ANAHEIM III REPORT–FEB 1
ANAHEIM III REPORT–FEB 1 |
|
In a night that could be summarized as: Ricky Carmichael won, James Stewart won, Mike LaRocco had a crash-riddled evening, Tim Ferry rode a two-stroke, Grant Langston couldn?t race, and Mickael Pichon showed up to race, it was truly more exciting than that. In the 250 class Ricky Carmichael is at it again, only this time he was barely able to hold off Chad Reed. It was during the holeshot where things got interesting, because the track layout was set up for two holeshots. Half of the riders would split off to the left, while the other half would make a right, only to regroup several turns later. The first victim of the night was none other than Mickael Pichon, who fell in the first turn and broke his front brake lever. The second victim was Mike LaRocco, who tangled with Sebastien Tortelli and hit the deck hard. Mike eventually pulled off the track in the later stages of the race. It was Michael Byrne, Ezra Lusk, Chad Reed, Carmichael, and Stephane Roncada who held the top spots after the start. RC began working his magic, slipping by Reed and Lusk, with his eyes staring down the rear fender of Roncada. Both charged hard, but Ricky eventually got by Ron-Ron. Only one more rider to go, and it was the Australian Michael Byrne who was about to battle with Carmichael. Unfortunately, a battle never truly ensued, so Ricky was in the lead with Chad Reed on the chase. Reed began closing in, but it was too little too late as RC took the win with just a half-second separating the two. It was a great win for Ricky, but also disappointing at the same time. There?s a new kid in town, and Chad Reed is showing that he can not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. Get Ricky and Chad up front right off the start and we?d probably see a classic battle like the Carmichael/McGrath Anaheim race two years ago. In the 125 class, James Stewart won. Imagine that, big surprise. Where was everyone else? They were 20 seconds behind Stewart by race end, and clearly had to fight for second place. Travis Preston had to deal with Josh Woods and Matt Walker throughout the race, passing both several times. With Woods on his tail, Preston charged forward towards Eric Sorby who was holding down second. It was the perfect time for payback on Sorby, but Travis did the right thing and cut inside him cleanly to make the pass. Josh Woods was riding like a man possessed, and also passed Sorby. Unfortunately, riding like a man possessed through the treacherous whoops sent him sailing over the bars with only a lap left. Sorby snuck by and took his first podium of the season. Matt Walker also went down in the whoops, but got up to finish fourth. David Pingree was holding it down in fifth. 250 POINT STANDINGS 125 WEST RESULTS 125 WEST POINTS STANDINGS |
Comments are closed.