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/128177
m 1] 'L 1] Own Race Grant Langston The Red Bull KTM rider showed some serious flashes of brilliance throughout the U.S. Open. including a heat-race first-tum faU that he tumed into a third place by the end of the 10-lap race, but he was stricken with bad luck in the mains. His clutch, on the all-new KTM 250 SX, gave him problems on the first night, which contributed to a collision with Reed, of which Langston came out on the short end. "I think it [the clutch] just got a little hot and faded. But these are the reasons we do these races, so we can leam before Anaheim." 1] lJ Ezra Lusk lJ {0 Tim Ferry ®~ Michael Byrne §~ Ivan Tedesco ~c:D Ernesto Fonseca ~@ Damon Huffman ®[j Ryan Clark ~ Travis Preston The only Chevy Trucks Kawasaki rider present at the U.S. Open wasn't feeling up to par to start the weekend. After getting taken out by Carmichael during Friday's main, he came back and won his heat on Saturday. "I struggled a little bit with a cold yesterday and I'm feeling better today. It should work out better for me." He ran as high as third in Saturday's main before a fall on the section of track outside the arena dropped him back. He fought back to eighth. Team Yamaha's four-stroke specialist became the first rider ever to finish on the podium aboard a thumper at the U.S. Open. He struggled in both of his heats but followed a solid second-place finish on Friday night, after a good battle with Michael Byrne, with a fourth on Saturday. Carmichael just edged him for second overall. "It was a good night, really. I've done a lot of testing with Yamaha, and it's good for us to get a race under our belts with this bike, because it's totally new to supercross. We'll be ready for the World Supercrosses and Anaheim." event was as good as over as Carmichael began to stretch it out over laRocco, but then, on the fourth go-around, LaRocco re-emerged from the outside of the arena all alone in RJc~ Cannlchael made a rather uncharacteristic erTOl' In Friday night's main, handing the lead to laRocco. He came back Saturday with his normal orange Fox gear and won handily, his 5-1 good for second overall. the lead, with no sign of Carmichael. "' did a double and tucked my front end," Carmichael said. "I made a simple mistake, and my bike got flooded out and there was nothing I could do." Carmichael reappeared in 12th. "He [Carmichael] made that mistake, and we had kind of gapped everybody, which left me with a pretty big lead," LaRocco said. "I was totally comfortable just putting laps in." That's all he had to do, as LaRocco made virtually no mistakes on the way to the win. In the absence of a race for the lead, all eyes were soon on Carmichael and Reed as they sliced back toward the front. It almost looked like Reed was running scared, as Carmichael stuck AmsoiJ/Dr. Martens/Journeys/Honda's Aussie rode strong all weekend, starting well on Friday and fmishing on the podium. Pretty much nothing went his way on Saturday, though. He cased the big finish-line triple in practice, hurting his right hand, and then he got taken out in the first tum in both his heat race and the last-chance qualifier. He didn't have much luck moving through the pack in the LCQ either, eventually falling. "Because my speed was faster than them, I was having more trouble than I probably would've if I were their speed. I'd pass somebody, then I'd try to pass the next guy, and the guy behind me would run into me. It was just a bad deal." Perhaps the most surprising rider of the weekend was Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's Tedesco. The New Mexico native followed a strong fourth-place finish on Friday that had some people calling it a fluke with another top five on Saturday, likely shutting up the doubters. "I like it a lot," he said of the 250. "I've been riding it a little bit, and I'm going to ride some of the West Coast on it, and hopefully they'll go something like this weekend." The native Costa Rican Honda teamster started the weekend looking strong, running third early in Friday's main, only to get gathered up with an aggressive Chad Reed. Despite a couple of falls, he still managed a respectable sixth overall. In his debut Blackfoot Honda ride, Huffman struggled, finishing 12th on the first night and missing out on the main event on Saturday. Huffman rode a Honda CR250R. One of the best-liked privateers in any moto paddock, Clark rode strong all weekend, holding his own with many factory-supported riders. After his strong eighth on the first night, he said: "I'm just judging by how I ride. The competition's real stiff, and it's hard to pass, so I just want to go out there and have a solid ride and not get tired - get everything ready for Anaheim this January." He improved to seventh in Saturday'S main. Amsoil/Factory Connection's soon-to-be defending 125cc Western Regional Supercross Champion showed good speed in his 250cc supercross debut but suffered from arm-pump to his right arm because he's used to holding a 125 wide open, as opposed to the on/off throttle nature of his factory 250. Unfortunately, after riding to 11th on Friday, he missed out on Saturday's main. "The results don't look good on paper, but it's my first time ever racing a 250 in supercross, and I've been riding it for two weeks, so I think I'm doing good. The positive is that every time I get on the bike, I'm better and better." (Left) Chad Reed (22) ran down Ivan Tedesco (52) on Saturday on his way to second place. Tedesco finished fifth both on the night and overall. Reed was fourth overall. cue I e n I!! _ S • OCTOBER 23, 2002 19