Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THQ World Supercross GP SeriesiAMA Supercross Series Round 7/5: Edison International Field times. Obviously, beating Reed heads up was a confidence-inspiring win for the two-time SX champ. "I proved to everybody, especially the people that are talking," Carmichael said. "I put the word down tonight, and I'm so happy. Everyone wanted to see me and Chad race, and they got it tonight. "The first couple of laps Chad got by me - a couple of people got by me," Carmichael said. "They were going wide open all over the place. I just let them go ahead and try to settle into a groove. I think lap four and five, I started putting in some good laps and did my own thing." "Both of us were far from perfect," Reed said. "He was making a lot of mistakes, and so was I. It was [){}@I!/I!l Ezra Lusk (11) and Stephane Roncada (21) were both very fast at the start of the main event, but neither was physically 100 percent and could maintain the lead pace for all 20 laps. They still finished fifth and sixth, repectively. eked out another small, but hardly comfortable, lead over Reed. The ha rider right back on Carmichael's rear race for the win got close once more when Carmichael bobbled again in triple one lap, and I came right back on him." The near crash didn't faze Carmichael, who slowly but surely another section of whoops on the second-to-Iast lap, letting Reed get fender. "He made a move over there on me [on the first lap], and 1 got back by him [on the fourth lap]," Carmichael said. "I started to pull close again. Carmichael, however, held on again to take his third win in a row. 1 had him right at the breaking "I seen him, and I knew 1 had plen- point, and I made a mistake there. He kind of smelled blood after that and got back on my tail. That was a costly mistake, and 1 will learn from it." "One time I messed up on the ty enough lead to cruise," Carmichael away. said. "I didn't want to throw it down. If anyone knows me really good, this isn't the best of my tracks." After taking the checkered flag, Carmichael showed a bit more emo- rhythm section and he was just gone," Reed said. "I almost couldn't see him. Then I think he missed the tion than usual, pumping his fist at the tailing Reed and in the air many A relieved and happy Jeff Stanton greets Carmichael moments after RC takes the checkered flag. 10 FEBRURY 12. 2003' cue I e n e _ so a tough track - I hate the hard-pack, and I don't think he likes it too much either. The both of us aren't that good on it, and we still won - well, I didn't win, but we were up there. It was good racing. 1 got to watch him for a w~ole 20 laps, so next week we'll come out stronger." Joining Carmichael and Reed on the podium was Reed's teammate Vuillemin, whose impressive ride was somewhat overshadowed by the Carmichael/Reed shootout. Vuillemin did not get off to a good start, completing the first lap in eighth place. He seemed to find his rhythm and pick up speed as the race went on. He picked off riders one by one until he had slipped past Byrne for third on the 18th lap. At u!JD@W @@li u!JD@[?@ Qualifying Mike LaRocco and Chad Reed supplied most of the entertainment in the first heat race. The 31-year-old LaRoc· co led 20-year-old Reed around the first lap and into the split section of the track; laRocco went right, and Reed went left. When they merged. laRocco still had a half-bikelength lead on the Australian as they continued to duel. A few tums later, Reed execut· ed a nice inside pass on LaRocco and took the lead but couldn't pull away from the veteran. On the last lap, LaRocco tried to cut inside of Reed but appeared to carry too much momentum to maintain the inside line. As a result, LaRocco drifted wide and slammed into Reed just as the Australian was jumping out of the tum. Reed went flying off the bike, and LaRocco ricocheted off the track. It was now a race to get back going again, which was won by Reed. laRocco struggled a bit to get going again and re-entered the race fifth. Reed took the win just ahead of Ivan Tedesco, Nick Wey. Sebastien Tortelli and LaRocco, who missed a transfer by one position. After the race. laRocco and Reed exchanged words as they rode back to the pits. "It was a great race, but we had a little bit of a crash on the last lap, but I still got the win," Reed sald. "I kind of went to the outside, and Mike didn't really want to turn. I just said to him, 'Hey, you're 30 years old, why'd you do that in a heat race?'" Reed elaborated on the incident after the final. "I didn't mean it [the 30·year-old comment) to be mean, it was just· when you're 30-plus years old, you shouldn't make ama· teur choices like he did. I watched on the replay: I did a front flip. and he did a back flip. so obviously he wasn't never going to make it. What can I say? He just straight up T· boned me. It was funny - afterwards he seemed to put the blame on to me. I'm like, 'Go back and watch it on the 1'1.' Before the main event, he was walking by me and kind of eyeballed me, and I just kind of shook my head. I think he kind of felt bad - maybe he went back and watched it on the tape. We kind of talked about it; there's no hard feelings. It was just one of those things." "I didn't see the tape, [but) it was my fault," laRocco admitted. "I thought that I was farther along enough to where he'd see me and stop. Obviously, he went for it, and I couldn't stop, so I clipped rum. I mean, it was dumb because I didn't mean to do that. I wanted to win the race; I didn't want to ride the semi. He wasn't happy about it. and I don't blame him. He just tried to tell me it was a dumb move, but I kind of agree. At the time I was mad because I had to run the semi, so it wasn't smooth talk." Ricky Carmichael won the second heat race, though he first had to fight his way around Pierrick Paget and Mickael Pichon. But the toughest rider for Carmichael to get around was Brock Sellards. Sellards led off the start and gave Carmichael a hard time for a couple of laps before giving way to the two·time Supercross Champion. Sellards finished second ahead of Pichon and Stephane Roncada. Finishing fifth, one spot out of a transfer, was Michael Byrne, while sixth went to Ezra Lusk. David Vuillemin was also in this one, but he crashed over the triples after getting a little too dose to Lusk. The two semis were somewhat uneventfui, with laRocco taking the win over Fonseca in the first one, and VuiJlemJn winning easily over Byrne in the second one. Keith R. Johnson, Ferry, Erick Vallejo, Lusk, Heath Voss and French rider Pierrick Paget all transferred through the semis. In the Last Chance Qualifier, Casey Lytle worked his way to the front, towing with him Damon Huffman and Larry Ward. The three riders pulled away from the rest of the field, but only two of them would make the final transfer of the evening. Midway through the race, Huffman bobbled in the whoops, which was all Ward needed to move into second and take the final transfer behind winner Lytle.

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