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THQ World Supercross GP/AMA Supercross Series Round 13/12: Reliant Stadium m Own Race: 250cc 1] @ Larry Ward 4th Larry Ward turns 33 on April 19, but he shows no signs of slowing down. The veteran grabbe>l the holeshot and then led the first eight laps before being passed by eventual winner Chad Reed. "I felt comfortable out front," he said. "I wasn't being real nervous. Just [Chad] Reed and (Ricky] Carmichael are a step above me. I led them for what, 10 laps tonight? Maybe next week IS, you never know." ~71 Nick Wey ®@ Keith R. Johnson 5th The Mach I Yamaha team suffered more than anyone in the first-turn pileup, with Nick Wey finishing the first lap 19th and his teammate Heath Voss in 20th. "I don't know what happened," Wey said. "I came in there; I was pretty good; I would have come out top five, and the next thing I know, I'm tipped over on my right side - and it's a left-hand turn. I was getting unhooked, and then somebody pushed me back over on the first tum, and I laid back down again. I got back up and rode as hard as I could. All I could do was fifth. I don't know - I feel like I'm riding better and better." Nick Wey rounded out the top five for the second week in a row. Actually, the top five this week was the top five last week. Fonseca said. Then he went after the leaders, and that wasn't easy. "These guys are a little bit further ahead than everyone else: Fonseca said. CN Relillnt Sbdium lap and tried to pass every rider," Carmichael said. "Once we got past the halfway mark, I really tried to put in some laps, and the lap times were really consistent, and I felt really strong." When Carmichael moved into second on the 11th lap, Reed had 4.874 seconds in hand. The gap shrank to 3.5 on the 13th lap, and 1.5 with five to go. Carmichael was gaining. The question was whether he'd run out of time. "I thought I was going to catch him with about five laps to go," Carmichael said. "I wasn't fast enough. I was fast enough to catch him, but I needed probably another quarter-of-a-second a lap to make a pass." Reed said, "I knew he was there - I knew he was coming. 1 saw how many laps there was left." HlIIIStDn, llus Results: March 29, 2003 [Round 12/131 HEAT 1 (8 laps. )·4 transfer): 1. Chad Reed (Yllm); 2. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 3. Nick We}' (Yam); 4. TraviS Preston (Hon): 5. Tyler Evans (Suz); 6. Ryan Clark (Yem); 7. Keith Johnson (Yam); 8. Casey Lytle (Y8m); 9. Doug DeHaan (Hon); 10. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); t I. Greg Schnell (Yam); 12. Clinton Shealy (Suz); '13. Zeb Armstrong (Hon); 14. Eddie Ray (Hon); 15. B. Karsten Butler (Suz); 16. Ronnie RamiscaJ (Han); 17. Danny Smith (Suz); 18. Taylor Watts (Yam). Time: 6 min. 23.960 sec. Margin of victory: 9.606 sec. HEAT 2 (8 laps. 1-4 transfer): 1. Selin Hllmblin (Suz); 2. Ricky Carmichael (Han); 3. Jllson Thomas (Han); 4. Heath Voss (Yam); 5. Josh Demuth (Yam): 6. La"y Ward (Hen); 7. Ted Campbell (Hen); 8. Brian Mason (Yam); 9. Scott Davis (Suz); 10. Rene Reyes (KTM); II. Mark Wundrack (Yam); 12. Kris Papworth (Kaw); 13. Joshua Woods (KTM): 14. Is.!tillh Johnson (Kaw); IS. Clark Stiles (Hon); 16. Joe Oehlhof (Yllrn); 17. Hans Neel (KTM); 18. Tyson Hadsell (Yllm); 19. Scott Metz (KTM); 20. Jerrad Fisher (Yam). Time: 6 min. 45.867 sec. Margin of victory; 6.422 sec. SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1·5 transfer): 1. Greg Schnell (Yam); 2. Keith Johnson (Yllm); 3. Doug DeHaan (Hen); 4. Casey Lytle (Yam); 5. Ryan Clark (Yam); 6. Jimmy Wilson (Yam): 7. Zeb Armstrong (Hon); 8. Taylor Watts (Yam); 9. Bryan White (Yllrn); 10. B. Kllrsten Butler (Suz); 11. Eddie Ray (Hon); 12. Clinton Shealy (Suz); 13. Tyler EVllns (Suz). Time: 4 min., 54.358 sec. Margin of victory: 0.977 sec. SEMI 2 (6 laps, 1-5 transfer): 1. Clllrk Stiles (Hon); 2. Larry Wllrd (Hon): 3. Josh Demuth (Yam); Fonseca was third, able to pull away from Ward in the final laps. "The first half of the race, it took me a little while to get Larry [Ward]: Reed was a happy man after his fourth win of the season. 