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AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. MX Championship Series Round 1 : Glen Helen Raceway Kevin rides so good - to hold him off Reed said. "It was something I needed "The second moto was good for down the straightaways. So you kind to go in and see where I was at. "Both motos it seemed like I could me," Carmichael said. "Kevin got out of have to be a bit creative and just We've been doing a lot of Super- see those guys up front; [ just to a good start, and I had to work ride the best that you can and take crosses, and me and Ricky are the couldn't catch them. I could keep it through a couple of guys. I saw Kevin good lines. And that's what I did." only two that ran the whole season. the same but never could catch them. and celebrate on the last lap. I'm satisfied with it. out there, and I knew I needed to get Windham finished about 10 sec- Just coming down to the last race, I So I've got to work a little bit there. at him before he got away, and I was onds behind Carmichael, while Reed haven't done too much outdoor rid- Ricky, coming into this race, knew able to do that. We had a good, clean finished about the same distance ing. So it was just fun to come to this where he was at and what to expect. race. It was tough for the two-strokes behind Windham. weekend and get it out of the way. Supercross to me is a lot easier - it's Overall, I'm not totally pumped, but kind of like walking. I love it so much, "Today was a lot of fun for me," out here - especially when a guy like m lJlJ Own Race: 250cc Ezra Lusk 4th (5-4) Still feeling the effects of the broken wrist he suffered during the Supercross Series, Ezra Lusk had a successful day on the wrist-pounding Glen Helen track. Lusk got an 1lth-place start in the first moto but steadily worked his way up to the front, passing riders such as Larry Ward, Travis Pastrana, Greg Albertyn, Sean Hamblin and David Vuillemin along the way. In the second moto, Lusk started much better - in second place - but he admitted he wasn't ready to go Windham and Carmichael's pace the whole way and toned it down a little. Reed got by him as well on the fourth lap, but nobody else would catch the Kawasaki rider. "I had to swallow my pride the second moto," Lusk admitted. "I had to think about myself and the National season and not try to hang with those guys. I came here hoping to get a certain position, and I get thrown out with the lead. It was really tough to let them go back like that. I felt like I could've gone the pace easily, but I don't think I could've held on (because of the wrist]. Some of the downhiJIs got really rough the second moto, but I really wasn't strong enough to hold onto the bike. To do what they were doing - charging hard and just kind of hanging it out - I couldn't do that. I just started back this week so I'm not super strong yet. J got fourth this weekend, and "m happy with that.' ~@ Nathan Ramsey Mike LaRocco David Vuillemin 6th (8-7) 10th (6-16) e n .. Sean Hamblin 17th (35-11) Sean Hamblin was hoping for another good ride at the Glen Helen National, and he was having just that until he crashed hard in the first moto, recording a DNF. Hamblin was running fourth for most of the moto and had just gotten passed by Tortelli when he went down on the 11th circuit of the 14th-lap race. The crash shook the popular Suzuki rider up pretty good, but he still came out and rode the second moto - though he wasn't as sharp as he was before the crash. "He hurt his 'family life,''' bis team manager Roger DeCoster said. Hamblin started off in fifth place in the second moto, but he faded back to 11 tho VII' 9th (10-9) Kyle Lewis 14th (13-13) ~(] Nick Wey lJ {] Robbie Reynard ~cB 7th (7-8) Glen Helen was David Vuillemin's first race since breaking his back at the Daytona Supercross, and it was also his first race on the YZ450F. Before the race, VuiJIemin said that his back was still a little sore, but that didn't seem to bother him at first. [n the first moto, Vuillemin got off to a second-place start and ran up front for a while before steadily dropping back, obviously not up to his usual shape after being off a bike for so long. VuiJIemin slipped back to sixth at the finish. In the second moto, Vuillemin got another decent start, about sixth, and then settled into seventh before dropping back. "The track had big ruts with big bumps in them," Vuillemin said of the second moto. "I was sitting and hit a berm really hard, and [, like, jammed my spine. [ was in sharp pain and kind of cruised to the end. [ could not sit, so I had to stand and only sit when it was flat. [t was kind of a bad race." 12 MAV21,20.03· c u e I ®® ~® Larry Ward was competing on the big-bore Honda CRF450R outdoors for the first time, and he said he felt quite good on the bike. And he looked like it. Ward, on the MotoXXX/Yoshimura machine, always seemed to be right in the middle of things aU day long. He started eighth in the first moto and ninth in the second moto and was mixing it up with seemingly everybody at one time or another. He seemed pleased with his ride afterward. "I felt like I went really good," Ward said. "I was sure what to expect on the 450 outdoors and ended up getting sixth overall. This is not one of my better tracks, so I'm really happy and excited. I had fun, actually. As gnarly as the track was, it wasn't that bad on my bike. