AMAlEA Sports 1 25cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series
Round 7: Pontiac Silverdome
of all six previous Eastem Regionals.
Erasing Jesseman's eight-second
lead, Reed closed hard and fast, making a final charge on the run up to the
finish jump, only to come up 0.440 of
a second short.
"I'm just so excited to get a win in
supercross - it's awesome," said
Jesseman, who turned 20 three days
after the race. The western Pennsylvanian said he knew Reed was closing. "I wasn't looking behind me. I
was trying to focus ahead. I heard
that four-stroke coming."
Reed didn't make it easy on himself. Away near the back of the 22rider field, the YZ250F-mounted Reed
By HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
PONTIAC, M1, APR. 13
randen Jesseman knew that
Chad Reed was coming, he just
didn't want to know how quickly. As
he raced toward what he hoped would
be his first AMA/EA Sports Eastern
Regional 125cc Supercross win,
Team Blimpie Suzuki's Jesseman
purposely ignored his pit signal.
"To be honest, I didn't look at it,"
he said, and for good reason. Closing
at a rate of about a second a lap was
Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's
Reed, the class dominator, the winner
14
APRIL 24, 2002'
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was up to sixth by the end of the first
lap, then continued to move forward,
slotting into second on the sixth of 15
laps, about eight seconds behind
Jesseman. Lap after lap, he cut into
the lead, his speed through the
whoop section noticeably faster. One
more lap and...
"Unfortunately, all good things
come to an end," said Reed, whose
winning streak ended at six. "We'll
get ready for the [East-West]
Shootout and the Nationals and get
back up to number one."
Reed had already clinched the
125cc title, so all that was at stake
was the perfect season. Ricky
Pontiac featured a night of firsts, with
Branden Jesseman (28) 'olnlng
Ramsey as a first-time winner. Newly
crowned champ Chad Reed (103)
collected a slight flaw In his otherwise
perfect series, finishing a close
second at the final round.
Carmichael, is the only rider to sweep
the Eastern Regional 125cc series
when he ran the table in 1998. Reed
didn't do it, but he ended the season t
strongly at the top of the points "
standings with 172, 52 more than
Team Pro Circuit/Chevy Trucks
Kawasaki's Michael Brown, who
struggled to 10th after starting badly.
