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/128330
Briefly... I Push came to shove In the Y amaha of Troy pits when, after a qualifier, Pro- O rcuit's Man Walker confronted YoTs Brock Sellards aver what he (Walker) felt was an aggressivetakeoot move on Sellards' behalf. "I railed the first tum, and he (Sellards) never let off," Walker said. Sellards said, "He [Walker] was on the outside, I was ahead of him, and he got caught on my pant leg. All he had to do was chop the throttle. It' s completely his fault." But the contnM!rS)' didn't end there, as Pro-Circu it's Jim "Bones" Bacon and Walker said that a YoT mechanic put a "chemical solution" down on the cement st3rting pad in front of Sellards' bike to , as Pro-Orcu~'s cam p put it, Improve his start. "I'm more upset ~ him [Yo T-Sellards] cheating !han1am him taking me out," Walker said. "He [Sellards]damn near looped out on the start [he got so much traction] ." Bones added, "The mechanic kept ~ [the alleged solution] in a rag and squeezed ~ out [on the start pad]. I do n't know what they had, but it 's illegal" One of the Pro -C ircuit . mechanics said, "It's [Mike] Brown's trick:' meaning tha t Brown picked it up from the drag radng industry, where his family's intimate with the sport. Brown laughed when approached ~ the accusation : "Have yoo seen my starts lately?" The AMA rulebook doesn't spedfocaJly say, "no chemicals" to assist in deaning the start pads. Just "no tools." the pe ople that helped make th is happen, especially my mom an d dad, who were here with me today, " Carmichael said. "T h is was a team effort, and I couldn't have done it without them." The business at hand seemed sim ple for RC ; ho w e ve r, a fou r-stroke had never won at Budds Creek. But this stat would be erased in grand fash ion, as RC , Reed a nd Vuillemin put four-stroke bikes ac ro ss the fin ish line, 1-2-3, respectively. Blaz ing out of the start in t he firs t mota an d grab bing the holeshot, Reed was bent on making Carmichael's IDOth win a di ffic u lt task. Reed an d Mach I/Ya m aha 's H e a th Vos s w o u ld b a ttl e early, with C a rmi ch ael catchi ng t he Yamaha rid e rs near th e e nd of th e firs t lap a nd , in a b it o f fou r-stroke poetic justice, passing Reed on " He n ry H ill" named after Doug Henry, who p re tty much C huck Yeager'd t he modern fourstroke. " T h ings are slowly getting better an d better," said Reed who 's made fou r of four podiums this year an d is in sale possessio n of seco nd p lace in the standings . " I just chip away a litt le bit at a time at Ricky, a nd I'm having fun doing so." Reed seemed to keep the pressure on Carmichael fo r a ll of the first m o ta . Though Carmichael had upward of a seven-second lead, he ne ve r really lost sight of Reed. That, of course, would change for the second mota, but Re ed at least kept things interesting in mota one. Riding smooth as silk on the rugged Bud d s Creek track was Vuillemin. The YZ4 50F rider pulled off a quiet third p lace in m o ta one , pretty much starting in fo u rth place t he n doi ng away wi th Voss and r idin g on h is o wn - and un conte st e d - o nto t he podi u m . "Man, it's easier to get into the Wh~e Hoose than ~ is in here: ' said CNN eamerannarV reporter Eddie Gross, who produced the "Headline News " that ran all day Sunday, about Jon Beasley's tight security at Budds Creek. Beasley employs local milWy pers0nnel from Andrews I>Jr Force Base to help ~ the security details. And yes, they're eflkienL James Stewart took some time out on Saturday to check out some localamateur kids who race Budds Creek. Stewart and Kawasaki skipper Bruce Stjemstrom held a small din ic for some lucky kids on the stadium supercross trackat Budds, which was captured by CNN's cameras for the "Headline News" story. One of the highlightscame during an on-camera question-and-answer segment when one little kid asked Bubba: "Wha t are dirt bikes made out of]" Bubba answered laughing: "That's a good questi on ." Thoogh the weather was perfect on Sunday for the highly attended fou rth round of the National series, pro mo ters were on edge as the skies opened up and dumped four inches of rain on the track on the Thursday prior to the event, "It poured - I mean ~ poured," said Budds Creek's Andrew lourake. "We hada lot of worl< to do to get the track back in race shape , and fortunately, the weather heldthe rest of the weekend." Ricky Cannichael's trainer AIdon Baker is heading aver to Assen, Holland, to help out with Nicky Hayden at round six of the GP series. In fact, Hayden attended Cannichael's Tuesday"Family Night" recently and even put In some laps on RC's dirt-bike track. Word on Hayden's MX skills: "He' s not bad," said JH Leale, one of RC's budOoes. How Cool Is This? larry Ward 's mom, Kayteen, said, "All I was doing was just comContinued on poge '9 www.cyc lenews.com CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 30,2004 17