Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

a few mistakes, allowing the two Hondas to put some precious time on him. Windham led for a lap just ahead of Carmichael, while Reed sat about three seconds behind them, but then heading down the same hill where he passed Reed, Windham washed out heading into the corner at the bottom of the hill. "I actually heard him [Carmichael] coming up the inside, and he was going make the pass on me and I had already accepted that - I just had a bad line there, so I was prepared to move over and catch on to some of his good lines," Windham said. "I don't really freak out when somebody's going to pass me. It was early in the race, and I figured I'd have a good shot at having something for him again. And after I got up, I had better times than him, so I wasn't really in a freak-out situation. What it was was that the dirt was a little bit soft and that line was actually off the track, but it was pretty well established, and when I made the transition from the loose stuff onto the hard, slick stuff, there was a ledge, and my front end just kind of pushed out from under me. "I went through all that I needed to do, and I got it started in three kicks, which wasn't bad. I've got to stay off the ground, man! I mean, I feel good, the bike's working good; I just need to stay off the ground and do what I need to do." Carmichael inherited the lead, and Windham got up third, a few seconds behind Reed. "Kevin was putting in some good laps, and he made a mistake, and I capitalized on it," Carmichael said. "He rode really good, and it's a lot hotter today than it has been, so it's to my advantage." Once Carmichael had such a firm lead, the race was as good as over at least the race for the lead. Carmichael had almost seven seconds on Reed, and it was about the same gap back to Windham, but the four-stroke rider immediately started cutting into the gap. It took him six laps to catch Reed, but when he caught him, it only took Windham a lap to get around the Yamaha rider. Windham passed Reed in the same section of track where he passed Reed earlier - it was also the same area where Windham fell. But when Windham moved back into second, he was already 13 seconds behind Carmichael, and there were only six laps left to run. Despite putting in some of the fastest laps of the day, Windham had to settle for second, with Reed third, Ezra Lusk a strong ~ourth coming from behind, and hometown boy Mike LaRocco doing likewise for fifth. Moto two was all Carmichael. Carmichael was the only rider to stay clean the second time out, as he grabbed the holeshot just ahead of Windham, Lusk, Ernesto Fonseca, David Vuillemin, Timmy Ferry, Kyle Lewis, Larry Ward, Reed and LaRocco. "I knew it was going to be a hard mota," Carmichael said. "I got the holeshot - I kind of closed the door on Kevin [Windham] because I really didn't feel like following him. There's lots of spray riding behind that 450, and he was riding really good today." Windham didn't look like he wanted to let Carmichael go, either. The top two riders pulled away from the rest of the pack like they were in a different class completely, as there were more than 12 seconds between second-place Windham and the rest of the pack after just three laps, and Windham was allover Carmichael. "I got out front, and I thought I'd check out, but he was right on my tail," Carmichael said. "I just tried to ride as fast as I could and see if he could hold the pace, and at about the halfway mark, I started putting some time on him." It took him six laps or so to start to pull away, but Windham was dehydrated and figured discretion was the better part of valor and let Carmichael go. "I think my training's good and stuff, but today I got dehydrated, and I had no choice but to slow down," Windham said. "I was either going to pass out or just be done or back it down a little bit, so I chose to back it cue. e down. But I'm really disappointed I got dehydrated. It's hotter than at my house, and it's more humid and everything, but there's really no excuse. This is the first race that it's happened, and it hit me hard and it hit me fast, but there was nothing I could do. That's the way it goes. I think that I need to get on some supplements and get a little more prepared coming into the race weekend. My bike, my sponsors, my speed and all that are perfect, so I mean J had the speed today, for sure." Carmichael went on to win the race with a considerable gap over Windham, while Vuillemin took his 450 past Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Lusk and pulled away for a comfortable podium spot. Reed finished fourth, and LaRocco repeated his mota-one performance n e _ s • JULv16,2003 11

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