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"I know I should've slowed down a little bit," he said. "I don't like going all the way out there because exactly what happened tonight is what happens when you drive it in too deep." Pastrana controlled the early pace, Carmichael moving into second on the second lap, then taking the lead on the fifth. By then, there was a six-rider break. Pastrana took back the lead with a popular move on Carmichael through the whoops, the crowd hooting when Pastrana looked back after the pass. Behind the leaders came Vuillemin, Roncada, Ramsey, and McGrath, who was slightly off the pack, but within sniffing distance. Behind them was a three-rider scrap among Ramsey, LaRocco and Lusk, followed by another four-rider battle. On the eighth lap, they were all still together, first to sixth covered by 3.7 seconds. It wouldn't last long. The track was rutting up, forcing riders to either play follow the leader or try different lines. One of the more criticaI tums was a gO-degree right leading to a rhythm section. Carmichael had mastered the straight all night, consistently jumping in a sequence the others couldn't match, but it required being in the right place off the comer to get the momentum. On the 11 th lap, there were two spills in that section. Pastrana fell after coming together with Carmichael at the end of the section, and Honda's Ernesto Fonseca fell in about the middle of it after passing Roncada a few laps earlier. From Carmichael's standpoint, Pastrana had made a mistake by trying to come from the outside to the inside line where there was a rut being used by everyone, including Carmichael. "I saw an opportunity to get ahead of him, and I took it," Carmichael said. "I didn't go into there to take him out. He just popped back in the rut, and he was on the outside of it and I was already there, and I almost crashed as well. I'm not out there to try to tag anybody." Pastrana said he "felt good except for that one section of the track [the jump section just before turn seven] where I had a little trouble with my timing. I came into the corner a little bit wide, and I tried to jump back in the rut to stop Ricky, and he had no intention of stopping." Fonseca had fallen in his heat as well, pulling off the track. In the main, he was in the mix when he fell in the jumps. "In the main, I was riding real good and kind of had a bit of a problem there," Fonseca said. "I just kind of - I don't know - got a little bit caught up there in the rhythm section and went down." "I barely missed Ernesto when he was on the ground, and I almost went [Pastrana's] crash, I think everybody was more relaxed, so we could focus on the track." With about four laps to go, Vuillemin caught up to Carmichael and started pressing. It would take a few laps for him to make the pass, but they both knew where it would happen - it was just a matter of when. Vuillemin had been watching Carmichael and knew he was vulnerable. The key was the rhythm section that Carmichael struggled with as a slight case of arm pump surfaced. "The problem is, I never jumped too much before the rhythm section, and Ricky was doing it most of the night and he was pulling away," Vuillemin began. "Toward the end, he was not jumping anymore, so I could stay with him closer. I saw the white flag, and I said, 'Hey, you have to go for it - take a chance.' I didn't want to go hit him or something." Carmichael said the arm pump was enough of a problem that he "couldn't quite take it to that edge, and tonight I needed to take it to that edge and it didn't happen. David could've put me in the hay bales and he didn't, and that's why I like racing with him. It was kind of an amateur move on my part. He kept putting his wheel in there and putting his wheel in there, and I kind of over-jumped that finish line there. With my arm being tight, my timing wasn't good, and I went outside and he got me. He was on my tail the whole time." Carmichael understood the implications the win had for his championship defense. "I have to win at this point, or there's no chance at a title," he said. "At this stage in the series, I don't see anyone beating David. He's going to be on the podium every weekend unless something bad happens. In order for me to get ahead, I'm going to have to win. Everyone's stepped it up, but I still think there's only a cou- down myself," said Roncada, who moved into third, his final finishing spot. "I just kept going and had a pretty good pace going." Carmichael was in the lead, with Vuillemin in pursuit, not allowing Carmichael to make a break. Roncada was now a secure third, with Ramsey and LaRocco fighting over fourth in front of the closing Lusk. For Vuillemin, the crashes changed the complexion of the race. "It seems like in the beginning, everybody was very aggressive inside, outside and not riding the track that smooth," he said. "After his cue I _ Pastrana led the race until this Incident. The Suzuki rlder tried to get back to the inside rut, only to find that Cannlchael was already there. Pastrana crashed, giving Cannichael the lead - a lead he would eventually give up to Yuillemln on the final lap. n _ _ S • FEBRUARY 20, 2002 9