Now well out of the gate,
RICKY CARMICHAEL
appears to be on
cruise control with his
fifth straight win
didn't believe that. It's just putting the
whole package together. I've got to work
on that."
Meanwhile, as Carmichael and Reed
circulated the track out front, Windham
was busy in fourth, setting up a pass for
third on American Honda's Ernesto
Fonseca; he made it stick at the beginning
of the fifth lap.
"I got the good drive through the
whoops after the finish line:' Windham
said, "and kind of squared up the comer
coming across the start straight and finally got the pass made by the time we
[Windham and Fonseca] got to the [first]
triple."
From there, Windham rode his own
race relatively alone in third.
Fonseca, meanwhile, dropped back
even further when a hometown hero,
Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda's Mike LaRocco,
passed him on lap 10 to take over fourth,
and then Reed's Yamaha teammate David
Vuillemin relegated Fonseca back one
more spot to sixth on lap I6.
For Windham, after a string of crashes,
he was just happy to keep his bike on two
wheels for the entire race.
"Tonight I was kind of reserved:'
Windham said. "I was like, 'I'm going to
give it a good effort and do the best that I
can: and I just never was on Chad's or
Ricky's times. I did great in practice and
good in the race as well, so I'm just happy
to be on the podium and come out of
here without compounding any of my
injuries and start the healing process and
move forward."
Windham remains optimistic about