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. I got a terrible start in the second moto, but I had some really good outside lines to get by people bunched up on the inside. I just managed to get up to the top 10 the first couple of laps and stayed real consistent, managed to pass a couple of guys towards the end and ended up with two decent top-lOs." lJ ~ 12th (4-33) Ernesto Fonseca John Dowd was making his first race appearance since last year's Nationals. The KTM/Cernics-backed Dowd, who did not race this year's supercross series, looked fast but admitted he's got to get his starts down on this new two-stroke KTM 250. Last year, Dowd rode the 520cc four-stroke KTM and pulled his fair share of holeshots. At Glen Helen, Dowd didn't get his customary good starts. In both motos, Dowd started off 16th, but he made up for them the best he could. "I felt like I rode good, but my starts weren't too good," Dowd said. "I've got to work on the starts. I think the bike is fast; I just got to figure how to put it down just right. I think I had a pretty good pace - I was riding like with LaRocco, Hamblin, Fonseca and those guys. I'm pretty happy my first race back." Racing for the first time since injuring his shoulder during the Supercross Series, Mike LaRocco didn't make big waves at Glen Helen, starting poorly in both motos and never really getting involved with the riders up front. The Amsoil/Chaparral Honda star, however, had one very big positive - his shoulder survived the day without giving him pain. "I knew I wasn't ready," laRocco said, "but I was hoping to do better than I did. I was terrible off the gate; I forgot about that concrete trung. That killed me, I mean, I started like 18th and 26th; it was ridiculous. I kind of figured where I'm out and what I need to do. If anything, I got that much out of today. The shoulder is good. I was concemed that it [the shoulderl would be drooping by the end of the motos, but it was no problems. I rode probably 10 days before this race, and only two of those were testing. When I tested, my pace wasn't what I need to be." lJ @ Larry Ward Sebastien Tortelli lJ @ John Dowd 28th (29-25) Glen Helen was Nathan Ramsey's first race back since breaking his femur just before this year's Supercross Series. Ramsey didn't have a very good day, crashing on the first lap of both motos, but he was happy to get his first race back over with and to come out of it in one piece. "I got caught up in the chaos, bumped around and fell in both first laps," Ramsey said. "I'm just inching back on my speed and everything, so it's tough for me to come far up when I get that bad of a situation on the first lap. Just one of those things. You never know where you're at until you get out here, and I've got a lot of work to do. Physically, I feel fine because I feel like I can't ride hard enough to get tired. At this point, I need to crawl before I can walk." @ lJ @® The SoBe Suzuki rider was another rider who was making a retum at Glen Helen. TorteJli injured his knee eariy in the Supercross Series and was obviously back up to speed at the National opener, but a flat tire in the second moto ruined his day. Tortelli was one of the fastest riders on the track in the first moto. The Suzuki rider started off in 11 th but climbed his way up to fourth after passing teammate Sean Hamblin on the 11th lap. In the second moto, Tortelli got an even worse start. He rounded the first lap in 14th place and was working his way up when his tire went flat, causing rum to crash on the ninth lap. "For my first race back I got fourth and was looking like I was catching Ezra [Lusk] in the second moto for fourth place again, and fourth is okay," Tortelli said. S The Moto XXX/Yoshimura team rider was still bothered by the wrist he injured at the beginning of the year, and it showed in his results. Lewis didn't get very good starts in either moto and couldn't improve on them very much. And to make matters worse, Lewis twisted his ankle in the second moto and was in a lot of pain afterward. "I didn't have a good weekend, but it went better than expected," Lewis said. "I was a little bummed that I got tired - not used to the race pace. I just wasn't ready." 13th (15-10) After riding the 2003 Supercross Series on a Yamaha YZ250, the Mach 1 Yamaha rider switched over to the YZ450F for the Nationals but had a hard time adapting to the bigger machine. In the first moto, Wey rounded the first tum in 26th place, getting a 15th out of it. Quite the opposite happened in the second moto. Wey nearly grabbed the holeshot and completed the first lap fourth. Wey hung in there for a while but eventually started slipping back to 10th where he would finish out the moto. "I just need to work on the bike setup a little bit and get more comfortable on the bike," Wey said. "The power is obviously there, and the Yamaha is awesome. I had an awesome start in the second moto and was pumped on tbat. If I could put together the next 30-minutes-plus-two-laps I'd come out pretty good. I just need to get more used to it." 19th (23-17) Robbie Reynard was making his debut on the Reynard Modification/No Fear Kawasaki KX250, but things did not go too well for him. Reynard suffered bad starts and couldn't do much with them. In the first moto, Reynard started off in 13th but slipped back to 23rd at the finish. In the second moto, he started off 18th but could only improve one position, going 23-17 on the day. 11th (9-14) Poor starts ruined Emesto Fonseca's day. The Team Honda rider had trouble getting off the line, rounding the first lap in the first moto in 14th place and the second moto in 12th place. {] Greg Albertyn 8th (11-6) The former World and National MX Champion surprised a lot of people at Glen He[en. Albertyn, who came out of retirement for the day, showed he had the speed to hang with some of the top riders, but perhaps not the endurance. Albertyn started the fIrSt moto in seventh but dropped to 11th before it was all over, but he gave a lot of guys tough battles along the way. In the second moto, Albertyn only seemed to get stronger, starting off 11th but finishing sixth. He was threatening a tiring Tim Ferry for fifth when the checkered flag came out. Albertyn was unavailab[e for comment after the race.