didn't take long for things to get dramatic in the heat races. When the gate dropped for the start of the first 250cc heat race, all but one rider left the start gate, and that rider was Jeremy McGrath. Moments before the gate hit the dirt, McGrath noticed that his bike was running too lean, resulting from a possible air leak. Rather than take any chances, McGrath and his mechanic, Skip Norfolk, decided to head back to the pits and fix the bike. "We had a base-gasket problem," McGrath said. "It was running real lean; I opted not to start. because there's too many jump-on, jump-off [sections]. Skip was like, 'You better not ride, because if it's too lean and it bogs on you, you might get hurt." Almost even more surprising than McGrath pulling out of the race was Mike laRocco getting the holeshot, though Tim Ferry, on the powerful YZ426F works Yamaha, might've actually beaten him to the first tum. But, more importantly, laRocco had the lead as they sprinted out of the tum and down the first jumped-filled straightaway. Ferry, however, stayed close to the Honda rider and challenged laRocco for the lead for most of the race. It wasn't until just p"st the halfw"y point that laRocco started gaining some ground on the four-stroke rider. laRocco went on to take the win with a few seconds to spare over Ferry. Meanwhile, well b"ck of laRocco and Ferry, MotoworldRacing.com's Isaiah Johnson, Moto XXX/DGY/Atomi<: 22's Kyle Lewis and Michael Byrne were having quite the battle. Johnson, however, was holding his own until his bike's triple clamps broke leaving him sprawled on the track_ As he staggered to his feet, Byrne and Lewis rode past the dazed rider. Byrne and Lewis fought "II the way to the finish line, with Byrne holding on to third and Lewis taking the fourth and final transfer. Finishing a few bike lengths back in fifth was Damon Huffman, followed by Blackfoot Motorsports/Honda Canada's Je"n-Seb"stien Roy, Fast by Ferracci Husqvarna's Jason Thomas and MotoworldRacing.com's Dustin Nelson. The second heat race featured plenty of close racing and crashing. ~evin Windham got it all started by pulling the holeshot over Ezr" Lusk and Ricky Carmichael. The three riders quickly broke away from the rest of the pack as they diced up front. Carmichael made the first move, cutting to the inside of Lusk and getting the upper hand on second place. After that, C"rmichael set after Windham, who put up a good fight for about a lap. It took Carmichael nearly a long straightaway and a half to complete the pass on Windham, but the lead was now his. Windham and Lusk. however, stayed right with the Kawasaki rider for the next three laps, pushing Carmichael into a mistake. In a long whoop section, Carmichael veered off the track and bailed off his bike, tumbling onto another section of the track and into on-coming traffic. He got up and out of the way before possibly getting hit. Carmichael got back on his bike and would eventually work his way back up to fourth and into the final transfer. "I wheelied going into the whoops and my foot came off, and I had the gas on and I couldn't grab the clutch to stop," Carmichael said. "It started to go over the side and jammed my thumb." Meanwhile, the battle between Windham lInd Lusk raged on. They went at it closely for the next couple of laps until Lusk slid out in the whoops near where Carmich"el had gone down. Lusk got up and going in the blink of an eye, keeping second place, but any chance he had of be"ting Windham was gone. Windham went on to win the heat, performing a couple of his signature heel-clickers over the jumps on the last lap. Lusk took second, followed by Honda's Sebastien Tortelli and Carmichael. Thousand Oaks Yamaha's Robbie Reynard, who was running fourth until Carmichael got him two laps from the end, finished fifth. followed by Casey Johnson, Heath Voss, Plano Honda's Travis Elliott and Blackfoot Motorsports/Honda Canada's James Povolny Jr. McGrath returned for the first semi and scored a wire-to-wire victory. He ste"dily pulled away from Huffman the whole race, taking the checkered flag some J0 seconds ahead of the Yamaha rider, Huffm"n. Well back in third finished Roy, while Dustin Nelson and Jason Thomas sneaked into the final two transfer positions in fourth and fifth, respectively. Voss and Reynard prOVided all of the entertainment in the second semi. Voss nailed the holeshot, but Reynard got him going down the first straight. Reynard's reign up front didn't last for long. however, as Voss slipped past Reynard on the second lap. From there on out, Reynard chased Voss closely, but it was all for naught. Voss held Reynard at bay to take the win. Finishing a half-straight back in third was Casey Johnson, followed by Elliott and Tommy Hofrnaster, who had earlier in his heat race suffered a nasty get-off over a double jump. Povolny, who led from start to finish. won the crash-filled LCQ. He had little challengers along the way, but there was plenty of action on the track, mainly riders taking trips over the handlebars. Two of the many riders who went down during the four-lap sprint race included early front-runners Tiger Lacey and Jason Frenette, who tangled in mid-Oight over double jump. Both riders walked off the track but were obviously shaken up. Slipping into the final transfer of the night was second-place finisher, The Edge Racing's Brian Mason.

• Cover