Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Conrinued from poge '7 Reed said. "I tested Tuesday and Thursday this week. and everything is going really well. I feel really good on the bike. I've never really had a break (in riding] in my career, so it was nice to have the nine or 10 weeks off that 1did. It was nice to regroup and get a breath of fresh air and get motivated again. I'm ready to step it up ilnd challenge. Last year, Ricky [Carmichaeij had his knee surgery, so he had the whole Supercross best for me," Reed said. "I'll be honest, I was never a believer in the four-stroke in Supercross, and I'm qu~e surpnsed to see Ricky riding it. I don't think he's a big believer in ~ as well, but currently testing the 'ISO, it's [been] eye-opening. I'm surpnsed with the new bike that we have, and it's something I have to have an open mind to, because it is the future, and it's very close. I want the best bike for the season, and if it's the 'ISO, then that's what it is." season off and was strong during the Supercross and Nationals." Ricky Cannlchael came to the U.S. Open with both his factory two-stroke and four-stroke race bikes, not knowing which one he'd ride. According Team Kawasaki's Michael Byrne, however, woo't have such a dilemma. - he's committed to the fourstroke. "My deal is to ride the 450 for Supencross and the outdoors as well," Byrne said. And ~ appears to be a good deal for the Australian, who looked right at home on the new aluminum-frame KX450f, des~e spending all year on the KX250 two-stroke. "My bike did really well, [ancij I've adapted really weli to the four-stroke [even though] we've had only two weeks on ~." A busy schedule and getting sick during the week to Makita Suzuki team manager Roger DeCoster. Carmichael had a busy schedule after returning from the MX des Nations and, to make matters worse, he got sick during the week leading up to the U.S. Open. This prevented Carmichael from being able to test the 250cc two-stroke prior to the race. Although he brought the RM250, he decicled to run the 450, mainly because he was just more familiar with ~ after having just finished the outdoor series and the MX des Nations on it. "I didn't prepare like I would've liked to, with the Motocross des Nations and stuff like that," Carmichael said after Friday night's win. "We tried to jam in a little bit [of testing], but I got sick this week. so 1haven't had any real time to adapt to the two-stroke. I was planning on Chad [Reed] and all of them riding, too, so I didn't want to switch back [to the two-stroke]; I wanted to ride what I was comfonable on. The team did a good job [prepping the 450]. It's defin~ely a handful here. We made a lot of changes. I think [all of the racers] did. My bike was totally set up for something different, so we made a lot of changes, [and it] got better as we kept riding. I think tomorrow we'll improve a little more." So, after winning the U.S. Open on the RM-Z450, does this mean that Ricky Carmichael will ride the 450 in the 2005/06 Supercross Series? Doubtful. been a lot of work, but it finally paid off. Everyone has been behind me, so it feels good to get the win after three years." For Hansen, finishing second wasn't a bad way to start his comeback after having had knee surgery prior to the outdoor National season. He had only been on a bike for three weeks before the U.S. Open. laninovich ended up finishing all alone in third, while Kiniry and Brown rounded out the top fIVe overall. SUPERCROSS UTES: SATURDAY NIGHT - MOTa 2 Short got his revenge in the second moto on Friday night. orr the start, Laninovich got the holeshot, but he and Short banged handlebars a little bit on the first lap. laninovich got the worst of it and lost about six positions, while Short shot off into the lead and ran off with the win. When Short and laninovich got together, Metcalfe suddenly found himself in second, followed by Amsoil Honda's Jake Weimer, Kiniry, Hansen and Brown. At this point, Metcalfe was sitting pretty, since his main rivals for the first-place overall trophy - Hansen and laninovich - were well behind him. Although he hung with Short for a little while, Metcalfe was content where he was and pretty much let Short go. As the race wound down, Metcalfe had a lock on the overall, but second and third overall was still up in the air. On the last lap, Kiniry, Hansen and laninovich were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, but in the very last tum, laninovich stuffed Hansen, taking fifth at the finish a few feet later. The pass nearly knocked Kiniry off the podium, because that gave both laninovich and Kiniry 36 points over the weekend, but since The defending Supercross champ adm~ed that the four-strokes will have their advantages at some tracks, including Anaheim, but he feels the twostroke is still the bike to be on for Supercross. "There are more races than Anaheim," Carmichael said. "I think you have to look at what's best over 18 races. I think that's what we're searching for right now. 00 I think the 'ISO can win iii Supercross title? I do. But I think it's a tall order, and I don't know if I'm ready for that step yet. My mind isn't made up. I think Suzuki has a great twostroke, and myself and Ivan [Tedesco] are going to ride it this week, and we'll make our decision. We've got a while, and I have to make my mind up and not listen to anybody else, so I'm still undecided. There were some places out there tonight that I thought the two-stroke would've been a little bener, that's for sure." Carmichael isn't the only ricIer still up in the air as to whether or not they'll ride a two-stroke or four-stroke in Supercross next season. Chad Reed is one of them, as well. "It has to be a decision based on my feeling, [what]' feel is going to be almost proved to be too much for Ricky Cannichael. He admitted that he considered sitting out the U.S. Open. '" did," he said. "Wednesday, I thought it wasn't looking too good. I went to the hospital, and this and that - I thought my eyelids were going to bum off my face, my temperawre was about 103. I was like, 'Oh, man, maybe my body is telling me something.' But I got taken care of and I'm hanging in there." Regarding his busy schedule, Carmichael said: "I went to Europe, flew back, went to the Suzuki convention On Dallas, Texas]; I've been going along time. It wears on you mentally and physically. It's definitely taking a toll, but I committed to do all these races, so I'm not going to sit here and complain. I'm happy I've done them; I think there have been only good things that have corne out of them so far, and ~'s part of it. I don't think any of these races are going to go away, and there will probably be more some day, but I probably woo't be around, so that's fine with me." "It's disappointing for our team and for the fans; everybody wants to see everybody race," Team Kawasaki's Michael Byrne said about his teammate James Stewart not competing. "James not feeling well really sucks for him, and ~ sucks for Kawasaki as well." Ricky Carmichael said, "Hopefully he's okay. I hope he didn't have the same thing I had a couple of days ago. It was pretty nasty." You could say that Honda was the bike of choice at the U.S. Open. Of the 12 riders that made it to the Supercross final Friday night, only two of them were aboard something other than a red machine. In the Supercross Utes mains, all were Hoodas except for three. Kevin Windham will go under the knife 7 a.m. Monday following the U.S. Open. "I have a hernia, so Illy home tomorrow [Sunday] and try to rest as much as I can and get reatly for my surgery," Windham said. "I'm looking forward to some time off, but it's a shame to have to have surgery to get ~, but I'm ready for it. This will get me four weeks, which will be about November, and we'll see how testing goes and see what I can do for Canada [the opening round of the World Supercross GP Series]. I think ~'s a great time for me to [have the surgery], and I should be reatly for the opening round at Anaheim." Speaking of Kevin Windham, he was almost a noshow for this year's U.S. Open, too. "This was the Continued on poge 20 CYCLE NEWS • OCTOBER 19,2005 19

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