Monday, May 13

RC, Stewart Romp Season Opener

By B.J. Smith
MotoWorld.com

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF (May 12) - If round one of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championships is any indication of how the season will play out, it's already over. Ricky Carmichael went 1-1 in two dominating wire to wire motos. And James Stewart, well, just like with Supercross, he's the real deal. But just as predicted, the 125cc class was a four way battle between Stewart, Grant Langston, Chad Reed and Mike Brown.

Ricky Carmichael has already put an exclamation point on the motocross season with a dominating win in the season opener.

Holeshot, pull a huge lead and win by 30 seconds. Multiply that by two and you get Carmichael's method of winning a motocross national, specifically Glen Helen 2002.

With Carmichael way out front both motos, Sebastien Totelli was making the show worthwhile. Tortelli had to play catch-up both motos, passing such riders as Frenchmen, David Vuillemin and Stephane Roncada. Tortelli was on the pace of Carmichael for much of the second moto but a nasty crash in the rough Bud's Creek straight away set him back. Tortelli was far enough ahead of Ferry and Vuillemin to keep second but Carmichael was long gone. Ferry took a pair of thirds, a solid ride considering his several injuries this year.

Another surprise was Kyle Lewis who finished the first moto in fifth and the second moto in eighth. Travis Pastrana made his return to racing but bike problems in the first moto took him out. In the second moto he was running inside the top ten but a bizarre crash catapult his body into the crowd and his bike into the fence. Pastrana finished 26th in the moto.

In the first 125cc moto, Langston jumped into the lead and was stalked by James Stewart. Stewart made his move within a few laps and simply pulled away. Langston, coming off a compressed knee yielded to the charging Reed, and even despite falling in a corner, still finished third. Reed took second in his first moto ever, but was too far off the pace of Stewart.

Defending champ, Brown started the moto in dead last and set some of the fastest laps of the moto to take 10th.

In moto two, Matt Walker took the holeshot, but Langston once again took over the lead. Brown and Stewart were third and fourth. The only rider missing was Reed who fell on the first lap.

Langston fell giving way to Brown and Stewart who ran away with the race. Brown was blazing fast, and consistently set the fastest lap times, but Stewart played it smart and took the overall rather than dice with Brown. Langston finished third, Walker put in a solid ride for fourth and Chad Reed caught up to sixth.

250c Overall:

1. Ricky Carmichael - 1-1
2. Sebastien Tortelli - 2-2
3. Tim Ferry - 3-3
4. David Vuillemin - 6-4
5. Stephane Roncada - 4-6
6. Ezra Lusk - 7-5
7. Kyle Lewis - 5-8
8. John Dowd - 8-7
9. Paul Carpenter - 10-11
10. Keith Johnson - 12-13

125cc Overall:

1. James Stewart - 1-2
2. Grant Langston - 3-3
3. Chad Reed - 2-6
4. Mike Brown - 10-1
5. Danny Smith - 5-5
6. Matt Walker - 8-4
7. Ernesto Fonseca - 7-7
8. Damon Huffman - 9-9
9. Bobby Bonds - 5-14
10. Travis Preston - 12-12