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THO AMA Supercross Series!THO World Supercross Grand Prix Series
Windham and slowly chipped away at his
lead while also creeping farther and farther
away from third-placed Carmichael. By the
halfway point, he had made a serious dent in
Windham's lead but was still some seven
seconds back. He was gaining about a second a lap on the Honda rider, and with
about eight laps left, that meant a photo finish was imminent. But with five laps to go
and with about four seconds separating first
and second, Windham lost control in the
whoops and went down, coming to rest on
an on-coming section of the track.
"I broke away well and felt like Iwas riding pretty good," Windham said. "Chad was
chipping away at my lead. I was holding my
times fairly consistent, [but] I figured he was
coming. I was doing all that I could, giving it
what I had. He kept inching up, inching up,
and we got into some pretty thick lappers. I
was going through the whoops in a new line
and trying desperately to get over to where
Iwas used to them, because they [the lines]
were fairly different from left to right. I was
running way up the extreme right and [Kyle]
Lewis was there. I really wanted to get over
really bad and in the process just kind of
dropped the front end and was off the track
- that was all she wrote. It was my fault. I
should be able to adapt to a situation like
that; that's why the track is 20 feet wide."
After a few kicks, Windham got his bike
started again, but not before both Reed and
Carmichael rode past.
Reed suddenly found himself with a 10second lead, and he simply cruised to the
checkered flag, slowing in celebration on
the last lap to finish 6.7 seconds ahead of
Carmichael. Windham finished a distant
third.
"I knew it was a long race and the laps
were long, and I could see that I was slowly
chipping away," Reed said. '}>.t the beginning, [Windham] was pulling out on me.
[The track] was a lot like Pontiac, hard-pack
and loose on top, so I just kind of had to buy
my time [and] wait for the track to come in
and push when I felt comfortable. I felt like
I found a really good rhythm in the whoops.
I think that's where I was able to pull it in;
everywhere else, we were doing the same
thing. It just came down to the whoops."
Windham came within five laps of putting
a bookend of wins on the series.
"It was kind of depressing to watch my
lead get eaten into inch by inch; I figured it
was coming down to the wire," Windham
said. "I was looking forward to it. I kind of
wish I didn't go down."
Carmichael admitted that he did not
have anything for Windham or Reed on this
night.
"I tried to make it a battle, but Kevin and
Chad were riding really good," Carmichael
said. "No excuses from me. I thought I was
riding pretty good, but it wasn't enough.
Chad was slowly chipping away. Kevin was
so far out I didn't even know where he was.
18
I was just trying to get up and make it a
battle.
"It was a lucky second," Carmichael
added. "I should've been third. Kevin had
a mishap, and I just cruised in. It was a little disappointing, but that's the way it
goes. I'll just take my ass-whipping like a
eN
man, I guess."
SAM BoYD STADIUM
LAs VEGAS, NEVADA
RESULTS: MAy 7, 2005
(ROUNDS
16/17 OF 16/17)
HEAT I (81ap<, 1-4 transfo,), I. Chad Reed (Yam); 2.
Kevin WlIldham (Hon): 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 4. Travis
Preston (Hon); S. lY\er Evans (Suz); 6. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 7.
j=n lhom.s (Han); 8. Jln Do