Ricky Carmichael once again scored a main-event win, this time at Mineapolis, Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The victory was his eighth of the season and his seventh in a row, moving him into second behind Jeremy McGrath for the consecutive-win record. Carmichael led from start to finish in this one, but second place was another matter altogether. Team Yamaha’s Tim Ferry followed the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki rider early on, only to be passed by teammate David Vuillemin. Vuillemin went down and injured his shoulder, dropping out of the race (it’s a possible separation, though we don’t have that confirmed yet). That gave the spot back to Ferry, but McGrath got by him soon after. Team Honda’s Ezra Lusk then passed McGrath, but then he, too, made a mistake, stalling in the whoops and then crashing in a timing section. That allowed McGrath back into the runner-up spot, which he held to the finish this time. The Mazda Yamaha rider had made some suspension-setting changes during the week, and appeared to be much more comfortable than he had at the past several rounds.
Amsoil/Dr. Martens/Journeys/Competition Accessories’ Mike LaRocco took the final spot on the podium after starting well and battling for much of the race with Team Suzuki’s Kevin Windham. Ferry settled for fifth.
“David (Vuillemin) was right on me and going fast,” Carmichael said. “I started to pull away after he fell. The lappers were horrible here tonight and almost caused me to crash a few times. I’m going to try my heart out for the rest of the series and we’ll see what happens.”
The 125cc class saw Team Suzuki’s Travis Pastrana score the win and take over the points lead, as rival Nathan Ramsey crashed his Yamaha of Troy YZ250F in turn one and climbed to an eventual (and incredible) fifth-place finish. Ramsey’s teammate Nick Wey took up the slack by finishing second, and Pro Circuit/Kawasaki/SplitFire rider Mike Brown collected third.
“I was expecting a close race out there, but everyone went down in the first turn,” Pastrana said. “I have never been out front in supercross, so I am really excited about this. I set out to have a lot of fun and that is what I did.”
RESULTS
125: 1. Travis Pastrana (Suz); 2. Nick Wey (Yam); 3. Mike Brown (Kaw); 4. Tallon Vohland (Kaw); 5. Nathan Ramsey (Yam); 6. Isaiah Johnson (Yam); 7. Travis Preston (Hus); 8. Paul Currie (Hon); 9. Bobby Bonds (Kaw); 10. Greg Schnell (Yam).
250: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 2. Jeremy McGrath (Yam); 3. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 4. Kevin Windham (Suz); 5. Tim Ferry (Yam); 6. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 7. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 8. Damon Huffman (Yam); 9. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 10. Kyle Lewis (Yam).
POINTS
125: 1. Travis Pastrana (107); 2. Mike Brown (102); 3. Nathan Ramsey (99); 4. Nick Wey (96); 5. Travis Elliot (57).
250: 1. Ricky Carmichael (242); 2. Jeremy McGrath (213); 3. Mike LaRocco (191); 4. Kevin Windham (163); 5. Ezra Lusk (156).
