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/128209
THQ World Supercross GP Series/AMA Supercross Series Round 14/13: Silverdome neck," 20-year-old Hamblin said. "It's kind of my little security that I have." Carmichael soon pressured Hamblin, who is still learning the game of supercross, into making a mistake in the whoops - and the whoops would prove to be the undoing of a possible podium finish for the RM250 pilot. -, thought that was going to be my point tonight, you know?" Hamsaid. "The whoops got pretty beat in the main compared to the and J wasn't coming into them as I could've, and it kind of bit me butt, and , only got to jump the double at the end a few times." Hamblin was only three seconds down on Reed when Carmichael got by, but Carmichael immediately made a huge mistake the following lap in the whoops, donating plenty of precious real estate to Reed in the process - and losing forward momentum as well, although he didn't fall. At one point, he had both feet on the same side of his CR250. "WeU if you talk to Rick Johnson, I've got a lucky horseshoe stuck ••. you know," Carmichael said ability to keep from falling gets so out of shape. "But lap I thought for sure I was n, but I hang on, and I trainer that I'm in good I can hold on to that thing. a e a tot of strength, and four years ago J would've been sitting on the side of the track. Sometimes it's I na Of , the battle between the top two riders has been one of momentum and confidence. Yamaha's Chad Reed struck first at Anaheim I, and Ricky Carmichael spun off seven wins in the nine races to follow. It seems that, for now at least, the momentum is back on Reed's side - even if he's going to need some help to have a shot at the AMA championship with only three rounds remaining. "I think those two races where I got sixth really ruined it, but they're the kind of mistakes that you can maybe make in your rookie season," Reed said. "I tried to get that out of the way, I think. I started winning at Anaheim, and I think it kind of would've been better maybe starting second and working off of that. Now I'm just ready to win races. I'm the only guy at Yamaha - I like that, you know, everybody's all about me, so I think that's cool." Carmichael has struggled to find an answer to Reed in the last three races, and Pontiac actually marked the first race of the year that he's lost where he didn't fall. "Obviously I need to get a little bit better start, and I always think there's places for me to improve on out there on the track," Carmichael said. "Chad's riding really good, and I know I need to be faster. [I'll] just go 30 APRIL 16, 2003' cue I horne • no need 'OR thing. I still feel that I'm pretty good, [I've just got to) work on a few things to try to make it easier on the race. I'm not going to freak on what happened tonight; I'm just going to go home and try to better myself." It's clear that the Reed and Carmichael are the class of the diminished field, as they finished more than 40 seconds ahead of thirdplace rider (for the third week in a row) Ernesto Fonseca and lapped up to fifth place in the allotted 20 laps. New full-time 250cc rider (again) Sean Hamblin grabbed the holeshot on his SoBe Suzuki, and when Reed, who started second, came by him on the following straightaway, Hamblin passed him right back, only to lose the lead for good in the whoops. "I didn't get the holeshot, but I come out with the lead, and then Sean [Hamblin] punts me back again," Reed said. "I had to kind of Mad Dog it down the whoops so I wouldn't have to mess with him. From there, me and [my mechanic] Dave just worked together, and he gave me the pitboard, and I was just doing my hardest." Hamblin sat second, with Fonseca a little way back in fourth, and Heath Voss, Larry Ward and Carmichael rounding out the top six on the first lap. e n e _ s Carmichael made short work of Voss and Ward and then stuffed it inside teammate Fonseca on the next go-around. After Carmichael got into third on the fourth lap, Hamblin began checking behind him to see where Carmichael was, and Reed stretched out the lead slightly. "I like to know where everybody's at here and there - especially when you've got Ricky breathing down your spooky, but when you're trying to catch up to someone, you've got to hang it out." Reed doubled his lead because of the mistake, and that approximately six seconds would prove to be impossible to make up on the slick, dry track. Carmichael would catch up a second or two, and then either he'd make a mistake or Reed would pick it up and stretch it back out again.