RC, Stewart Take Budds

| June 15, 2003

Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart Jr. won their classes at the Budds Creek MX National, although Stewart was plainly in a class of his own.

In the first 125cc moto, Stewart started second behind Kelly Smith, but moved into the lead in just the second corner. From there, the Kawasaki rider just plain split. He set the fastest lap of the day (for either 125 or 250cc riders) on his way to winning by over 44 seconds. KTM riders Grant Langston and Steve Boniface followed him home, while Michael Brandes and Mike Brown rounded out the top five.

Stewart fell in the first turn of the second 125cc moto while Ivan Tedesco ran out front. After picking himself up off the ground well behind the next running rider, Stewart blitzed through the pack and passed Tedesco for the lead with a few laps left to run, eventually winning by about six seconds over Tedesco. Then came Langston, Brock Sellards and Brown. Stewart obviously won the overall, while Langston finished second and Tedesco got third overall.

Timmy Ferry broke through to win his first race of the year in the first 250cc moto, as he worked his way past early leader Kevin Windham and Stephane Roncada to take the lead, followed closely by Carmichael. Carmichael worked on Ferry for quite a while before crashing on a slick uphill, handing Ferry a 10-second lead. Carmichael got up just in front of Windham, and as Ferry dropped his pace a touch to reflect his comfortable lead, Carmichael rode harder than before and started cutting into Ferry’s lead, but Carmichael ran out of time. Ferry won by a scant 1.2 seconds over Carmichael, with Windham a few seconds back in third and Roncada fourth. Chad Reed finished fifth.

There was a huge crash in the first turn at the start of the second 250cc moto, with Joaquim Rodrigues, Ferry, Windham, Damien Plotts, Ezra Lusk, Joe Oehlhof, David Vuillemin, Larry Ward, and many more involved. Carmichael took the lead from the holeshotting Nathan Ramsey right away, followed closely by Roncada. Throughout the next 13 of 15 laps, Roncada never let Carmichael get further out than about six seconds, while Nick Wey sat third for a big chunk of the moto before his bike broke. Reed then inherited third and sat about 30 seconds behind Roncada. Carmichael took the victory by about eight seconds over Roncada, with Reed a distant third, just ahead of Windham, who came through the pack impressively, and Vuillemin, who did the same.

Look for the complete story in this week’s Cycle News.

125cc O/A: 1. James Stewart Jr. (Kaw); 2. Grant Langston (KTM); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Yam); 4. Mike Brown (Kaw); 5. Eric Sorby (Kaw); 6. Steve Boniface (KTM); 7. Brian Gray (Suz); 8. Daryl Hurley (Suz); 9. Andrew Short (Suz); 10. Brock Sellards (Yam); 11. Steve Lamson (Suz); 12. Michael Brandes (Yam); 13. Matthieu Lalloz (Suz); 14. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); 15. Craig Anderson (Yam); 16. Michael Byrne (Hon); 17. Bobby Kiniry (Suz); 18. Steve Mertens (Yam); 19. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 20. Chris Gosselaar (Hon).

250cc O/A: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 2. Stephane Roncada (Suz); 3. Kevin Windham (Hon); 4. Chad Reed (Yam); 5. David Vuillemin (Yam); 6. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 7. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 8. Nathan Ramsey (Hon); 9. John Dowd (KTM); 10. Ezra Lusk (Kaw); 11. Joaquim Rodrigues (KTM); 12. Clark Stiles (Hon); 13. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 14. Larry Ward (Hon); 15. Jeremias Israel (Hon); 16. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 17. Nick Wey (Yam); 18. Josh Demuth (Yam); 19. Keith S. Johnson (KTM); 20. Jason Thomas (Hon).

AMA/Chevy Trucks 125cc National Points Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds): 1. Mike Brown (188/2 wins); 2. Grant Langston (173); 3. Ryan Hughes (151/1 win); 4. Eric Sorby (145); 5. Brock Sellards (117); 6. Ivan Tedesco (109); 7. Michael Brandes (108); 8. Michael Byrne (104); 9. Steve Boniface (101); 10. Craig Anderson (100/1 win); 11. Brett Metcalfe (88); 12. (TIE) Stephane Roncada/Chris Gosselaar (77); 14. Andrew Short (75); 15. Daryl Hurley (57); 16. Brian Gray (55); 17. (TIE) James Stewart Jr. (50/1 win)/Steve Mertens (50); 19. Ryan Mills (49); 20. Kelly Smith (47).

AMA/Chevy Trucks 250cc National Points Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (244/5 wins); 2. Kevin Windham (191); 3. Chad Reed (186); 4. Timmy Ferry (174); 5. Mike LaRocco (138); 6. Ezra Lusk (118); 7. (TIE) David Vuillemin/John Dowd (111); 9. Ernesto Fonseca (103); 10. Larry Ward (100); 11. Nick Wey (76); 12. Nathan Ramsey (74); 13. Sean Hamblin (66); 14. Joaquim Rodrigues (60); 15. (TIE) Clark Stiles/Kyle Lewis (45); 17. Stephane Roncada (40); 18. Sebastien Tortelli (33); 19. (TIE) Keith S. Johnson/Bobby Bonds (30).

By Freelance