Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Once I saw Byrne, I got too anxious about passing him and made some dumb mistakes in the corners. If I had sat back and looked at his lines, I probably could've gotten around him. Instead, I tried to rush too qUickly to pass and changed my lines, and that made me go even slower. So, if I was just a little bit smarter and sat back and watched Byrne's lines, I think I could have gotten around him and gotten on the podium." After five weeks in the West, the series takes its first long journey to the East, to Indianapolis, which probably won't do anything to lift the spirits of Carmichael's competitors, since the East has always been known as "Carmichael country." "I enjoy going there [East]. It's my home, and I really feel in my element," Carmichael said. "I'm glad to get through this weekend and get as many points as possible; things worked out in my favor." eN ANGEL STADIUM ANAHEIM, CALIfORNIA RESULTS: FEBRUARY 5, (ROUND 7/5 Of 2005 17/16) HEAT I (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): I. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 4. Tyler Evans (Suz); 5. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 6. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 7. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 8. Stephan Demartis (Yam); 9. Damon Huffman (Hon); 10. Scott Howe (Hon); II. Keith Johnson (Yam): 12. Michael Young (Hon): 13. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 14. Antonio Balbi Jr. (Hon); IS. William Browning (Suz); 16. Pierrick Paget (Yam); 17. Justin Buckelew (Hon): 18. J. Martin Garda (Suz); 19. Josh Bagge (Hon); 20. Rusty Holland (Hon). TIme: 7 min., 41.750 sec. HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 transfer): t. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Heath Voss (Yam); 3. Mike laRocco (Hon); 4. David Vuillemin (Yam); 5. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 6. Jeff Gibson (Hon): 7. Travis Preston (Hon); 8. Nick Wey (Hon); 9. Sean Hamblin (Kaw); 10. Ryan Clark (Yam); I I. Jason Thomas (Hon); 12. Jiri Dostal (Hon); 13. Jacob Martin (Yam); 14. Jim Povolny (Hon); 15. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 16. Dennis Ewing (Hon); 17. Gregory Carter (Hon); 18. Brian Mason (Hon); 19. Doug Dehaan (Hon); 20. Clark Stiles (Hon). Time: 7 min., 37.450 sec. SEMI I (6 laps. I-S transfer): I. Fonseca; 2. Tortelli: 3. Huffman: 4. Vallejo; 5. Oehlhof: 6. Keith Johnson: 7. Young: 8. Demartis; 9. Buckelew; 10. Balbi Jr.; II. Browning; 12. Howe: 13. Holland: 14. Paget: IS. Bagge; 16. Garcia. Time: 5 min., 58.990 sec. SEMI2 (6 laps, 1·5 transfer): I. McGrath; 2. Wey; 3. Preston; 4. Gibson: 5. lewis; 6. Dostal; 7. Mason; B. Hamblin; 9. Martin; 10. Dehaan: II. Povolny; 12. Stiles; 13. Ewing; 14. Clark; 15. Thomas: 16. Crater. Time: 5 min., 51.850 se<. LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER (6 laps, 1-2 transfer): I. Buckelew; 2. Clark; 3. Dehaan; 4. Stiles; 5. Thomas; 6. Young; 7. Demartis; B. Povolny; 9. Browning: to. Hamblin: II. Keith Johnson; 12. Dostal: 13. Martin; 14. Carter; 15. Ewing: 16. Bagge: 17. Paget; 18. Howe: 19. Mason: 20. Balbi Jr.: 21. Holland; 22. Garda. Time: 6 min., 7.050 sec. MAIN (20 laps): I. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. Michael Byrne (Kaw): 4. David Vuitlemin (Yam); 5. Emesto Fonseca (Hon): 6. Mike laRocco (Hon); 7. Nick Wey (Hon); B. Travis Preston (Hon); 9. Tyler Evans (Suz): 10. Ryan Clark (Yam); II. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 12. Damon Huffman (Hon); 13. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 14. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 15. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 16. Jeff Gibson (Hon): 17. Heath Voss (Yam); lB. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 19. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 20. Kevin Windham (Hon). Time: 19 min., 34.Boo se<. Margin of victory: 20.275 se<. THQ AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 16 rounds): I. Ricky Carmichael (120/4 wins): 2. Chad Reed (91): 3. Mike laRocco (BI): 4. Kevin Windham (BOil win); 5. Emesto Fonseca (74); 6. Nick Wey (73); 7. David Vuillemin (67): B. Sebastien Tortelli (65); 9. Michael Byme (64); 10. Heath Voss (55); II. Tyler Evans (42); 12. Damon Huffman (35): 13. Jeff Gibson (34); 14. Jeremy McGrath (3 I): 15. Erick Vallejo (25); 16. Kyle Lewis (20); 17 (TIE) Ryan Clark (I9)fTimmy Ferry (19); 19. (TIE) James S,eWMt (16)IJoo Oehlhof (16). THQ WORLD SUPERCROSS GP SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 17 rounds): I. Ricky Carmichael (17216 wins); 2. Mike laRocco (143); 3. Nick Wey (136); 4. Heath Voss (112); 5. Tyler Evans (98): 6. Damon Huffman (88)1Sebastien Tortelli (88); B. Erick Vallejo (68); 9. Kyle lewis (65); 10. Jeff Gibson (63). For longtime Jeremy McGrath fans (and there were plenty of them at Anaheim) his win in the second semi had to be the highlight of the evening. The seven-time Supercross Champion got the cheer of the night after winning a close and exciting race with MDK Motorsports' NickWey. "Oh man, the ~fans were just awesome," McGrath said of the cheers that he heard while mixing it up with Wey. "I just love the fans and they still love me, so that's good. "You know what? I felt really good and was relaxed the whole way," McGrath said of his battle with Wey. "I slid out towards the end and Nick was right on my butt. I felt good; I wasn't going to let him pass me. If he was going to pass me, he's going to have to go around me. That's twice now Nick and I have had good battles." Again, McGrath got everyone whipped up into frenzy, when it looked as though he had a shot at a podium in the main event. "I felt really loose," McGrath said of the main. "I kind of got blocked up in the heat race with [Mike] laRocco, but I think the five extra laps in the semi helped me. I was a little warm. I'm stoked! Overall, it was a good night. It sucks that I crashed, but for Honda, for the semi win, and all that stuff, it was a good night. "I worked hard this week, again," he added. "We'll see. I'll work again this week. Every week I get more amped up, and that makes me want to chase it a little more." Briefly..