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/128112
A M A C h e vy T rucks 250c c National Motocross Series Round 6 : Red Bud Track-N -Tra il . Iver B y C HRIS J O NNUM P HOT OS BY S T EVE B RUHN BUCHANAN, fill, JUL. I o m et i m e s w h en y o u' re go od, things just seem to fall in your lap. Ricky Carmichael is better than good - it's safe to say he's cu rrently th e bes t - but he 's had a rougher row th an usual to hoe for much of th i s o ut doo r ser ies , with in opportune falls p rev enting him from walk ing away fro m the fie ld as he did last year and in thi s year's Supercross Series . By his own esti m at io n. his co m pe ti t io n has also stepped it up another level . and is better p repared to g iv e th e champ a fight. Bu t at the halfwa y Na ti onal in sout h w es t ern M ich igan . the Chevy T ru ck s Ka wasaki rider had the win fall in his lap , with his m ain rival in each moto exiting on the final lap. In the fi rst outing, T eam Honda 's Sebastien T ortelli ov ertook Carmichael and pu lled away t o wha t appeared to be a sure win , only to have his CR250R roll to a stop a few turns from the fin ish. The Frenchman valiantly pushed his lifeless bike through the final portion of the track, but cou ldn 't quite manage to drag it up the steep finish line jump to the checkers. In moto two, it was Team Suzuki's Kevin Wind ham who passed Carmichael, and although the defending champ got back by before mote's end, Windha m also exited t he race pr ematurely , his RM250 having derailed its cha in near the same spot where Tortelli's disaster struck. It 's li k e ly that Carmichael would ha ve taken the overall even had his riva ls not had such m isfortune, but the bizarre and dramatic turn of ev ents assured the 21 -year-old an unblemished I - I score , and helped h im to more than triple his champ ionship po ints lead from 13 to 39 . That g ives Carm ichael a b it of breath ing room heading into the final half of the series , as he can DNF a moto and still be assured of retaining the points lead . " O ut of all these years that I've been racing outdoors , I have yet to have seen a season where someone hasn't had bad luck ," Carmichael said. " It' s so rou gh and e verythi ng that something normally ha ppens more th an Su percross . I don 't know S R ic ky Carm ic hael (4) has a little f un o ve r Red Bud 's " La Roc c o' s Leap" a head of T im Ferry en ro ute t o the 250cc c lass victory, RC won both mato s, bu t got a li ttle help along the w a y. 6 J ULY II , 200 1 • c ue I e n e VIl' s why that i s, w ith all the jumps i n Supercross , but outdoors , I haven 't seen a season where some body doesn 't have a couple bad motes. " This particular National MX victory Carmichael's 37th - was especially sweet, as it represented a tie with Bob Hannah for the most ever in a career. B ut a lthough he pol itely clai med exciteme nt , Carmichae l h a rd l y seemed surpr ised to achieve the mark , and in fa ct he is l ikely to extend it far into uncharted t erritories over the next few seasons . " You know , I' m pretty happy about that," said Carmichael, who was too young to follow Hannah 's career. "I' m j ust out there try ing to race , basically , and having a good time , and records that I break , or tie , or don't break , it' ll be good fo r me. I'm j ust out th ere to try to do the best that I can do and have a good time at racing ." While Carm ichael has grown quite accustomed to spray ing champagne, h is fellow podium -climbers at Red Bud have been a little less common in the winner's circle of late. Taking second was Team Honda's Ry a n Hugh es, g iving the new CRF450R it s best-ever Na tional result. " The last two [races ] ju st destroyed m y co nfidence," Hugh es said . "I j ust t ried to regroup and co me back , and it worked, man. The other co m pa nies [that produce fo ur- strok e M X e r s ] - KTM and Yamah a - th ey ha ve fou r or five years , so for us t o do th is in six races , I think is goo d. Myself, I've only had six races on th e bike , so I'm starting to learn how to ride it. I rode two-strokes for 17 yea rs, so it's different. Now it's sta rt ing to come around. " Third place went to Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Stephane Roncada, the Frenchman pleased after st ruggling early this season to become confident in the 250cc class. "I 've been feeling a lot better the last couple of weeks, " Roncada said . " I was really sick at B udds Creek, so I co ul dn 't show off, but I feel a lot bette r, and my confide nce is coming up. I've g ot m o re tim e o n the bik e, an d I' m gettin g to trust th e bik e. I'm sta rting to ri de it like m y 125. I've been train ing really har d , too. I' m lo oking forwa rd to m ore podium s in the next couple of rac es," T e am Hond a' s Ez r a L us k was awarded wi th fourth overa ll , w hi ch he achi eved b y f in ishi ng nin th in ra ce on e and a strong third in moto two . Lu sk cla ims to be co m pletely healthy