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Daytona Beech, FL . March 1 1 . 2CXXJ AMA/EA Spores Supercross Series Round 9: Daytona International Speedway (Left) McGrath (1). here leading Mike laRocco (5) and Damon Huffman (20). played it safe by not risking a crash and going after the highflying Carmichael. McGrath finished up in second place. (Below) laRocco went all out after an early-race gettogether with Damon Huffman. laRocco charged up to fifth, one spot behind Tortelli. last in the 3D-rider field. By the end of the first lap, LaRocco had picked off 11 riders and was in 19th and on a roll. "I knew it was going to be tough, because I had to move around everybody," LaRocco said. "I was casing jumps, because 1 was unsure of the people I was around. The first five laps took a lot of energy to go through. I knew I should've been all right. I thought I was catching the pack." Five laps into the race, he was up to ninth, then sixth at the halfway point. At that point, he was 18 seconds behind Honda's Kevin Windham, and was not showing any signs of slowing down. On the next lap, LaRocco took five seconds out of Windham's cushion, and then four more seconds the next lap, and then nine more on lap 13. That's when he passed Windham and set off for Tortelli, who was about 11 seconds in front of him. "Honestly, I wanted to get Tortelli, but at the end there, it was tough," LaRocco said. "The track was rough, and everybody was kind of crawling around. " Instead of knocking time off Tortelli's lead, LaRocco cramped up with three laps to go and had to settle for a well-earned fifth. "I got a cramp, because I actually had to go to the bathroom before I went out," LaRocco said. "The last three laps... 1 thought I was going to wet my pants. I was getting a cramp. I slowed down a little bit and then I saw Ricky [Carmichael, who was about to lap LaRocco], and 1 didn't want to get in his way." Windham was holding down sixth when, with three laps to go, he got passed by Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha's Tim Ferry. Ferry had been chasing Windham and Tortelli early, before he crashed a few turns from the finish line. He didn't lose a spot, 14 MARCH 22, 2000· e y e I e Dube (Suz): 3. Jim Neese (Yam); 4. Rkhard Taylor (Hon); 5. Barry Carsten (Suz); 6. Austin Squires (KTM); 7. Jeremy Chaussee (Yam); 8. Carter Gurnee (Han); 9. Eric Kowalik (Suz); 10. Lee Theis (Kaw); 11. Justin Blake (Kaw); 12. Todd Downs (Hen): 13. Vincent Kamow (Suz); 14. Paul Letendre (Han): 15. Ronnie Renner (Yam): 16. Daniel Pepoon (Suz); 17. Jon Hedden (KTM); 18. Ronnie Miller (Hon); 19. Shawn Nutt (Kaw); 20. Randy Jackson (Han): 21. Brilln Smith (Suz); 22. Timothy Posipsil (Kaw): 23. Nathan Juergens (Yam); 24. Brian Mason (Kaw); 25. Kyle Kelly (Hus): 26. Dennis Dooley (Kaw); 27. Jered Black (Yam): 28. Jason Thorne (Suz); 29. Spencer Smith (Suz); 30. Eddie Arasimowicl (Hon). Time: 9 min .. 50.830 sec. 250 LCQ; 1. Grayson Goodman (Han); 2. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 3. Jason Fink (Yam): 4. Tom Welch (5Ul); 5. Ted Campbell (5u2); 6. Davey Y..ek (Yam): 7. Carter Gurnee (Hon); 8. Jeremy Chaussee (Yam); 9. Todd DeHoop (Yam): 10. Aaron Dieter (Sw); 11. Charles Duffy (Suz); 12. Vincent Kamow (Suz): 13. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 14. Todd Downs (Hen): 15. Paul Letendre (Hon); 16. Lee Theis (Kaw): 17. Justin Blake (Kaw); t 8. Patrick Barton (Suz): 19. Jeremy Shuttleworth (Yam): 20. Daniel Pepoon (SUl); 21. but he did lose ground, which he didn't make up for another dozen laps. After the first-lap incident, Huffman rode inspired, making his way to eighth place, one position in front of Team Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki's John Dowd, who had his own get-off, a heavy one on lap five while in seventh. The next lap he came around in 12th and worked his way up to ninth. Teammate Larry Ward was 10th. eN Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 11, ZOOO [Round 9 of 16] 250 HEAT I: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 2. Mike LaRocco (Han); 3. Tim Ferry (Yam): 4. John Dowd (Kaw); 5. Jean-Sebastien Roy (Hen): 6. Travis Preston (Suz); 7. Shayne King (KTM); a. Jason Thomas (Yam); 9. Jason McCormick (Hen); 10. Jason Frenette (Yam); 11. Ryan Terlecki (KTM): 12. Donald Upton (Kaw)j 13. Clark Stiles (Suz): 14. Davey Yezek (Yam); 15. Patrick Barton (Suz); 16. Aaron Dieter (Suz); 17. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 18. Todd Dehoop (Yam); 19. Tom Welch (5u2); 20. Jeremy Shuttleworth (Yam): 21. Mattieu Smith (Kaw); 22. Michael Wilcox (Hon); 23. Erik Anderson (Hon); 24. Grayson Goodman (Hon); 25. Robbie Horton (Suz). Time: 12 min.. 9.370 sec. 250 HEAT 2: 1. David Vuillemin (Yam): 2. Kevin Windham (Hon): 3. Kyle Lewis (Suz): 4. urry Ward (Kaw); 5. James Povolny (Hon); 6. Marco Dube (5Ul); 7. Ted Campbell (5Ul); 8. Barry Carsten (5Ul); 9. