Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAlEA Spo rts Supercross Series Round 15: R ice-Eccles S tad ium ond wind and sta rt ed p ick ing up again in o n h im. And t hi ngs rea lly got close w hen C ar m ich ael nearl y w ent down in the w hoops wi t h three la p s to go. " It wa s a tough trac k ," Ca rmicha el sai d . " It g ot rea lly ru tted -out, rea ll y an d got b ac k b y Windh a m an d was right th ere on Carmich ael at the end . I wish we had about two m o re laps." La Rocc o , on the A m so il / C o m p et i- choppy, the ro c ks, and t h e a lt i t u de m ad e it hard to b reathe - m y throa t w as d ry . At t h e 1O-Iap m ark , I was like , ' A ll right, let' s see who 's g ot it t ion Ac c esso r i es /Jou rn e y ' s/Fa cto ry Conn ect io n Honda, d idn ' t rea lly m ake his p res en c e k nown am o n g t he lea d ers until th e end . h ere .' I got into f irst and g ot a fi v e second l e a d , I w as like, ' A ll ri ght, c o o l , I can kind of ch ill ,' but five laps to go, T immy started pu ll ing up and p utti ng on the pre ssure, 'cause LaRo cco was behind him. At th e same " I was trying to g et up there a little earl ier t o try t o ca pi ta l ize o n so me of ti me, I m ade a m ist ak e in t he w hoops ; m an , I was all o ve r the road in the w hoops. B ut I was able to straig hte n it get u p there , I was b eh in d T im , a nd h e'd p u ll m e on o ne side o f th e t r ac k ou t the r e the la st th r e e l a ps an d se cure my first-place p osition." But not by much . Ferry fi n ish ed u p a close second, while LaRocco ended Mike LaRocco (5 1 was chased by Dav id Vuillemin (9 341 throu9hout the race. Both riders cam e through the pa c k to finish t h ird and fourth, respec tively. coul d n 't g et it together eno ug h to go t h o se gu y s , " L aRo c c o s a i d . "The y w ere bang in g b ars an d making m is takes . It was toug h, 1j ust could n 't ge t there , c lo se en o ug h , a nd w hen I did an d I'd c atch h im on th e other. I just b y him. W e r ode at a decent p ac e a nd ca ught back up to Ric k y. " L aR o c c o a d ded th a t h e m a de up th ird , after erasing any c ha nce h e had to catc h F er ry w hen he m ade a few m in o r m ista kes la te in t he race. " T h at was a wild rid e ," Carmichael sa id . "I s ta rted o ff se con d p l a c e beh in d Jeremy . I fo llowe d h im for a whil e . I ju st w anted t o se t t le d o wn and g et in a groo ve . T h ose guys w er e r idi n g so f ast ; they were go i ng all some m istak es at th e end. "I was right there w ith Timm y and I k ne w m y be s t c h a n c e w a s i n th e wh oops," La Rocco said . " B ut I flung it off in the whoops and made a pretty b ig mist ake , an d ro de a cou ple [o f t h e that, I tried ca tching up aga in , but I sp u n o ut r ig ht at t he fi nish li ne - I m ean I lo st every t h ing I had . The next l a p was t h e w h i te fl ag , s o I w a s wh oops , or where v er, and I g o t b y ' em . I can't even remember where I passed ev erybody b ack ." F er ry was all smiles afte rw a rd . " T h ere w as so muc h stu ff going at th e b eg inning , I d on't eve n rem em b er wh at h a pp en ed ," h e sa id . " It was a good ra ce , n obod y was ta k ing a ny ch eap shots ; it was just a g o od cl ean race and a lo t of good racing . d one." Vu il lemin , w ho followed LaRo cco for most of the race , was h app y w ith fo urt h . T h e Fre nc h ma n said he fel t strong all rac e , especially