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/128198
THQ World Supercross GP SeriesiAMA Supercross Series Round 5/3: Edison International Field section a lap later - the last lap. So Be Suzuki rider. "So I was like, "I think I just got a bit too relaxed 'You better hold on and back off a little bit and make sure you finish the and tried to bring 'er on home third race on two wheels.'" and lost my concentration there in the whoops and let it bite me," Lusk All the battling behind Carmichael allowed him to get away again. Just said. He still got up in time to hang after getting the two-to-go sign, on to fourth. At the finish, it was Carmichael in LaRocco went to the inside of Lusk after the finish and took over second a familiar place out front, followed - only for Lusk to crash out of the rather closely by Amsoil/Chaparral position in the first, bigger, whoop Honda's LaRocco, and Tortelli. m lJ lJ Own Race: 250cc Ezra Lusk This wily Chevy Trucks Kawasaki veteran showed that last week's win was no fluke as he ran up front for the entire 250cc main. "You know, I really didn't feel that great all day," he said. "I crashed a couple times In practice, and I never really felt like I got it together even in the heat race, 1 felt like it was tough for me to go that speed. I just didn't feel it today. I'll be happier when we get back to a little bit different conditions back east. San Diego's usually pretty good, and I'm looking forward to seeing how San Francisco is." lJ (§) This crash on the last lap cost Lusk third. He still got fourth, though. Timmy Ferry Team Yamaha's star thumper pilot was fast all day, but a bad start kept him at the tail of the top five. "A fifth is not rea11y what I wanted - after having the fastest lap times in practice both times out, I was deflflitely looking for more," the Floridian said. "I didn't get that great of a start, and I made a lot of good passes, which is unlike me in the first part of the race. I was riding aggressive, I just made a lot of mistakes trying to push too hard. Fifth was just my spot." ®~ Michael Byrne LaRocco's Aussie Amsoil/Chaparral Honda teammate had a solid race for seventh. "It wasn't the best or most forgiving first comer," he said of the start. "I think a lot of guys had trouble there, but I just wanted to get through there clean, and I did. I just wanted to put in 20 solid laps, and I did." ~~ Chad Reed the sport," Carmichael said about the supercross critics. "I feel bad for Jeremy, with everyone talking so "It reminded me of the first race of the season," Tortelli said. "I was in second by myself, and I tightened up. I'm not used to being up there - by myself, especially. For this race, I'm like, 'You better just ride the track, and everything is going well. Just ride the track and you'll be fine.'" "It definitely feels good to be back up here on the podium," the veteran LaRocco said. "I haven't really felt that well the first four rounds, espe- Yamaha's Australian rookie came into Anaheim II with both points leads but left with just the THQ World Supercross GP lead intact. "I was trying to be smart, but like the second lap, ) got together with laRocco in the whoops and went down, and just in the first comer J got jammed up with everyone, and it ripped my front numberplate off," he said. "It was kind of messing with me a little bit. But hopefully this is my bad weekend out of the way." cially after the first Anaheim:but I'm glad to feel all right tonight. "I made some changes this week to try and make myself more comfortable, and I think it helped, but ~~ much stuff on him when he's won all those races - where's his credit? No one gives him any credit, except I'll give him utmost respect, and I'm sure Mike [LaRocco} will. Anybody who's raced, they know how hard it is to win. This sport's like that - that's the only thing that I don't really like about it. There's so much speculation. Someone new comes up, and the guy who's won 81 races is no good anymore. But tonight I showed most of all I had that crash at the first Anaheim, and I've been pretty sore Ernesto Fonseca Carmichael's Honda teammate crashed hard in the main event, endoing over one obstacle and driving himself headfirst into the face of the follOWing triple. "They just loaded him up, and they're going to take him to the hospital just for observation," Honda's Jeff Stanton said of the Costa Rican's condition following the wreck. "He's talking, and he seems to be a11 right, but they're going to take him in and X-ray his neck - he's got some scrapes, so they're just going to X-ray it over to make sure there's nothing broken. But he'll be sore." lJ ~ David Vuillemin ~7J Nick Wey lJ tID Brock Sellards Yamaha's star Frenchman was disappointed with his eighth-place finish. "I got a great start, and I was coming on the inside, and Yogi [Ezra Lusk} came in rea11y fast and just pushed me to the outside, and somebody crashed just in front of me," he said. "I rode really good the first few laps, and there were a lot of traffic and crashes and stuff, but after that I was like sixth behind Timmy [Ferry}, and I caught up a little bit - he made some mistakes - and then I got very, very tired. I could not go through the whoops anymore, and I faded really bad. So I'm kind of bummed out. I have no idea [why I'm getting tired}. I'm training as much as I can, and it doesn't help, so... " Mach 1 Yamaha's two-stroke pilot had a strong main event, even though it started with him on the ground right off the start. He got up, brushed himself off and raced back up to ninth - the last rider on the lead lap when all was said and done. Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing's Sellards spent a lot of time on the ground at Anaheim II. "I just crashed in all my qualifiers," Sellards said. "This is the first main event that I've never made. I think that I rode all right, but I just got into a lot of crashes. I've got an injured back, and I just figure that I'm going to take next weekend off and try to get it healed up and then come back." 10 JANUARY 29,2003' cue I e neuvs since then. This week, I actually felt decent, and I really didn't have anything holding me back, so that was a big factor as well." "That's the only bad thing about everybody - not that I needed to show anyone. I wanted to show myself, and I did. This one is for the people who didn't believe in me and the people who did believe in me." eN Chad Reed dislodged his front numberplate at the start of the main. He fell trying to pass laRocco but recovered and eventually finished sixth.