Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

he said. '" was definitely happy to be up there at the beginning, and I'm just going to try to work on some things toward the end." Reed opened up a few bikelengths right off the start, and Carmichael made it a point not to let the speedy Australian get away before it was too late. "He [Reed] kind of got out there," Carmichael said, "and 1 was behind Mike [LaRocco], and I was able to get by him. I think I got by him in the whoops, just wanted to try to catch up to Chad [Reed]. He's quite dangerous if he gets out front really quick." Luckily for Carmichael, Reed couldn't manage that. Instead, Carmichael reeled off the fastest lap times of the race and, in doing so, inched closer and closer to Reed, eventually making his move on the seventh lap. Taking the tougher inside line, Carmichaei made the pass on Reed look easy. He came out of the turn in the lead without getting much resistance by the Yamaha rider. "The opportunity just presented itself," Carmichael said. "I was able to sneak by on the inside there and just tried to hold him off. I wasn't sure if he let me by or not, because obViously the inside was faster, and we had been taking that. So, I just took the opportunity and just tried to ride as hard as I could in my comfort zone." Reed said that he lost a bit of rhythm after Carmichael passed him. "I kind of got lost in my lines," Reed said. "He was going on the inside after the finish, and I was kind of confused on where to go, and he just kind of snuck up on the inside." After the pass, Reed tried to come back, and at one point the two got a little too close for comfort in a turn, but Carmichael held on. Reed continued to dog Carmichael for two more laps, almost retaking the lead several times, but Carmichael finally started to break away after Reed bobbled. "I made little mistakes," Reed said. "Ricky [Carmichae~ just rode a great race, didn't make any mistakes, and I made a Briefly... Team Makita Suzuki's Broc Hepler crashed at the end of the first whoop section in the first 12Scc heat race and hammered his left arm. "I was in the staggered sandy whoops, and when I came out of the conner, the bike was a little bit sideways and kicked up at the same time, and Iwent over the bars," the 18year-old Hepler said. He was thought to have suffered a broken left forearm in the crash and was expected to be out for several weeks, but Suzuki race team manager Roger DeCoster told Cycle News on Monday, January 31, the arm is not broken, and Hepler could be back in action at Anaheim III. After conducting its sound test at SBC Park, AMA Pro Racing officials confirmed that there were no disqualifications for Violating the AM!>:s I02-db limit. "We're pleased," AMA technical steward Jason Churgin said. "We had Ioo-percent compliance. It took a little time to get some of the competitors there, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as we anticipated." Another storm passed through the San Francisco area dUring the week leading up to Saturday night's race, which prevented track builders Dirt Wurx from building the track until Thursday. As a result, Friday's practice was called off and the racetrack was a little shorter than usual. Lap times were generally about I0 seconds shorter than normal, and the 20-1ap 2SOcc main event was just 15 minutes in length. The IS-lap I25cc main took just 12 minutes to complete. Honda's Jeremy McGrath chose not to race the San Francisco round in order to rest his body and get ready for Anaheim III the following week. He added that he has plans to race three more rounds of the series. The seven-time Supercross champ still attended the race and was on hand to sign autographs and watch the racing. Team Yamaha's Tim Ferry was also not in action at San Francisco. Earlier in the week, bunch of little ones that were costly." Meanwhile, LaRocco was in a battle of his own over third place with his fourstroke-mounted teammate, Kevin Windham. The two Honda riders mixed it up for a while, until Windham - on the inside of laRocco - overcooked it going into a turn and high-sided over laRocco's rear wheel. While Windham picked up his bike, a stream of riders passed him, and he eventually got back going again in 13th. '" felt him [Windham]," laRocco said, "but really, he must have crept up on me pretty quick, because I didn't really feel him behind me, and when he went inside, I felt him rub me, and then I didn't hear anything, so I assumed he fell over." Windham didn't have much success working his way back up, as he took the checkered flag in ninth place. The result marked the end of a streak of six consecutive podium finishes and 18 consecutive top-five finishes in supercross for Windham. laRocco, however, suddenly found himself all alone in third but still some 20 seconds behind Carmichael and Reed. laRocco Ferry had surgery on his wrist, which has been bothering him ever since a crash at Anaheim I. Since then, Ferry has been unable to hold on to the bike properly and decided that surgery was a must. He is hoping to back in action in a few weeks. Although his rider, James Stewart, has stayed away from the racetrack, Team Kawasaki mechanic Jeremy Albrecht has continued to keep himself busy at the track by lending assistance to Sean Hamblin's Monster Energy! Pro Circuit Kawasaki 250cc effort. ''I'm just giving Hamblin and his mechanic a hand, trying to get them on track," Albrecht said. "Everything seems to be going pretty good over there." Albrecht said that it has been difficult for him to cope with Stewart's injury in light of the expectations that the two had for the 2005 Supercross Series. "It has been kind of boring because we were all excited with the way that he was riding, and we were all excited to do good, and then that happened," Albrecht said. "But, it's part of our sport. I know he is going to do really good when he comes back. He'll be really fast, and we'll be back on track." Continued on poge '9 CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 9,2005 17

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