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/1542356
"l didn't get the stan I wanted," Carmichael said, "l took a bit of a gamble starting on the outside, [becatrse] I knew the inside was kind of mucky." For the flrst couple of laps, Carmichael seemed to be riding unusually cautiously, having only passed one rider after two laps. But he did start clearing one of the track's tricky triple iumps and started making up some ground. By the sixth lap, he was in fifth place and had iust passed Honda's Travis Preston for fourth when he nearly threw it all away. He got out of shape over a jump and ran off the track, giving fourth back to Preston. Somehow, he managed to keep the bike on two wheels- ty'y'hen asked how he saved it, he said: "Just holding on, iust holdinS on- I worked hard to get up to where I was and just held on to that thing ar|d got lucky. lsplit through the Tuff Block and was able to get back on the track and get back by Preston again-'' He still had a ways to go to catch third- placed Wey, but he caughr and passed him on the loth lap. After that, RC pulled away from Wey and held on for third. "lt was obviously not the way I wanted it to go," Carmichael said of his race. " be honest, I can't believe I came up to third. I mean, I was so far behind. The first two laps, I saw James, and he was a half- track ahead. I just worked and ried to pick every guy off one by one, I knew I needed to get on the box, so, after last week, l'm glad to be up here." Carmichael said thar he did not panrc after his bad start. According to Ro8er Ddoster, Makita Suzuki team manager Broc Hepler will make the opening moto of the Toyota AIYA U.S. llational lYoto(ross Championship Series at HanSto'ivi in a couple of week. Hepler broke a small bone in his ankle, which Decgsle. descfiH as the ankle's version of the navicu- hr bon€ in your wdn - in othe. words, it takes forever to heal. Hepler broke the bone iust before the start of the East Supercrods Lite6 Series in February and has not ridden rince. lf thinSs 8o according to plan, Hepler willstart riding again iust before Hangtown, 8Mn8 him almost zero time on the bike before the gate drop6 on ths outdoor season. lames Stewart survived a scaq/ crash during the one and only practice session on Saturday afternoon. He lo6t tradion on the ramp of the start/finish iump and hit the eject butron in midair. His Kawesaki plowed the face of the second jump, while he went tumbling dowh the backide o, the second jump, near- ly getting landed on by another rider Stewarr quicktSot to his feet and walked offthe track with a slight limp and a bruised thigh, while his bike was done for the aftemoon with a badly bent subframe. Despite only putting in just three laps, Stewart posted the fastest lap tirne by nearly a second over Ricky Carmichael and nearly tvvo s€conds over Chad Reed, who both pur in eight I+s. Prior to the Seattle Supercross, a few riders ofthe Supercross Series, sr.rch as Ricky Carmichael, han Tedesco, Chad Reed, Heath Voss and Rfan Abrigo, visited the Children's Hospital of Seattle. The event was orSanized by MX For Children's Paul Grors, with the help of Live Nation's Denhy Hartwig and Next Level's Torry Gardea. "lt was pretty amazing," Carmichael said. "That war the first dme l've been to a children's hospital, and it puts thints in perspectivq I mean, this [racing motorc],cl€sl is nothing compared to what that is. There's a lot more to life than racing when you look at something like that. lt's pretty amazing, the place there and the kids. I'm h+py to be in a position to maybe brighten some spirits, but it was a pretty eye-openint experience." tast w€ek at the Dallas Supercross. HDVMotospordHonda's Nick Wcy clinched the 2006 Amp'd Mobile Top Pri\E- teer Award. With it comes a Toyota lirndr4 a Weekend Whrior trail€r, and $25 ,000. Whshin8ton fans had a lot to cheer about at the Seattle Supercross. After all, they had some local favorites to che€r on, such as Ryan Villopoto and RIan Abrigo, borh of whom made the Lites-class rrlain event. But theae was another local rider who kind of flew under the radar at Seattle, and that was Kawasaki Team Green/Carter Powerspor6- sponsored off-road racer Ricky Dietrich. The rider from nearby Snohomish, Washing- ton, signed up and made it through allofthe qualifiers to get into the main event, where he finished l7th. Team SolitairdBikerellerz.com's Ryan Clark had a tough ni8ht in the mud- He flnished eighth in both the heat and semi, where he stalled his bike in the whoops. ln the LCQ, he Eot a bad $an and ended up two spots out of a transfer. Despite not collectint any poin$ on the nitht, he still holds down ninth in the sedes with room to spare. He pretq/ much has a lock on finishing ow the SX series as the second-best finishing privateer. He's also ninth in the World standings but is iust two points behind ,efi Gibson and ,ive points behind rason Thomas. Even thoushJames Stewan is llve points behind Rjclg Carmichael and Chad Reed Continued on page 38 Ricky Corm_ichoel (4).rtruggled q bit in th. mud. Here he fights his woy qround Jeff Dement in o heat ro(e. Perrislence hos poid off big-rime for Chqd Reed. According to Team Honda nunager Erik Kehoe, Davi I'tillsapr, who did not com- pete at Seettle, will ride the Dave Coombs Sr Easuwest Lites Shootout at Las Vegas next week- Millraps, the 2@6 East SX Lires Chelnpion, was making his Sx-class debut last week at Dallas when he twisted his knee, which will no! require surtery "He's been doing good, going through th€r+y, and he plans on doing the Shootout," Kehoe said. Speakint of Tony Garde4 he says tiat Team Ho.da's Ertt€6to Fonseca is progressing faster than exp€cted iom hi' spinal iniury. Gardea added $at ForEeG is doing well ard should be off the respirator in the ne-\t couple of d4/s. There were a few rumo6 lloatint around the Seattle pits, one of whi.h has Chad Reed and Nathan Ramsey forming rherr own team in 2006 with Larry Brooks as team manager, and that Mltch Payton of tie Monster Ener$,/Pro CircuivKawasaki team it considerin8 runninS a 450{lass team next year so he can keep Grant Lantston oh board. There wes also a rumor spreading about Broc Hepler toing to Yamaha, but Suzuki tearn manager Roger DeCoster sque,ched that one right away, saying that Hepler's not going anylvhere. Yamaha has, howeve6 high hopes for l6-year-old ama- teur prospect ,o5h Hill, who says that he does plan on starting to race the Nationals after Loretta Lynn's. Jamcs Stewert did iust sign a "multi-year" deal with Kawasaki. Tums out that "multi" aeally means "two" yea6. Word has it that D.vid Vuillemin will ride the outdoor Nationals on the Motowodd- Racing.comfYamaha team. Now that the Supercross-class title chase has come down to the wire, some of ttrc teahr have postponed some of their out- door testing for the upcoming Nationals. Chad Reed said they made some changes to his bike and was working well in Seattle. "We changed a lot this week," he said. ''l was out in Califomia for outdoor teGting, but we s.rapped that and did Sop€rcross ridint and testing. I hadn't rested since Jan!aD/, so it was kind of nice to kind of regroup and change things up and go in a bit of different direction." Ricky Carmichaei has also been focusinS on Supercrods testing, while James Stew"n says that h€'s already done with all of his outdoor t€stint. "We're finished with all of our outdoor testing," Stewart said. "l think we'll do a little bh ritht before Hang- town, but as for the outdoors, we're happy wh€re the bike is." rl ('r A ( rq ,fi- h- -t t d - 1a+- !l ,d !I.t \-" .: i$,-!. rdE€f i L. ql I i. cYcLE NEWS . MAY i0,2006 3t