CARMICHAEL SLICES THROUGH ANAHEIM III–FEB 3

It looked like it would be another textbook win for Jeremy McGrath. When the main event left the gate, he was in the top four and his chief rival, Ricky Carmichael, was buried outside the top ten. McGrath got past Nick Wey and Ezra Lusk, then set up a pace that saw him inching away from the pack. In the meantime, Carmichael was moving up, but every lap that he spent back in the pack was a bigger lead for the top three riders. By the halfway point, McGrath was a few seconds ahead of Lusk and Kevin Windham, who was applying mild pressure for second place. Then Lusk crashed in the woops, leaving Windham the only rider within striking distance of McGrath. As the race continued, Carmichael was the only rider to keep his pace. In fact, he seemed to get stronger with every lap. He worked his way into third, then caught and passed Windham. With three laps left in the main, he had cut his way all the way to McGrath. Finally, Carmichael took the lead with a clean pass in front of 46,000 roaring spectators. In the remaining two laps, he actually pulled a couple of seconds on the obviously tiring McGrath. Windham held on for third, while Mike LaRocco put in a come-from-behind race of his own to finish fourth ahead of Sephane Roncada. In the 125 class, it was yet another win for Ernest Fonseca and his YZ250F four-stroke. Danny Smith lead in the early laps, while Justin Buckelew and Grant Langston struggled in the back of the pack.

250 Results:
1. Ricky Carmichael – KAW
2. Jeremy McGrath – YAM
3. Kevin Windham – SUZ
4. Mike LaRocco – HON
5. Stephane Roncada – KAW
6. Sebastien Tortelli – HON
7. Nick Wey – YAM
8. David Vuillemin – YAM
9. Tim Ferry – YAM
10. Michael Byrne – KAW

125 West Results:
1. Ernesto Fonseca – YAM
2. Danny Smith – SUZ
3. Greg Schnell – YAM
4. Rodrig Thain – SUZ
5. David Pingree – KTM
6. Ivan Tedesco – HON
7. Justin Buckelew – YAM
8. Grant Langston – KTM
9. Travis Preston – HUS
10. Keith Johnson – YAM

250 Point Standings:
1. Ricky Carmichael – 117
2. Jeremy McGrath – 114
3. Mike LaRocco – 96
4. Kevin Windham – 83
5. David Vuillemin – 74
6. Ezra Lusk – 68
7. Stephane Roncada – 65
8. Nick Wey – 62
9. Nate Ramsey – 51
10. Tim Ferry – 42

125 West Point Standings:
1. Ernesto Fonseca – 108
2. Danny Smith – 92
3. Justin Buckelew – 91
4. Rodrig Thain – 81
5. David Pingree – 75
6. I. Tedesco – 72
7. Grant Langston – 70
8. Jiri Dostal – 60
9. Shae Bentley – 46
10. Tyler Evans – 39