Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AnsGl SnGdium Ancheim, cA ryw -.:' -. rL,, rTim".6a-- 4rtutu BuI ilF i celebrqte on the 5X Litcr um. ond Short Continued lrom pogc 2l on the tr.ck eart, it was iust so fast and the whooPs w€rc rcally nothin&" Mike taRocco said, "But the whooPs broke away enough to where they got triclry, and I think by the main event thc t-ick was decent. You actually had to think about some ar€as, and it got bumpy in som6 ar€at, I wish they'd slow them down a little biL I know lt's hard to rflake a track Perlect for everyone, but that would be my onv vote." Travis Preston agreed with LaRocco about the speeds of th€ traclc. "The Pace out there i5 the fastest l've ever ridden," Pre.rton said. "Seems like everyone is iust _ you have to really hang it out, let lhe bike skate around, let the .ear ond slide out and ju5t Pin it. We're Soing so last tha! you don't have time to think. You 80 out there and don't use your mind, you iust turn the throttle and iust to." Chad Reed showed up at Araheim lll with "Nothing to Lose" sewn on the back of his pants. 'At this Point in the game, there is nothing to lose for me, I iust Sotta to for it," Reed explained. "l feel I ha\€ a good package, a good bike, a Sood training protram and I feel I can win, I arn just not Setting it done. At this point, I iust want to go out there and have fLin and ride. I've got nothing to lose.'' tough. You would have to ride a realt Sood race to do that. I don't think it is reelt out of reach, I iust think I've 8ot to keeP on workinS on it." After the race, Ricky Carmichael wa5 obviolisly quite hagpy for teammate- "h's Sreat to see a rookie like him come up and get wha he has been working for," Camichael said "l know he was wanting to get a Podium, so I was hapPy for him." A6 far as racing action, Anaheim lll lacked clos€ batda5 for the wins all nitk long. Jarnes Stewart ran off with the li6t heat-race win, Ricky Carmichael e6ity \ /on the second heat (detpite a rough start), and Boolbo/Honda's David \4rillemin and Kawasaki's Michael Byrne cruised to victory in their semis. The LCQ, how€ver, Produced a good ra(e, wi$ Schulr Racing/Subway/Coca ColJs Keith R rohnson emerginS the winner after a tolgh back-and-forth banle with Kyle Lewis and Subway's leff Gikon. Gibson missed the transfer by one, but, as a consolation, carre away with the $750 Racer-X Gas Card Col€ SiGblcr took home the Wonder \ Arthog RacinS/Decal Worl6 Most lmproved Privateer of the week Award for the Pre_ mier Supercross class. Siebler improved from 14dl in the previous round's LCQ to loth in the Anaheim lll LCQ. ,'lichael Sleeter, riding a KTM lor NYC and Two Brothers, walked away with the prize in the Supercross Lites class, improvint {rom fifth in the San kancisco LCQ to lsth in main at Anaheim lll. A check for $ 1000 will be waiting for both of them at the San Diego SX. Fox News was on hand at Anaheim lll. The cable news giant ran live reports throughout the day, hyping the series and conductint live interviews with a number of people, includint Team Makita Suzi.rki's Ricky Carmichael, Team Honda's Andrew Short and Live Nation's Todd.lendro. Fox descrabed Supercross as the fastest-growinS motorsport in the country, and "the next NASCAR." 35 Paut Carpenter 4th Place Carpenter said that he feels as though his fourth-Place result is a sure sign that his Motosport OutleVHDK team is making progress. 'rqbsolutely delinilely." CarPenter said. "That's what we did. We had a good ni8ht, and the team worked together." Carpenter was able to keeP a char8ing Brett Metcalfe at bay for the entire iace. "\rye made som€ changes to the bike that really helped toni8ht," CarPnter said, "We ran some dilferent tire combos that really helped us get traction. The dirt wa5 really dry and slick, and you had to be super smooth and ride smart. That was my goal. I was ridinS really consistent, and he [grett F!et- calfel might have been Settint a little more wheelsPin," 123 grett Metcalfe sth Place After finishinS second at muddy San Francisco during the previous round, Metcalfe stepped up his Perlormance in the dry at Anaheim lll. Seventh offrhe start, he followed Paul Carpenter for the entire race, the two riders PassinS Justin Brayton and adv-encint when Nathan Ramsey dropped out. f4etcalfe got close to Carpenter on a couple occasions, only to see Carpenter pull away a8ain. ''l iust got a bad start, and it took me too long to pass some guF," Metcalfe said. "Me and Carpenter kind of8ot into a litde battle ofour own. I made a couple of mistakes and struggled in the one rhythm section. I couldn't triPle out over the whoops at the end before the left-hander there. But I f€h stron8 (he whole moto. Fifth wes it tonitht." I 3l ;ate Wiemer 2oth Place Wiemer tangled with a slov/er rider and crashed right before the whoop section on the first lap. His bike suf- fered a damaged radiator, which would ultimately burn up his engine. He pulled of{on lap I l. It wasn't exactly his best night of racing. "Not exacdy," wiemer said. "l just got a bad start and was rjding with 8u/s that I shouldn't be riding with, basically. lt was rny fault, there's no two ways about it, When you 8et a start and ride with guys that you shouldn't be ridinS with, that's what happens. And that's what happened. I didn't finish the race, and the Suys that I should have been racinS with were on the podium. l'm not real happy. This is two bad weekends rn a row now, and we're out ofthe top 10. That means more day quali- fiers... Not a good deal." MY OWN RACE Feh.!o.y 4, 2006 sUPERCROSS Amp'd Mobil€ AMA W€st€Fn Regional SuPcrcross Lites Senies Brief 1y... in the series standinSs, with 89 points, rwo more than Ramsey, who is fourth, with 87. Villopoto worked his way into seventh, fol- lowed by WBR/ Yoshimura Suzuki's Ryan Morais, Richmond Racing Kawasaki's Darcy Lange and Star Racing Yamaha's Sean Collier. Cf,l 22 FEBRUARY I5,2006 CYCI.E NEWS I An 4, e,o liII*:r , l..l I m I ANar[ ST Dtulr,l ANAH!|M, €a"lFon lA Rrsurrs: FrBnuatY 4, ffi !t loa 2006 ( RoUND 5 or 8) sx LTTES HEAT I (6 tepr, l-9 to m.ln)r l. Andrew Shon (Hon): 2. llike Al6i (KTt1): 3. Billy tanindth (Hon)r a. Br€lI Mero[e (Ym): 5. Dar.y Linse (Kaw): 6. S€.n Collie. 0ram); 7. Erc Sorb, (Hon): E. Dehl Sani (Hon): 9. Rrd Mill5 (Suz): 10. Colron Fac(iori (r.aw)r ll. Rlan AbriSo (Hon)r 12. Mr

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