Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

three points closer to Carmichael in the standings and is now 29 points back. Following the Orlando race, one couldn't help but wonder: Could this be the start of a winning streak for Reed? "I don't know if I would call two a win streak," Reed said laughing. "But it's definitely a start. I feel good about it. This week was a great week for me, coming off a win from Daytona and things like that." At Orlando, Reed rode like the Reed of old - mistake free for the entire 20 laps. The main event, however, got off to an auspicious start for Reed. Right before the 30-second board went up, his bike was pulled back and Yamaha technicians frantically went to work on the number-22 bike. "I don't know exactly what happened," Reed said. ''I'm sure the guys will tell me later on. It just started smoking a little bit, and I just said, 'Hey Rookie [Darrin Sorenson], what's up with this?' And they just checked it out, and they were working on it and that's about it." According to Sorenson, Reed's mechanic, the bike was fine. Reed told Sorenson that the power felt flat, so they took the pipe off to see if it was a stuck powervalve, but they found nothing wrong. Once Reed was reassured that everything was okay, the defending champ got a great start and moved into third before the first lap was completed. The main-event holeshot went to Moto XXX's Kyle Lewis aboard his potent Honda CRF450R. Right behind him was Stewart, who qUickly passed Lewis to take over the lead. Carmichael and Reed quickly filed into the second and third positions, setting the stage for the battle everyone had been waiting for. By the second lap, Stewart looked to be pulling away from Carmichael and Reed, and he got a bit more breathing room when Carmichael suddenly went down, the third time in as many races. "Bubba got up front there at the start," Carmichael said, "and me and Chad were just basically just trying to play catch-up, and I... damn, I fell down again. It seems that after I0 years of doing this, you would learn that that gets you nowhere. But evidently I haven't learned that yet." Carmichael dropped back to fourth behind Windham, while Stewart was out front, with Reed roughly seven seconds behind in second. ':A.t that point, I was just riding and just kind of waiting to see what was going to happen," Reed said. "I could see he [Stewart] was making some mistakes here and there." Soon those mistakes caught up to Stewart as he charged into the whoops on lap seven. Stewart swapped out and went down, handing the lead position over to Reed and second to Carmichael, who had worked his way around Windham on the previous lap. "I went down in the whoops and kind of blew my race," Stewart said. "I had a good time. I can't ask for anything better. I Briefly... Tyler Evans says he has no intentions of riding the Nationals when the 5upercross Series is over. When asked if he'd ride any Nationals at all, Evans replied, "Hell no, hell no. If I had a factory ride, definitely, but there's no money for a rider. It's stupid, it's pointless." So what will he do? "Not a damn thing," he said. "I've got some acting stuff I'm going to do. I've got some business stuff I'm going to do in the summertime. I'm going to build a team for next year. Next year, I plan on having two guys and having a semi. So, I'm going to get my proposal, get my business right, and come and tear it up next year." Baseball stars Roger Clemens and Ken Griffey Jr. were on hand in Orlando to take in the action. Griffey Jr., who has attended many Supercross races in the past, is good friends with James Stewart. Veteran Suzuki rider John Dowd showed up at Orlando to race. He mainly came out to have some fun and watch his son compete in the KfM 50cc race. "I wouldn't call it a comeback," he said. "My son is racing in the little [KTM) SO race, so I just figured since I was here, I would ride. I haven't been riding all winter, so I knew Iwasn't prepared for Supercross, but I figured what the heck? I'd go out and try to ride some." Dowd, however, will make a serious run in think the crowd pumped me up a little bit too much. It was good. It was just an innocent mistake, and one we will have to fix." Reed inherited a healthy lead, while Carmichael tried to catch up in second, Stewart likewise in third. By around the halfway point, Stewart appeared to be catching Carmichael. All of Stewart's hard work quickly vanished, though, as a lapper crashed in front of him on one of the triples, forcing him to roll the obstacle. "I thought I could get up and come back up," Stewart said. "I felt like I was catching Ricky a little bit, and I was just going to try to maybe catch Chad a little bit. But then the lapper went down in front of me; I got tangled up with him and I had to roll the triple. By that time it [his chance of catching up] was shot." After that, Stewart said that he thought it would be best to be smart and just ride for third rather than risk crashing to make up one position. It was a move that Stewart might not have done in his younger years in the 125cc class. "I was just like, 'Oh my God, here we go,''' Stewart said. "Myoid self, I think, I would have just seat-bounced that triple. But anyways, I just rolled it, and by that time Ricky was gone, and I didn't really have a chance after that." At this point, Carmichael was comfortably in second and had set his sights on Reed. In the closing stages, Reed held a five-second advantage, and Carmichael could only cut a few tenths off of that. "Same old thing, I had to play catch up again," Carmichael said, "but I didn't have enough speed tonight and got myself a second place." When the checkered nag flew and the fireworks went off, Reed crossed the line 4.007 seconds ahead of Carmichael, who had done all he could to make up the time he lost. Stewart completed the podium another 16.391 seconds behind. Windham crossed the line in fourth, followed by Team Yamaha's David Vuillemin in fifth. Sebastien Tortelli was sixth aboard his big Makita Suzuki RM-Z450. Seventh went to part-time 250cc rider American Honda's Andrew Short, while his teammate Ernesto Fonse<2 finished eighth. Ninth was Amsoil/ChaparraIlHonda's Mike laRocco, and rounding out the top10 was Team Yamaha's Timmy Ferry. For Reed, this win was an important the upcoming Nationals. "I plan on doing all of the Nationals," he said. "I'm going to be doing my farewell tour this year." Dowd's return to Supercross didn't get past practice. His RM-Z250 suffered a major engine failure. "Unfortunately, I had a new bike but for some reason in practice some- thing happened, and we dropped a valve or something," Dowd said. "It kind of blew everything apart. I checked around with a few guys, Motoworldracing, whatever, I couldn't find another motor to use, and I didn't have anything extra on me. So, I guess that's it. I'm all done for today. I'm not really too totally upset about it. I was just riding for fun, so it's really not a big deal. I'm not in any kind of points chase or anything like that. I was actually hoping to get out there and race a little bit, but it just didn't work out." As everyone knows, Ricky Carmichael has many wins under his belt, but how many second-place trophies does he have? "Quite a few," he said. "I got a stack of them a couple years ago, and Igot a couple this year. I've gotten my butt kicked many a times. Fortunately, I've done really well. That's what sucks about winning: It spoils you. And when you get a second place, it just... there's just no explanation for it. But it's what keeps you going." Continued on page 20 CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 30, 2005 19

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