Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By STEVE COX PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN SOOTHWICK, MA, JUNE 8 icky Carmichael has only lost at Southwick's MX 338 -track once, and that one time was to Team Yamaha's John Dowd in the 1998 125cc National. In the 250cc class, though, Carmichael has yet to leave the track without the first-place trophy in his hands, and this year's win was a record-tying fourth in a row here. Honda's Jeff Stanton also won four-straight Southwick 250cc Nationals (1989-1992). Carmichael's success at the facility is likely partially to do with his love of the sand, having grown 'up in Florida, and his riding style, which is one that allows the bike quite a lot of freedom of movement, is ideal for the deep sand. "I knew this weekend was going to be kind of easy for me - I enjoy coming here - and I knew there was a cou- R JUNE 18, 2003' a • a • pie guys that were going to go fast John [Dowd) and Doug [Henry], and Timmy [Ferry) also," Carmichael said_ With his two-moto romp in the wet sand and his closest competitors not finishing directly on his tail, the champ also extended his points lead quite a bit, all the way to 44 points. Considering the series is only four races old, it's a pretty big lead. "The points are good," said the weekend. I feel comfortable in the points, and I know Kevin's going to be good at Budds Creek, and I'll have my hands full, but I feel like I know how to beat him - I know what it takes - but I'm definitely not taking anything away from him. He's a phenomenal rider, and it's going to take me to get a good start. If I don't get a good start, I'm going to have a long day ahead of me. " a couple of turns into the race. Henry made short work of both Carmichael and Ward and set out after Ramsey. "The first lap there, man, he hit that jump back there wide open - I was like, 'Whoa!'" Carmichael said of Henry's pass on the first lap. By the end of the second lap, though, Henry found himself fourth behind Carmicnael and Ferry. "The first lap, Ricky and I kind of passed each other back a couple of times - that was fun," Henry said. "And I enjoy riding with him, and he is so competitive and stuff, so I was happy." Carmichael imm.ediately set out after teammate Ramsey and made the pass for the lead just after the finish line to complete lap two. At the same time, Ferry came up to nip Henry for third. Ferry almost immediately went up and passed Ramsey, but Henry was having a harder time of it. "I felt like in the beginning there I couldn't get out to my pace that I wanted to get out to - it was kind of hard getting around Nathan for a little while there,· Henry said. "He wasn't slowing me up that mUCh, but it would've been nice to get by him sooner so I could've had a clearer track." Henry didn't make it by until Dowd came by both him and Ramsey, which seemed to clear the path for Henry to make the pass. Henry forced Ramsey wide after he jumped to the inside aggressively in the same spot he did it to Carmichael earlier, but he was almost six seconds behind thirdplace Dowd, who was a further nine seconds behind Ferry. Carmichael was clear by over seven seconds. Carmichael was putting down serious lap times out front, and some laps he put two seconds on second place. Dowd, meanwhile, was catching Ferry for second at a consistent rate, and Windham began pressuring Henry for fourth. By lap nine, Windham found his way around Henry and immediately gapped the Yamaha legend. Behind Henry, Mike LaRocco had caught Chad Reed and Ramsey in a battle over sixth, and that battle carried them up to Henry. It only took three laps for laRocco to work his way right through all of them and into fifth, while Henry pulled back out a bit on Reed. Out front, Carmichael had 20 seconds in hand by the end of the 12th of 18 laps. "I knew this weekend was going to be kind 01 easy lor me - I enjoy coming here - and I knew there was a couple guys that were gaing to go last..: - Ricky Carmichael Honda star. "I definitely try to build on it every week, and John [Dowd] got up there between me and Timmy [Ferry] and was able to put some points in there, and Kevin [Windham] had a so-so first moto, and [Chad] Reed also didn't have a very good first moto, so from a points standpoint, it was really good for me this • n _ _ so Comparatively, his day at Southwick was short. Nathan Ramsey grabbed the holeshot to start the day's 250cc action, followed closely by Larry Ward, Carmichael, Doug Henry, Kevin Windham, Timmy Ferry, John Dowd, Sean Hamblin, Ernesto Fonseca and Ezra Lusk, while David Vuillemin went down just Dowd was still catching Ferry, and with three to ,go Dowd was only down by a little over two seconds, and on the last lap Dowd got by Ferry. "I just made a mistake on the last lap," Ferry said, "and Dowd had closed in from 10 seconds to like three or four seconds, and I had him covered, but then I ran off the track [laughs]. I was

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