Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128230
overall ti tle wi th o ne ro und to spa re. " T o d a y, Ke vin w as r id ing good , w hich I ex pecte d h im to do , " said Carm i ch ae l, w ho c aptured a record f o urth wi n at B ro o m e -T i o g a. "He's been good all year. B ut at th is track.. . he reall y shin es. So we did what we had to do. My mechanic, Mike Gosse la ar , kept me motivated. I was a littl e bummed o ut after the first moto, but I ke pt it going, g ot a g reat sta rt the second m oto and pretty m uch that was it - didn 't g ain an y p o ints th is weekend , but didn 't los e any - which sets m e up nic e for St eel Ci ty ." Th ou gh th ere was no glaring diffe rences in th eir la p ti m es , Carm ic hael basica lly handed over the first m oto win t o W indh am wh en he cr ashed o n a rough downhill portion of the track on lap three , going from the lead to fourth pla ce. Two laps late r Carmich ael was back in second place - having passed Ya ma ha's Chad Re ed a nd D avid Vuillemin - and put t h e cha se on Windham. But Windh am was just too strong , and. believe it or no t, the go for -broke Carmicha el sho wed sig ns of a vet eran, as he limi ted his charge and eve ntually settled into second pla ce. Carmicha el said of h is first-moto c rash : " It wa s reall y r o u g h th ere . Kevi n was on the o utside of me , and I was just trying to h old it on, y o u know; I didn 't want him to ge t by me. I w ent down in t here, and my forks c o mp ressed, m y b ac k e n d ki n d o f sli d aroun d , and tha t was it. I was able to hold Timmy off. And th en was a bl e to get by Chad and Cobra [Vu ill emin ). It was j ust a minor mi stake , but I h a d t o ri de so ha r d be cau se K ev in w as riding so go od . [And bec ause of th at] the cha nces of yo u going down a re mu ch greate r than they no rmall y would be ." In all, Ca rmichael lost 12 seconds on Windham in the crash and would never m ak e up m ore than abo ut fo ur seconds. Windha m, wh o ac tua ll y got the ho leshot in the first moto before turn ing the lead over to Carmichael, ro de a fla wl ess rac e. His CRF450R sh ow ed s igns of do mi nance o n t h e h i lly B r o om e -T i o g a co u r se, bu t it w as Wi ndham's fluid riding style that really put him ove r the top . Tim Ferry got on the podium again, this time in third w ith a 5-3. "T hi s has been what I've wanted to do sin c e I too k my break ; [I] wan t ed to make m y ret u rn , and f rom th e sou n d of th in g s, it' s wha t th e f an s w a nt ed , t o o - t o see a ra ce with Ricky ," Windh am sa i d . " He ' s still doing the same things; I' ve j ust been fo rtu nate to b e up there wi th h im . We've both got go od equipment, and we go to the lin e kn owin g t ha t the best m an 's goi ng to win . I had o ne, an d he h ad o ne . We d o all we c a n eve ry m oto , and it j ust seems like we 're up there and t o gether at o ne point. Either he has th e best li nes and ge t s th rou g h the la p p er s be tte r, o r mayb e I do. What ever it is, at th e end o f th e day we 're giving it o ur all , and I guess it showed toda y ." Keeping a steady pa ce behind th e two Ho n d a frontrunn ers w as T eam Yamah a - the entire team . Vuill emin r e bound ed i n a big w a y f r om l a st week's heatstroke at Millville, fin ish ing o n th e pod ium in th e fi rst m ot o . to race with tha t tire and rim . I like t o run a t ire tha t's not brand new on the tra ck . The only o ne we had m ou nt ed up w a s n o t t o my specs . So t h ey b usted their b utt s to get t h e thi ng ready, and I obv i ously got o ff to a good st art , so it d idn 't hinder m e at all. " . Reed ( fourt h ) and Ferry (fift h) wou ld add two more four -stro ke b ikes t o a top 10 th at was 7 0 -percent fi ll ed by thu mpers. The seco nd 250cc m oto got off t o a bit of an auspicious start for Win d h a m. Ju st prior to the parade la p , Windham notic ed he had a problem wi th one of the spokes o n his back rim . So there was a m ad sc ramble as the F acto ry Co nnect ion g uys, alo ng w ith Michelin gu ys, mounted up a new back rim and tire on Windham 's CRF450R . As the ride rs started their p a rade lap , seconds t i c ked o f f t he cloc k, but Wi nd ha m stood there co olly - h is on ly c once rn being tha t th e AMA would g iv e him a few extra sec onds w ith the gate in the down posi t ion so h e c ou l d put a burn on hi s fr e sh t ir e . Th e AMA o b l i ge d , and Windh am was soon o n his way . "W e actually had a problem w ith a spo ke , busted a nippl e off ," Windh am said . "So we knew we co ul dn't go out With Ca rmicha el holeshottin g the seco nd moto , Wi ndham was soon o n his t ail. Halfway throug h the fir st lap, Windham kicked in the aft erb urner s on the po werful four -s trok e a n d c a u g h t , pas s e d a n d e v e n gave Carmichael a lo ok -back while t ak ing ov e r t he l ead on Suzu ki Mounta in . Abo ut a l a p later, C armi c h a e l returne d the fav or , catching Windham at the end of a downhill sect ion and putting a te xtboo k pass on him fo r a l ead t hat Carmi ch ael would never relinquish . " I got the holeshot , then Kev in got b y me co m i ng d own t he h il l ," Carm ich ael sa id . " I wa s behind him Chad Reed w as consi stent w ith a pair of f o urth -place f inis hes. cue I e n e _ S • S EPTEMBER 3 , 2003 11