Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series Roun'd 2: Qualcomm Stadium Meanwhile. McGrath wasn't have Windham chased Carmichael and much success making up for his bad LaRocco. first lap. as he was stuck in eighth Windham went after Pastrana for a while but wasn't having any luck. and place, trying to find a way around when Carmichael got in on the action, Tim Ferry on the four-stroke Yamaha. Windham seemed to give up on Pas- Pretty soon. the race settled down trana and go into defensive mode. into a number of one-an-one battles: This only seemed to disturb Wind- Vuillemin and Pastrana. Carmichael ham's rhythm. as both Carmichael and LaRocco. Windham and Reed. and LaRocco soon shot past him in Ferry and McGrath. and Lusk and near succession. Ramsey. The hardest fighting duel "I thought I was going to the seemed to be the one between front." Carmichael said. "I got behind Carmichael and LaRocco. The two Kevin and he held me up a little bit. Honda riders went at it for many laps. Once I got by him. the other two with LaRocco sticking his front wheel guys were just too far ahead of me. I next to Carmichael's rear wheel in tried. tried. tried to reel them in. but I couldn·t...· nearly every turn. It wasn't until the [S71@]@ffI@@ a~@@@@ 17th lap when LaRocco finally got fX}@G!J~@ ®G!J&JD5@'5UDwf) Mike laRocco. Ernesto Fonseca. Chad Reed. Tim Ferry and Travis Pastrana pretty much headlined the first heat race, and it was Pastrana getting out of the gate quickest. but sneaking in on him through the inside was Blackfoot Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy and Ferry. Pastrana. however. got Ferry back on the first lap when Ferry was forced to roll a triple jump. Once into second. Pastrana went after Roy and got him through a rhythm section. taking over the lead. Ferry also got around Roy, making the running order after the first lap Pastrana. Ferry. Roy, LaRocco. Clawson Motorports' Tyler Evans and Fonseca. Well back, but not for long, was Reed on the Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing YZ250. Before long. LaRocco slipped by Roy for third, then he and Ferry got into it for a while. LaRocco eventually doubled past Ferry and then tried going after Pastrana, who had opened up a comfortable lead. a lead - as it turned out. that was even too much for LaRocco to do anything about. While Pastrana was cruising up front, Reed was quietly making his move after a bad start. The Australian worked his way up to fifth. got around Roy for fourth. and then reeledin Ferry. Reed was right on Ferry's rear fender when the white flag came out and was determined to get around the Yamaha rider. Reed stuck his wheel in on a Ferry a couple of times before getting around him for good. taking third at the finish. A distant fifth went to Roy. Motoworldracing.com/Suzuki·s Damon Huffman and Mota XXX's Nick Wey. The second heat race was filled with talent. Last week's winner David Vuillemin was in this one. as were Jeremy McGrath. Ricky Carmichael, Ezra Lusk, Kevin Windham. Nathan Ramsey. Stephane Roncada and Steve Lamson. When the gate dropped. McGrath won the drag race to the first turn, but both Carmichael and Lusk got a better drive out of the turn and dropped McGrath to third. Right behind him chased Lamson. Windham. Vuillemin, Ramsey and Roncada. McGrath·s problems continued when Windham dived to the inside of him in a turn and started to pull away. At one point, though, Windham almost lost his spot to McGrath when the Suzuki rider bobbled, but he managed to regroup just before McGrath could do anything about it. Meanwhile, up front. Lusk started challenging Carmichael for the lead. Lusk got close to Carmichael a couple of times before Carmichael put in a couple of hot laps and opened up a few bikelengths on the Kawasaki rider. Carmichael managed to build on his lead as the race wore on, while Windham started to gap McGrath, who now felt a lot of pressure from Ramsey and Vuillemin. At one point. Ramsey was even thinking about passing the Yamaha rider, but McGrath kept the door shut. Suddenly. Lusk, who was riding all alone, threw it away over a small double jump and was passed by Windham. McGrath, Ramsey. Vuillemin and Roncada. By now. Carmichael had opened up a huge lead and went on to take the win. It was a four-way shootout to the checkers for second, with Windham hanging on to win that battle just ahead of McGrath, Ramsey and Vuillemin. who just missed making the final transfer. Huffman led every lap of the first seml. but he never really could shake Wey. who chased him the