Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THQ World Supercross GP SeriesiAMA Supercross Series Round 817: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ing just after the start. The French- he wouldn't take it. 1 think he was man had also crashed in practice on wore out. I could really see what was Friday and wasn't feeling well. The happening. He was just making some longer he went, the worse he felt, and teammate Ferry knew it. mistakes, and I knew I didn't have much time, so I got it done with two "He rode pretty good until well over halfway, then 1 think maybe he was getting tired," Ferry said. "I laps to go." passed him one time, and 1 kind of "With about five laps to go, I got really tired," Vuillemin said. Though he was on the podium for left the door a little bit open. 1 thought the third time in the AMA series - he my Own Race,: 2-50cc o respective places for the long haul. "I just tried to turn my weekend around this weekend and do things right and capitalize on the things 1 did wrong last weekend [when he finished third in San Diego]." Carmichael said. "It takes a lot of focus. Everyone was riding really good. Chad's riding fast, and that's my main focus: is trying to out and go as fast as I can and race the track, and that's what I did tonight." Lusk finished second, but knew he wasn't at his best. "I just didn't have a good weekend - kind of off all weekend; I just wasn't [J!J®W UW@W up to pace," he said. "Maybe with the ruts and everything, 1just couldn't get it going. But luckily tonight 1 got that holeshot and was able to ride with Chad [Reed] for a while. I saw him going pretty hard at the beginning, and me and Ricky [Carmichael] just rode a smart race. "I really didn't have the speed, so 1 was just trying to put in some laps, try to get away with a podium tonight and hopefully build on something for Atlanta and Daytona and the rest of the season." Yamaha's Vuillemin made his way into third on the sixth lap after crash- @®(l UW@f?@ Qualifying Chad Reed won the first heat and Ricky Carmichael the second. Neither had to work very hard, and both won handily, Reed by 22 seconds, Carmichael by 14. Reed's heat race was the faster of the two, by 10.3 seconds, but that was partly the fault of Carmichael's teammate Emesto Fonseca. Fonseca crashed in a triple-triple section early in the second heat. Carmichael had wamed Fonseca that the section could be tricky. "I told Ernie, 'Be careful on that thing, because it's going to pitch you forward if you don't hit it right,'" Carmichael said. "When me and Timmy [Ferry) were battling it out, I looked over, and I just heard Emie's bike wide open." With waving yellow flags blanketing the area, the normally airborne Carmichael was earthbound, his slower lap time reflected in his heat-race time. Reed would get the first pick on the starting gate in the main. "I was struggling a little bit in practice," Reed said. "I'm fmally getting it together." This being the first of the non-West-Coast races - it's hard to call Minnesota the East Coast - the track was built from softer dirt than the "Left Coast" hard pack and was more prone to changing. "The jumps are big, the same size as on the West Coast, but with some big, gnarly ruts in them," Reed said. '-~ Carmichael noted, "It takes a lot of knowledge out here on this track because it's rutted, and patience, which I've got." The semis wer~ore star-studded than usual after a few heat-race mishaps. Amsoil/Chaparral HOrlda's Mike laRocco tangled with Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk and MotoXXX's Clark Stiles on the first lap of the second heat with all three going down. Lusk and Stiles continued, but laRocco pulled out soon after. Stiles got the jump in the second semi, but it was Lusk on the move, taking the lead on the fourth lap and pulling away to win by 10.127 seconds. American Honda's Fonseca came back from his heat crash to take second, with Stiles third. "I'm still not going as fast as I need to to race with Ricky [Carmichael] and Chad [Reed]: Lusk said. Mach 1 Yamaha's Heath Voss won the first semi. The Minnesotan, who now lists Mico, Texas, as his home, was chased by MotoXXX's Damon Huffman; the Honda rider closed to within about two bikelengths as they flew over the finish-line jump. "He was gaining on me fast the last couple of laps: Voss said. "It's great to come here and race in front of my friends and family." Subway Honda's James Povolny jumped in front of the LCO at the start and raced to a commanding win, 13.709 seconds over Joseph Oehlhof, who took the final transfer to the main. 10 FEBRUARY 26, 2003' cue I • n ... _ s Mike LaRocco DNS The veteran from Indiana probably shouldn't have ridden, but he tried anyhow. "I figured I'd come and try: he said. "I had tickets and plans to be here. I thought