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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128229
began heading for the exits. Carmichael never backed off, eventually taking the checkered flag roughly 30 seconds ahead of Windham, taking with it his seventh win of the series. "I was definitely looking forward to coming here," Carmichael said. "This is definitely my style of track, rather than the last two races. It was a good weekend for me - I was prepared. As far as riding and practicing and training goes, I didn't change nothing there. I had a new setup this week; Honda got me some new stuff - suspension and a new engine - and it was really good. I'm not saying that's the answer and that's why I won - it had a little bit to do with it - but this is my kind of track." Despite Reed's finishing second in the first moto and Windham's finishing second in the second moto, neither of them would take runner-up honors for ter placing in the second moto. Ferry actually worked his hardest in the first moto, where he started off in 10th place after the first lap but slowly inched his way up the leaderboard as the race wore on. He slipped into third place after passing Fonseca on the ninth lap, and from there Ferry rode approximately 10 seconds behind Reed to the finish. Ferry got a much better start in the second moto, finding himself in a three-way battle with Windham and Reed. He eventually got around Reed for third but couldn't quite catch Windham, but by getting around his teammate Reed, he was rewarded with a hard-earned second overall. "Overall, it was pretty good," Ferry said. "I had a rough time at Washougal and worked really hard the last three weeks, just working on the starts. This was definitely by far the most challenging race so far. It was the hottest, probably the roughest right there with Glen Helen - so I'm the day. Instead, that honor would go to Ferry, who made what ended up being a very important pass on Reed for third place in the second moto. Both riders tied on points for the day, with Ferry going 3-3 and Reed going 2-4, but Ferry got the nod with his bet- CINId Reet. RlcIe his brand_~to third overall wltII • 8-4 _ .... He'll be sticking to tile four;.stroke for the raat of the series. happy the way things went." Ferry added that he enjoys the Spring Creek race, which reminds him of racing at home in Florida. "It's always really humid and really my Own Race: 250cc 1]1] 5th (4-6) Ezra Lusk Ezra Lusk rode much better than his fifth-place overall suggests. The Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki team rider never seemed too far from the action aU day, running as high as fourth in the first moto and fifth in the second. Lusk has been sick since the Washougal round two weeks ago. "I got some bacterial infection in my stomach, and it took two weeks to get over it," Lusk said. "I was lucky we didn't have a race the weekend after Washougal, because I would've been terrible. 1 wasn't able to prepare for this race. My upper body got a little tired and weak." " (§) Mike LaRocco 6th (6-5) LaRocco, on the Amsoil/Chaparral/Factory Connection Honda, had a fairly quiet day en route to a sixth-place finish. Once again, he was hampered by bad starts, and a minor crash in the first moto didn't make thing any easier for him. laRocco started both motos in 12th and never got the chance to run with the leaders. ~® Kyle Lewis 1] @ Larry Ward 10th (10·13) The MotoXXX/Yoshimura Honda rider wasn't particularly pleased with his day, but finishing in the top 10 made things a little easier to swallow. "My wrist got a little sore, and I got a little tired, that's all," Lewis said. "No excuses - my fault - just got tired. At least I get to race next week - I didn't get hurt." 17th (22·11) The day started off well for the MotoXXX rider, Larry Ward. He got a good jump off the start and nearly pulled off the holeshot. He rounded the first lap in fifth but steadily dropped back from there. "I just had a bad first moto," Ward said. The second moto went quite the opposite for Ward after getting a bad start then working his way to the front. "I got a terrible start," Ward said. '" went from 30th to 11 th, so I feel good about that." ~{j Nick Wey ~~ Ernesto Fonseca Kevin Windham was fast, as expected, but a fall and fit of vomiting in the first moto kept him out of the running. He went 9-2 for fourth. 8th (8·10) A 21 st-place start in the first moto put Nick Wey in damage control right off the bat, and the Mach 1 Yamaha rider made a nice recovery. Wey steadily worked his way up until he was running ninth but moved up one position at the end when Kevin Windham pulled off on the second·to-Iast lap. Wey got a better start in the second moto, about ninth, and got up to eighth for a while before dropping back to 10th, where he would finish. The Team Honda rider was impressive early in both motos. Fonseca held down third place for a couple of laps of the first moto before settling into fourth place for a while. He ended up fifth after getting passed by Ezra Lusk late in the race. Fonseca bounced back and forth from sixth to seventh a number of times in the second moto before getting suppressed by the heat a bit. He eventually settled into seventh, where he would finish out the moto. 7th (5-7) hot here - it's sandy, and it's really rough," he said. "Compared to Washougal or some of the smoother tracks, it definitely separates the guys a lot more. You see the gaps between each guy, where some of the other tracks you see everyone freight-training." As for Reed, this was probably his best performance in the outdoor series all year, and it came on his first ride on the four-stroke. Reed traded his YZ250 two-stroke for the YZ450F four-stroke for the Millville race, hoping it would give him a new spark in the series - and it did. Reed looked right at home on the thumper, and he snared the holeshot in the first moto. e U e I • Unfortunately for him, he got out of shape in the sand whoops on the second lap, giving Carmichael the lead. "I just hit one of them [whoops] wrong, and it shot me off the track," Reed said. Reed quickly got back on the track and stayed close to Carmichael for a short while before eventually losing Sight of the red number-4 Honda. Reed again got a good, third-place start behind Carmichael and Windham in the second moto, and he soon made a confidence-boosting pass on Windham on the second lap. He tried catching Carmichael, but to no avail. Pretty soon, Reed had Windham