Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) For the fourth race in a row, Emesto Fonseca ended up on the podium In third place. (Right) At times, things got a little crowded on the Dallas track. Here, Ryan Clark (37) gets caught In between Reed and Carmichael over a triple jump. hard on my starts, but I was lucky enough to make the best of that first lap." By the end of the first lap, Carmichael was leading, and by the second lap, Reed was running second and closing in on the Honda rider, setting the stage for what everyone in Texas Stadium was hoping to see. Reed went into the main event with a mental edge over Carmichael, who had noticeably struggled on the Dallas track throughout the day, during practice and the heat races, while Reed seemed to have the track mastered after his first lap around the course. Carmichael's biggest problem was the track's two whoop sections, a long one and a short one. He seemed to struggle through the whoops until finally finding a good line and technique in the second practice session, but a hard crash in the long whoops just when he seemed to have things figured out - on the last lap of practice had him thinking again. Reed, meanwhile, had the whoops dialed all evening, as he did the rest of the track. So when Carmichael got out in front in the main, his fans where holding their breath every time the Honda rider charged into the whoops. But Carmichael looked much better in the whoops during the main event and managed to keep Reed at bay for a number of laps. Much of this had to do with at least one section of the track - a rhythm section that Carmichael had dialed a little bit better than Reed, so both riders had their advantages and disadvantages. Reed made his first bid for the lead on the fourth lap, getting a better drive through the whoops and making a block-pass on Carmichael in the next turn. Reed could've parked Carmichael but instead made a clean pass. Shortly thereafter, Carmichael returned the favor, passing Reed and giving him plenty of room in a turn, as well. At this point, a precedent had been set that neither rider was going to "take the other out." After a couple of more lead changes, Carmichael finally established a small advantage, but that only lasted for a few laps before the pair went back and forth again. "There were times when I didn't think it was the right time to try and pass but instead showed him a wheel," Reed said. Finally, Reed made what ended up being the last pass for the lead near the halfway point. Carmichael, however, stayed right with him until he bobbled slightly, giving Reed another bike length on him. Pretty soon, lappers began playing an important role in the race. At one point, things got a little crowded in the whoops, and both Reed and Carmichael got messed up, with Reed nearly going down. This let Carmichael catch back up. As the two frontrunners continued to weave their way through traffic, Reed opened up a small lead of about two seconds, which he would maintain throughout the waning laps. "I think the last five laps were the best five laps I did," Reed said. "When I saw the five-lap board, I just put my head down and put five good laps in, just like I do during the week." make something happen. I kept telling myself to stay calm and stay close and hopefully he'll make a mistake. He made a couple, but I wasn't close enough to capitalize on it." "I was trying to ride calm all night. I felt like I was fighting it a little bit [earlier in the day]," Carmichael said of the late stages of the race. "I couldn't get too anxious; it was hard for me to m cB@ Own Race: 250cc James Povolny Jr. 18th This Honda privateer suffered through a long night at Dallas. During his heat race, Povolny went down and broke his right foot - but he wasn't going to let that end his night prematurely. Despite the pain, Povolny went out and finished third in his semi to make the main event. His foot had become so swollen that he couldn't take off his boot. StIJl. he started the race and rode to the end, finishing 18th. ®@ Keith R. aJohnson Star Racing/Bobby J's Yamaha rider crashed in his semi 12th Johnson had quite night. The and was extremely slow to his feet. According to a team member, Johnson "rang his bell pretty good." Despite the crash, Johnson returned for the last-chance qualifier, where he finished second- Johnson went on to finish 12th in the main event and maintain his lead in the year-end top privateer race. 1] ® Brock SeUards @~ Ivan Tedesco 8th Riding with a sore leg from the previous week, Boost Mobile/YamahafTroy Racing's Sellards did quite well in Dallas. "I had a pretty good start; I think I was in third," Sellards said of his race. "But I kind of screwed up through the first tum. I got hurt last week, and I've got a jacked up ankle and shin, and it was really hard riding out there. I probably shouldn't have raced this race. I did it just for fun tonight. I did all right tonight; I could've done a lot better if I was healthy. Plus we borrowed some bikes from Shogun racing - we just rode a stock bike with [works) suspension." 6th Boost Mobile/YamahafTroy Racing's Tedesco rode well in the main event. He got off to an 11 th-place start and steadily worked his way up. He took over sixth on the eighth lap and held it there the rest of the way. He was one of only six riders not to get lapped by Chad Reed. 1] 1] @ Casey Lytle 9th Pretty much working out of a van, ReMax Yamaha's Casey Lytle was certainly the true privateer at Dallas, and he ended up being the top privateer in the 250cc main. Lytle started off seventh, dropped to ninth on the second lap and then stayed there for the rest of the race. cue I e n e _ 51; • APRIL 23, 2003 9

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