Posted: Sunday, 22nd January, 2006 : 8:56 PM - - 6,748 Reads

Share|

BooKoo Honda's David Vuillemin proved the move to the four-stroke Honda CRF450 was a wise one when he lead the field around the first corner to take the Toyota holeshot, with little time on the bike though the Frenchman was soon passed by Makita Suzuki's Ivan Tedesco. The makings of a classic race took a few laps as Stewart, Carmichael and Reed all had to come from average starts and put the once again fast starting Jeremy McGrath, who had also made the switch to the four-stroke and Mike Larocco behind them.

Stewart was the first to demote Tedesco but Carmichael had a harder time of it as his team-mate set about proving he has the speed to be up with the front runners. By lap four he was through and the battle was on as he set out to cut down Stewarts 2 second lead. Meanwhile Reed had worked his way into fourth but had majour problems with Tedesco. "He was just riding like a Chump" Reed said angrily after the race. "I just want to ride my own race but it's hard when someone is trying to ride your race as well".

By lap nine Stewart began to make minor mistakes which gave Carmichael all the incentive he needed to hone in on his pray. Stewart to his credit rode with much more discipline and maturity than he has in previous years and looked to have the reigning champions measure - that was until 2 laps from home.

Coming into the second last lap Rockstar Suzuki's Mike Brown crashed in front of the dueling duo, the crash itself did not impact Stewart but it took his concentration away and he lost the front wheel landing off a jump and went down. Carmichael seized the opportunity and went straight into the lead, even worse for Stewart was that he stalled his KX450F which allowed Reed to also get past and relegate him to third and no chance of catching either rider in the remaining two laps.

"I am sorry that I crashed that way and the race ended," said Stewart. "It was a good clean race, and we have one more stop in Anaheim, so that will be my next chance to get a win in front of these fans."

Carmichael enjoyed the tight, clean racing with Stewart . Had Stewart stayed upright it looked like it was going to be an epic last few laps as Carmichael seemed to be playing cat and mouse and looked like he was already planning a move past Stewart.

"It was hard to get by him, and it was great that we kept the racing clean out there. This is a dream come true for me tonight. This makes all of the hard work I do during the week worth it. This is what our sport needs: good clean racing." Carmichael said.

Carmichael now takes the series points lead ahead of Reed and Stewart heading into next weekends 4th round in San Francisco

Lites:
Grant Langston finally made it to the number one spot on the podium after he overcame holeshot winner Mike Alessi. Alessi in the opening laps, Alessi unable to handle the pace quickly dropped back and showed little resistance as the likes of Honda's Andrew Short, Red Bull KTM's Nathan Ramsey and Billy Laninovich swallowed the youngster up and set out after Langston.

Langston ran mistake free though and no one had th answer for the former champion. With Short, who was running the full David Baily (Circa 1986) look, holding a solid second from the gate and Ramsey a solid third, there was not much action as the podium winners ran un-apposed for their positions for the full 15 laps.

Of the podium there was plenty of action as Ryan Villopoto made a charge through the field after a poor start. The youngster making his way all the way up to 4th placed Billy Laninovich until he threw it away on the last lap allowing The factory connection Honda Rider an easy 4th place finish. Sean Collier and Jake Weimer only had a second between the for 5th and 6th. Mike Alessi's fade halted at 7, just ahead of Aussie Brett Metcalfe which had to make the main through the LCQ after a huge crash in the opening lap of his heat race whilst running second.

"It's always easy when you get a good start,” said Langston. "Everything felt right tonight; it all clicked together and this was the easiest race that I have ever won because I felt so comfortable. I was at ease, felt smooth and rode well tonight."

Ampd Mobile AMA Supercross Series Supercross Class - Round 3
Pos.	Rider name	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Ricky Carmichael	Suzuki RMZ450	20	---
2	Chad Reed	Yamaha YZ450F	20	5.989
3	James M Stewart	Kawasaki KX450F	20	14.836
4	Ivan Tedesco	Suzuki RMZ450	20	18.068
5	Jeremy A Mcgrath	Honda CRF450R	20	20.038
6	Ernesto Fonseca	Honda CRF450R	20	20.259
7	Mike Larocco	Honda CRF450R	20	34.915
8	Michael Byrne	Kawasaki KX450F	20	36.038
9	David Vuillemin	Honda CR250R	20	38.676
10	Nicholas A Wey	Honda CRF450R	20	43.752
11	Travis A Preston	Honda CRF450R	20	44.8
12	Jacob Saylor	Honda CRF450R	19	---
13	Ryan D Clark	HondaCRF450R	19	---
14	Jason W Thomas	Honda CRF450R	19	---
15	Tyler Evans	Suzuki RMZ450	19	---
16	Justin Buckelew	Honda CRF450R	19	---
17	Jeff Gibson	Honda CRF450R	19	---
18	Jeff Dement	Suzuki RMZ450	19	---
19	Erick Vallejo	Honda CRF450R	18	---
20	Michael L Brown	Suzuki RM250	18	---

Supercross Class -Series Points after Round 3
Pos.	Rider name	Points
1	Ricky Carmichael	70
2	Chad Reed	66
3	James Stewart	65
4	Ivan Tedesco	46
5	Mike Larocco	45
6	Jeremey McGrath	44
7	Ernesto Fonseca	44
8	Nick Wey	41
9	Michael Byrne	40
10	David Vuillemin	34

Ampd Mobile AMA Supercross Series Supercross Lites West Coast - Round 3
Pos.	Rider name	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Grant Langston	Kawasaki KX250F	15	---
2	Andrew T Short	Honda CRF250R	15	6.178
3	Nathan Ramsey	KTM 250SXF	15	10.167
4	Billy R Laninovich	Honda CRF250R	15	13.499
5	Sean T Collier	Yamaha YZ250F	15	21.909
6	Jake T Weimer	Honda CRF250R	15	22.919
7	Mike A Alessi	KTM 250SXF	15	30.31
8	Brett Metcalfe	Yamaha YZ250F	15	34.471
9	Jason D Lawrence	Suzuki RMZ250	15	36.264
10	Jesse Casillas	Honda CRF250R	15	39.207
11	Ryan Mills	Suzuki RMZ250	15	39.695
12	Ryan D Villopoto	Kawasaki KX250F	15	43.154
13	Eric Nye	Yamaha YZ250F	14	---
14	Paul P Carpenter	Honda CRF250R	14	---
15	Ryan Morais	Suzuki RMZ250	14	---
16	Eric Sorby	Honda CRF250R	14	---
17	Marco Dube	Yamaha YZ250F	14	---
18	Michael J Sleeter	KTM 250SXF	14	---
19	Michael J Lapaglia	Suzuki RMZ250	14	---
20	Kyle Partridge	Yamaha YZ250F	14	---
21	Daniel Sani	Honda CRF250R	13	---
22	Ryan J Abrigo	Honda CRF250R	11	---

Supercross Lites West Coast - Series Points after Round 3
Pos.	Rider name	Points
1	Grant Langston	63
2	Andrew Short	63
3	Billy R Laninovich	60
4	Nathan Ramsey	54
5	Ryan Villopoto	49
6	Jake Weimer	39
7	Bret Metcalfe	38
8	Mike Alessi	37
9	Paul Carpenter	36
10	Sean Collier	31

Share|