Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128110
Hond a 's Sebastien Tortelli would've had the overall had Cannichael not pa sse d John Do wd late in the second m ot o. Tortelll ended up second overall vi a a 3 -2 tally. Going in t o the sec ond moto , it a ppeared that the da y would be a typica l Carmichael Budds Creek runaway. Aft e r all, in his four professiona l appe aranc es at Budds Cre ek leading up to th is ra ce, Ca rm icha e l had wo n seven of the e ight m otos and the on e he lost wa s b y virtue of a mul ti-rider pileu p at the rain y a nd mud -infested 1999 race. But, how th ings can ch ange - and c ha nge qu ic kly. When the pack ro ared from th e start to be g in m oto two , it was aga in Windham out front , but this time, Carmichael rou nded the first tum just with in the top five a nd , in his haste to move to the front qu ickly, crashed on the secon d la p , dropp ing him to a position bare ly inside the top 20. With plenty of time le ft , b ut his wo rk now c le a rl y c ut out for h im, Carmichael began to ch a rge through the pack , eventually landing on the heel s o f th e fou rth-pla ce rid er , PC Worldw id e fC e rn ic s .com KTM rider John Dowd , with just a few laps to go . Needing Dowd 's position to secure th e overall win over Tortelli, who wa s curren tly ru nning second to Windham in the moto , Carm icha el lite rally forced his way past the Massachusetts native with just a few co mers to go a nd was rewa rd ed with a slim , one -poi nt victory ove r Torte lli. "I'm feeling good ," said Carm ichael. "I think the second moto was the best I've rid de n a ll ye ar, although I don 't know how you get an overall win with a 1-4 . I gained a few points tod ay, which isn't too bad. I think I'm farthe r ahead of everyon e this year than I was last yea r at this point in the series, so tha t's one good way to look at it. I'm looking forward to a weekend off an d I'm going to try to go II at the next race at Red Bud." S t a n di n g on the p o d ium for the fourth time this year was the aforemen tioned Tortelli, with a hard-earned 3-2 ride . The Frenc hman suffered a poor start in moto one, but qu ickly moved through his com petitors until he hit the brick wa ll known as laRoc co . Virtually a ttached from the second lap on, the hard-charging pair mov ed ste a dily forward , leap -f rogg in g t heir way pa s t e ach of th e competitors in fro nt of them. First, Te am Honda 's Ryan Hugh es earl y in the race , and then the fading Windham and eve ntually the mid race runne r-up , Team Yam aha 's Tim Ferry . Tortelli, after a no ther poor start in mo to two, came back strong, steadi ly mov ing up and . afte r a brief battle with Ferry , moved int o seco nd whe n t he Yamaha p ilot wen t d own j u st befor e the halfwa y mark . Tortelli, who possesses the most podium finishes of a ny rider so far in the series , now looks forwa rd to Red Bud, whe re last year he temporari ly de raile d Carm ich a e l' s cha rg e for the title with a perfe ct I- I ride . "I'm thi nking d iffe rently abo ut th e c ha m p ion s hip now ," s a id Tortell i. "I didn 't have a gr eat beg inn ing to th e se a s o n. I wa s not alwa ys rid ing 10 0 pe rc en t. I'm not th inki ng abo ut th e cham pionship anymore . Now, I'm jus t thinking a bo ut e ach m ot o - getting a good sta rt and riding at m y speed. If I do ride at my s peed , everyth ing ought to go good. I'm look ing forwar d to Red Bud . I like that track a lot a nd I know I ca n win th ere. " Finish ing third on the da y was the ha rd-cha rging laRocco, with a score of 2 -3 . Th e South Bend , Ind ia na native a ctually tied Tortelli in po ints for th e day, but was relegated to the third step on the podiu m by virtue of To rtelli 's superior second-moto finish . la Rocco spent the e ntire first moto battling with the French rider while moving steadily through the pa ck in his now-trademark fa s hio n . Like Ca rm ic h a e l, La Rocco a lso we nt down early in