Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128619
AMA,/Ch evyTru c k s U .S. Monocr-osse Championship Series R o und S : Budds C r-e e k Raceway B y J ERRY A T HEY P HOTO S BY KA RL O CK ERT AND STEVE B ROO N BUDDS CREEK, MD, JUNE 18 "On e for Mothers' Day, and now one for Fath er s ' Da y ," qu ipp ed T eam Ch ev y T ru c k s / Kaw asak i' s Ricky Carmi ch ael from the winners ' ci rcle . Carm ich ael piloted his Chad Watts-tuned F ac t o r y KX250 to a hard-foug ht, 1-1 , overall win in front of the 16,OOO·plus cheering spectators on hand for round five of the AMA/ Chevy T ruck s 25 0cc U.S. MX C h am p i on sh ip Ser i es, held on F athers' Day at the be autiful Budd s Cr eek facility. A f t er a fierc e, early -rac e b at t l e with th e de fend ing ser ies c ha m pi on, T eam Suzu k i 's Greg A lbe r t yn , Carm ichael simply took con tr ol of the first 30 -m inute -plus -two - l ap moto , charging to the decisive victory. Ca rm i ch a el's se c ond-m oto w i n came less eas il y , as T eam Honda 's Sebasti en To rtelli hounded the Kawasaki rider for the m ajority of the moto before taking over the lead with just a few laps to go . On th is da y , however , Carmicha el save d hi s best for last and, j ust afte r the beginn ing of th e fi nal lap, blitzed p ast Tortelli to tak e o ver th e lead for good . Carmichael, who trailed the Team Hon da duo o f Tortelli and Kevi n 16 JUN E 28, 2000' c u e I e Windham going into th e Bu dd s Creek round, was able to reg ain the po ints le ad he had surrendered two rou nds earlier in the mud at Mount Morris. "I' m defin itely hap py about that," sai d th e 20 -y ea r -old fro m Hav an a, Fl or ida. "T hings are goin g good now and I'm goin g to try to stay on to p ." F in i sh ing sec o n d o verall to Carm icha el was t he aforementione d Tortelli . After falling vic tim to a firstturn pileup, the 2 1-year-old French man cha rged t hro u g h o u t the f irst moto to finish a remarkable fourth . Tortelli had somewhat better luck the next time out, taking over the lead from C a r m i c h a el l ate in the race before eventually being re -passed by the Kawasak i speedster with less th an a lap to go . "It wa s a pretty decent da y : sai d Tortelli who has two World MX Champion ships to his credit. " I had a good sta rt in th e f irst moto , b ut Damon Huffm an came p retty hard into the first corner and cut me in two , so that was p re tty bad . I sta rted de ad last and ca me back to fourth. I gave up a lot of en ergy du ring that moto. The second moto was a little bit tougher. I had a good race with Ricky . I passed him on the l ast la p and he b rake check ed m e. I mean, that's racing. I m ad e a m ist ak e and that's why h e got back by me . At one po int, I had like a tw o -t o - th ree second lead on ne""s (Above) Ricky Cannichael (4) and Sebastien Tortelli (2 1) diced fo r the lead for much of the second 250cc mota. (Below) Kevin Windham (14) and Damon Huffman (20) arriYecl at the same place at the same time. Huffman bailed hard, taking David . Vu illemin out with him. him, wh ich shou ld hav e been eno ugh to win the race." Tortelli , who has been th e m od el of c ons is te n c y so far in th e series , beli eves th at now is th e time for him to ste p up th e pace. " T h a t' s my goal, t o b e st ron g ," said T o rt elli. "T he f irst p art o f t he season my goal was to be co nsistent - to get some go od points. Now, I'm getting up to spe ed, so every thi ng is going well , like getting good starts. My goa l is to be in the top five at every start. I think th at will work good and I can probab ly hav e a g ood fight with Rick y ." F ill ing out t he podiu m at B udds Creek wa s W indham. The 22 -year-