at th e en d , a nd t hat h is b roken collarbone fee ls c o m p let ely h eal ed . Next across th e line w as Lu sk , w h o p ass ed McG ra t h t w o l aps fr o m t h e en d to ta k e fi ft h . " H alfw ay , I was o ut in fro nt , I wa s breathing really ha rd and I didn't know how far I wa s ahead of W indham, bu t I D es p it e f i nishi ng a d isa pp o in ting sixth , M cGrath w as u p b eat , hangi ng arou nd in the p its, signing autographs t ho ug ht it was RC. I co u ld n 't see m y p itbo ar d , because the pi t a rea w asn't very good. Windham got by m e, then RC g ot by , t h e n 1 th o ught I'd b ette r relax . The next th ing I know I got a sec - lat e into the nigh t. " The firs t pa rt of the race was a g re at b attl e w it h RC ," McGrat h sa id . " W e w ere back a n d fo rth like t hat; T imm y was u p t here , [ an d ] Ke v in . I t hi nk I saw fro nt fe nde rs o f eve ry o ne Cannichael's win at Sa lt Lake was h is 12th straight on his Chad Watts-tuned Chevy Trucks Kawasak i KX250. Here, RC c has es d ow n McGrat h. M AV 9 .20 0 1 • ey e I e 250 HEAT 1 (8 laps. 1-4 transfe r): 1. Tim Ferry (Yam ): 2. Je remy McGrath (Yam) ; 3. Mike laRocco ( Han); 4 . Seb a stie n Torte lli ( Hon ) ; 5 . Mike Cr aig (Han ); 6. J ason Tho m as ( Hus) ; 7, Da vid Vuillemi n (Yam) ; 8 . Du st in Nelso n (Yam) ; 9. Dou g Dehaaon (Yam) ; 10. Kyle Lewis (Yam) ; 11. Dam on Huffm an (Yam ); 12. Ty son Ta yl or (Hon); 13. Robbie Skaggs ( Su z) ; 14 . Tra v i s Hod ge s ( Ha n) ; 15 . Th om a s Ho fm a s te r (Ya m ); 16 . J im m y Wils o n (Yam ); 17 . Brian Mason (Ka w); 18. Brian Edward s (Kaw); 19. Ted Campbell (Suz); 20 . Matthew Bateman (Yam) . Time: 7 m in.• 35 .090 sec. 2 50 HEAT 2 (8 lap s, 1 ~ 4 tra nsfer) : 1. Rick y Carmichael ( K aw) ; 2 . Ezr a Lu sk (Ho n ) ; 3 . K evi n Windha m (Suz); 4 . Stephane Roncada ( Ka w ); 5 . Heath Vos s ( Ho n ) ; 6 . Isaiah Jo hnso n (Ya m ) : 7 . Michael By rne (Ka w); 8 . Ja me s Pavolny Jr. (Hon); 9 . Pedro Gonzales (Kaw); 10. J ason McCormic k (Suz); 11. J ean -Sebas tie n Ray (Han ); 12. Kri s Papworth ( Kaw ) ; 13. Don ald Upt on (S uz) ; 14 . Robb Fl ot h (Hpn) ; 15. Ty Kady (Suz) ; 16. Michael Kann (Yam ); who ops] o u t. T h en , immediately after over th e place . They w ere ridin g hard . They 'd ma k e some m istakes in the 16 Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City , Utah Results: April 28, 2001 [Round 15 O 161 f th e f irst few laps. O vera ll , 1 fel t p re tty good, but I g ot a little tight." n eVIl'S eN Th e bigg est surprise in the 250cc qualifyin g races was when Tim Ferry passed Jeremy McGrath to win the first eight- lap race. McGrath pull ed a monster holeshot and set the early pace. Ferry, however, settled in behind McGrath. and the two riders gradually pull ed away from the rest of the 20-rid er field. McGrath looked in control, leading Ferry around the tight track, lap after lap. But by the halfway point, McGrath started feeling heavy pressure by the four -stroke rider. A t one point, Ferry cut underneath McGrath in a turn and put his bike ahead of McGrath 's. but McGrath got Ferry right back . On the next lap . Ferry tried again, but this ti me made the pass st ick , after j um ping a tabl etop double jump that McGrath wasn't jump ing. Once into the lead, Ferry gradually pulled away from McGrath, taking the win with room to spare. Finishing in third was Mike laRocco, who got tangled up with David Vuill emin through the first turn and