AMA EA Sports Supercross Series
Round 1 2: Edward .Jones Dome
By DAVE DERINGER
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
ST. LOUIS, MO, APRIL 6
hings didn't start off so well this
year for Ricky Carmichael, but
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the Team Honda rider is now clearly
In front of 53,312 fans in St. Louis,
in the position that he was at this time
the champ dominated the final race
last year. The 22-year-old Floridian
of the night, grabbing the holeshot
has now won six straight, and eight of
and taking off aboard his Chad
the 12 races held thus far.
Watts-tuned CR250. He never looked
In supercross, starts are of paramount
importance, and Ricky Carmichael (4)
got another holeshot In St. Louis.
Stephane Roncada (21), Jeremy
McGrath (2) and Ernesto Fonseca (24)
also gated well, while Nathan Ramsey
(25) and David Vulllemin (12) fared
worse.
back, and after finishing second to
Jeremy McGrath in an earlier heat
race, Carmichael wanted to show the
crowd what he was made of. In the
end, he led second-place rider David
Vuillemin by almost eight seconds.
"I had a bad week and didn't know
what to expect coming in here,"
Carmichael said. "I'm on a roll now,
and I'm looking forward to Pontiac. I
had my 'A' game on these last six
races, and I want to keep the ball
rolling. I don't want this series to
come down to the finals at Las Vegas,
but I'm prepared if it does."
Team Yamaha's Vuillemin finished
a deserving second. After gating rather
poorly and ending the first lap in
eighth, the Frenchman put on an epic
charge that saw him pass all but one
rider, and his loss of only three points
to Carmichael was much better than it
could have been. Carmichael now has
a 20-point margin over Vuillemin
going into the final four rounds, and
Vuillemln knows what he must do.
"I'm bummed on my starts,"
Vuillemin said. "I've been struggling
with them lately, and when he gets
ahead like that, I cannot reach him.
It's kind of frustrating for me because
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