Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542347
Doyro.ro lnr."rErionol sp..drvoy Dsytono B.sch, FL SUPERCROSS Round I O Mor.h lO, 2006 Three , S A Char Rickv Carmichael reclairns the points tead with record-breakine fifth Davtona Supercross win BY KIT PAI,I,IER PHoTos BY STIvt BIuxT.I S n paper, this year's Day- tona 5u percross by Honda looked like it was a close one. with Ricky Carmichael finish- l98l ; and he gains l0 more points on Stewart, who many had predicted at ttle beginning of the season would be Carmichael's biggest threat to dethrone the champ. with six rounds to go, though, Carmichael has a relatively comfortable 26-point cushion between himself and Stewart, which means that even if Stewart wins every remaining race and Carmichael finishes second every time, Carmichael would still win the '06 title with ei8ht points to spare. But Carmichael can't let down his guard yet - not at all - for he still has Reed to contend with. The 2004 Supercross champ and former '06 points leader. Reed, is only two points back of Carmichael, and Reed has a rep- utation for coming on strong in the sec- ond half of the Supercross series, so this year's title chase is still far from over and will most likely boil down to the last race in Las Vegas. This year's running of the Daytona Supercross by Honda, now held under rhe lighrs on Friday night. had the mak- ings of Sreat one, with the "big three" all getting away together off the staft - Stewart mbbing the holeshot ahead of Reed and Carmichael. Having been beaten straight up by Srewart in therr eadier heat race, Carmichael knew that he had to get past Reed quickly if he wanted any chance to make a run at Stewart, so on the second lap, Carmichael made his move. He com- pleted an aggressive, yet clean, pass on the yellow-clad Yamaha pilot when he cut to the inside of Reed and forced him to chop the throttle momentarily iust before a large double, Once in second. Carmichael was gearing up for a tough battle with Stewan when the leader suddenly went cartwheeling off the track in a spectac- ular crash. His bike kicked off a jump leading into a turn, and Stewart rode the front wheel for a while before hit- ting a Tuff Block and endoing onto the grassy sidelines, nearly taking out a tel- evision cameraman in the process. Stewart was slow gettinS to his feet but did get back on the bike iust before the leaders came around. I ing right in fronr ofJames Stewan for the win. But nothing could have been further from the truth, with the Team Makiu S'rzuki rider actually taking the victory a full /op ahead of Kawasaki's Stewart and a whopping 33 seconds ahead of rhe true second-place finisher, Yamaha's Chad Reed. and another 37 seconds ahead of Kawasaki's Michael Byrne. who completed this year's Day- tona podium. So you could say that this race wasn't quite as it appeared. But what was a for-rure thing was that, for Carmichael and Suzuki, the win at rhis year's Daytona Supercross was huge. and for many reasons: For one, it puts him back into the series poin$ lead with just six rounds left: it was his fifth win at the famed Daytona venue, which breaks the previous long-standing record held by Jeff Sranton: it gives Suzuki its first win at Daytona since I -a .\ \€ I I a a - I t t i a {ti v' It.A/ 7a I rJl ,l r( !n tf n, ! , E$ t ! a f F M ,: ,. t ,-l o P o r I !i. -,. I I 26 MARCH 22.2006 CYCLE NEWS I I Dit Amp'd Mobile AMGEEEEEEFenies "l was out in front, having fun - had a good pace and felt in control," Stewart said, 'And then, I don't know I leaned a little too far forward off that jump - lreally don't know what hap- pened; then, the next thing I know, it was diving on me. I went over the hay bales, and that was it. I didn't really even remember what happened until I saw it on video- I didn't hit my head; it iust happened so quick." Despite riding in pain, having taken a handlebar to his stomach in the fall, Stewart climbed all the way back up to sixth. but not before gening lapped by Carmichael on the last go-around. "l iust got hit with the handlebars, knocked the wind out of me, but I'm good now, l'm fine," Stewan said while walking a little gingerly frqm the Kawasaki pits to his motorhome.'At frrsr I couldn'r breathe rhar good: it knocked all the wind out of me." Stewart credited his fans for Siving him the drive to continue. ''Hey, the fans came out and want to watch me ride," Stewan said. "lf l'm not broken up, I want to continue riding. so I never gave up." Stewart was so far back that he didn't pass anyone until the eighth lap, but from there on out. he passed riders in bunches. After Stewart went down. Carmichael continued to attack the smooth-for- K 7 ? a I \i f 't ) , I lr r,..r /' TT