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/128140
AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series Round 4: Bank One Ballpark ular triple jump, which had a short run-up and a steep ramp, did give the 125cc riders a hard time. MAIN The 250cc main got off to a promising start, with many of the top factory stars running up front after the first lap. At one point, some of the fastest riders of the series to date Carmichael, Pastrana, Vuillemin, LaRocco and Fonseca - held down the first five positions, but the race for the win never really materialized into a knock-down, drag-out brawl that everyone was expecting. Instead, the top riders eventually settled into a groove by around the halfway point that saw very little in the way of passing, though they all ran close to one another to keep things interesting. Fonseca, on the Honda two-stroke, nailed the holeshot, but McGrath aced him out after the second turn. The pack came around the first lap with McGrath leading, followed closely by Fonseca, Carmichael, Vuillemin, Pastrana, Roncada and Ramsey. On the third lap, Fonseca was looking for a way to get around McGrath and tried a block-pass to prevent McGrath from attempting a triple jump, but Fonseca's plan backfired when he bobbled and got out of shape, allowing Carmichael and Vuillemin to get around him; a lap later, Pastrana also got by him. Now, it was a battle for the lead between McGrath and Carmichael. McGrath held his ground for a number of laps before giving way to Carmichael, who executed a nice, inside block-pass on the former champ. Carmichael quickly put a few bikelengths on McGrath, who now had Pastrana knocking on his back door. Later that same lap, Pastrana got around McGrath (as did Vuillemin and Fonseca shortly thereafter), and the rider who had the fastest lap time in the early heat races, Pastrana, was now in pursuit of Carmichael. But Pastrana just couldn't catch R.C., who seemed to know just how fast he needed to go to keep Pastrana in check. "I got a pretty good start and was trying to just keep it on two wheels," Carmichael said. "He [Pastrana] had good lap times and speed, but 1 was able to turn it up in the main event." Carmichael settled into a comfortable pace and lead, maintaining a two- to three-second cushion over Pastrana to the end. "I collected a little bit of arm pump in my left arm," Carmichael said. "But 1 think I could've gone a little harder if I had to. 1 had a little jitters in me from not being in front in a long time, but I stayed strong the whole time, and that's what matters." 10 FEBRUARY 6, 2002' a U a McGrath and Ernesto Fonseca (24). back from his elbow injury. had a great dice for sixth. Late in the race, Pastrana realized that he wasn't going to catch Carmichael. "I felt pretty good and comfortable on the track," Pastrana said.. "I was really thinking, until about five laps to go, 'hey, I'm going to outlast him, I'm going to make this.' I really pushed hard but lost more time; it seemed like whenever 1 tried to push hard, I'd lose time. So I just settled in with two laps to go and held my position." Vuillemin stayed right behind Pastrana the whole way, too, but never got close enough to attempt a pass. "It just didn't seemed like 1 charged enough," Vuillemin said. "I didn't feel very good this weekend; the track was very easy tonight, the whoops were easy, so it was tough to make a difference." By the time LaRocco got into fourth, he had no chance of catching the three riders ahead of him. "I cased that triple in my heat race and jammed my wrist pretty good," LaRocco said. "It took two or three laps to where 1 had some throttle control. Once 1 did, 1 put some good laps in, but everybody was kind of even out there at the end. "The track was so basic, the whoops were gone - one line down them - 1 couldn't make any time, so I kind of got stuck in a groove there." While there might not have been much passing going on up front, there was plenty of it going on a little ways back. Ramse'y, Fonseca and McGrath spent much of the race battling back and forth for the fifth through seventh positions. Ramsey eventually broke away and settled into fifth, while McGrath had a heck of a time getting back around Fonsen • _ so • • u!JD@ !1J@ if~@@@@ tf1[jiJ@ (JJtf10{J[?&J[jiJtf1 ~!JD@w ®f!!l&JOIJlJ[J/JOD@f) Ricky Carmichael breezed to victory in the first 250cc heat race, where the top-four riders transfer directly to the main. Carmichael passed Moto XXX/DGY's Kyle Lewis for the lead on the first lap and then left everyone behind, including Mike laRocco, Kevin Windham and Ezra Lusk. Carmichael steadily pulled away, while everyone else fought fot positions. LaRocco and Windham eventually settled into the second- and third-place positions, while Lusk took hold of fourth, but by the time he got there, the three riders ahead of him were long since gone. laRocco and Windham provided most of the action in this race, as they diced closely. laRocco appeared to be having his way with Windham, until the Suzuki rider pressured the Honda rider into a mistake over a tricky triple jump. laRocco went down, jamming his wrist in the process, and gave way to both Windham and Lusk before he could get going again. laRocco stayed close to Lusk, but didn't appear to really challenge the Kawasaki, since he had a lock on a sure transfer, in fourth. The top four riders eventually took the checkered flag fairly spread out, with Michael Byrne finishing fifth ahead of Blackfoot Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy, Lewis and Motoworldracing.com/Suzuki's Damon Huffman. There was a lot of close radng action in the second heat race, but none of it was for the lead. Instead, Travis Pastrana jumped into the early lead and checked out. The Suzuki rider opened up a huge advantage right away, while Stephane Roncada soon took sale control of second, but from third place on back, there was plenty of action. Jeremy McGrath and David Vuillemin were a couple of those riders who were right in the thick of things, but out of the transfer positions. McGrath started off okay, but when things got a little too close for comfort over the first triple jump on the first lap, he chose to double/single the jump and ended up getting buried in the back, along with Vuillemin. Now, McGrath and Vuillemin had to get around Ernesto Fonseca, Nick Weyand Nathan Ramsey to make the cut. They got some help when Wey ran off the track, but Fonseca and Ramsey were holding their own. McGrath, with Vuillemin right on his fender, made one last attempt to get by Ramsey at the finish for the final transfer, but came up inches short. Pastrana easily took the win, ahead of Roncada, Fonseca and Ramsey. McGrath and Vuillemin, as well as Yamaha's Tim Ferry and Wey, were forced to ride the semis. Foilowing the heat races, Pastrana set the fast lap time with a 51.597, while Carmichael's first heat-race win was second-fastest with 52.318. The only other riderS' who managed to break into the 52s were LaRocco (52.902) and Vuillemin (52.706). McGrath's best lap was 53.305. Blackfoot Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy and Michael Byrne had a good race in the first 250cc semi, where the top-five riders transfer to the main. Roy led most of the race until Byrne got a good drive through the shorter of the two whoop sections and slipped past, Byrne went on to take the win over Roy, while Huffman, Lewis and Voss rounded out the top five. The second semi promised to be good one, with factory Yamaha riders McGrath. Vuillemin and Ferry in it. And, as expected, the three of them charged to the front, with McGrath getting the holeshot over VuiUemin and Ferry, who ended up crashing out on the first lap. McGrath managed to defend a couple of good moves by Vuillemin, but Vuillemin would eventually cut to the inside and drive McGrath to the outside of a turn to take the lead. Vuillemin went on to take the win, while McGrath kept a close eye on him for the rest of the race. Yamaha rider Ryan Clark, Honda-mounted James Povolny Jr. and Wey finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Suzuki rider Ryan Terlecki led every lap of the last chance qualifier, but he did have one scare, when fellow Suzuki rider Ted Campbell passed him in a tum. Terlecki, however, came right back and passed Campbell over a triple jump to take back the lead and eventual win. Campbell ended up taking second and the final transfer of the evening.