Monday, February 25

Carmichael Chisels Away

By B.J. Smith

ATLANTA (February 23) - It may not have been the most exciting race ever but you can't tell Ricky Carmichael that. In front of 69,471 spectators, the second largest crowd to ever attend a Supercross event, Carmichael won his fourth EA Sports Supercross main event of the season and inches to within 20 points of David Vuillemin's series lead. Yamaha of Troy's Chad Reed continued his domination of the 125cc Eastern Region series with his third consecutive win.

250cc:

From an inside line, Carmichael nailed the holeshot and never gave the 19 riders behind him another thought. Travis Pastrana and Vuillemin came out in second and third and by the end of the first lap the lead trio held a five-second lead over fourth place Jeremy McGrath.

Pastrana, who was so sick coming into the race he couldn't even sign autographs, looked good in second. But as the race approached the halfway point, it was evident that Travis' ailment was catching up to him and he dropped out of the race.

With Carmichael in his groove and Vuillemin unable to match the lap times, the race turned into a blowout with RC getting the 19th Supercross win of his career. McGrath inherited third after Pastrana's departure to take the final podium spot, his best finish of the year.

Having struggled all year, McGrath was clearly happy to finally reach the podium.

"My family and my team is a big part of my success," McGrath said. "You got to take the good with the bad and we've been struggling all season. Tonight was a breakthrough for me. I just tried to go out and race the track and here I am in third and I wasn't too far behind David (Vuillemin).

Second place Vuillemin still holds a solid points lead, and remains the most consistent rider to date with eight podiums in as many races.

"I've been very consistent," he said. "I got a good start, but Ricky was just a little bit faster tonight. There are eight of these left and I think it's going to be very tough. I just want to take this race by race. It's between me and Ricky now."

For Carmichael, it was wire to wire, his favorite way to win.

"Getting the holeshot, that's 75% of the race," he said. "It was a really good night. I don't know what got into me, I just felt like I was in my groove. I've been trying to get faster and faster to keep wining these things, because David's riding really good this year.

On a negative note, Kevin Windham suffered a broken femur during practice today and will miss the rest of the Supercross season and more than likely, most of the motocross season. Stay tuned for updates.

125cc:

In Eastern Regional action, Kelly Smith pulled the holeshot for the second time this year and led the first five laps despite the pressure of Mike Brown and Steve Boniface. Points leader, Chad Reed had some trouble off the start but was top five after lap one.

After being passed by Brown, Smith stayed strong but Boniface, who continues to impress each week, also slipped by to put Smith back to third. Reed, by far the quickest rider all season picked his way past the top five riders and with only a few laps to go, he sat poised and ready to strike on Brown. When Brown left a door open, Reed slammed it shut and ran away with the win to keep a perfect score. Brown finished up second and Boniface rounded out the podium in third.

"I had a terrible start and nearly went down," Reed said after the race. "I could see him (Brown) and he wasn't pulling away. If he's out there thinking about me, that's the way I want it. I want to win this championship. Americans are great at what they do, but I really want to beat those guys."

250cc Main Event:

1. Ricky Carmichael - Hon
2. David Vuillemin - Yam
3. Jeremy McGrath - Yam
4. Sebastien Tortelli - Hon
5. Stephane Roncada - Kaw
6. Heath Voss - Hon
7. Damon Huffman - Suz
8. Ezra Lusk - Kaw
9. Jean Sebastien Roy - Hon
10. Nick Wey - Yam
11. Ernesto Fonseca - Hon
12. Keith Johnson - Yam
13. Jason Thomas - Yam
14. James Povolny - Hon
15. Kyle Lewis - Hon
16. Tyler Evans - Hus
17. Kevin Crine - Hon
18. Isaiah Johnson - Suz
19. Jeff Gibson - Yam
20. Travis Pastrana - Suz

250cc Series Point Standings:

1. Vuillemin - 179
2. Carmichael - 159
3. Mike LaRocco - 120
4. Roncada - 117
5. Lusk - 112
6. McGrath - 110
7. Pastrana - 96
8. Nathan Ramsey - 87
9. Huffman - 82
10. Fonseca - 81

125cc Main Event:

1. Chad Reed - Yam
2. Mike Brown - Kaw
3. Steve Boniface - KTM
4. Kelly Smith - Yam
5. Buddy Antunez - Suz
6. Branden Jesseman - Suz
7. Larry Ward - Yam
8. John Dowd - KTM
9. Jeff Gibson - Yam
10. Paul Currie - Suz
11. Justin Buckelew - Suz
12. Josh Summey
13. Robbie Horton - Hon
14. Troy Adams - Yam
15. Steve Andrich - Yam
16. Grant Langston - KTM
17. Greg Schnell - Yam
18. Chase Reed - Yam
19. Steve Mertens - Hus
20. Tyson Hadsell - Yam
21. Michael Blose - Suz
22. Josh Woods - Suz

125cc Point Standings:

1. Reed - 75
2. Brown - 62
3. Boniface - 54
4. Ward - 48
5. Antunez - 47
6. Smith - 40
7. Dowd - 33
8. Schnell - 30
9. Horton - 29
10. Gibson - 29