Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Con inued trom poge 17 After finishin8 in both main events since switching to the Supercross class, lefi Dement got to take part in the seed- ed practice sessions at Anaheim lll. "l dont know whd my times are yet," Dement said immediatet after coming in, "but it surc it a lot easier getting out there with fast tuys and seeing what they're doing and feeding of{ thar, I feel prett),8ood. l'm still iust getting rrly feet wet lin Super- crossl again." Dement ,inished l4th in the main event. True to hi5 word after San Francisco, Rockstar Energy St zuki's lrlike Brown wa5 aboard an RM-2450 at Ana- h€im lll. Brown said that he was still getting used to the bike in practice but felt good on it. "lt's good, and the more I ride it, the better l ger used to it. I think the starts is the main thing, and you've got to have one of them [a 450] ifyoo're toing to get agood start and tet to the fronr. This [450] is more ofa handful, but now lfeel more equalto everyone." Brown said that he wouldn't rule out the possi- bilif/ of returnint to his Rlvl250 ifthinF didn't go his way, After lailing to make the Anaheim lll main event on the 450, he could have a tough decision to make. Because of the slick, hard-packed surfare at Anaheim lll, some of the riders tried new setups and different tire coin- binations, including Team Yamaha'B Chad Reed. "For the heat race, we tied some different tires from the second practice," Reed said, "lt was jurt the wrong direction for me- lt was iust horrible and I wasn't comfoftable at all. For the main, I went back to my original tires that I was most comfortable with. The tough thing is how much the rack changes from pracdce to the ni8ht program. That is kind of like a gamble and you iust try to figure somethinS out. We tried something different and it just didn't work out." Durint practice earlier in the day, Chad R€ed hit the ground pretry hard but maflaged to get right back up and continLred on. "l was one," Reed said. "l hurt my rib6 a little, bu! it was nothing, really. I'm llne. ltame out ofthe tum and just grabbed a handful and it just decided to wanr to exit right instead of left. I iust kind of went off the sid€ of the Eack-" "l came out of that turn and was a lttle too aggre6sive and sterted lo slide sideways, and I kn€.{r'/ if I held orEo the tas. h would trip the face of the triple and spit me back rhat way, so I iust let ofl ljust cased dle triple. I got luclv, afld it was- n't as bad as it looked. I just kind of let my body soak it up." Some people speculated that this mitht have been Ricky Carmichael's last race at Anaheim.'jfu far as'07 goes, nothint is in concrete for me," Carmichael said. "But I am sure I will race next year. Vvhether I race the whole time, I don't know I am still working wilh Suzuki on all of that. lt depends on how the yeargoes." SoBe/Samsung MobildHonda! Kevin Vrirdham atrended fuiaheim llland said thd his recoveD/ fiom his broken arm is coming along well. He predicts that he'll be ridirE soon and might ride tfie last six rounds of the Arnp'd Mobile AMA Supercross S€ries. Some ofthe riders said that the An.heim lll track was pretty good, saying that it wes not as diflicult as Anaheim I hrt more challenging that Anaheim ll. "l was pretty down Ricky Camich.el had a close call in his heat race when he aased the triple iump riEht after passing Ernesto Fonseca for the lead. He ended up oll the track and re-entered in third behind Fonseca and Travis Preston- Evidentty, h looked worse that it was, as he regained the lead and went on the take the win. ''liust chanted my line in that turn, and before that triple on the left-hand side. it was greasy," Carmichael said. more after the Red Bull KTI'I rider crashed and stalled his bike on lap three and lost several positions rrying to get going a8ain. Ramsey finished l3th. "You know, Nathan had a bad evening," Langston said. "l think our results were switched from last week, when he won and I was l5th. The series has been a bit of a roller coaster. The poinrs are pretty tighr right now, and I don't think it is going to be a runaway victory for any- one. I lqve when people say, 'lfyou win all four races and Nathan gets second in all four races, you will win by two.' That's not how our series works. lt's jurt not that easy. Every weekend you iust don't know who the podium is going to be. lt iust varies week to week," Alessi nailed the holeshot in the main, followed by Ramsey, Langston, Short, Motoworld Racing.com Yamaha's Justin Brayton, Motospon OurleVMDK Honda's Paul Carpenter and Boost Mobilefiamaha of Troy's Brett Metcalfe, and Alessi set a good pace early, [-angston quickly caught and passed Ramsey just before the finish-line iump at the end oflap one to run second to Alessi at the start of lap two. Langston then skipped past Alessi in the rhythm section ro take the lead. Ramsey appeared fr-antic in his pursuit of Langston, and he banged into a Tuff Block on the outside of the left-hander iust past the finlsh-line iump on lap two. At this point, Morster Enerry/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto was mired in l3th after having hit the deck in the early Eoing. SoBe/Samsun8 Mobile Honda's Jake Wiemer also crashed, suffering radaator damage that would prove fatal to his bike's enSine, Wiemer did not finish the race. in the main," Short said. "Grant was riding really good, and I knew I was going to have to fight for it, but ldidn'r put myself in a very good position in the main event." Even though he finished secand, Shoft said that he was happy. "l am right where I wanr ro be," he said. "One poinr out of it is a good posation to be in. lf I can get my momentum up and get through San Diego, and have that momentum going into the break, I will be happ7" Alessi appeared to be equalb/ happy after proving rhar his result in the San Francisco muck was no fluke- His rid- ing st/le reflects considerably more confidence than Alessi appeared to have even just two weeks ago- "Yeah, my riding has picked up, and lrhink it is more that I am ridinS with more conlidence, and I am more Iluid." Alessi said. "l am getting more comfonable on the bike and riding with these guys and the pace over the first couple of laps and the intensity. I've got a good roll going here at rwo thirds, and I would like to keep ir going. I would like to be on the podium again, but rop five is my realistic 8oal. Podium is iust a bonus, "Tonight I was actually riding betrer than I thought I was going to," Alessi continued. "l had a lot ofconfidence coming in here from last week's third. Riding with Granr last weekl. showed me that I can run wirh these guys, and it felt really good to come out here and get third." Carpenter also improved, finishing fourth - his besr lin- ish of the year - after outrunning a clearly motivated f4etcalfe. who finished fifth. SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Billy Laninovich finished sixth. and now sits rhird With clear track in front of him, Langston set the fastest lap ol the race on lap three, a time of 57.356 seconds. Ramsey crashed out of third place oh the same lap in the left-hander ar the end of the long whoop section that ran along the first baseline. By the time he got his bike restarted, he was nearly in last place. He was in lTth place on lap four By the halfway point, Langston had built up a cushion of nearly five sec- onds on Alessi. and showed no signs of slow- ing down. Short, mean- while, was catching the young KTM rider, cutting into what had been a five- second delicit to Alessi by about a half a second per lap. Short was close enough to knock on the door by lap 10, and two laps later he shot under Alessi in turn one after Alessi went wide. By rhe time Shoft got past Alessi, Langston was long gone. Short finished se<- ond. which leaves him right behind Langston in the series points stand- ings. With three rounds to go, Laogston leads Shon, 94-93. "l knew that I was going to have to step it up ,- ,ff +,il Slll V rtn ) ro I T , l I J A - d , )qL Andrew Short finished second qnd is now iust one point behind Loogston with three roundr left. CYCLE NEWS FEBRUARY ]5, 2006 21 Brief [y... 22 ,l) ,z ,1 7 I L 4 --;t .( i ,t- I

• Cover