Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

while battling for the lead). It wasn't enough. Reed snatched the holes hot in the 20lap main event, but Carmichael ran right with him as the pair led the other 18 competitors through turn one and into the first rhythm section on the track. It was clearly going to be the battle the record 67,264strong crowd had come to see. Team Yamaha's Reed led the first four laps of the race before Carnnichael put a flat track-style slide job on the Australian to take over the point position on lap five. "It was one of those turns that was really flat, and I was just struggling," Reed said. "He was just more aggressive, pushing to the inside, and I was just kind of riding around there like an old lady. It was tough. I'm going to take my bulldozer to all my berms at home and flatten all my corners." That lead didn't last long, however, as Carmichael then plowed the front end and crashed in the final turn, the one leading onto the start straightaway, a lap later. Reed retook the lead, with Amsoil Chaparral Napster Honda's Kevin Windham also passing the downed Carmichael for second place. By the time Carmichael got his engine relit, Reed was gone, with over six seconds in hand. "I had been struggling all night with my front end there, and sure enough it tucked," Carmichael said. ''As soon as I fell, I said, 'I've got my work cut out for me.' Kevin went by me, and so I knew that was another obstacle I would have to overcome. My brake lever was bent down, and I was haVing to reach for it." And that should have been it, but Carmichael wasn't done yet. This wasn't the way that Carmichael envisioned the race ending for him, and he was willing to dig deep to ensure that it damn well didn't. "I didn't think I'd have a shot to win," I Brief'Y··· Former AMA Supercross regular Ezra Lusk was on hand at the Georgia Dome as a spec- tator. "I'm just here watching," lusk said. "I'm going to be a part of opening ceremonies. I'm here to support one of my good friends whose daughter has A-T (AtaxiaTelangrectasia), and we're doing a fund-raiser for that on Sunday at Bremen motocross." lusk said that while he has been able to cope with retirement, he does miss certain aspects of racing. "I don't miss the traveling, but I enjoyed what Idid, and I still do," lusk said. "I miss some of the things and some of the people." Carmichael said. "Chad is an exceptional rider, and he has got his '1\ game on. So, I just tried to put my head down and at least get second. I knew I could at least get second. You know, things just worked out. He did get hosed by lappers one time, and I made a substantial amount of time there." Sure enough, Carmichael ran down Windham first, and it was clear that he wasn't interested in wasting time battling with the much slower Amsoil Chapparal Napster Honda rider. He quickly stuffed Windham in the left-hander just before the finish-line jump. There was contact that much was clear - and it did appear as though Windham nearly went down, but the question as to how severe it actually was could really only by addressed by the two competitors. Windham did so postrace. "Coming into it, I heard him up the inside," Windham said. "Because there was a guy jumping into the stands a couple weeks ago, they have decided to take out the bowl turns where it could endanger fans or riders, I guess. I tried to shut the door, and he [Carmichael] just barreled it up in there, and we hit pretty good. You know, it was an aggressive move and one that he had to make, I guess, to get up there and win the race. I learned from it, and I can't wait to try to return the favor." Carmichael's response clearly showed that he wasn't done making war even though his RM2S0's engine was cooling down back in the pits. As much a master at the psychological battle as he is in the ones on the track, Carmichael wasted no time in taking Windham out verbally. Not only did he appear to call his adversary's motivation into question, but he also even invoked a Unlike many of his competitors, when Heath Voss says that he has been flying to the races, he means that he has been (lying to the races. Voss, a licensed pilot, has been making hops in his uncle's Beach V]] Debonair. "Yeah, like my trip from San Antonio to Phoenix cost me 180 bucks, and I brought four people," Voss said. "Round trip to Phoenix for four people is like 1200 bucks." Voss has a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) rating, but he always brings a commercial pilot with him in order to ensure that he can travel through adverse weather conditions in safety. "I have a lot of friends who are commercial pilots, and they love coming to the races. I have a bunch of friends from Comair who are coming to the races here this week- end, and we're going to go do some stuff on Sunday." Voss is still working on a title sponsorship program with a major aircraft corporation, and he hopes to be able to announce the particulars of the deal very soon, although at the rate he is going with his Team Yamaha backing, the possibility exists that he could become even more entrenched with that team. Prior to the Adanta round, Boost Mobile Yamaha of Troy's Brock Sellards said that he was happy to be in fourth place in the series, considering that he was sick during the opening round at Indianapolis. "I was happy to get out of there with fourth place, but I have recovered, and I feel good now," Sellards said. '~d Iam always happy to come to Atlanta because Ialways seem to do good here. In the three times that I have been here. I have gone two, two, one, so I am excited to be here. The track looks easy this time. It looks like they ran out of dirt. It will make the racing pretty even, I think." Jeremy McGrath said that his last-minute decision to race at Atlanta was partially an effort to build up some momentum rather than to continue the fit-and-start cycle that he has been going through. '~aheim III took a lot out of me because Igot hurt," McGrath said. "I haven't been able to ride much, and that really showed last weekend at San Diego. Originally I was going to come to Atlanta, but I wasn't going to race it, but since I missed Indy because I was hurt I decided to ride here and ride next weekend to build that momentum up. The track looks fun. It's a Iinle drier than normal, but as long as they can keep the ruts out of it, it should be good." Jeremy McGrath also said that while was happy to land the holeshot for the San Diego Continued on poge '9 CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 9, 2005 17

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