Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I was dreading it tonight, " Carmichael said afterward . "With the conditions the way they were , the crash , th is was one of the toughest this year for sure . It wasn't fun , but it feels good to win here at Salt Lake , the first race [here! and al l." Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was the ride turned in by Ferry on the factory Yamaha YZ426F four stroke. Even though Ferry has been getting better with e very race throughout the y ear, no one was expecting him to ride this well at Sa lt Lake - not e ve n him . Earlier, in his heat race , Ferry chased down McGrath , pas sed h im and pulled away for the c o n fid e n c e- in s p irin g win. In th e m a in e ve nt, Ferry was on e of the main pla yers in that magn ificent battle for the lead positions. He started off the race in fourth but had the point by lap six , passing such riders as McGrath , Carm ichael and Windham along the way . Even after Carmichael got around him on the ninth lap , Ferry stayed tough and pressured RC to the end. "Ho ne s t ly, I ha ve no id ea: Ferry said of why he was going so fast at Salt La ke. "I felt rea lly good in prac tice , I was pretty pumped. All of a sudden I went out in the heat rac e and got behind McGrath , and h e wasn 't going that fast . I kept the pressure on him , and I finally got by him and pulled right away . I didn't know what was going on, reall y. I came in [to the pits] and checked out the tim e sheet and was a second faster than anyone else . I didn 't know what to th ink, really ." Many people, however, thought that Ferry hada big advantage, being on a four-stroke motorcycle in the thin air. "I was going through the exa ct same problems that eve rybody e lse was - it's still a motorcycle , it' s not that much different: Ferry said. "But seeing I have a little bit more power to start off with . it m ight have brought my bike down to the equiva lent to a 250 on a normal track , where they were struggl ing with not even th ei r normal horsepower. Yeah , I was down on power, but I still had a little more than everybody else, and that's defi nitely an advantage. But I still have to ride the motorcycle around the track like everybody else. I don't think I did good jus t because I was on a fourstroke. Tonight , everything was just clicking." Th ird and fourth places went to Mike LaRocco and David Vuillemin. The two riders were near the front but were never rea lly involve d in the early -goi ng passi ng fre nzy. Ins te ad , both LaRocco a nd Vuillem in watched from beh ind, seeming ly content on le tt ing tho s e guys wear themselves out before stepping up their attacks. Lusk, unfortunately, missed out on all of the fun up front. After setting the fastest lap time in practice, the Team Honda rider went down in the first turn and spent the rest of th e race making up for it. He cut a nd carved his wa y up th rough the pack, e ventually fin is hing a remarkable fifth . "I was ga ining o n th e le a ders the wh o le ti m e, so I' m pre tt y e xc ited about that," Lus k s aid. "I rea lly feel like I could've won the race ton ight. but I wasn 't th ere , a n d d idn't put m yself in the right position ." McGrath , who put his Mazda Yerneha into the lead for the first five laps, eventually ended up finishing a disappointing s ixth . The seven-t im e Supercross champ worked hard to stay in the lead , but once Ferry got by him . that was it - the flood gate s had opened: Windham , Carm ichael , LaRocco and Vuillemin all eventually got around him . too (though McGrath would get Windham back later on) . Afterward . McGrath admitted that he wa s struggling t oo much in the whoops . "Th e whoops we re m y d ownfall tonight," McGrath said. Windham faded back as well. The Suzuki rider wa s right in the thick of things , thr eat en ing for the lead before , once aga in, hitting th e proverbia l "wa ll" just past the halfway po int. At that po int , Windham gradually faded back, finishing out the race in seventh. Eighth place went to Carmichael's teammate Roncada . followed by Tortelli and Michael Byrne. MAIN McGrath timed the start ing