Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"lt was a good race, and I came all the way up to thid, but it was definitey tough coming up through the gup,'' Stewan said. "The track was as wide open as a rnotocross track, so it was kind of hard to make up time, [t wa5] crazy. Fortunatet, I haven't been back there all year. I thought I rode a smart race, I tho'r8tt I made some good passes, and I tried to get up there, because the track was easT and people kind of got away, so it was hard to rnake up time." There wa5 more to the Phoenrx Supercross than ,ust Camichael, Reed and Stewart - a lot more. Seven-time Supercross Champion Jereny I'lccrath had the crowd abuz when he took the holeshot and led for over a lap before Reed got him, and th€n he hung onto second place for the next llve laps until Carmichael zapped him. A lap latel Stewart passed him, too, but that would b€ it, as he held on to fourth place, over Nick Wey. Michael Byme, l'like LaRocco, lwan .ladesco and David Vuillemin. The 34-year-old Mccrath was thrilled wirh his pedormance and took severaj "vrc- tory" laps after the race, much to the delight of the highly entertained crowd. "You know, I didn't know I had that in me, b€calse the last race lAnaheim l] was a dis- aste[" l'lcci-ath said, "and thefl today we struggled in the llrst practice. \,Ve had a bike isue and I missed the first practice. My sec- ond practjce was decent, but it wasn't frat good, and I wasn't feeling realty good. We kept tuning and kept working on the bike." Key to McGrarh's success at Phoenix were his starts he pretty much nailed the holeshot in all of his races, including the main. where he picked up the $1500 holeshot money from Toyota "l'4y sErts were on fire tonight, if you have a liftle traction wth the 250, it's a good starter '' l'4cGrath nor only got the crowd goirE when he got the holeshot in the main, but also when he executed one of his patented nac-nacs on the first lap. "l got the stafts in all three races, and when I got the holeshot in the main, I was - you know what? l'4y friend, Billy, he's, like, 'Hey, if you get the holeshot, then you gotta do rhe nac-nac,' and l'm, like, )Are you seri- ous?' And l'm, like, iAll right, l'll do it.' And when I got the holeshot and had lrve seconds to think about it, 'Should I do it? Should I do itl'Then lgo, 'Hellwith h, I'm goin8 to do it. I want to make this rnemorable,' lt worked. Everyone is talkin8 abo'rt it." Mccrath went on to say "l kind of knocked all the dust off in the heat and the semi and felt like I rode pretty good, and when lgot in the lead, ljustgo,'Hey, l've got to ride as hard as lcan.' l've been putting a lot of work irto this, and it was nice to final- y show sorne of the effort that I've been putting in it. So to finish fourdl is amazing. "l knew I had to be riding okay, the gqs werent catchinS me," lYcGnth said. "lt took James half the race to catch me, and when Ricly passed me, he wasn't pulling me bad, so - I don't know man, I iust got to say that this was one of my rnost memo.able races in a long time. That's, like, $e best I could hope for - to get fourth. I mean, if the stars were all lined up, maybe a podium; but to get foufth - those three 8u).s on the box - I rnean, that's the best I could do, I think." After the race, l''lcGrath circulated the track and got many standing ovations from the crowd. "That was from $e heart." Mccrath said of the celebration laps. "My happiness was so - I felt like I won the race. lt felt, like, old school, like I won the race. The amount of ef{ort we put into it and the way I felt when I was done - I felt awesome!" C CHA* FELo PHolNrx, ATEoNA REsrrIs: JANuarY 14, 2qr6 (Aor],jro 412 q 17116l continoed from pogc l7 speit rno6t ofthe day wifi his leS elerrated and a bag of ice on hls foot. Slrcn and the Honda team were rductant to reveal arry details abon the iniury hn Stlon did say dlat he iniuied his foot while riding during fie w€ek- AJter taking some serious critichm from the riders and teams re8arding the difflculty oI hst week's Anahdm I E_ack, the Phoedx tred< was deenred "ecier" and 'tetter" than $e opening-round circuit, wtrich pe*aps e)elajnr wh/ half dle Sxdass field finish€d on the lead lap in Phoenix, as compared to iun sx at Ana- heim. One whoop section at Phoenix was completely taken out from the orignal track ptans, nraking o/eratl spee& higher, lap time6 a bit shorter and recing much closer. "Th€ tiack was a lot bener," said Team Honda's Travis Preslon. "Wb could ,low and actualry ra.e on this treck." The split start, however, was not wdl liked by many of the riders. "l arn rbt a big fan of the split," Ramsey, the Lites-class rnain-event winnei said. "There are iust so many Fle ups ard ),/ou have two siries to a pile up. h can clog one whole sirie up and the other side can iust hrve a huge lead. So it gaps everybody if there is a problem. Then, if everybody nEkes it thro'th, then you reary have another first tum to deal wi$ when you get to where they come together." Ricky Camrdael aclJally had to work to get into tlle final. ln his h€at race, Carmichael go{ pushed c,ver dle llrst-rum berm after get- ting stuffed on the inside by Chad Reed. And then Cemichael 8ot held up when a couple of riders went down in froflt of him, Frttint RC way back in the freld. Vvhile R€€d cruised out in