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 10. Jeremy Chaussee (Yam); 11. Jason Fink (Yam); 12. Jim Neese (Yam); 13. Christopher Brown (Yam); 14. Shawn Nutt (Kaw): 15. Ron Boya, (5u,); 16. Jon Hedden (KTM); 17. Ross Johnston (Hon); 18. Randy Jackson (Hon); 19. Joseph Celsa (Hon); 20. Nathan Juergens (Yam); 21. Karter Busse (Yam); 22. Jered Black (Yam); 23. Charles Duffy (Suz); 24. Brian Mason (Kaw); 25. James Evans (Yam). Time: 12 min., 31 .630 sec. 250 HEAT 3; 1. Jeremy McGrath (Yam): 2. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 3. Damon Huffman (Suz); 4. Greg Schnell (Yam); 5. Kevin Crine (Hon); 6. Heath Voss (Hon); 7. Richard Taylor (Hon); 8. Carter Gurnee (Hon); 9. Austin Squires (KTM): 10. Jason Thome (Suz); I I. Vincent Kamow (Suz): 12. Justin Blake (Kaw); 13. PlIul Letendre (Hon); 14. Daniel Pepoon (Suz): 15. Ronnie Miller (Hon): 16. Lee Theis (Kaw); 17. Eric Kowalik (Suz); 18. Eddie Arasimowicz (Hon); 19. Kyle Kelly (Hus); 20. Ronnie Renner (Yam); 21. Brian Smith (Suz); 22. Todd Downs (Hon); 23. Timothy Pospisil (Kaw); 24. Dennis Dooley (KlIw); 25. Spencer Smith (Sw). Time: 12 min.. 38 sec. 250 SEMI 1: Travis Preston (Suz); 2. Jason McCormick (Hon); 3. Jason Thomas (Yam); 4. Shayne King (KTM); 5. Robbie Horton (Suz); 6. Ryan Terlecki (KTM); 7. Dustin Nelson (Yam); 8. Ted Campbell (Suz); 9. Jason Fink (Yam); 10. Grayson Goodman (Hon); I I. Aaron Dieter (Suz); 12. Davey Yezek (Yam): 13. Todd DeHoop (Yam); 14. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); IS.Charles Duffy (Suz); 16. Tom Welch (Suz); 17. PZltrick Barton (SUl); 18. Jeremy Shuttleworth (Yam); 19. Karter Busse (Yam); 20. Michael Wilcox (Hon); 21. Christopher Brown (Yam); 22. Ron Boyas (Suz); 23. Joseph Celso (Hon); 24. Matthieu Smith (Kaw); 25. Erik Anderson (Hon); 26. James Evans (Yam): 27. Jason Frenette (Yam): 28. Clark Stiles (Sw); 29. Donald Upton (Kaw): 30. Ross Johnston (Hon). Time: 9 min., 58.840 sec. 250 SEMI 2: 1. Heath Voss (Han); 2. Marco n e vv s [){}@fi]71 ©C!!J@@@ §(§5@@@ @[lfj@O!J®!J[JiJ@) Daytona brought more heat than is typical for the Supercross series, and we're not just talking about temperature. Since 10 more riders than the typical 20 are allowed in Daytona's main event, qualifying for this round included three heat races rather than the usual two. The first heat was all Ricky Carmichael's, and it would also be the fastest heat race of the day, partly because Mike laRocco kept him honest. Carmichael (left) got the jump and held the point all the way, keeping an edge on LaRocco. LaRocco couldn't close on Carmichael, but he didn't fade, either. When it was all over, Carmichael had fought his way to the win. Tim Ferry took third in the race, a spot he eamed on lap two of eight, and he never relinquished it. Fourth. from lap two on, was Carmichael's teammate John Dowd. The second heat actually had a pass for the lead. Kevin Windham got the jump, with David Vuillemin falling in behind him, and the pair rode away from the 25-rider field. Vuillemin ran Windham down and jumped by him on the finish jump at the halfway point of the race. From there he was gone, celebrating with some crowd-pleasing heel clickers on the final lap. Moto XXX's Kyle Lewis finished up in third, and then came Larry Ward. Vuillemin's heat win took 12 minutes, 31.630 seconds, which was about 22 seconds longer than what it took for Carmichael to win. Jeremy McGrath owned the third heat, leading it from start to finish. Sebastien Tortelli and Damon Huffman held down the second- and third-place positions the whoie way. The first semi went to DeMarini's Travis Preston, the Suzuki rider passing KTM's Shayne King on the fifth lap. Kjng continued to drop back, ending up in fourth behind Planet Honda's Jason McCormick and Lineman Cycles Jason Thomas. Semi number two would be eight seconds faster than the first, and it belonged to Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss. The Honda rider was out front from the drop of the gate, and he was never challenged. Suzuki Canada's Marco Dube moved into second on the first lap and stayed there to the end. Triad Motorsports' Jim Neese was third, and Richard Taylor was fourth. The main-event field of 30 was now lacking only three riders, who would be decided in the last chance qualifier. Plano Honda's Grayson Goodman was the leader for all six laps of that race. Motoworld of EI Cajon's Dustin Nelson ran in second place from lap three on, and Southern Super,ports' Jason Fink ended up nabbing the final transfer of the day.