Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(}Gorsio Do]rr€ Arlonls. GA \ ,t 5UP€RCROss aOOE Amp'd Mobil€ FIM World suPCrcross GP/ Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Seci€s got by me. He was on my tail. As the track got more wore out, it 8ot tougher to ride hardet so obviously a gap is gonna be harder to pull-'' Carmichael struggled a bit with one section of track. "l couldn't really make my mind up on that step-on, step-off," Carmichael said, "and lthink he was really gapping me there. He was behind me. then he made a misake, and then I didn't hear him any- more." The third member of the big three, James Stewan, ended the night in third overall, but once aSain had problems at the start and had to come from last place to do it. "lt wasrit really even my fault," the Team Kawasaki rider said ofthe mishaP. "l lot clipped by another rider, and that was rhe end of the story I had to resGrt my bike, and I had flashbacks from last week, but we got it sta.ted pretty quickly." After falling in his heat race, and then coming from behind to win his semi, Reed kicked off the main event by grabbing the holeshot ahead of Carmichael's teammate l\ran Tedesco, as both riders immediatety began to stretch a lead over lGwasaki's Michael Byrne and Team Honda s Ernesto Fonseca. ln the meantime, Carmichael had gated poorly and was up into sixth by the end of the first lap, while Stewart got going in last place after tangling with pri- vateer Brock Sellards on the lirst lump after the first turn. Carmichael moved into third by lap three and put a block-pass on Tedesco on lap four to move into second. By now Reed, who got an extra six laps of track time because of his ride in the semi, was slowly losing ground to Carmichael. "lt was weird being out front, and I kind of rode tight," Reed said. "Ricky put in some good lapt and got on me." Reed gave up his position to Carmichael on lap 10. "l iust 8ot in behind him and followed him," Reed said. ''l had a couple of good lines, I was jumping a few more whoops in lin the whoops section], and I felt like I had one more shot at him. But I made a mistake with two laps to go and blew it." From there. Carmichael cruised home with the win, while Reed coasted in for second. stewart displaced Tedesco for third place on lap 15, and Fonseca rode a steady race to fifth. "lt was a great race," Carmichael said. "l saw lames go down in turn one, and I saw I could catch Chad. I got into second and put in some good, hard laps. When I got around Chad, he was right on my tail. I gave it my all and tried to run consistent laps for the win. Even so. no champi- onship for me." Reed maintains the points lead after Atlanta at l7l points. with Stewart in sec- ond with 152. Despite the wtn. Carmichael drops to third with 140 after what amounts to a So-point loss in points over the past two weeks. Tedesco and Byrne are in a battle over fourth in the standings with 126 and l18 points, resPectively. Carmichael is certainly nol out of the tille picrure, but with eight rounds leh he would almost need to win out and hope that Reed and Stewart cancel each other out a couple of times. No matter the out- come, perhaps Decoster summed uP Suzuki's side of the story: "This is bad for everybody, not just Ricky, because if Chad orJames win, everybody willsay that they got gifted 25 points." Cll Jdon Thomas (Hor): 10. Keith lohnson (Hon): ll. Clalk Stiles {Y ): 1 2. lin Dostal araB)r 1 3. DeMii Ewing (Hon): 14. Jlcob Marsack tYam): 15. linmy wils (Hon): 15. Jeob Hanin (Hon): 17:JGh B4te (H6); l8.tuck/llEdo (Hon): lr. Grcfor/ Crater(Hon)i20. MiIE LlRdco (Hon). 8... dm€i 6:56.6 min. SX HEAT 2 (8 1.p., l-4to hrin): l. Eroto Fosa (Hon): 2. &an T€'d6.o (sut): 3. Davn vuillinii (H@): 4 Travr Prer.on (Hon)i 5. Nkk !!by (Hon): 6. Chad Reed lYam)r 7. ,a

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