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/128362
Briefly..•
The Crash
Team Kawasaki's James Stewart Jr. crashed
hard and suffered a fractured left forearm
during practice for round two of the AMA
THQ Supercross Series at Bank One Ballpark
on January 15. Stewart missed the race, and
he could be out for several weeks.
The 19-year-old Stewart had been practicing an approach that allowed him to triple
jump in a rhythm section that included a
tabletop jump near the left-field foul pole.
Stewart appeared to be trying a different
rhythm through the section when he lost
control and slammed into the face of the
tabletop. Medical personnel were on the
scene quickty, and there was immediate concern that Stewart may have suffered a head
injury. However, he was conscious as he was
carted from the stadium floor. He was later
released from the Asterisk Mobile Medical
lCenter with a splint on the left arm, which
was in a sling.
"Obviously, it is not what we wanted to happen," Kawasaki director of pro racing Bruce
Stjernstrom said. "He looked like he was riding very much under control. His lap times
were really good, and it looked like he was doing everything the right way. I just think it
was an unfortunate racing situation that happened, and there's not much more to say about
it really."
Stjernstrom did not speculate how long Stewart would be out, but did add, "He won't
be at Anaheim Uanuary 22], that much I can tell you."
According to Kawasaki officials, the plan is to have Stewart re-evaluated during the
week between Phoenix and Anaheim II.
==::J
an advantage over Windham, jumping
completely out of the second whoop section by launching off the crown that divided the section in half.
"I'd seen these guys doing it in practice," Carmichael said. "Kevin did it, and
Chad did it on the last lap [of practice]. It
kind of got greasy there. I couldn't get a
good drive to blitz it, so I figured that
jumping it would be better. I think it's fun
to do that sometimes rather than the
same old blitzing thing. I think the whoops
should have been a little bit bigger for
everybody to make it a little bit more challenging, but that's the way it goes.
Everybody has the same stuff to do."
While he may have done it in practice,
Windham refused to attempt the same
move as the track conditions became
sketchy. Windham knew that he was losing
time, but he elected to play it safe.
"It takes hanging it out to win,"
Windham said. "That's a part of it, and
you've got to take calculated risks. I just
never really felt comfortable doing that
[jumping the whoop section]. I mean, we
still are going at it [in the points]. I just didn't get it down, and when you don't get it
down, you just sometimes don't feel like
you can push it for 20 laps like that.
"The whoops got pretty chuck-holed,
and it actually chewed up in weird areas,
but then it also got shiny in places, and on
top of it all some of them were like loose
dirt on top of hard," Windham also said.
"We were faced with several different dirt
conditions all on one lap."
There was still a lot of mixing going on
behind Reed as the race wore on. Fonseca
diced with Voss for fourth place, the two
getting away from a sixth-place battle that
raged between American Honda's Jeremy
McGrath and Team Yamaha's Tim Ferry.
Fonseca would wind up fourth, with Voss
fifth, while both Ferry and McGrath would
fade, McGrath yielding to the advances of
Tortelli, MDK Moto Honda's Nick Wey
and a rejuvenated Vuillemin. Ferry slipped
back even further, ultimately landing 12th,
behind Team Kawasaki's Michael Byrne who crashed early in the race but got up to
finish I Ith - and Team ECC.com Honda's
Damon Huffman, who finished 10th, right
on McGrath's rear fender as they took the
checkered flag.
Continued from page IT
don't want anyone measuring our fork
angle." This is actually a policy that Kawasaki has implemented in the past. It is debatable as to whether Stewart's amazing speed
is all in the rake.
Over in the Yamaha pits on Friday, Chad
Reed mechanic Darren Sorenson had
Reed's factory Yamaha YZ250 on its side,
replacing the clutch, something that
Sorenson said he does for Reed after each
and every praetke session. "It's just a routine
thing," Sorenson said. "Chad is pretty
hard on clutches, and there are couple
special adjustments that we can make to
get it to where he likes it. It changes from
track to track."
Even after seven AHA Supercross titles and
over 70 wins, Jeremy McGrath admitted
that he was feeling butterflies at Anaheim I,
his first AMA Supercross event since coming out of retirement. '" was super excited,
nervous, butterflies... I had a little bit of
everything going on there," McGrath said. "I
think if you're not nervous, something is
wrong with you. When I got in the lead
[first heat race], I was super excited about
that, though. It was like I never left. It was a
good feeling." McGrath said that any pressure he may have felt to prove that he still
had the chops was washed away in the rain
at Anaheim mud. "Having that mud race
takes a little pressure off the second
round," McGrath said. "Everyone was so
high strung. Now that the ball is rolling, I
think that everybody is more at ease this
week. I feel better too."
After the abbreviated and arguably lackluster opening ceremonies that were carried
out at Anaheim because of the weather,
series promoter Clear Channel Entertainment provided BOB fans with its more customary opening ceremonies spectacle,
eN
BANK ONE BAUPARK
PHOENIX, ARlZONA
RESULTS: JANUARY 15, 2005
(ROUNDS 4/2 OF 17/16)
HEAT I (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): I. RIcky CarmIChael
(Suz): 2. Heath Voss (Yam); J. David Vuillemin (Yam); 1. Travis
Pastrana (Suz): 5. Nick Wey (Han): 6. Sean Hamblin (!<.aw);
7. Robbie Reynard (Hon): 8. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 9. Joe
Oehlhof (Hon): 10. Jimmy Wilson (Hon); II. Gregory Crater
(Hon): 12. Kyie Lewis (Hon); I). Damon Huffman (Hon): 14.
Brian Mason (Hon); 15. Robb Flath (Suz): 16. Dennis Ewing
(Hon); 17. Rusty Holland (Hon): 18. J.ri Dostal (Hen): 19.
Mike laRocco (Hon): 20. Scott Howe (Hon).
Time: 6 min., 51.760 sec.
HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): I. Chad Reed (Yam): 2.
Kevin Windham (Hon): 3. Jeremy McGrath (Hon): 4. Michael
Byrne (Kaw); 5. Tim Ferry (Yam): 6. Tyler Evans (Suz); 7.
Emesto Fonseca (Hon): 8. Sebasuen Tortelh (Suz): 9. Jeff
G,b