Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sotn Boyd Stodiu]tl r.or Vogo., NV ?O06 Amp'd Mobile World Supercross 6Pl Amp'd Mobilc AMA SupeFcposs Scni€s a Mv Oww Flnce 27 ttictwey 6th Place HD(Motospon/Honda's NickWey got into the main event the hard way - via the LCQ, where he took the win over K's Motorsports'Jefl Dement. ln the main, Wey was back up to speed and finished near the ,ront, like he has all season. Wey llnished out the year in llfth and w?s the series'top privateer "l tried to push to improve every \yeek," Wey said. "l teel like I definitely made some improvements. ToniSht I Md a long niglr. I stalled it while I was in third in the heat race, and stalled it again while winnint my semi, so I had to ride the last-chance, I did a lot of dding out there, which, on a track that had long lap times like tonight - it was a pretty tough, long race. I w-as lEth com- ing out ofthe fir.t turn, bu( I got Tedesco for sixth on the last lap. I tried the best I could." 9 lvanTedesco 7th Place Ricky Carmichael nearly lost his teammate, lvan Tedesco, for $e final. During the heat races, Tedesco crashed spectacularly over a quad lump and was lucky to walk away lrom it. "That was one of the roughest ciashes l've had in nry career," lblesco said. "l blew my foot offov€r the quad, I got bucked over the bars and had to iump over the {rort." Tedeaco came back and won his semi and ran as high as fourth in the main b€fore dropping back to seventh and tettint passed by Wey on the la.t lap. "My shoulder was a little bit sore after I crashed in the heat race," Tedesco said, "but my trainer taped it up, and that worked for the semi and the first half of the main, But then it started bothering me toward the end. But overall it was a good ni8ht. lt's been a good season, and l'm looking forward to the outdoors." 686 Jostr Demuth 8th Place Arenacross Charnpion.losh Demuth saved his best for last at the Las Vegas Supercross. The new BooKoo Enerty/Honda rider edpd out his teammate Brock Sellards for eighth in the main event. Demuth got into the finalvia a fourth-place finish in the first heat race and ran as high as sevenrh in the main before settlin8 into the eiShth-piace position. a I I I ') about three seconds to the leader. For Carmichael tans, the race was excru- ciatingy lonS; for Reed fans. it was painfully short. But by about the l5th lap, it was starting to get clearer and clearer that the race would end pretty much as it started: with Stewart ou! in front, Carmichael in second and Beed in third, at the same roughly three-second interrals. When the checkered llag c.rne out, Stewart took his eighth win of the season, crossing the finish line officially 4.321 sec- onds ahead of Carmichael, who finished about three or four seconds ahead of Reed. Windham flnished a distant four$, Moments after akinS the checkered flag, Carmichael and Stewan dropped their bikes and gave each other a big hug, and then the two Supercross champs simultarie- ously bowed to the crowd. For Stewar! getting a good start was the key to victory on this night. "lt's important to me to get goods starts, and tonight I knew I had to 8et one," Stewan said. "lt was great to pull the holeshot and lead all 20 laps." Carmichael also knew that getting a good start was imperative- After breaking tradition and starting on the ouBide at last week's Seattle Supercross. where he got a horrible start. Carmichael v/ent back to his usual inside-line starting position in Vegas and got the start he needed. "l think the inside gates had realty good dirt, and they were tacky, so that's why I wert in there, ' Carmichael said of his hr- inside gate choice. "l've always started on the inside rny whole career, and last week- end was stupid. I should have never done that. I went back to old school, and it Reed also had a pretty good start, but during the lirst hectic lap, he got shut down over a triple jump and had to sirEle out, which enabled Stewart and Carmichael to get away a little bit and to let Tedesco and VMndham 8et in between him and the two front-runners, which ultimately might've ended up costirg Reed his last chance at the champjonship. "l got a decert start," Reed recalled, "and I was kind of on the outsiile and just tried gettinS down the [rhythm] lane, and tried to get down the next one, so I could ry;W; 'rE"'. w lG'[,F..r SUPERCROS5 i- r.l ,l I il a I dct rt T 4 I a 'L, *i TF i*tt I ;l F,i RoorAd3 17/16 Moy 5. 2OO5 I could certainly undersEnd how he could easily stew about all of the ''could've, would've, shoLrld'ves," but the 20-year-old instead chooses to look into the future instead of the past. "l'm iust happy to be in this position,'' Stewart said. "To be only two points out - we could go back and look at a lot races, but I can't, l'm really happy. The goal was to fln- ish this ye2r and try my best, and I succeed- ed an rhat [andl I won me a title- You .an't look back at the past. All the races that went down in the first come[ the hay bales, and all that, and to finish iust two points shy, you have to look at that as [being] great." As for Reed, the outcome was a bitter pill to swallow. After all, he wert into Las Vegas tied lor the series lead and left in third place despite putting forth one of his best ndes of the season. However, Reed claims he's good with it. 'iAll I asked this weekend was to go out there and ride the way I knew how to ride and not to leave anything on the table,' Reed said. "l thought it was a solid race. lt was a lot of fun; it was an excitinS weekend. But the end didnt turn out in my favoq but I think the end result was a really fun week- end." Since a lot of people thought drat there would be a lot of bar- banging in the final, the Al"lA kept a watchful eye on the race, but there would be no fines or warnings hand- ed out in this one. Actually, as far as close racing action goes, there wasn't much in 6ras one. ln fact, had the title not been on the line. the main event could have been called, well, boring. Stewart got the $1000 Progressive Direct Holeshot money, and Carmichael got into second after quickly passing his teammare lvan Tedesco, and Kevin Windham. After having a bit more difilculty getting around Tedesco and Windham, Reed eventually settled into third place by the fourth lap. And that's how they would linish, one-Nvo-three. For most ofthe race, about three seconds separated Stewan from Carmichael, and Carmichael from Reed, but when you're racing for a Supercross title, suddenly every tenth of a second counts, which kept the sold-out crowd on is feet and Carmichael and Reed fans, in particulat chewing their nails throughout the race. It was obvious that no one wanted to make a mistake, especially on the dry slick and untorgiving Las Vegas track that would punish you big-time for even the srnallest error As a result, most of the racing was being done on the stopwatches. Reed wor-rld gain a tenth here and a tenth there on Carmichael. and then Carmichael wguld do the same on Reed, and vice \€rsa" again and again. And to make thinSs even more rense, Carmichael started actually gaining some ground on Stewart in the second half of the race, but he never really did - nor did he really want to - get much closer than s ,l't',lt 7 t' ! r\ ,r t I ..4 ,l I t t.I '{ a' Lt' 't ond oftsr lhe lhey finished.I l/ r- mqrn, I I 26 MAY 17,2006 . CYCLE NE

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