6th This was Johnson's best finish of the year - sixth on the first lap and sixth on the final lap, with a few moves up and down in between, but generally steady as she goes. "I got a good start, which I don't usually do, but we got the bike running a little bit better this weekend because John Mitchell, who builds my motors, is from this Houston, and he just helped me jet it and tried a different base gasket and pipe, and I got good starts with it," Johnson said. "I really was just in charge. I didn't even know what place I was in, and my mechanic put fifth on the pitboard, and I went 'Holy cow, I never ran that high in the majn!'" 071 Greg Schnell cB 71 Clark Stiles ®71 Ryan Clark 7th Greg Schnell didn't fall in the first-tum confusion, but it sLowed him down enough that the course of rus race was fixed. More of a factor was a Crash he'd had in moming practice. "Ln practice this morning, I went over the bars pretty hard," he said. "I thought I might have done something to my neck, maybe broken it or something. I went to the hospital and barely made it back to qualify." Schnell said the doctor had advised that he not ride, "but I said, 'Ah, if it's not broken ...'" 8th Stiles entered the main hurting after coming up short on a jump in a rhythm section in practice. "Friday, in practice, 1came up a little short in one of them and went over the bars pretty good and bruised my ribs," he said. "I was a little bit skittish about that section. That was the only thing holding me back this weekend from maybe fmishing in the top five." 10th The engine in Ryan Clark's Team Solitaire Yamaha YZ250 broke in his semi, though he was able to nurse it home in fifth - the final transfer spot in the main. That was the easy part. When he got back to the pits, he had to find a solution, and it came in the form of privateer Greg Schnell. Schnell loaned Clark the motor out of rus practice bike. "So we had a full fire drill, pulled it out, pulled the motor out of my bike and swapped them and made it to the main just before the gate dropped," Clark said. "I wasn't used to the motor but used the parade lap to get used to it as much as I could. The first half of the race I was testing it out." ®® Sean Hamblin ®cB Travis Preston 9th Hamblin's main was decided on the first lap. Having won his first-ever 250cc heat race earlier in the night, Hamblin had free reign to pick his starting spot, but it didn't help. The SoBe Suzuki rider got caught up in the first-tum mess then fell again later on the first lap, recovering to finish a dispirited ninth. "I'm sick of this back-of-the-pack stuff and making some minor mistakes," Hamblin said. "I put my head down. As soon as I did that, I made my big mistake and went down again. I kind of made two mistakes in less than a lap. I cao't let that happen. Once that happens, Ricky (Carmichael], Chad [Reed], everyone passes you, and you can't do anything. You get stuck in other guys' rhythm." 12th Travis Preston caused the first-tum crash that took out much of the field, rus front end washing out as he ran deep into the hard left. "I'm just going for it," Preston said. "I'm just trying to charge in there and get the hole.hot, and larry Ward had me by a centimeter, and he was coming down on me so I had to hit the brakes at the last second. I bad everything locked. I laid it down and took out half the field with me. I guess that's kind of good and kind of bad. Got back up and got going again and was in the back of the pack and collided with another guy and went down again. And then Old Bertha was kind of hard to start." 8 APRIL 9, 2003' cue I • n • _ S