whole way. Jean-Sebastien Roy ran a close third for a while, before losing touch of the two front-runners. But he had a comfortable lead on fourth-place Kyle Lewis (Mota XXX), who had his hands full with Mike Craig (Motoworldracing.com/Suzuki). Huffman ended up taking the win just ahead Wey, while Roy took a loneiy third. Lewis held on for fourth, while Craig made the final transfer with a close fifth. Vuillemin jumped out to an early lead in the second semi and started pulling away from Byme, Roncada. Lusk and Lamson. Roncada was the rider on the move, though. as he started hammering on Byrne and eventually passed him on the second lap, as did Roncada's teammate Lusk. Once into second and third, Roncada and Lusk actually started gaining slowly on the leader VuiJlemin. As Roncada and Lusk battled, they inched closer and closer to the leading Yamaha, making it a race to the finish. On the last lap. the two Kawasaki riders were breathing down Vuillemin's neck. but Vuillemin held on to take the narrow win. Byrne. meanwhile. went down over a small tabletop jump. giving way to Lamson and Blackfoot Honda's Heath Voss at the finish. Suzuki rider Ryan Terlecki finished sixth. one spot out of a transfer. Michael Bryne. on the AmsoiJlDr. Martens/Factory Connection Honda, led every lap of the LCQ, but a good battle developed over second place for the final transfer position of the night. Evans held that position for much of the race. but Pro Circuit/Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki's Mike Brown chased him down. With two laps to go, Brown pulled alongside of Evans over a triple jumped, looked over at him, then stuffed him in the next tum to take over the all-important second-place positions. Evans seemed to let Brown go after that. making it Byrne first and Brown and second at the finish. 8 JANUARY 23, 2002' eye • e n e _ s (Above) Mike laRocco was a favorite to win the San Diego Superc:ross, but he didn't get the start he wanted and never got the chance to run with Vuillemin. (Left) Many people were surprised that Ricky Carmichael even showed up at San Diego after his bad crash at Anaheim. He rode well to finish fourth. got by me, once he did that. I kind of clicked in and started riding better. But the problem was that he was ahead of me. and I wanted to go a little faster than he was. He held me up for most of the race. Once I got around him, I felt like I could catch those guys and made a little time on them. but it was too late. "I was a little tentative from last week." LaRocco added. "I didn't want around the defending champ. but by him [Carmichael] to throw it away or that time. both Vuillemin and Pas- take me out again. He was really on trana were out of reach. With a few laps remaining. and as the leaders were weaving in and out the gas. coming out of the corners and through the obstacles. and I ride totally different. so it was two different of heavy lapped traffic, Pastrana riding styles going the same speed." Chad Reed finally got around Windham for fifth. while Lusk worked started noticeably gaining ground on VuilJemin. Heading into the last lap. Pastrana was within striking distance of the Yamaha rider. but Vuillemin stayed cool and took the checkered flag 1.1 seconds ahead of Pastrana. "It was a last-ditch effort." Pas- his way up to seventh. McGrath finally did get around Ferry, but he also lost a few positions to Lusk. Ramsey and Huffman before it was all over. And to add insult to trana said. "I figured I'd put the pres- injury. for the second week in a row, sure on him. But I charged too late. the but at the same time. l'm thinking. 'I don't want to crash.' But David was McGrath. "I was riding behind Ferry obvious- phenomenal tonight." LaRocco managed to pull clear of Carmichael. who crossed the finish line alone in fourth. ly way too long." McGrath "There was a real easy line out and if I went out in the other would have to hold on a lot "I was a little tense early." LaRocco said. "The track was slippery, like most of the lines of the track were gone. I mean they pretty much went winner. Vuillemin. lapped said. there, line. I more tight - I was kind of pacing myself in a way, I probably could've done better if I could've got around Ferry a little quicker." away. I was just a little tight. because But Vuillemin was the man of the it was slippery. and those guys took off and put some time on us. I made a mistake in the whoops and Ricky hour. "Tonight, the start was very important. n Vuillemin said. "I got a very

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