moto two and spent th e re s t of th e race p lay ing catc h -up. It was actually an yon e 's ra ce in the second moto, and ha d laRocco been able to move into the run ne r-up s pot , h e would have pu lled o ut th e ove ra ll by one po int over Carmichael. "I felt good out there." said laRocco . "Last week [at Southwick ]. I was a little bit sore , but this week I felt rea lly good. I feel real good on the bike a nd my starts have been improving. I fee l much better than I have in the last few years." Fo urth overall wa s Windh am , by virtue of his 5 -1 moto finis hes. Wind h a m g ra b bed t h e holes hot in both ra ce s, but fell victi m to the p ressu re of le a di ng in th e firs t m oto - in th e for m of a rel ent less atta c k b y Carmich ae l and , later in t he ra c e , Ferry . LaRocco and Tortelli. Dis a p pointed with his first-moto inability to stay focused wh ile un de r fire, Wind ham raged back the se co nd time out, rocketing into the ea rly le ad and s im ply disappea ring fro m his co m pe ti tors , fin is hi ng ou t th e moto with a nea rly 20- se cond lea d . Windham ha s a h is t ory o f stro n g rides at Budd s Creek [he w o n the 1999 250 c c Nati ona l a n d the ' 9 9 250 c c USGP held a t th e facility] and his s e c ond moto romp was a fitt ing e nd to anoth er strong performance th er e . "I'm re a lly ready to try to ma ke a run at this championship," said Wind ham . "I just need to start riding comforta ble. That's what I was able to do in the s econ d moto . It's tough out ther e th is year. Ev erybody ' s riding st ro ng a nd it's going to be a tough series all the wa y to the end. " Rou ndin g ou t th e top five o ve ra ll was Ferry, with a hard -earned 4 -6 ride. The Florida ride r was in th e thi ck of t h ings through out th e day. F e rry closed to within just a few b ike lengths of the le a der, Ca rm ichael, in th e first moto before be ing swa llowed up by the La Rocco -To rt ell i battl e behin d h im . Ferry ran second for the better part of moto two , before a fall knocked h im o ut of co nte nt io n . As sta ted abo ve , Ca rmichael's second-moto crash rea lly ma de it anyone's race a nd, had th ings gon e a little d iffer ently, Ferry, who incidentally turned the fastest lap time in the morning's pra ctice sess ions , may have we ll been sta nding on the podium , instead of two posi tions off of it. "I alway s like co mi n g to Bu d d s Cre e k," sa id Fe rry. "It's nice to be bac k East. The s eason has been going really good for me and I've been feelin g really comfo rta ble la tely . My speed's gotten a lot better this year, my endurance has gotten bette r and I th ink it's going to be a tight battle with me and Ricky and also Tortelli and Windham. We' re all really close in points right no w." With his overall win and ne w ser ies tota l of 205 , Carmichael gains th ree mor e po ints on second place, whic h is now occupied by Windham, with 192 point s. Torte lli is two point s back in t hird, with 19 0 po int s, foll o wed b y Ferry , who drops fro m seco nd to fourth, with 185 po ints . LaRocco is s teady in fifth , with 18 2 p o int s , fo llowed by Team Yamaha's Da v id Vuillemin and Dowd , with 135 points each. Te am Che vy Tru cks Kawasaki's 250cc rookie , Stephane Roncada , is e igh th , with 100 points , fo llowed by Hug hes in ninth , with 99 points. MotoXXX's Kyle Lewis ro unds out th e top 10 with 89 points . Torrential rains on the day preced ing the race forced the cancellation of th e Saturda y pre -qua lif iers ( s e e Bri efl y .. . ), but p romoter Jon athan Bea s ley a nd th e Budds Creek staff work ed throughout the night to repair the track surfac e and we re rewarded with cle ar and s u nny skie s for t h e Nati onal. Temperatures hov ered in the m id-to -high 80s. "I can't even bel ieve how good the tra c k wa s after yesterday ," said the third -p lace finish er , la Rocco . M ike La Roc c o g ot on th e podiu m with a 2-3. cue I D n e _ os • JUNE 2 7 , 200 1 17