Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series: Round 12: Trans World Dome Ricky Cannichael was all smiles after winning the St. Louis Supercross by over 10 seconds. It was his ninth win In a row. ting By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN ST. LoolS, MO, MAR 31 or Ricky Carmichael, this one was fun, partly because of what he did and partly because of what F 12 APRIL 11, 2001 • cue •• others did. Either way, it added up to one of his most convincing wins of the year - and ninth in a row - thjs one by 10.710 seconds over American Suzuki's Kevin Windham before a record Trans World Dome crowd of 57,782. n • _ s "I pulled through and got my ninth one, and let's get through next weekend, have a good week off and hopefully get dose to that title: Carmichael said after extending his points lead. With four races to go, the lead stands at 39 points, 292 to 253, strengthened by an off day by seventime champion Jeremy McGrath. The Mazda Yamaha rider had won his heat race and was running third in the main when he fell on the sixth lap, losing two spots. He'd fall again, after catching his shifter on a hay-bale cover, but ended up fourth, aware that his title hopes were fading. "There's not really much to think about at this point," McGrath said. "It's not happening at this moment, and I just got to do what I can do." When McGrath fell the first time, he was chasing Amsoil/Dr. Ma rtensl J 0 u rn ey sIC 0 m petition Accessories' Mike LaRocco, who was surely the hard-luck story of the weekend. For once, the Hoosier had gotten a good start, away second behind Carmichael. Carmichael maintained a three-second lead for the first half of the race, but LaRocco was patient, waiting for his part of the race, the second half, to use his strength and conditioning to mount a charge. Then, suddenly, he was on the ground, the front end of his Honda CR250 washing out;' his front tire had gone flat. "At first I got up and took off and it did it again," LaRocco said. "I'm like, 'Ah man, I'm done.' So there was just no control." When LaRocco went out, American Honda's Ezra Lusk took over, the Georgian racing Windham; the pair have been good friends since their amateur days, when they raced each other and Carmichael around the tracks in the south. Lusk was riding tight in the middle of the race and Windham capitalized, taking over the runner-up spot on the 18th of 20 laps to card his best finish yet for Suzuki. Lusk held on to third, about 4.5 seconds back, with McGrath another 25 back in fourth. Then came the booming YZ426F of Yamaha's Tim Ferry. Ferry had gotten pinched at the start, emerging from tum one in 17th place. The rest of the race was spent catching up on the mostly one-lined track, and he did well to take fifth. Sixth was MotoworldRacing.com's Damon Huffman, his best placing yet as he continues to adapt to the Yamaha. Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss was next, followed by a pair of riders from .TheEdgeSports.com/Kawasaki, Australian Michael Byrne and Californian Casey Johnson. Reynard Modifications' Robbie Reynard was 10th. There were a few high-profile non-finishers - non-starters, in fact. First was American Honda's Sebastien Tortelli, who punctured his knee in a practice crash and had to

• Cover