• Continued from page 15 One of the most exciting racing of the night came in the second 250cc heat race. While Ricky Carmichael was running away out in front, Mike LaRocco, Heath Voss, Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Gibson and David Vuillemin kept the sold-out crowd thoroughly entertained throughout the eight-lap race. Voss, however, broke free early after passing laRocco on the first lap and left the rest to fight for third through sixth. McGrath, clearly the crowd favorite, was all over laRocco for a number of laps and was forced to attempted risky passes on the stubborn laRocco, which it eventually cost him when McGrath got held up in a rhythm section and got passed by both Gibson and Vuillemin. Gibson rode well and fended off Vuillemin for a while until the factory Yamaha rider got him. Gibson, on the Subway/CocaCola/DGY Honda CR450F, then had McGrath on his tail and eventually surrendered the fifthplace position to the former champ. While Carmichael and Voss finished all alone in first and second, respectively, LaRocco, Vuillemin, McGrath and Gibson all took the checkered flag within a few bikelengths of each other. McGrath and Gibson, despite their fine rides, had to go to the semis. Kawasaki's Michael Byrne turned a lot of heads in the first 250cc heat race. The Australian led fellow Australian Chad Reed for the first lap before the defending champ got by. Byrne, however, hung right with Reed for quite some time before Kevin Windham snuck up and zapped him. Reed won the heat, followed not too far behind by Windham and Byrne. Also in the first heat race, Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca and Suzuki-mounted Tyler Evans had quite the battle for the final transfer position. Evans held down fourth for most of the race until Fonseca finally got around the privateer - but the race wasn't over yet. On the last lap, Fonseca left the door open going into a tight left-hander, and Evans came in undemeath the Honda rider. The two riders locked handlebars coming out of the turn with Fonseca going down. Evans went on to finish fourth, while Fonseca had to go to the semis. But Fonseca came out of it all okay: He took the spotlight with a win in the first semi and, with it, took home a new Tissot watch, which is awarded to all semi winners throughout the series. Sean Hamblin, on the Monster Energybacked Kawasaki, failed to qualify for the main event. After getting bumped around in the heat and semi, Hamblin was a victim of the split start. Opting for the right side, Hamblin got taken out in a big pileup exiting the first tum. He finished out the LCQ, but far from a transfer position. Team Honda's Ernest Fonseca suffered a gnarly get-off during Friday's practice, but he came back to finish fifth in Saturday night's main. "Taking into consideration what happened yesterday, I can't complain," Fonseca, who is still bothered by an old knee injury, said. He crashed while trying to figure out a difficult rhythm section. "I tried it, cased it the first time, didn't crash, tried it again, jumped it, cased it and endoed over the berm and went into the netting. I hurt my heel and bruises in my back. It feels like went through a lot of hurtles, but I got some good points, and that's what matters. Seems like I've had nagging injuries quite a bit. It's been a tough couple of weeks for me. Hopefully, I can get through the curve and make it better from now on. I've got to keep hitting therapy [on his knee] as best as I can." Ricky Carmichael attributes some of his earlyseason success by getting beat at the U.S. Open Supercross in Las Vegas last October, his first ride on the Suzuki. "I'm kind of glad I didn't win the U.S. Open," Carmichael said. "It kept me motivated, and I think if I would've went there and won, I would've probably second-guessed things and did things [differently] in the off-season. But I got beat, so I kept working hard. It was a lesson." After his teammate, James Stewart, got injured, Kawasaki's Michael Byrne says that he's tried to step things up a bit. "I put a lot of pressure on me since Phoenix, when James got hurt, because I wanted to do good for everybody on the team, try not to let anybody down," Byrne said. "[But] that just didn't work for me. The team was fully supporting me. They didn't expect me to do James' job, they just wanted me to do the best I could, and that's what I've been trying to do the last couple of weeks." Speaking of James Stewart, the factory Kawasaki team rider who 1 broke his arm three weeks ago at the Phoenix Supercross, attended Anaheim III and hung out and signed autographs for the fans. Stewart says his castless arm is feeling good, but he wouldn't even hint as to when he might return to action. After injuring his neck, Chad Reed used tape on the back of his neck to give his head some support. "The tape holds my head up," Reed said. "I've been struggling to hold my head up, and with the helmet on, it kind of compounds my problems. I've got the best taper in the world Oeff Spencer]. It [the neck] didn't bother me [in the race]; we'll be fine for next week." The SUbway/Coca Cola/DGY team had two of its three riders make the main event. Jeff Gibson was running about midpack when he got tangled up in the Windham crash. Gibson got back up and went on to finish 16th. Joe Oehlhof also got caught up in the first-turn pileup and eventually called it a night on the ninth lap; he was credited with 18th place. Jason Thomas didn't quite make it to the main. He, too, had problems in the first turn when he went down, ending any hope he had of making the final. For the first time this year, the Moto XXX team had both of its riders make the main event. Kyle Lewis got in through the second semi, and Justin Buckelew did it by winning the LCQ. However, both riders got taken out in Continued on page 19 CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 16, 2005 17

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