AMA/ChevyTruc ks U .S . Motocross C h a m p ions h ip s
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R o u n d 2 : P r a ir ie C ity SVRA F?ar
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By KIT PA LM ER
PH OTOS BY KI NN EY J ONES
SACRAMENTO, CA, MAY 21
ot only was the Hangtown Nation al win a b ig one for Dav id
Vui lle mi n, but it was also a huge moral
victory for many of the riders who fin ished behind the Tea m Yama ha rider.
T he ove rall win by VuilJemin , and th e
second -m ota victory by Kevin Windham , pro ved that Ricky Carm ic hael ,
who scored a solid win at the AM A /
Chevy T ruck s U.S. Mo tocross Championships Series opener the previous
week at Glen Helen , is ind eed beatable
and that this year's race for the series
title co uld be a close on e - not a runawa y.
Th is, however, had not seemed to
be the case when Carmichael led from
start to finish in the first 250cc Nation al mota, much as he had dominated
the two previous motos at Glen Helen.
With the sun hammering down on the
track, ride rs and the estimated 20 ,000
spectators that lined the hillside and
shade-less circuit, Carm icha el quickly
picked u p whe re he left off - out in
fro nt. He m aint ained about a five -sec ond lead over Vuillemin for m ost of the
race before taking the checkered flag
in first place for the third- consecutive
time. Sebast ien Tortelli finis hed out
the m ot a in third , followed by Wind ham , Mik e LaRocco , Robbie Reyna rd,
Greg A lbertyn and Ezra Lusk.
So when Carm ichael pa ssed Windham fo r the lead early in the second
mota, one cou ld almost hear a col lective "here- we -go -again" sigh from
the huge crowd. Funny how quickly
thi ngs can ch ange.
In the sec on d m ot a , Carm ichael
ju st couldn't pull away from Windham
and t he re st of th e pa ck like he 's
don e i n th e prev i ou s th ree m o t os.
Th is time, Carmichael began ma k ing
small mista k es, one right afte r the
. othe r, and he co uld not get a rh ythm
go ing and get awa y . Instead, the heat
began getting t o him , and when he
n early go t off in on e of the fastest
sections of the track , he came to the
d is appoin ting realization that he
wasn 't going to win th is one and went
into damage-control mode, playing it
safe and smart. After all , there are
still 20 motos left to race in the 12ro und series.
N
Yamaha's David Vulllemin didn 't win a
moto at Hangtown but he did post a
pair of second-place fin ishes, which
was good enough for the overall
vietDry.
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