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/128143
AMA EA Sports Supercross Championship Series, presented by Speed Stick Round 7: Hubert H. Hum tlrey Metrodome WITH LAROCCO'S MINNESOTA IN.JURV, THERE IS NOW ONE LESS TITLE HOPEFUL By CHRIS JONNUM PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN MINNEAPOUS, MN, FEB. 16 t was shaping up to be a dream season for Mike LaRocco; his bike was strong, his form was good-looking, and his results were above average. Best of all, he had finally ended his seven-year win drought, and through the season's one-third mark against one of the deepest fields in years, he held down a strong second place in the points standings. When the caravan hit the Land of a Thousand Lakes, however, the Amsoil/Dr. Martens Honda rider's year took a horrible tum, as he struggled to even qualify for the main, then had his title-chances ruined in a dash with a young and eager Travis Pastrana. As the SoBe Suzuki rider tried to overtake LaRocco, he collided with_the veteran upon landing from a jump. Pastrana's handlebar hit LaRocco's wrist in the incident, breaking it upon impact. And then there were two. [n the high-stakes game of survival that the Supercross Series has become, only three riders - David Vuillemin, LaRocco and Ricky Carmichael - had made it through the early rounds with the right combination of speed and safety to be in a realistic position to win the title. True, none of these riders had made it through the minefield completely unscathed, but their damage control was such that they all were still in the hunt for the crown when they arrived in the Twin Cities, by which point it had become apparent that the eventual king would be decided less by outright speed than by strong starts, minimal mistakes and good fortune. Depending upon which side you talk to, laRocco was missing at least two of those ingredients in Minnesota, where the contingent of title hopefuls had its number reduced by one. Actually, the two survivors were also missing the good-start factor, but they fared much better in the fortune department, each doing exactly what was required to retain his title hopes. Team Honda's Carmichael, who was trailing Vuillemin by 28 points going into round seven, recovered from a sixth-place getaway to lead by the midway point, then pulled comfortably away to notch his third 6 FEBRUARY 27,2002' DUD I win of the series and move to within a race of the Frenchman in the points chase. Team Yamaha's Vuillemin, meanwhile, suffered an absolutely horrendous gate, but turned in a championship-caliber ride by tip-toeing through the pack to a calculated third-place finish, keeping his perfect '02 podium streak alive. "I did have to work for it tonight," Carmichael said. "There is no better n __ s B win than to come from mid pack. That is truly gratifying." Finishing between the two titlecontenders and making it as their prairie-podium companion was Ernesto Fonseca, who finally showed the speed he had displayed in the opener. "Every time I get to the line, I think I'm racing the best guys there are in the whole world," Fonseca said. "It's hard for me to believe that. I think I need to get better and do this every time." Stephane Roncada has been making a convincing case lately that he is a serious contender with a chance to win, and his latest argument was hard to refute. It consisted of a fourthplace finish salvaged from a seventhplace start, the Frenchman capitalizing on a late mistake by Chevy