2002 AMA EA Sports Supercross Series
Round 14 of 16: April
20 - Texas Stadium, Irving, TX
April 21, 2002
Carmichael strikes on the "Scorpion
King" Honda
Stewart crashes out of 125 West points lead
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| With a 27-point
lead, RC appears to be one race away from his
second-straight AMA 250 Supercross title. |
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Steve Bruhn photo
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IRVING, Texas - Ricky Carmichael's No. 4 Honda was dressed in
different livery Saturday night in Texas
Stadium, but the results
were the same. Carmichael, his bike decked out in the new movie
Scorpion King colors and logos, took over the lead on lap five
from Bud Light Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath and later held off a brief
challenge from archrival David Vuillemin to go on and win his
ninth AMA EA Sports Supercross race of the season. The victory
further extends Carmichael's lead in the championship to 27 points
(306 to 279) giving RC a good chance of defending his championship
next week in Salt Lake City. Vuillemin earned his 10th podium
finish Saturday, taking second three-seconds behind Carmichael. He
must win next week in Salt Lake City to have even a remote shot at
the title. McGrath took his second-straight podium finish after
winning his heat and leading the first five laps of the main. In a
wild 125 West round Factory Connection Honda's Travis Preston took
the win and the series lead. James Stewart, who led the class
coming into Dallas, had the worst outing of his pro career
crashing four times and not finishing the race.
The crowd of 43,789 came to it feet in the final when
seven-time AMA Supercross champ Jeremy McGrath took the Powerade
Holeshot Award and the lead. A first turn pileup involved 125 East
champ Chad Reed, Ezra Lusk, Ernesto Fonseca and others. Fonseca
and Reed pulled out of the race with bike problems as a result of
the crash.
Up front it was McGrath leading Carmichael, Tortelli and
Vuillemin. By the fourth lap MC and RC had pulled clear of the
pack.
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| David Vuillemin
will have to win next week to keep his title hopes
alive. |
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Steve Bruhn photo
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On lap five Carmichael made his moved and put a block pass on
McGrath in turn five to take over the lead. Big Mac stayed close
to Carmichael for a few laps before the defending champ began to
pull away. On lap eight Vuillemin moved around McGrath to take
over second and was two-seconds down to Carmichael. In the middle
stages of the race Vuillemin caught the leader and looked to have
the speed to pass Carmichael. But his team flashed him a pit
signal to "Wait". They didn't want Vuillemin to show his
hand too early. That proved to be an ill-advised strategy.
Carmichael upped the pace and Vuillemin got some bad breaks in
lapped traffic and that was all she wrote. RC was home free taking
his ninth win of the season by a margin of three seconds.
McGrath held off a late-race charge by Pontiac winner Ramsey to
hold on the third.
"I might have not been the fastest guy tonight," said
Carmichael, who earned his 24th-career AMA Supercross victory.
"But I was the smartest and wore them down at the end. I saw
Cobra coming up behind me and thought we were going to have
another repeat of Indy, but I didn't want to go down like that. I
want to go out winning and I put the hammer down on the last few
laps. Hopefully I can have some goods luck next week and wrap this
thing up."
The 125 West final turned out to be a wild one. Chris Gosselaar
grabbed the holeshot on his Factory Connection Honda, but it was
Chase Reed who came through to put his Yamaha in the lead on the
first lap. Points leader Stewart went down on the triple jump
before turn eight and got up in dead last. Lap two was crazy as
Gosselaar went down in turn five. A few turns later leader Reed
was also on the dirt in turn nine leaving Travis Elliott in the
lead.
After the shake up is was Preston playing it cool and on lap
three he moved past Elliott in turn five to take over first place.
Once in the lead Preston began to open a gap on the field. His
enthusiasm must have been greatly increased when he got a pit
signal that Stewart was running in the back of the pack. Preston
was presented with an excellent opportunity and he made the best
of it.
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| "Everybody's
been paying attention to Stewart and I sort of like
that," said Preston, who needs only to finish
fifth or better next week to win the 125 West title. |
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Steve Bruhn photo
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Up front it was Preston, Elliott and Ivan Tedesco in the middle
stages. Stewart meanwhile was turning in another great charge
through the field. The 16-year-old Kawasaki rider was turning in
the fastest laps of the race and by lap 10 he'd come all the way
back from last to crack the top 10. A few laps later Stewart moved
into the top five and was looking for more, but his charge would
come to an ugly end.
Going into turn seven Stewart tried to run underneath Tedesco,
but the two came together and both went down. Stewart was quickly
up but a turn later he was hit by Kawasaki teammate Eric Sorby and
went down again. Stewart remounted yet again and made it to the
next turn before crashing for a fourth time. It was unclear why he
went down the last time, perhaps woozy from the earlier falls, but
this time he didn't continue.
Up front it was a Honda sweep with Preston over Gosselaar and
Elliott. The victory was the second of the year for Preston and
moved him into the series lead going into the final race next week
in Utah.
"Everybody's been paying attention to Stewart and I sort
of like that," said Preston, who needs only to finish fifth
or better next week to win the 125 West title. "I've been
kind of doing my own thing and came out of nowhere and am really
thrilled with the way things are going."
Race Notes
Arenacross champ Demuth races Dallas SX
Recently crowned Arenacross champ Josh Demuth, from nearby Ft.
Worth, Texas, raced in the 125 West class Saturday night in Texas
Stadium. Demuth turned in a solid performance on Shogun
Motorsports Yamaha and finished ninth.
Reed crashes in 250 final
Chad Reed hoped to prove he could move seamlessly from the 125
East championship to the premier 250 class at Texas Stadium. The
night turned out to be a tough one for the Australian. He
qualified for the main easily enough, finishing fourth in heat
race two, but crashed in the first turn of the final and later
pulled out of the race. Reed blamed Ezra Lusk for causing the
crash after the race, saying Lusk charged underneath him too fast
and knocked his handlebar out of his hands.
Photo Gallery
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Photos by Steve Bruhn
Copyright AMA Pro Racing, 2005.
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