Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

sBC Pork Son Fr(rn.irco, CA SUPERCROsS Rounds 6/4 Jonuory 28, 2006 ?006 Amp'd Mobil€ World suP€rcnoss 6PlAmP'd Mobil€ AMA SupercFoss ScFiEs lvon Tedss.o londed on Mike Lono(.o during the moin event. strained to right the bike. "l felt like a weight lifter trying to get my bike up," Feed said. ')Allthat work in the rym during the off-season paid off tryinS to get the bike back up. I iust came in there and cross-rutted and iust got stuck. lt was my fault." Just three l+s irto the l2]ap race, and Reed was alread a lap down and visions of Anaheim | '05 came to mind, the race that might've cost him the title that year. "l've been in this position before, and last year [,Anaheim l] it was I 6th [place]," Reed said. "When lcame around, lthink it was the third or fourth lap, and my pit board read l6th, l'm, 'hell no, that's not where l'm Soing again.' So I just kept pushing and pushing and luckily got fifth." Even though he didn't flnish on the lead laP, Reed's persistence and determination paid off for keepinS him in the title hunt. Meanwhile, up front, Stewart maintained about a three- to four-second lead on Carmichael, mr-rch like he did last week at Anaheim ll, brrt when they statted getting into heavy lapped trafiic, Carmichael managed to gain some serious ground on the leader: A cou- ple of times, lappers prevented Stewart from jumpin8 the linish-line double, which eventually led to Carmichael catching up to Stewart near the halfway mark. "[appers were crazy," Stewart said. "lt was a big deal; they were kind of racing [us]. I don't know if they could tell who was winning the race or who was in back, but they were dell- nitely Ecing us tonlght." On the lfth lap, Carmichael managed to get around Stewan, who was again bottled up by lappers, mainly at the finish-line iumP. "l could hear the crowd every time lwould- n't jump the linish line - they were goinS crazy - and I didn't know if he crashed or was right up on me," Stewart said. "Then I looked back and I saw that '4', and I thought, 'There he is.' lt was a good race. I don't know where he got me - I don't even remember - but it was, like, d6ii vu all over again." MY OWN RACE while charging down the middle looking lor a break in the blocks to get back on the course. I entered at the end of the section and fin_ ished founh just ahead of Nick Wey. ln tyPical AMA fashion, I was p€nalized for not gettinS back on the track soonei althouSh the entire section was lined wilh sisna8e and didn't allow anylvhere for re-ehtry Fonunately, even with the five-second Penalty I finished fifth and secured the transfer to the main event. ln the main' I had another Ereat jump, but as I reached the tirst corner, I literally felt a wave hit me from the inside. A hute puddle ofstandint water drenched me from head to toe as I rounded the corner on the out- ride. On the first lap, I somehow managed to stall my bike in the rhythm section, which left me dead last at the comPletion of lap one. I started reelinS in riders one by one. I was riding steady and making few mistakes as I passed several guys who had tipped over' go! stuck or were havint problems neSotiating the muddy and exlremely rutted track. On the last lap, lwas running loth with lason Thomas iust ahead. ln the final cornel I stuck the inside rut and was able to make the pass for ninth, my best main event finish of lhe year." lr lvanTedesco l6th PIace Team Makita Suzuki's lvan Tedesco had a stressful niSht' After crashin8 in both his heat and semi. Tedesco squeezed into the main via a second-place flnish in the LCQ. "l had a terrible tate pick lin rhe LCQ], I was all the way inside," Tedesco said. "ln the first cor- ner, I iust tried to survive. ln the heat and the semi, I couldn't seem to stay out oftrouble, so I was just 8oin8 for the qualifying spot [in the LCQ], and then I 8ot it. At that Point I was iust haPpy to be in the main." The main started oll well enough for Tedesco, but later in the race, he had a get-together with Mike LaRocco, "l {elt really comfonable at the beginning of the main, Tedesco said "i felt like I wes riding really well. l guess I was in about sixth place and he [taRocco] rolled tie finish line, and I thought I'd double it and that he'd b€ out ofthe way. But he must have messed up, because I came ollthe iump and he was just sitting there." The wvo riders went down in a heap, but both got up and finished out the race. Ernesto Fonseca ! 