Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Phoenix, Az R )\ 4/2 aOO6 Amp d Mobile World Sup€rcross GP,'Amp d Mobil€ AMA sup€rcross S€PiEs 5UP€RCROss 2006 I / \., ,l I I l-l ..,."; ;" b. ,, naoo, as he V -rr;rirer wrnnrne Lhe Phoenrx I \ sro*...orr. Noi onlv did he I \,u*" a tnrrtrng wrn rnsroe a packed house at Chase Field and move into a tie for the points lead in the 2006 Amp'd lt'lobile AMA Superqross Series, but the win in Arizona was his first Supercross victory in nearly a year. And. believe it or not, the defending Supercross champ's last win - not includ- ing rhe U.S. Open - came way back on March 5 in St. Louis, which ---o'.=. T*"#.*t:"1'r'J: ance the l-lakita Suzuki team rider dis- played moments afler takinS the check- ,.,,.:4 IlaZ ahead of Chad Reed and James 1',. uan fortunately they weren t brg one5. Perhaps setting the tone for what could be the most influential factor in the highly anticipated three-horse race for the AMA Supercrors ChamPionshiP - who will make the least mistakes - Reed simply made the most tonight. Two small errors added up to cost him a big win. The first came around the fifth lap, while Reed was enioying a fairly comfort- able lead over Carmichael. Reed's back end slipped out while exiting a rutted, slick turn that led to a iump, and he momentarily came to a stoP, which allowed Carmichael to get close enough to smell blood. "l felt Eood," Reed said. "l had a good stan and did what I had to do- lfelt lwas putting some good laps together, but I made a little mistak€ in the section that I crashed on. I should have changed up my line a little sooner, but it bit me, and Ricky closed the gap on me, The rack was slick and the side of the iump w.rs worn away EI - t I s .(- r\ ,l I il E/en rhough Carmichael posted top 1p limes earlier in the day, his evening ?.,t off ro an auspic,ous start. ln his heat .ace, Carmichael got stufied by Reed rhrough the first turn and, moments larer, gor hung up behind fallen rid- F a. I D, a2 ers, sg he had to work hard just to ger into the main event, qualirying in third place out of rhe first heat race. Then, in the final Carmichael continued to struggle wirh his starts, rounding the flrst lap in Iifth place. Luckily for him though, last week's Anaheim I winner, Stewart, got an even worse start, and the defend- Jeremy Mrcroth pulled holerhots oll nighr long oh the CR25OR two-slroke. He linished o crqryd.pleosing lourth' T V tad * ) \ * €, f ) I ) didn't have to mess fr? I he Kawasaki rider all n8ht. .hael did, however, have to thase down race leader Reed, Ca..richael passed Reed on the lort lap before going on to win the race. He pump€d his fist irlto ihe air after crossinSthe finish line and rook an obviously enjoyable celebration l+ after all was said an,1 do^e. 'li s been a while; I'm happy," Car..lchael said. "l was prett), ,.:pser after the heat. I kne\a/ I was betrer rhan rhat. so I tried to make a turnaround. But I still did- n't 8et a Sreat stan [in the main], 50 I iust tied to plug away and -rake good laps. The track was definilely easy. but it was also g ll {,i M € - , , t q E - t I i.. A misloke-free ro

• Cover