Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MAIN The longest start chute of the year ran the complete length of the Superdome floor before hooking hard left over a small jump, followed by another left. Windham was across the white line signaling the holeshot winner first, but Carmichael snuck by on the inside, never to be headed. "Tried to get out front as fast as I could and tried to put in some hard laps," Carmichael said. "I got some breathing there after the first five laps. Ezra was keeping me honest. He was on my tail. He was eating me up through the whoops. He was going really fast through there all day." In order to get to the point where he could challenge Carmichael, Lusk had (Left) Honda's Ezra Lusk rode well again, taking runner-up honors. (Below) Mike LaRocco passed Kevin Windham near the halfway point and finished third. McGrath lost ground in the championship fight, which is all but conceded. He'd ridden well in his heat, the win over three seconds faster than the first heat, even though he'd had a near get-off in practice. In the main, he was away fifth, which is some distance to cede to Carmichael, but felt he could have made a run until a mechanical gremlin hit. "On the third lap we lost the front motor mount," McGrath said, adding that he didn't know right away what it was. "It felt like major vibration. I grabbed the steering head going down the front straight, but I saw the wire, the safety wire was on there, so I knew that couldn't have been it." The vibration slowed his drive, especially in the whoops, and he rode to a secure fourth. "I had that happen two years ago at Anaheim when I was battling with Lusk," McGrath said. "Kind of ironic." Yamaha's Ferry was sixth, encouraged by his late-race conditioning. "That was the best I felt all year conditioningwise, I felt really strong," he said. "I was catching guys at the end. Usually I've been going from really fast lap times at the beginning to slowing down at the end. That time I actually got faster at the end." Having finished the first lap in 1Oth, after getting through turn one in about 15th, hurt his chances considerably. Seventh, and the last rider to be lapped by Carmichael, was Rey- nard Modifications' Robbie Reynard, who took the spot from Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Stephane Roncada on the final lap. Roncada was racing ~or the first time since injuring both of his heels on the first lap of the Daytona Supercross. Having not raced for a month, he wasn't in race shape, and slowed toward the end. "I was pushing pretty hard and I started to make mistakes and I didn't want to overdo it and crash, so I backed off a little bit and went all the way to the end," Roncada said, adding that he was looking forward to the one-week break before the next race in Dallas. Australian Michael Byrne separated himself from a four-rider pack to secure ninth on TheEdgeSports.com Kawasaki. MotoworidRacing.com's Damon Huffman was 10th. American Honda's Sebastien Tortelli, who had punctured his knee in St. Louis last week, crashed twice in his heat but transferred by winning his semi. In the main, he was in the top five when he crashed hard on a short chute, which cut across the starting straight and fed into the tunnel under the finish-line tabletop .. "I crashed in the ruts from the 125 [main] and I was full traction and that made the bike go sideways," Tortelli said. "I tried to keep it in line. Actually, when the bike went over the bump on the straightaway, I just went flying over the bars. I knocked myself out to first pass Windham, which he did by for a little bit. I was dizzy. I had to wait around a little bit before I can start. using an inside line in a hooking righthand tum on the seventh lap. Crossing The bike was a little bit twisted, so it the line that lap, he was about five was not very possible [to continue]." seconds behind Carmichael, a gap cycl. n • _ S • APRIL 18, 2001 15

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