Ever since Motoworldracing.com/Suzuki
rider Matt Georke launched himself into
the stands during practice at the Indianapolis round, the AMA and Clear Channel
have taken steps to make sure it doesn't
happen again. Bowl turns on the outside
of the track are gone for good and more
seats are covered.
Each week Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky
Carmichael seems to, on a few occasions,
narrowly avoid disaster. One of those occasions happened during Saturday's main,
when he nearly crashed in the whoops.
Some say Carmichael is lucky, but what
does he say? "You make your own luck
sometimes," Carmichael said, "and I guess
people forget the first two years of my
250cc Supercross season when I was sitting
on the hay bales half the season. So, it's just
jealousy, whoever Is saying that. I don't care
what they think, I know what I'm doing, I
know what I'm accomplishing, and it doesn't matter to me. Call it what you will, but if
you're up here [on the podium] every
weekend, then this is not luck."
When asked how it feels to save an eminent
crash that most mortals would probably
not, Ricky Carmichael said, "It's not a
great feeling," he said. "I made some
changes to my bike in the main that I don't
know if they were in a better direction.
But, hey, I made a mistake and I held on,
and there isn't much to talk about."
Wonder Warthog Racing has stepped up
its program this year. In St. Louis, they
debuted a huge inflatable warthog in the
privateer pits. They also announced that
any privateer who finishes in the top 10 will
receive a $1 000 check.
Nathan Skaggs was the only 12Scc twostroke rider in the main event. He was also
one of a few riders who attempted to qualify for both main events. One rider who
came extremely close was Team
ECC/Honda rider Dennis Ewing. Ewing
qualified for the I 25cc main and was In a
position to do likewise in the 250cc class
before Ryan Clark got by on the final lap of
the last chance qualifier to take the final
transfer position.
In two weeks, at the Orlando Supercross,
Team Cernics/Suzuki's Travis Pastrana and
Team Kawasaki's James Stewart are
expected to rejoin the series, and
Carmichael is welcoming their return. "I
just hope that both those guys can come
out and race me and Chad and Kevin
[Windham] clean," Carmichael said, "and
just have some good races like we often do
the whole time, which I'm sure they will.
Continued on poge '9
