Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Stewart said. "It was a stupid fall, and it kind of bummed me out. But I put that towards riding this week, [because] I didn't want that to happen again." On what turned out to be a very pleasant night weatherwise in Seattle, the turning point of the 250cc main came early in the first turn. Reed, Stewart and Windham appeared to have all arrived at the same point at the same time, and it was Reed who got the worst of it. The Yamaha rider got punted off the backside of the berm, and by the time he got back on his bike and going again, he trailed the pack by a good few seconds. "I didn't see anything," said Stewart, who was the rider that actually made contact with Reed. "That first turn couldn't fit three of us in there. I was in the middle. I kind of slid to the outside. I think what Chad did tonight is something that I was supposed to do - go wide open and wish for the best. It didn't work out. I want to apologize to him right now. I know these guys are racing for a championship, but I'm also trying to win races. I didn't mean to hit [Reed], I kind of realized it [that Reed had gone down] when I was hitting the triple [on another section of the course], and he was getting back on the track. I think we just came together and he got the bad end of the stick." Windham, who was on the inside of Stewart, played a part in the incident as well. "I kind of saw him get slingshot off the track," Windham said. "I felt like I had the position, especially being on the inside, and then James came around on the outside, and then all of a sudden, Chad came around the outside as well, so there definitely wasn't enough room in the turn for all three of us. Luckily, I was on the inside and it worked out for me." Despite rebounding from the crash and putting together what many believe was the ride of the night, afterward Reed was so upset that he declined to talk to reporters about the evening's events. With two rounds left to go and with Ricky Carmichael leading Chad Reed by 30 points, RC will clinch the 'OS title if he finishes third or better at the next round in Houston in two weeks. Basically, as long as Carmichael emerges from Houston with a 2S-point lead over Reed (RC will come out on top in a tie because he has the most wins), he'll nab his fourth Supercross title and the first for Suzuki since 1981, when Mark Barnett won the championship. Carmichael could also be the first rider to win three 2SOcc Supercross titles on three different brands: Kawasaki, Honda and possibly Suzuki. "He's very upset right now," Jim Perry, Reed's Yamaha team manager, said. "When you watch the tapes, it looks like he [Reed] went in there on the outside, then James, then Kevin, [and] Kevin kind of stood James up, James stood up Chad and shot him off the track. It's kind of unfortunate, [but] that kind of stuff happens. He was really upset. I think he was going fast enough to win the race. He came from laying in the first corner to finishing seven seconds behind. I think he was definitely capable of getting the job done tonight." While Reed, the only rider still challenging Carmichael for the title, began his monumental comeback, Stewart darted into the lead, followed by Carmichael, Yamaha's David Vuillemin, Subway Honda's Jason Thomas and Windham, who moved into third place by the end of the second lap. Carmichael settled into second a few seconds behind Stewart but really did not have anything for the Kawasaki rider as he slowly lost ground to the leader on the very rutted-out and technical track. By the halfway point, Carmichael trailed Stewart by approximately nine seconds, all the while having an inspired Windham to contend With. Windham hounded Carmichael the whole race. At times, Windham would get right on Carmichael's rear fender, only to lose ground again, usually because of lappers. In the late stages of the race, Windham found himself right behind Carmichael again and made a bid for second place. On the 19th lap, Windham out-charged Carmichael down a whoop and rutted-out section and took over second place. "Lappers were really tough tonight," Windham said. "I was doing my thing. I wasn't paying much attention to Ricky, just riding my own race. All of a sudden, he was in the same corner as me, and I thought, 'Well, I got a shot at this.' "I'd imagine it was the same for him lappers were pretty tough out there," Windham added. "I thought I had a good shot of being up here tonight, and even winning. I felt pretty confident. My heat race had good times. I felt like the track had deteriorated a lot by heat three versus the two before me, so I felt pretty confident [gOing into the main event]." "I thought I had second place secured the last five laps," Carmichael said. "I was pulling away a little bit, got caught up and Kevin got by me. He was riding aggressive; he was riding good. When he passed me, he was charging really hard. He beat me." Meanwhile, Reed, obViously the fastest rider on the track, often laying down lap times a second faster than Stewart's and two second faster than Carmichael's or Windham's, had caught Sight of second and third place, but time was against the Yamaha rider. Another lap or two and the race for second would've gotten really interesting. "It was chaos for sure," Carmichael said. "I saw Chad catching us the whole time. After crashing, Reed took out his frustration on the other 19 riders on the track, including LaRocco (5). He went from dead last to fourth and nearly caught third-placed Carmichael and second-placed Windham. Ricky Carmichael kept quiet about a midweek crash he had that reqUired another trip to the hospital. He suffered a similar ordeal a few weeks ago before the Dallas Supercross. Carmichael would not elaborate on it too much, but he did say that the crash knocked him out for a bit. "I'm okay, took another crash," he said. "It's been a rough couple of weeks for me." Although the rain was not a factor Saturday night, it did force race officials to significantly alter the day's program. Rain in the final days (including Saturday morning) leading up to Saturday night's race forced the cancellation of Friday and Saturday afternoons' practice sessions, as well as daytime qualifying, which usually seeds riders into the evening's program. Riders did get one practice session on Saturday, but that didn't get under way until S p.m. To accommodate all the riders that signed up for the race, the evening's program was altered for the 2S0cc class. Instead of the usual two heat races, where the top four riders transfer directly to the main, three heats were used, seeding the first 12 riders. The two semis took the top three riders instead of the usual fIVe, making it 18 riders getting in at this point. The last chance qualifier took the usual top-two finishers, filling out the 20-rider feature. The 12Scc class, however, ran a normal program: two heats, one LCQ and the IS-lap feature. The Seattle Supercross marked the return to the city that supported doubleheader rounds of AMA Supercross during the I980s at the enclosed Seattle Kingdome. Continued on poge 29 CYCLE NEWS. APRIL 27,2005 27

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