7th Place Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca got off to a Sood stan bur things quickly went downhill after that. On the fi6t IaP, Fonseca got sucked into a bad rut and buried his bike and was I lth after the second lap. From lhere, thinSs ,ust went from bad to worse "l don't know it was just a really tough race," Fonseca said. "lt was a really bad weekend for me, what sucks is that i( really sPread th€ points our - the whole situation is iust crappy. BUI that's the way it is and you have to race it. One time I 8ot hung up real bad - I never reall), fek like I was goinS 8ood, I was iust trying !o survive. l'm not much of a good mud rider." ' Jeremy McGrath DNQ '. .' Michael Byrne 4th Place Team Kawasaki's Michael Byrne made good use of a tood start and came away with his b€st linish of the season. ''l knew I had a Sood stafi," Byrne said. "l think I was in fifth and then I saw [David] Vuillemin ride of{ the track on the first lap and I 8ot by him. From there on, I didn't even know - I was just riding around and trying to do as many obstacles as I could. I tried to double the triPles and the finish-line jump; lthink that helPed me PUll away. I don't know where Nick [Wey] was, I never saw him the whole time. Even if you looked up, you couldn't tell who they were or what posilion they were in- Every time I 8ot up to somebody, I looked uP to see i{ it was Nick, because I knew that he had gotten the holeshot. The start was everything toniSht. I just tried to be .onsislent and 8et around each lap." Byrne qualified for the final after winning his semi, and he thought the one extra race was beneficial for him. "l rhink I was lucky thar I went to the semi, because from the heat race to the semi, the track changed a lot. lt was Sood [o get a feel for that-" , I .:r Tyler Evans 6th Place Team Bloodsho Suzuki's Tyler Evans, a Northern California native, loved the mudd conditions, and his results showed it Evans won his semiand went on to finish iixth in the main. "Things are turnin8 around, /inolly," Evans said. "lt makes up for tha! disaster race I had at Anaheim l. I'm stoked - the hometown crowd, ridin8 in the mud - l'll take riding in the mud any day of the week. The main event, I iust wanted to stay up, kept my head down and kePt charginS- I've never had a problem with the mud coming from Northern Califor_ nia. Being a biSger gq,,, you can stay up, the little guys dab. [Ernesro] Fonseca wa5 having a tough time: I was behind him for a couple of laps, and he couldn t really Put it together' i was about ninth or loth off the start and then worked my wa), uP to tlfth. and then Reed passed me with about two laps to go. l'm happy, and I really have to thank my team, Team Rockstar, Bloodshol Suzuki and Flv." I Travis Preston 7th Place Team Honda's Travis Preston Put his long legs ro good ure in San Francirco after finishint third in his hea! and seventh in the main even(. "That wa5 a SnarlY race." Preston said. "l 8ot a really good start, but my gotgles 8ot mud all over them. The mud was so sricky the Roll-Offs wouldn't even work. One time. I went down in the mud. I put my hand into the mud, I took my hand out, and my tlove was still in the mud. I had to pull the glove out of the mud and pu! my glove back on, and took offagain. I got up ro like fifth and was trying to pass Emie [Fonseca] and went t leremy Mccrath had a rough nighr. He struggled in the mud and called it an early night after his bike threw a chain in hii heat race. "First of all. it's pret- ty muddy - obviously," he said. "So, it really wesn't what I had siSned up for ln the heat, a rock 8ot into my chain and bent the chain guide and threw the chain off And it was such a quagmire- I mean, I rolled the Ilnish-line jump and almost got landed on, so, T$' Fr;{ OTA I down again. lYy bike suctioned in the mud and I had to do every- thint I had ro pick the thint up. lt 'das fun, bu( i! was nasq/ - a tough race. I'm glad they shorten€d it up, because i! felt like more than 20 laps - your feet are out the whole time, so you have to hold your legs up constanth so your muscles start burning in your legs " 3? Ryan Clark 9th Place Team SolitairdBikesellerz.com's Ryan Clark had a busy nisht He led the second semi-final lor a while before droPPinS back to third, where, on the last l+. he went off the track. "Down the final rhythm section on the last lap, lgot sidewaF and shot off lhe track and onto another section going the wronS way," he said. "Wilh no break in the Tuff Blo.ks, I wheelied over one set but was still in the middle b€tween the ovo seations. I nearly ran over a fla8ger ! ir { F as bad as I wanted to be out there' the risk/reward just didn't make much sens€ for me. I mean, if I had won the thing it wouldn't have mattered, so if I don't race, it doesn't really mattea either. I haven't ridden mud forever and wasn't prepared to race in that. and, hon_ estly, I thought it was pretty dangerous. I have a lot more to live for than that." 20 FEBRUARY 8, 2006 ' CTCTE NEI/Ys t ..1 .Y 7 I I - lr Itr.

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