Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Opposite page) Jeremy McGrath's victory at Pontiac was the 85th 250cc Supercross win of his career. That's Important, though you have to use your imagination to understand why. (Right) Kevin Windham (14) and Ricky Carmichael (4) gated well in the main event, but both were hampered by early crashes. Honda duo, this one made up of Greg Albertyn and Kevin Windham, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Not that either rider is typically content to be anywhere but on the top of the podium, but with their results of late, each treated a top-five finish as a glimmer of light in an erstwhile dark series. MAIN The long start straight had the Pistons flying by turn one, where McGrath collected his third-consecutive Yahoo! Sports Holeshot Award. For the past few races, McGrath has been watching video tape of his heat-race starts even more closely than usual, and this time around, team manager Larry Brooks noticed that McGrath didn't have his weight as far forward as normal. "It helps to have someone else for a different perspective; I'm not always right," said McGrath. "I really wasn't a fan of the start; It's like, 'Hey, I've got to get the holeshot, or else. " Second through fourth in the points chase probably aren't fans of the Pontiac start, either, as all were seriously delayed in the first turn. Team Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael - fourth in points - came out the worst. "Larry [Ward] was on the outside of me, and McGrath was on the outside of him," said Carmichael. "I think Jeremy just kind of cut in a little bit to protect the inside line. Larry kind of leaned in, and there was nowhere for me to go. My front brake hit Larry, and I just went over the handlebars." Carmichael broke off his brake lever and his helmet visor, and rejoined the race in dead last (he would eventually work up to 10th). "[McGrath] had a half-bike on everybody, and he went to the inside, like he should have," said Ward. "I ran in there pretty deep, trying to beat the guys on the inside of me, and I got turned, but the guys inside of me [didn't]. It was nobody's fault. When you make a [start straight] a quartermile long, and we're all in fifth gear, wide open, people are going to crash." LaRocco - third in points - was held up in turn one by the tumbling Carmichael, but he set about his customary process of working his way to the front. He had to start over, though, after crashing a few laps in. "Mike Craig dorked out in the whoops, and took me out with him," he explained. VuiUemin - second in points - was upset with Team Chevy Trucks/ Kawasaki. He, too, had to stop for Carmichael's fall, and he had trouble getting by John Dowd and Ward later on. "I was behind them so long," he said. "Windham passed me because I was stuck behind Larry Ward, who was riding all over the track." One rider who wasn't affected by the mayhem was Huffman, who found a gate that was a bit lower and had good dirt after it. Though the position was a bit to the outside, Huffman trusted his instincts and chose it, and it paid off with a second-place start. "You can practice starts all week long, but when you line up in the main event, I think it's all up in your head," he said. Honda's factory Red Wings had both gated well and were running in the top five, a rare occurrence so far this year. Tortelli ran in third until landing too heavily on a soft jump on lap four, stalling his bike and losing a couple of positions. Windham was in fifth on lap one, but was tricked while trying to slingshot past a wily Ward in a corner. "I waited on the top of that berm, and waited, and waited until I couldn't wait no more," said Windham. "He held me up there as long as he needed Albertyn with five laps remaining, and moved by Huffman for second on the last go-around. "I'm working hard, and I'm in shape," said Tortelli. "The guys got a little bit tired at the end." "Sebastien was coming on strong," said Albertyn. "I could see that he was a little ways back. The lappers out there were just terrible; it was just ridiculous. There was such a big difference, and they wouldn't get out of the way. That definitely cost me a little bit of time, and Sebastien got right on me and passed. But give him credit; he's riding really well." "I know Sebastien's always really tough at the end," said Huffman. "I just saw a red fender; I wasn't sure who it was. I made a little bobble at the end to, and I hit the ground. It kind of pissed me off - not necessarily that he did anything wrong; it pissed me off that I made the mistake." Suzuki's Greg Albertyn had garnered a ninth-place start, but he worked his way through the pack of Wolverines to sit behind Huffman by lap five. "When my mechanic showed me that I was in third, I was like what?" said Albertyn, who frequently has Lions painted on his helmets. "I couldn't believe it, actually." Tortelli quickly recovered from his early error, and by lap six he was trailing the Suzuki duo in fourth. The top four remained unchanged for much of the race, but Tortelli put on a late charge with a few laps to go. He got Pontiac was unquestionably the most important race so far this year for Team Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki, as its title spon· sor is headquartered in nearby Detroit, and many of the company's heavy hitters were on hand to observe their riders_ "We invited all of our Chevy employees out to the event," said John C. Farris, Chevrolet Assistant Brand Manager of Marketing, "We've got some non-motorcyde media journalists that we invited [Automotive Marketer, Brand Week, Automotive News], to kind of share with them what we're doing." Close to 100 employees showed up from the marketing division alone, and many were hanging out with their fammes in a huge Super Party Suite. Team rider5 Ricky Carmichael, John Oowd and Larry Ward showed up for a brief pre-race autograph session along with Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Nathan Ramsey and Nick Wey (right), Team P,R. gUN Tony Gardea a1so took the attending employees on ah abbreYIated tour of the pits, explaining what is carried in the trucks and how the pit site is set up. "I've Included (team news) In a lot of our interms! publications; saki Ferris, who reported that employees are beginning to talk about the team at walk. "Well start to spike things up again once the outdoot: series and the Superbike series start as well." (Chevy Trucks is also the title sponsor for both those series.) cue' e n e _ S • MARCH 1,2000 7

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