Tensions came to a head at the conclusion of the 250cc main event in Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium as Ricky Carmichael let Chad Reed know he was disappointed with their contact. On just the third lap of the main event, Carmichael went by both Reed and his teammate Timmy Ferry on the same straightaway. On the next straight, Ferry and Carmichael collided with Ferry going down in what looked from the stands as incidental contact, and then Reed took the inside after the next straight of whoops and took away Carmichael’s line – the two collided, and Carmichael went down, suffering a bent pipe in the incident.
Carmichael made it back up to second by the end of the race anyway, though, which means that he and Reed each have seven wins on the AMA Supercross season going into the final round, and Carmichael leads Reed by 10. Somehow, Carmichael even managed to get booed after being the guy who got taken out, whereas Reed, who took him out, had mostly cheers during his post-race interview – although he did have a few boos as well, just not nearly as many as Carmichael.
For the fifth week in a row, Ernesto Fonseca completed the podium. That’s five weeks of Reed/Carmichael/Fonseca podiums in a row. Fonseca came from well behind for the third spot, and Nick Wey matched his best-ever finish of a week ago with fourth and Sean Hamblin finished fifth. Hamblin was the last rider on the lead lap, though he wasn’t close to being lapped.
If there were a way to have one picture representing the entire Salt Lake 125cc main, it would fit perfectly next to the word “sleeper” in Webster’s New World Dictionary. Although James Stewart Jr. didn’t get the holeshot – that went to Billy Laninovich – Stewart was into the lead before the end of the first triple jump, and from there, he basically just left.
So then the focus became the race between Andrew Short and Matt Walker, who came into the race tied for third in points – 28 points behind Travis Preston, who sat out Salt Lake with an injured knee. Walker was fast all night and fought his way up to second, although briefly. He stuffed Laninovich for second, and the KTM rider returned the favor in the following turn, sending Walker to the ground. Walker got up just in front of Short in fourth, but then he went down hard in an extremely technical rhythm section only a couple of laps later. He was carted off with a reported knee dislocation, although no one could comment after the race specifically.
Short went on to finish fourth and achieved third in the points, while Laninovich’s second-place finish also pushed him ahead of Walker for fourth in points. Eric Sorby put in a strong ride for third, and Shane Bess looked like a new man on his way to fifth in the main, just on Short’s tail. Apparently, Bess has been staying with team manager Mike Craig, and with Craig’s tutelage, Bess has come a long way in a short time.
Stewart actually walked up into the crowd and was mobbed by a whole bunch of fans before returning triumphantly to the podium.
Look for the complete report in next week’s Cycle News.
Results:
250cc Main: 1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 4. Nick Wey (Yam); 5. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 6. Ryan Clark (Yam); 7. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 8. Josh Demuth (Yam); 9. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 10. Heath Voss (Yam); 11. Larry Ward (Hon); 12. Casey Lytle (Yam); 13. Tyler Evans (Suz); 14. Jason Thomas (Hon); 15. Greg Schnell (Yam); 16. Ted Campbell (Hon); 17. James Povolny Jr. (Hon); 18. Doug DeHaan (Hon); 19. Tommy Hofmaster (Yam); 20. Brian Mason (Yam).
Race Time: 17 min., 12.791 sec.
Margin of Victory: 14.433 sec.
125cc Main: 1. James Stewart Jr. (Kaw); 2. Billy Laninovich (KTM); 3. Eric Sorby (Kaw); 4. Andrew Short (Suz); 5. Shane Bess (Suz); 6. Josh Hansen (Yam); 7. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 8. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 9. Steve Mertens (Yam); 10. Tiger Lacey (Yam); 11. Daryl Hurley (Suz); 12. Edgardo Rojas (Yam); 13. Jeremy Chaussee (Yam); 14. Ryan Abrigo (Suz); 15. Scott Davis (Suz); 16. Michael Sleeter (Yam); 17. Daniel Blair (Yam); 18. Mike Mason (Suz); 19. Brandon Butler (Suz); 20. Troy Adams (Yam); 21. Matt Walker (Kaw); 22. Jacob Martin (Yam).
Race Time: 13 min., 27.121 sec.
Margin of Victory: 22.046 sec.