front, Carmichael Md to work his way up throu8h th€ pack, ev€ntually passing.leff Gib- son for fourth and then Jarcn Thom:s for third pla(e. where he would finish well behird win- ner Reed and hir Makita Suzuh tearnmate lvan Tedesco. Carmich*l wasn t feelinS I 00 per- cent, eithe[ "l got a litt]e sick this week," Carmichael admitted at fie end of the night, "but luckily I am getting over it, and I feel 8ood. h w-as iu5t my sinuses." ,erE]Ily Mccrath got into the rnain e.rert after linishirE second in Ole semis. !rcrath actualh/ looked as *lou8h he'd get in through the first heat race- He was running in second place and holding his own wlren he suddenly washed our in a o.rm and stalled the rnotor. He ended up llnishing seventh, thr€e spots out of a transfer He Gne baak in the semis, pull€d $e holeshot and, much to the delight of the near-c+acity crowd, led for a number of laps before |4DKs Nick Wey silenced the stadium when he slipped under HcGrath in a tum and rode off with the win. Briefly... Mv Owru Fhce: 27 tti.tw"y sth For the second week in a row, MDl(Motosport.com/Honda's Nick Wey was the top non- factory rider in the main event, finishing fifth place. Wey got ioto the main event through the semi-final after tracking down race leader.leremy Mccrath. "Last year, Jeremy ard I had a treat race et Ahaheim, and h€ ended up beatint me," Wq/ said. "l thought, Ah, I tot to tet him this time,'end I ended up tetting him. lt's always Sreat to race with Jeremy- l've get to leam from him, and every time I get to race with him, l'm pumped." Wey found him- self in the same situation in the main. Afterjames Stewan passed McGrath for third, Wey also had his sighs on H.C. once again. "lgot a pretty good start in the main," Wey said. "There was a lot of stuff happening, and I kind of settled into a pace and wEs catchiry lvl.C. a little bit by little bit; then I had a big scare in the whoops and messed up hute. I lost a lot of time there and kind of cau8ht the handlebar in my stomach a liftle bit, and kind of had a side ache for the rest ofthe race. But I felt pretty Sood tonitht. and I think l'm improvinS; I got good starts, that was encouratint '/vith that." 9lvanTedesco 9th Feeling a lirtle better than he did at Anaheim l, Team Makita Suzuki's lvan Tedesco was again runninS up front in the main before crashing on the sixth lap- Tedesco ran as high ar third place early in the race before fallinS while running founh place. "l was in a good flow, but lSuess I tried a little too hard to catchleremy [McGrath]," Tedesco said. "The track was really slick, and the front end just washed out." No doubt about it; ifyou pushed too hard on that track, it was going to put you on the ground." 48.;"nciuson l2th Jeff Gibson, on the Schuhr Racing/Subway'Coca Cola Honda, had a Sood nitht, quaiifyinS for the main via a fourth-place finish in the semi-final- "The niSht went really well," he said. "l got in through the semi, rode real hard there, and caught up and 8ot fourth. ln the m n, lgot a good start but kind of ping-ponSed off everyone there in the front. I was, [ike, third - had a good stan going - and just boun.ed back,,/vards. The first lap I had my head up my butt and got passed so man), times, I iust sterted riding hard, Jason ffhomas, Gibson's teammate] went down. passed a couple of people, but I'm happy. Twelfth - I'm happ), wirh that. lt s so intense out there; the track was so fast and everyone was so equal on it. There was somebody alway5 there; right in front of you and behind you. 32 Ryan Clark l3th Team Solitaire's Ryan Clark had a good ni8ht, even though he was still feelinS the effects of the flu that bothered him at Anaheim. "The semi I got the holeshot, 8ot out in front, but Byme chased me down - but I felt strong." Clark said. "l m just tlad to Eet some laps in this week, I w3s real sick last week. I had a good start, I was running about seventh, I think. for the first helf, and I ended up droppinS back a liftle bit when Ste\ /art came throuth. Tedesco went by me after he crashed. I made a little mistake, bobbled toint into a corner and caught my front brake and highsided me. Bur all in all, it was a tood ride." CYCLE NEWS .,ANUARY 25, 2006 I9 SX HEAT I G Lp6, l-{ to min)r l. ClEd Fed (/m); 2. fuan Ted€{.o (Suu)r 3. Ftly Cmichael (SE)r a. Jaroi Th(ra (H.n)i 5. leff Gih6e (H@); 6. Nick why (u6)i 7. l*my Frcrd' (Flo.Ji 8. Dald vuillffiin (Hon)i 9. Tim Ferry (Hs); I 0. Jin o@l (rm); I L Jeob sqy'or (Hd): I 2. willi BrcMins (S@); I l. xaier Henffde (:tm): 14. Klhh Joh@n (tlon)r ls. Dq€ NEan (Fl,cn): 15. BBndo Buder (Hm)i 17 l'li.ttrd YourE Os)i 18. Erkk \6llero (Hon): 19. sx HEAT 2 (8 Lp., l-4 to min). l. Jme ste@t (,< )i 2. Tavis Pren (Hon); 3 Etuto Fdse (Hd)i a. MirG LaFdco (Hon)i 5. R'/a Clark (l-16)i 6. flKh*l 8|!M (s,); 7. MdEd Brft (xiw); 8. cEIk sdle lYam); 9. Ky'e L*b (Hd): lo Ty'er E6r (sul ll. Kyle l'1@ (Kaw); 12. Ja,n€. |ldhall (Y{h); I 3 8nm l'160 (Yafr)r r 4. Ied CrnpBl (Hon)r ls. Jeb flal*k (Ye): 16. Mike corder KrD: 17. crEsory ca6 (Hn); 18. Danid Blajr (Hd): 19. sobbie BEyE d (l-tcn)r m. Ka51$ Buder (Hon). SX SEMI I (6 Lp6, I -5 to maln): L Ni.k Why (l-lon); ? l€Bny l\4.Gath (Hon)i 3. nm rerry (Hon): a. Ffi cb6o,1 (Ho)r s. Dlvid M lffiin (Hon)r 6. Erick W.io (Hd): Z Jin Dd:l (Ym); & Micha€l YdrE (Hm); 9. Keith Jol"M (Ho); 10. D@s Deh@ (Hn)r I l.la

• Cover