Tuesday, February 19

RC Takes Minneapolis

By B.J. Smith

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (February 16, 2002) - After taking a backseat to David Vuillemin in Indianapolis last week, Ricky Carmichael rebounded in a come-from-behind win to take his third EA Sports Supercross 250cc main event of the year. With the win, Carmichael edges five points closer to the top of the championship standings. In round two of the Eastern regional series, Chad Reed won for the second week in a row.

Ricky Carmichael won his 18th Supercross main event with a victory at round seven in Minneapolis and moves closer to the top spot in the points.

250cc:

Sebastien Tortelli, back from his off-season shoulder injury, bolted into the lead followed by his Honda teammate Ernesto Fonseca. Ezra Lusk, Nathan Ramsey and Jeremy McGrath rounded out the top five. Carmichael started in ninth and points leader David Vuillemin was 12th.

McGrath made quick work of the field in front of him, moving into third with a pass on Ramsey. MC and Fonseca both made a clean pass on Tortelli and McGrath put a block on Fonseca immediately after to take the lead. McGrath, still winless in 2002, looked very strong, but so did Carmichael, who was third by the halfway point.

McGrath's night went downhill on lap 11 when the seven time Supercross champion hit a track side tuff block, spinning him in a circle and sending him to the ground. Carmichael took advantage of the mistake, passing Fonseca at the same time to move into the lead. Ezra Lusk moved back into third.

McGrath struggled to regain his form as simple bobbles kept him from moving into contention. For Carmichael, it was another day at the office, turning lap times consistently faster than the rest, and motoring to his third win.

Vuillemin, who came from outside the top ten, sat fourth on the last lap after he passed Stephane Roncada. A late race bobble by Ezra Lusk allowed Vuillemin to keep his perfect score of seven podium finishes in seven races. Roncada was also able to capitalize on Lusk's misfortune to regain fourth.

Carmichael's win edges him slightly closer to Vuillemin's points lead. Fonseca posted his career best with a very commanding and solid second place finish and Vuillemin took third.

Notable DNFs included Mike LaRocco, Travis Pastrana, Ramsey, and Robbie Reynard. Pastrana and LaRocco crashed together on the fifth lap. Pastrana hit his leg hard and LaRocco was seen nursing a shoulder. LaRocco, who was in championship contention, coming into the race will take a beating in the standings.

"Me and David (Vuillemin) got a bad start," Carmichael said. "But I made a little bit of points on him tonight. It must have been a great race for the fans because there was a lot of passing out there. I've just got to try and focus on winning more races. There's a lot of racing left to go. Whatever happens, happens."

125cc Eastern Region:

Chad Reed didn't even know if he was going to be up to riding in Minneapolis after a practice crash last Monday morning left him with a pulled groin muscle. The Australian, who, last weekend, won his first ever 125cc main event on the first try is glad he decided to ride now.

Reed pulled the holeshot in the main and never gave the other 21 riders a second thought. Despite his injury, Reed was able to pull out to a 10-second lead over second place Grant Langston.

Langston's teammate, Steve Boniface ran second for much of the race before the two came together near the end. The bumping allowed Langston to slip into second but Reed was already long gone. Boniface finished a career best third and Mike Brown, who was close to a podium position all night, took fourth.

"Tonight I was just wanting a good start," Reed said. "I was not feeling nowhere near 100% tonight but I just wanted to win. I'm glad I rode though. I think I'm going to ban myself from riding on Mondays.

Last week's third place finisher, Buddy Antunez started the race in last place and was able to maneuver through the pack into 10th by the main event's end.

250cc Main Event Overall:

1. Ricky Carmichael - HON
2. Ernesto Fonseca - HON
3. David Vuillemin - YAM
4. Stephane Roncada - KAW
5. Ezra Lusk - KAW
6. Jeremy McGrath - YAM
7. Kevin Windham - SUZ
8. Sebastien Tortelli - SUZ
9. Keith Johnson - YAM
10. Heath Voss - HON
11. Damon Huffman - SUZ
12. Nick Wey - YAM
13. Kyle Lewis - HON
14. Tyler Evans - HUS
15. Jeff Gibson - YAM
16. Jimmy Wilson - YAM
17. Nathan Ramsey - HON
18. Robbie Reynard - HON
19. Travis Pastrana - SUZ
20. Mike LaRocco - HON

250 Point Standings (After 7 of 16 Rounds)

1. David Vuillemin (157/3 wins)
2. Ricky Carmichael (134/3 wins)
3. Mike LaRocco (120/1 win)
4. Stephane Roncada (101)
5. Ezra Lusk (99)
6. Travis Pastrana (95)
7. Jeremy McGrath (90)
8. Nathan Ramsey (87)
9. Ernesto Fonseca (71)
10. Damon Huffman (68)
11. Nicholas Wey (67)
12. Heath Voss (64)
13. Kevin Windham (62)
14. Michael Byrne (56)
15. (TIE) Jean-Sebastien Roy/Chad Reed (44)
17. Kyle Lewis (39)
18. Keith Johnson (20)
19. Timmy Ferry (17)
20. Tyler Evans (15)

125cc Main Event Overall:

1. Chad Reed - YAM
2. Grant Langston - KTM
3. Steve Boniface - KTM
4. Mike Brown - KAW
5. Larry Ward - YAM
6. Kelly Smith - YAM
7. Greg Schnell - YAM
8. Josh Woods - SUZ
9. Robbie Horton - HON
10. Buddy Antunez - SUZ
11. Ryan Clark - YAM
12. Tyson Hadsell - YAM
13. Keith Johnson - YAM
14. Steve Mertens - HUS
15. Jeff Gibson - YAM
16. Daniel Blair - YAM
17. John Dowd - KTM
18. Branden Jesseman - SUZ
19. Michael Blose - SUZ
20. Andrew Short - SUZ
21. Chase Reed - YAM
22. Jacob Martin - YAM

125 Point Standings (After 2 of 8 Rounds)

1. Chad Reed (50/2 wins)
2. Michael Brown (40)
3. (TIE) Larry Ward/Steve Boniface (34)
5. Buddy Antunez (31)
6. Greg Schnell (26)
7. (TIE) Kelly Smith/Grant Langston (22)
9. Robbie Horton (21)
10. John Dowd (20)

KTM Junior Supercross Challenge:

1. Jesse Wentland III - Elk River, Minn. - KTM
2. John Berry - McLouth, Kan. - KTM
3. Gannon Audette - Dalbo, Minn. - KTM
4. Clay Chapiewski - Ramsey, Minn. - KTM
5. Wesley Lemon - Elk Point, S.D. - KTM
6. Zack Osowski - Zimmerman, Minn. - KTM
7. Blake Dungey - Chaska, Minn. - KTM
8. Joey Schillinglaw - Waterloo, Iowa - KTM
9. William Reader - Cedar lake, Ind. - KTM
10. Zack Spano - Truckee, Calif. - KTM
11. Cody Goodwin - Fort Worth, Texas - KTM
12. Alexander Ashworth - Bloomington, Ill. - KTM
13. Trevor Honstrom - McGrath, Minn. - KTM
14. Cade England - Antioch, Ill. - KTM