Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THQ World Supercross GP Series/AMA Supercross Series Round 6/4: Pacific Bell Park missing out on those first two races, I think I'm coming back around. , feel like I'm close to where I was at the end of the year last year." We all know where Carmichael was at the end of the year last year. The Floridian started near the front and led the last 15 laps of the 20-lap main event on his way to his 28th career supercross win - tying Rick Johnson for second place on the alltime supercross wins list. Yamaha's Chad Reed chased Carmichael home in second, never letting the Honda rider get too far out front, but ultimately he had to settle for the runner-up spot, losing a further three points to trail Carmichael by six in the race for the AMA Supercross Championship. Reed, however, did manage to extend his THQ World Supercross GP Series Championship by another three points over his teammate David Vuillemin, who finished third in San Francisco. "The Yamaha guys have got my bike going great," Reed said. "I've just got to get a start and see what we can do. I'm well in there [in the points standings]. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series when it goes back east - I like the tracks back there, so it's only going to get better." The main event got under way as White Brothers/Shift Honda's Paul By STEVE Cox PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN SAN FRANCISCO, CA, JAN. 25 I1\l onda's Ricky Carmichael has had lJ\I a tendency to string together wins ever since very early in his career. A perfect season in the 1998 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series led to six wins in a row in that year's 125cc Nationals. He had streaks of four, three and two wins in the 1999 125cc Nationals, six wins in a row in the 2000 250cc Nationals, and then his more recent runs of 12 supercross wins in a row in 2001 and 24 moto wins in a row in the 2002 250cc Nationals. And that's not all of them. In winning the 250cc main event at the first-ever supercross at Pacific Bell Park, he has perhaps started yet another win streak, successfully following up his win last week at Anaheim. Rarely has he won a race without also winning one or more races before and/or after, and much of this is due to his confidence - when he wins one, he believes he can win them all. "It was important for me to win and back it up from last weekend," Carmichael said. "I got good starts and stayed away from trouble. , feel I'm getting a little stronger now, and 6 FEBRURY 5, 2003' eye I e n e _ s Carpenter got the holeshot in his first main-event start, but he was quickly passed by a fast-starting SoBe Suzuki Frenchman - no, not Sebastien Tortelli, who's had three holeshots in six races this year, but Stephane Roncada. Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk found himself careening off the track just after the gate dropped. "I'm not sure what happened," Lusk said. '" just kind of got together with Sebastien [Tortelli]; , don't know what happened. Maybe he cross-rutted or whatever, but, you know, it's racing." "I tangled with David [Vuillemin] at the start, and we hit Ezra, and Ezra crashed," Sebastien Tortelli confirmed. Lusk remounted dead last. Carpenter, Amsoil/Chaparral Honda's Michael Byrne and Carmichael followed Roncada early, but Carmichael made quick work of his two fellow Honda pilots and moved himself into second before the first lap ended. Mike LaRocco sat seventh after one lap, with Reed right on his tail. Vuillemin was ninth after tangling with Tortelli on the start. '" got stuck with Tortelli, and I was last, and I stayed inside, and in traffic you can go," Vuillemin said. '" got going, and' was pretty far back, but I passed some guys in the whoops." Reed and Vuillemin immediately started moving forward while many of the riders in front of them went the other way. Up front, Roncada was putting in some impressively fast laps, even pulling away from Carmichael slightIy, but Roncada is suffering from the Epstein-Barr virus, and his time in the lead was limited - and he knew it. '" thought' had the holeshot, but I guess Paul Carpenter got it," Roncada said. "I was pretty bummed because I really thought I had it. I've never got a holeshot check. But it was a great start, and' was really happy to be up front. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep the pace for 20 laps, but I was really happy to put my SoBe Suzuki RM250 up front. It was the best race for me so far this year because of the Epstein-Barr. It's been really tough." Carmichael finally got by Roncada on the sixth lap. "He [Roncada] didn't put up a fight," Carmichael said. "I was kind of happy about that. I passed him on, let's say, lap six, and he was kind of coasting around the turns. I thought, 'There's no way he can be tired at this point,' and' didn't know what state of mind he was in, but I got around him pretty quick."

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