Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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THQ AMA Eastern Region Supercross Series DAVI MILLSAPS has arrived By BRENDAN LUTES PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN th a year of racing under his belt, Makita Suzuki's Davi Millsaps is finally starting to come into his own. Inside the RCA Dome, safe from the cold, Millsaps got the first win of his young career at the opening round of the THQ AMA 12Scc Eastern Regional Supercross Series. Last year at this time, Millsaps was just starting his professional career, and at times he let the pressure get to him. He did, however, have two podiums last year, one in Daytona and the other in Pontiac, but at the remaining rounds he struggled. This year has been slightly different. Millsaps trained hard during the off season, rode a lot, and came to the first round more prepared than ever. And it showed. "Well, I expected to do good," Millsaps said. "I came in here and I wanted to win - mostly I just wanted a podium. And when I went out for practice, I had the fastest lap time and had a lot of confidence built up and just went out there and rode my own race." When the gate dropped for the main event, Millsaps got out to a fourth-place start but worked his way into third after the completion of the first lap. The holeshot went to Team Moto XXX's Justin Buckelew, who later fell back to finish 13th. '" was just worried about getting that start," Millsaps said. "Obviously, I don't get very good starts, as you can see last year. But this year the start didn't come out too bad." When the pack completed the first lap, Boost MobilefYamaha of Troy's Kelly Smith was out front, but he was soon passed by Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Grant Langston, and not far behind Langston, Millsaps moved around Smith to take over second. W 18 FEBRUARY 23, 2005 • As the riders made their way around for the second time, Millsaps made his move on Langston over a triple jump and began to pull away. Shortly thereafter, Langston began to suffer from arm pump. "He [Millsaps] got by me and I kind of hung in with him for a while," Langston said. "But I just rode really tight and got probably the worst arm pump I've ever had." So, after a brief battle with Langston, Millsaps was gone. No one touched him for the rest of the race. Meanwhile, Team Red Bull KTM's Josh Hansen was busy trying to catch the two frontrunners. Hansen knows that you can't win a championship in one race, though, and he took a conservative approach to the night's event. "You can definitely lose the championship out of the first round," Hansen said, "and the first round doesn't win you the championship, either. I rode a little too conservative. I feel like I something for Grant, but it happen - would of, could of, s didn't happen. I'm just going to head down. I'm definitely in the mind. I've just got to go out there work my butt off, and it will pay ready for Millsaps and such." For most of the race, remained pressure-free, a steady onds ahead of Hansen. His only arm pump. "I never really felt any CYCLE NEWS