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/128212
THGl World Supercross GP SeriesiAMA Supercross Series Round 16/15: Rice-Eccles Stadium BY STEVE COX PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN SALT LAKE CITY, QT, APR. 26 I t's only fitting that the top two riders in the AMA Supercross Series, Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed, are now tied going into the Las Vegas finale with seven wins apiece, after the Team Yamaha rider did what he needed to do in order to keep the points gap closing - win the race. Now separated by just 10 points (Carmichael led by 25 following Daytona), Reed's on a roll with his fifthstraight win, and unlike Dallas two weeks ago, the race for the lead between the top two was neither polite nor ongoing. This week, Reed made contact with Carmichael with an aggressive move early, and Carmichael suffered a damaged exhaust pipe in his fall. However, it seems Reed will need more than that in Vegas if he wants to come away the champ, as Carmichael got back up and raced through the thin air of Salt Lake City aboard his wounded motorcycle to finish a solid second again, minimizing the damage to his championship hopes and showing yet again that he and Reed are heads and shoulders above what remains of the 250cc field. 16 MAV7,2003' cue I e (Above) After Ricky Cannlchael (4) tangled with a returning Timmy Fenyand bobbled, Chad ReecI (22) got a run on him and made an aggressive pass for the lead earty in the race, causing Cannlchaei to crash. (Left) The combination of this dent in Cannlchael's pipe and the high altitude kept his Honda from running well for the rest of the main event, although It ran good enough for him to climb back up to second. n e vv s After the race, there was a scrum in the starting area as tempers flared among the Carmichael, Ferry and Reed camps, and Carmichael was fuming - and he pulled no punches on the podium and in the post-race press conference (see Briefly... ). For the fifth race in a row, the top three after 20 laps of racing read Reed, Carmichael and Ernesto Fonseca, as Carmichael's teammate came through from the tail end of the top 10 for third yet again. Matching his best finish of a round ago in Dallas, Nick Wey finished fourth, while fast-starter Sean Hamblin finished fifth - the last rider on the lead lap. Believe it or not, this is just the third time in at least the last 14 years that the 250cc championship will be awarded at the last round of the AMA Supercross Series. SoBe Suzuki's last man standing, Hamblin, and MotoXXX's Larry Ward fought for the holeshot at the start of the 20-lap main event, with Hamblin on the inside of the right-hander, but the two hooked bars heading into the turn allowing Team Yamaha's returning four-stroke star Timmy Ferry to dive underneath and steal the holeshot at the line by inches, while Ward went careening off the track, and Hamblin recovered to salvage second.