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AMA C h e v y Trucks National ChampiorJship Motocross S e r ie s Round 3 : High Point Racewey MOToe Ti m Ferry finishe d second in a mo t o for t he fourth ti m e . He e nd ed up fourth overall, going 2-5. "Tortelli pretty m uch just clea ned m e o ut in that co rner," Dowd said. "The dr y line was around the ou tside, jus t following the berm, and he kind of we nt straight across th e ins ide of the turn and clea ned m y whee l right out." A tri o of Ho nda riders benefited from th a t , a nd circula te d the track in a b a tt le am o n gst t he mselves t hat lasted severa l la p s . To rte lli was follo wing h is t e a mm ate Hu gh e s , a nd a lt ho u gh he ap pe are d fa st e r , the Fren chman was having trouble overt a k in g t he b ig t h u mper a nd was forced to eat roost for a wh ile . Fina lly, he got around on lap five (tho ug h no t with out so me contact) , leavi ng La Ro cco to de al with t h e s h ra p n el thr own by Hugh es ' rear tire . It wa sn 't until lap n ine th at LaR o c co got b y, forci ng h is CR2 50 insi de of Hugh e s ' CRF4 5 0 R in a big left- hand sweeper. "It wa s good," Tortelli said late r of the bat tle , a smile o n his face despite his ch est be ing cove re d in we lts . "T hey're sl ow go ing in a nd fast going out: LaRocco said of the fo urs tro kes . "I s truggled g etting aro un d the m." "It wa s a good battle, " Hu g h e s sa id. "I'm sure I was pro ba bly s lowing the m up a little bit, bu t I was kind of just try ing to ride my race . That's kind of the mistake I've made the last two races: I got into everybody else's rac e and fell down. [The mechanics] we re n 't te lling me to move over or a nythi ng. I was just riding my line. I jus t ro de a little too tight. " Wit h thunder c racking in a slate sk y at the midway p o int, Vuillem in led comfortably over a ba tt le betwe en Windh am and Fe rry, with Torte lli a wa ys beh ind tha t. La Rocco, Hug hes and Ron c ada wer e next. Ferry was lo ok ing for any mea ns of getting by Wind ham, and he got it on la p 13 when th e erstwhile secondplace ride r took a tumble on a downhill. Windham quickly jumped to his feet a nd got his S uzu ki started before anyone else could get by him . "I was right behind him , and he kept us ing this ins ide line that was really s lippery and hard: Ferry said. "He was drifting out to the bank, and whe n h e h it th e b a n k , he had too much sp e ed and j ust flopped right over on one of th e new downhills. It made it e a sy for me, so I didn't have to get rooste d on anymore. I was getting ready to try to make a pass on him a ny way." This put Yama ha's facto ry team in t he to p tw o pos it ion s , an d t hat 's whe re they stayed for the remaining three la ps . Windha m he ld onto third , tho ug h he was c hallenged by Tortelli in the lat e go ing. La Roc c o was fifth in front of Hughes a nd Ronceda. "It's not ove r yet: there's still the second mota: Vuillemin said. "Th is year I' m taking it mota by mota . I loved the way it was muddy , but it's dry ing now , and that's cool too . We put t h e s hock kin d of high for t he we ight of th e m ud , bu t it got so d ry that it was a little bit too stiff. But the bike is working great . A podium overall would be gr eat fo r me - boost m y confidence. " Carmic hael gamely sold iered on to 13 th, do ing the be st he cou ld with no clutch. "It was te rrible ," Carmichael said . "I was going over the ruts. It wasn't too fun ." "He ' s not too ha ppy right now : said Chevy Tru c ks Ka wa s a ki manager Bruce S tjernstrom of Carmichael after the mota. "He's real disappoint ed. We re ally had ta lked to him about not c ras hing .. .It's unfortunate . He's just tryi ng to get this first -mota jinx off him , a nd no matter what we do , it doesn' t seem like we c an do it: 10 n JUNE 6 ,2001 • cue I e e vv s Windham and Dowd once again notched great starts in the second outing, but this time they had Carmichael to contend with. Dowd fell victim on the firs t la p , but Windham wasn't goi ng to relinq uish th e lead without a fight . Hughe s wa s th ird after a la p, follo wed b y Dowd , Vuillemin , Ro nc a d a , LaR o c c o and To rtelli. Next was Bla c kfoot Honda 's J e an -S e b a st ie n Ro y , fol low e d b y T ho usa n d Oak s Ya m a h a's Robbi e Re yn a rd , T eam Honda ' s Ezra Lusk a nd .. a m azingly - Ferry . The Floridi an ha d stalled his b ig YZ426F on the gate a nd been left de ad -la st, only to swoop by a hu ge group of ride rs with in the space of a few turns , then nab a bun ch mor e on the first circuit. "The ca rd went s id ew ays , and I h ad it in ge ar," Fe rr y sa id. "I must have let [the cl utc h] out too fa r, a nd it stalled, so I ha d to put it in neutral. I thought I got it cranked on th e firs t kick, so I we nt to g et re a dy for th e start, but