Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

IRJghtl F_ry Connectlon's Mike LaRocco (5). here leading Ricky c.nnlc....l. again charged hard and was rewarded with second place. (Below) Yamaha's David Vulllemin keeps riding fast and consistent; keeping him in the series points hunt. ®G!J&JDD@JD[Jf)rIJ fd@@@@ (j[XJ®W 'ilOiJ@'iJ @@l1 'f]{}u@(J'@» If you were looking for a sign of McGrath's vulnerability, it came in the second heat. Not only didn't he get the holeshot . that went to Kevin Windham - but also he fell while chasing the Honda rider late on the third lap. From the stands it looked like a chink in the armor, but Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha team manager Larry Brooks knew better. "He would've won, he would've won hands down, but he just slipped his front wheel and fell down over there," Brooks said. "We had it on videotape, he saw the crash, It was nothing: it was a small mistake on his part. It cost him, it cost him some money, and it cost him a heat-race win." Vuillemin lost ground in the race and finished third, which meant he also lost ground in the championship. After six of ] 6 races, McGrath holds a 12-point lead, ]40-128, over the Frenchman, with LaRocco third at ]20. The Indy track was yet another East Coast-type track, with softer dirt, more ruts and more energy expended. Suzuki's Damon Huffman thinks the stillness of the air in the domed stadiums affects the riders, and there was ample evidence to support his view - none better than Kevin Windham. The Honda rider got away third, then he ran down Vuillemin and went after McGrath, shadowing him on the fourth go-around. On the fifth lap, he lost ground after the finish-line jump while avoiding a fallen rider, and he never recovered - quite the opposite, in fact. Windham hung around the top for a while, then Vuillemin got him, then LaRocco, then Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael back, just kind of left him [McGrath] out there by himself," LaRocco said. "I started about fifth, but I was kind of battling with Ricky [Carmichael] and [Greg] Albertyn, so I couldn't go anywhere early." As it was, by the time he got into second with a wildly popular move on Vuillemin starting the ]4th lap, McGrath was over]2 seconds away. "If I can keep Jeremy [McGrath] within sight in 10 laps I think I can take him," LaRocco said. "That's pretty much what happened. He got out front comfortable, and I know I matched his speed at the end of the race. He was too far out. There was nothing I could do with that." Vuillemin had been flustered when Windham passed him on the second lap, and it took him a long time to regain his composure. '" was behind him [McGrath], and I was tight and Windham passed me, and I got the good drive to get the timing back, and I rode good in the middle of the race. I got a little bit tired at the end, and that's why got him, as did a few others. In the end he would finish in seventh place. Getting stronger during the race was LaRocco. Celebrating his 29th birthday in front of what's considered his hometown crowd - he's from LaRocco passed me," Vuillemin said, encapsulating the race in a nutshell. He finished about four seconds behind LaRocco with Ricky Carmichael about another four sec- South Bend, Indiana - LaRocco might have made a run at McGrath had he gotten started sooner. "Windham and him [McGrath] took off early and then Windham went onds back in fourth. Carmichael knows that he has to get better starts but hasn't consistently been able to do that. "My starts were pretty bad all McGrath lost one spot, which he quickly made up. The greater deficit was in time. When they crossed the finish line ending the third lap, Windham had an 8.496 second lead. Not that McGrath gave up: quite the opposite. He kept chipping away at Windham's lead, tuming in by far the fastest lap of the night in the process. but it was too little, too late, and Windham had the comfortable win, 5.560 seconds in hand at the end of the eight-lap race, which was three seconds faster than the first heat, "I felt the pressure from McGrath," Windham said after taking his first heat win of the year. "I heard he made a mistake over there." McGrath felt pressure. also. Ricky Carmichael gated badly and took most of two laps to move into fourth. He used the berm to shoot past McGrath's teammate Tim Ferry on the fifth lap, moving into third and going after McGrath. By now Windham had checked out, so the fight was for second. Carmichael was soon within a second of McGrath and held the distance for a lap or two. Then McGrath eased away, and by the end, had a secure second, Carmichael took third and Ferry held on to fourth. Suzuki's Robbie Reynard (17) re1umed to Yamaha's David Vuillemin won the first heat handily and impressive- action a1 IndJo. ly. Two corners into the eight-lap race, he was in the lead and pulling away. Ending the second lap, he had nearly four seconds and just kept pouring it on, adding a couple of seconds before backing off to win by a secure 4.402 seconds. Hometown favorite Mike laRocco was second, moving into second on the first lap but unable to put a mark on Vuillemin, despite the crowd's exhortations. "I was really just out there leaming the track," laRocco said, "He got away from me on the start. I wasn't catching. I just kind of rode and was just trying to find places for the rest of the night." Sebastien TortelU ended up third after moving into the position on the third lap, when Plano Honda's Grayson Goodman fell after taking the holeshot. Another rider to fall was Greg Albertyn, who tipped over on the first lap but was quickly back up and into fourth by the third lap. The order never changed after that, and the top four were on their way to the final. Damon Huffman won the first semi, pulling away after passing fast-starter Goodman. Goodman eventually dropped back to fifth, which was good enough for the final transfer spot. Second place went to Larry Ward, followed by Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss, and Answer Racing/Planet Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy. The second semi was decided on the fourth lap when Team Chevy Trucks Kawasakj's John Dowd passed eventual second-place finisher Motoworld of EI Cajon's Michael Craig on the third of six laps. American Suzuki's Robbie Reynard was third with Motoworld of EI Cajon's Greg Schnell fourth, and Isaiah Johnson taking the final transfer on the Planet Honda machine. The final two transfers clime from the Last Chllnce QUlllifier, where KTM's Shllyne King held off Moto XXX's Kyle Lewis, who hlld his hllnds full with Demarini's Jason Thomas the whole way, II: U II: • e n e _... • FEBRUARY 23, 2000 7

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