spent the whole race climbing up through the pack. LaRocco slipped by Sebastien Tortelli late in the race to nab thi rd. Tortell i ended up fourth , whil e Planet Honda 's Mike Craig ended up fi fth after running as high as third. At one point, Craig clipp ed a banner with his footpeg and dragged it around the track for a couple of laps before it flew off over a j ump . There was some clo se raci ng in the seco nd heat race, but it wasn 't for the lead. Instead , Ricky C armi c hael c r uised a ll al one i n fr ont after pa ssing Moto woridRacing.com/Answer's Isaiah Johnson , who had taken the holeshot, on the first lap . From there on out , the race was all Carm icha el's . The real batt le, however, was over second place between Kevin Windham and Ezra Lusk, but their duel didn't really m aterialize until the last few laps. Windham sett led into second early on and was enjoying an uneventfu l race until Lusk caught him on the last lap, and that' s when thin gs got fun - at least for Lusk. Lusk charg ed hard on the last lap, but couldn 't get around the Suzuki rider. Their battle came down to the whoop section, j ust before the fin ish line, where Lusk pulled alongs ide Windham . Lusk then cut to the inside of Windham in the following turn and took the checkered flag over the finish-li ne jump by a wheel length over Windham. Well back in third finished Stephane Roncada and Great Lakes A vaiation/TMR/Larson Honda's Heath Voss. Johnson dropped back to sixth, followed by Michael Byrne . There were certainly no surprises in the first six -lap 250c c semi. Afte r crashing out of the first heat race, Vuillemin came back and won after leading every lap. Vuillemin's nearest competitor was Kyle Lewis on the Moto XXX Yamaha. Lewis ended up fin i sh ing seco nd aft e r pa ss ing t hi r d - pla ce f ini sh er Doug Deh aan o n the Black foot/MSR/Honda Canada CR250 . Fourth place went to Craig, while Robbie Skaggs, on the Torco/ Malco lm Smith Motors ports Suzuki , slipped into the final trans fer in fift h. Ju st mi ssing out of a transfer was Damo n Huffman in sixth . Ja son McCorm ick, on the Pro Caliber Suzuki , scored a wire-to-wire win in the second semi , while Michael By rne, on a Jeff Em ig-backed Kawasak i, came from behind to finish a close second. Fourth pl ace went to Joh nson . who fini shed ju st ahead of Blackfoot Honda's James Povolny . Sneaking into the final transfer in fifth was Mexico 's Pedro Gonzales, on the St. Louis Powersports Kawasaki. Travis Hodges was sitt ing pretty in the Last Chance Qualifier, where j ust the top two riders transfer to the m ain. Th e Yamaha rider j ump ed out to an early lead, while Blackfoot Honda's Jean -Sebastien Roy sett led into second place. Back in the pack were Huffm an and Voss. Hodges was leading Roy around the track when Roy washed out in a tum, giving a hard -charging Huffma n second. Hodges was still cruising out in front , but Huffm an started clo sing in on the leader. Suddenly, Huffman was right on Hodges' tail and quickl y made the pass for the lead. Meanwhil e, Voss was aiso charg ing hard and soon had control of third. He still had some ground to make up , but went after Hodges, nonetheless. On the last lap, Voss reeled in Hodges and passed him with ju st a few turn s left , stealing the last transfe r of the nigh t. Hodges' [light was over. "I got a littl e nervous, and ran out of breath," Hodges admitted .

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