Friday In St. Louis

| March 4, 2005

Friday practice for the round nine of the THQ AMA Supercross series (and round 11 of the THQ World Supercross Grand Prix Series) in St. Louis, Missouri went smoothly today, and from the looks of it tomorrow is going to be another Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed showdown. Carmichael currently leads Reed in the championship, 192-160.

From the opening lap of practice to the end, Team Yamaha’s Reed (22) hammered the technical course. While there were no transponders for official timing, Reed unofficially put down the best lap time of the day at 50.7 seconds. Team Makita Suzuki’s Carmichael (4) was second quickest with a best lap of 50.9 seconds.

In the 125cc class, last week’s winner Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Grant Langston (8) looked to be ready to get his second win of the season to cushion his points lead. His teammate Matt Walker, meanwhile, is looking for his first win and first-round winner Makita Suzuki’s Davi Millsaps is in search of win number two.

As for the track, Dirt Wurx did an excellent job of building another technical one with plenty of rhythm sections and monster whoops. There is also an interesting deep-sand section, much like Anaheim I, that gave a few riders trouble in the beginning of practice.

Tomorrow, as usual, the riders will get a few more practice sessions before opening ceremonies begin at 7 p.m. with racing following shortly after.

By Freelance