I'd try." He was caught up in a second-heat crash with Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk and MotoXXX's Clark Stiles. Even before that, he realized his injured right shoulder wasn't properly healed. "My shoulder's not ready. I was trying to be realistic. If I can't go out there and ride the way I need to ride, I might as well just wait. I was pretty sure after the first practice [that he couldn't compete]. I thought it might loosen up, but it didn't. I got tangled up early. Ezra [LuskJ went down. At that point, I was like, I can't really push it." As for what he'd do between this week and next week's race on the hard-packed clay of Atlanta's Georgia Dome, laRocco said, "Same thing I did between last week and this week. I just got to keep the rehab going, the therapy, just try to get it to where I can ride. It rained in California every day, so aside from the fact that I was still pretty weak, I didn't ride at all." 1] ~ David Vuillemin ~@ Damon Huffman ®0 Keith R. Johnson ~cB Ernesto Fonseca 4th Vuillemin was also injured coming in, the injury preventing him from training. He was knocked off the podium by teammate Tim Ferry with just over two laps to go in the main, after working his way to the front following a first-lap crash that claimed seven riders. "Timmy rode a great race," Vuillemin said. "I crashed at the beginning. I passed him; he passed me back. And so he got around me. I rode good. I just need to put it together in the race. I had two huge crashes, one yesterday and one this afternoon. It wasn't a great way to start with. I have the speed; I just need to go out there and last 20 laps. I've been struggling, and I crashed hard at Anaheim III in the heat race and hurt my shoulder. It's been a struggle the last couple of weeks. I need to get back on track and get back on my training program." • 7th Every race is an education for MotoXXX's Huffman as he makes the transition to the Honda CRF450R after a career on four-strokes. Having ridden it on the hard-packed West Coast tracks, Huffman said there was more to leam on the softer dirt in Minnesota. "The big four-stroke - I've been struggling a bit in the whoops, and it's been causing me to tighten up and get arm pump. This weekend, the whoops were to my liking, and I had a good rhythm through them, and I had a good start. I knew that if I got a good start and got out with the leaders that the other privateer guys and B-team guys wouldn't be able to catch me. I got out there great, got down there with [Ezra) Lusk, went on the outside of Lusk, came out around fifth, and then [David] Vuillemin passed me, and I ran sixth for a while until [Chad) Reed passed me at the end. I'm getting used to the four-stroke, and I'm kind of learning how to ride more with the throttle instead of using the clutch. Seems to help me a little bit. It definitely felt different as far as the front end sticking more. The dirt tumed out great. It got a little rutty here and there, but it was great." It was Huffman's best finish of the year. 8th The New Mexico rider scored his career-best supercross finish, one better than he'd finished here last year. "Last year here I think I got a ninth, and that was my best finish before. Minnesota is actually my lucky place. I got my best national finishes at Millville on the 125. 1got an eight and a ninth and then a ninth and an eighth here on a 250." Johnson said he kicked his shifter into neutral in tum one "which was kind of a blessing in disguise because I was able to sneak around the inside when everybody went wide, and I just rode . a good 20 laps, passed some people, stayed consistent all 20 and ' ended up eighth. I like the dirt how, like, it's tacky. Being from New Mexico, I don'(like the ruts, but I'll get used to it." Johnson raced in a pack of four much of the race then pulled away from them and went after Damon Huffman. "Other than that, nobody was behind me, but Huffman was in front of me. From about lap 12 on, it was pretty clear behind me - there was nobody back there." 10th Honda's Fonseca crashed hard in his heat race, misjudging the takeoff for a triple jump that led to another triple. He finished second to Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk in the second semifinal to move into the main, but he was there at less than full strength. "I crashed pretty hard in the heat race. I'm just really sore. It hurts more to walk than to ride. I don't even know what to say." Fonseca began the main by falling and finishing the first lap in 17th place. "In the main, at the start I crashed - I was in the first-tum pileup. On top of that I was real sore from the crash. It was just a tough night for me. It's been tough all year for me. I don't know. I'm just waiting for the turnaround."

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