Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

all by myself. But I was a little disappointed I didn't get second." "It was kind of a gimme," Dowd confirmed. Carmichael won by over 25 seconds when all was said and done, and Dowd handed KTM its best 250cc finish ever in the 250cc Nationals. Ferry beat Windham to the line by almost 14 seconds, and then came LaRocco and Henry, who fought off Reed successfully to better his seventh-place finish in each of last year's motos. All hell broke loose almost right . away in the second moto. Windham got another holeshot to add to his season total followed by Ramsey, Henry, Ferry, Carmichael and Dowd. But this time Henry went on the attack right away and banzaied past Ramsey and almost by Windham over the infamous jump he was wowing his competition with in the first moto. This time, hough, Henry didn't complete the jump and went down in a heap. "1 wanted to get around him [Ramsey) this time, you know?" Henry laughed. "We went over the drop-off, and then the next jump I just tried to out-jump Kevin [Windham] into the turn, and I think I jumped a little too far to the inside, and I may have clipped my handlebar like on a tire or something, but I kind of clipped it and kind of went over the bars and Tim Ferry - I mean, there's nothing you could do - but he just hit me and hit illy bike or whatever, but something just pounded my right butt cheek, and it's going to be black and blue for a month. And then, I guess I broke the bone right in the joint of my pinkie." Needless to say Henry didn't get up right away. "I had no reason to get up," he said. "I just figured I'd lay there and take my time and just - I had no championship to be won or nothing like that. I wasn't getting paid $600,000 to race; I just did what I had to do. If I was running for a championship, I would've found a way to get on that bike again and go." Ferry was sent to the back of the pack after the incident, and Windham had his hands full fighting off Carmichael. Dowd rounded the first lap third with Ward, Ramsey, Reed, LaRocco, Ernesto Fonseca, Nick Wey, Joaquim Rodrigues and Vuillemin in chase mode. Carmichael made his way by Windham near the finish line completing the second lap and tried to set sail, but Windham didn't let him go right off - however, the race for the lead was realistically over as Windham has neyer liked Southwick much. "Obviously Ricky was gone, but that's kind of his style is tracks like this, and for me it was just kind of a race where I wanted to come in and do the best I can," Windham said. "I mean, there's been some trips to Southwick that I don't remember. I knocked myself out on the infield dou- ble a couple times, and I actually took a header here in practice this week. I'm the kind of rider that when I plant a bike, I like for it to be where I put it and not go anywhere, and that's not really a characteristic of a sand track. I do the best I can - I try - but at the same time, I just try to keep it on two wheels and do what 1 can, and today I'm very excited with my p~rformance." Windham wasn't done racing by any means, though. Dowd was lurking in third and shot by the four-stroke pilot on the fifth go-around. Windham sat behind Dowd and went to school for the majority of the moto before pressing • U a •• him from about lap 10 to lap 15, when Windham made the pass stick. . "I learned a little bit from Dowdy when he got around me," the Factory Connection/No Fear/Lee Dungarees Honda rider said. At the same time, laRocco quietly worked his way past Reed for fourth, and Ferry worked his way from the back of the pack for sixth. He even started getting close to Reed before he petered out. "I got past a lot of really good guys, and I was surprised I could catch that far back up, and I closed Reed down to maybe four seconds, • • JUNE 18, 2003 e

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