it didn 't stay goi ng. I had to kick it again , but they all took off a second before I got it started . I just went bonsai for the first couple laps took a lot of chances .. because I knew that was the on ly way I was going to be able to come bac k and get any points. " With two laps in the books, Windham held a three -second adva ntage over Carmichae l, who s tea d ily nib bled away a t his deficit. On the ne xt lap , he was 2.5 seconds ba c k , t hen 2.4 , then 2.25. After six circuits, he was on Windham's tail, a nd o n t he next la p , he went inside on a down hill. pinc hing Windham off at th e bo t tom to assume the point. Ferry's tear carried him to seventh by lap four , where he got into a tussle with LaRocco. The two went at it for a while, with Ferry falling m omentarily, only to put on a brutal move that ultimately won him the battle. "He freaki ng c lea ne d m e o ut," LaRocco sai d . "Duhl" "H e swung th e turn wide , and I went down the ins ide," Ferry said. "It was flat and sli c k, with just one big rut, we just came right together in the rut. I th ink he might have went down: Meanwh ile , there was a good fig ht go ing o n o ve r th ird. Vuillem in held the position for a wh ile, but slammed hi s foo t down in a corner on lap se ven , and Tortelli capitalized to ta ke ove r th e position . Wh ile third was be ing contested between two French m en , fifth was fought over be tween two four -banger p ilot s , a s F err y loo ked fo r a way b y Hugh es . He zapped him with an insi de move to beg in la p six, but Hughe s c am e right ba ck , and th e two ba nged briefly in the p ro c e ss. Later in th e sam e lap , Ferry pull e d an inside pa ss th a t he made stick, taking over fifth pla ce . "It's kind of good: Hughe s s a id. "If I can get close to him, or on h is ba ck wheel, I ca n kind of le arn a little bit. He ' s got a lot m ore t ime on [fo ur strokes] th an I ha ve ." That wa s prett y much it as fa r a s the top six we re con ce rn e d , and fo r the sec o nd h a lf o f th e race, Ca rm ic hae l led co m fo rt a b ly ove r Win d ha m, To rt e lli, Vuillem in , Ferry a nd Hug hes - all of who m were fair ly s pread o ut. " It was a great d ay for m e , " Vuillemin s aid . "I've been looking at a ll the guys o n the podium th is year. It wa s tough for me , be cause last year Ifthe High Point National is in town. area residents might want to pack an umbrella, as the race has been stricken by inclement weather on a large number of occasions. Last year's race was a classic mudder. and Kelly Smith capitalized to sco re his (and KTM's) first overall win (ironically. Mt. Morris marked KTM's fi rst outdoor loss of 200 I ). This year, rain hit the area repeatedly in the week leading up to race day, and showers did fall even on Sunday, but nothing like some of years past. Still, promoter Racer Productions was concerned for a while, even considering calling off Saturday's amateur event to preserve the track for the National - a move that would have represented a major blow to the pock etbook. "We were really struggling with the decision," said Racer Productions' Carrie Joe Russell. "We wanted to do the right thing. and it was hard to know what that was. As it turned out. I think we made the right call." Most people agreed with her, as the amat eurs got their action in, with the track still holding up well enough for Sunday to meet the pros' app roval. Yes, a single. hard-pack ed line did develop around the circuit, with soft mud off to the sides in the first moto, but that was highly preferable to multiple lines through goo. "They did a good job." said Team Honda's Sebastien Tortelli. "I don't even think it was a mud race. It was okay. If it was raining like we got this morning, it could [have been] a different story. In the seco nd moto, it was pretty dry, even outside of the line. It was good." Nonetheless, most of the mechanics played it safe by taping off airboxes and radiator louvers. running solid brake rotors. mounting handguards, inserting foam under the skid plate, spraying Pam under the fenders and even running covers over the knobbies on the way to the start line. Many riders also took meas ures, attaching foam to their helmets, utilizing Roll-Offs on their goggles and carrying rags in their waste bands. Also, many opted to forego the hot lap in order to keep their bikes clean. Spectator count was probably about half of what it is on a typically packed dry High Point rendition, but the promoters (and fans) had a good attitude about it. "Our spectators have a good sense of humor," Russell said. "It's funny because the '97 National, which I call the Bradshaw National [Damon Bradshaw won], was one of the wettest races we've had, but a lot of people tell us that was their favorite High Point race ever." Incidentally, this was the 25th anniversary for the High Point National.