gate perfectly, beating everyon e to , and out of, the first turn. Windham put his Suzu ki into second , followed b y Ca rmic hael , Ferry, Roncada , LaRoc co, T o rt e ll i and Vuillem in . Lusk , meanwhile , was left behind and pick ing up his bike after getting pinched off on the inside. "I just came in really hot. " Lusk sa id afterward. while soaking his foot in a bucket of ice water. "I was pretty su rpr ise that e ve rybody kind of dov e straight to th e insid e [and] shut it down a s qu ick as th ey did . It caught m e b y sur pri se ; I wa sn 't o n m y b ra ke s a s q u ick a s th e y we re. I hit Ric ky, a ct ua lly. Th at put m e into th e Toug h Bloc ks and twisted my a nk le." LaRocco got ne arl y tak en o ut a s we ll, when on e of th e Tough Blocks t h a t Lusk h it ro lled into h is pa t h . LaRocco s imply wheelied right o ver it and kept on riding . Lusk quickly got b ack up a n d go ing again , but the damage wa s done. He 'd s pe nd th e re st of the race com ing up through the pa ck , so re ankle and all . "It [the ankle! bothered m e for a lap o r two , but once I got going, it kind of stopped hurting : Lusk said. Meanwhile , McGrath set a torrid pace but couldn't shake Carmichael, who had passed Windham on the first lap . Windham , however , c a m e r ight ba c k and was trying to g et around Carm ichael , and nearly did on a cou p le of occasions. T he n Ferry got in on the act and st arted hammering on Windham , a nd the two riders battled back a nd forth , while McGrath continued to lead the wa y . Fina lly , Fe rry c ompl eted t he pass on Windham and , amaz ing ly , started going after Carmichael. Meanwh ile , McGrath was desperately trying to make a breakaway but couldn't. At on point, McGrath went to the inside of a tight right-hand tum t h a t immed iately followed a doub le jum p and appeared to perform a class ic bra ke-check on Carmichael, who plowed into the back of McGrath's Yamaha . and Ferry into the back of Carm ichael's Kawa sa ki. Ferry barely sav ed it. McG rath in s is t s that he wasn't trying to b rake -check Carmichael. "I didn't mean to do that," McGrath sa id. "It was such a tight tum, [espe cially! when you're coming down that ju m p ; I didn't brake -check [them] , cue I Tim Ferry (15 ) was on fi re in Salt Lake. He twice passed McGrath; to win his fi rst 250cc heat race and to finish se c ond " his highest ev er - In the main ev ent. they ra n into me. It was the Domino th inq ." Shortl y thereafter , C armi chael attempted to pass McG rath and a ctua lly got around h im , but for onl y a se cond o r two . Carm icha el bobbled and was forced to roll the triples. and McGrath, Fe rry and Windham flew right pass him . "I got by him [McGrath! one time. th en I messed it up , " Carmichael said. "He got by me and so did Ferry and Windham . I thought. 'Oh no , I've got to work and tr y to get by all of these guys .' " At th is po int , Ferry started pestering McGrath , just like he had in their heat ra c e. Eventu ally, Ferry made an ins ide /outside mo ve on McGrath , passing him for the lead. Then Windham and Carmichael started hounding McG rath as we ll. Moments later, Windham wen t b y McGrath in the whoops, and th en Ca rmichael went by McGrath in a rhythm section . Th e racing a ctio n o n ly got hotter w he n Windham started pressu ring F e rry for the le a d . The two riders s wa p p e d p laces a c o u p le of t imes, then both Windham and Carmichael flew past Ferry over the triples. After working so hard to get the lead, Windham finally got what he wanted. but he could only have for a lap when Ca rmichael cut to the ins ide of the Suzuki rider and took the lead for good . Moments later, Ferry also got Windham, who then started his fade back to seventh. By the halfway poin t, things fina lly star ted to spread o u t a b it , w it h Ca rm ichael opening up about a five second le a d over Ferry, who s uddenly found a second wind an d sta rted closin g the gap again on the Ka wa sak i rider, but Fe rry had some incentive to go faster, s ince laRocco was closing n e _ s • MAV9 ,2001 15

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