Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed finished off the 2005 THQ AMA Supercross Series much like he did the 2003 season, when he lost the title to Ricky Carmichael – winning. Just like he did that season, Reed pretty much dominated the second half of the series, only to have Carmichael run off with the title. This year went pretty much the same way.
In Las Vegas tonight, Reed reeled off his fifth win of the now-concluded season, but since RC had already clinched the ’05 title, it was sort of a solemn victory for the factory Yamaha rider, but it does give him that important mental edge when the season roles around next year.
Going into tonight’s race, many were expecting, or at least hoping for, an all-out battle for the win, since the crown was no longer on the line and Carmichael could, once again, let it all hang out. But the Carmichael vs. Reed vs. James Stewart vs. Kevin Windham dogfight never materialized, a lot of which had to do with Stewart crashing in his heat race and jamming his thumb so badly that he decided to call it a night and let the healing process begin for the upcoming outdoor Nationals.
Still, that left Carmichael, Reed and Windham to do battle, but a bad start by both Carmichael and Reed left them fighting their way up through the pack, while Windham jumped out in front and opened up a huge lead. By the time Reed and Carmichael had worked their way into second and third, respectively, Windham was enjoying a 10-second lead. But Reed kicked in the afterburners and went after the Honda rider, while leaving Carmichael in his dust.
Reed slowly started reeling in Windham and got to within three seconds of the leader with plenty of time remaining to mount a serious attack, but before he could, Windham went down in a whoop section, ending what could have been an interesting finish. As it was, Reed finished off the last five laps with a big lead over Carmichael, who rode past Windham as he was picking up his bike. Carmichael ended up finishing second, 6.681 seconds behind Reed and well ahead of Windham, who got back up to finish third with room to spare over Yamaha’s David Vuillemin and Heath Voss.
After 16 rounds, Carmichael, on the Makita Suzuki RM250, finished off the season with 367 points and seven wins, while Reed closed out the season with 342 points and five wins. Windham finished third with 284 points and one win, while fourth on the season went to Vuillemin with 245 points and no wins. Mike LaRocco, who did not ride after his big crash the previous week, slipped back a notch and finished out the year fifth with 229 points.
Stewart, who rode just five main events, finished 10th with 129 points and three wins.
Tyler Evans finished out the year as the top-placing privateer, but Stewart edged him out for 10th in the series. Both Stewart and Evans closed out the year with 129 points, but Evans lost out on the tie-breaker, via Stewart having more wins.
Early reports from the Kawasaki pits is that Stewart jammed the wrist, and he chose not to ride because he could not hold on to the bars as well as he would have liked. As of now, the injury does not appear to be serious, but he will have it examined closer.
It was a wild affair in the Dave Coombs 125 East/West Shootout and when the dust settled, it was Suzuki’s Davi Millsaps coming away with the big win. In a race that saw many riders go down, Millsaps led all but the first lap, and crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of East champ Grant Langston on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Langston worked his way up from a sixth-place start. Finishing on the podium in third was Josh Grant on the Amsoil/Chaparral Honda. Rounding out the top five overall was Team Honda’s Andrew Short and Team Suzuki’s Broc Hepler, who was docked five seconds for jumping and passing a double under a red flag. The penalty, however, did not cost him a position. (Brock Sellards and Matt Walker were also docked five seconds for the similar infractions.)
West champ Ivan Tedesco was involved in a first-lap pileup that sent him packing early. Tedesco was not injured in the crash, but his bike was severely damaged.
Results:
125 MAIN: 1. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 2. Grant Langston (Kaw); 3. Josh Grant (Hon); 4. Andrew Short (Hon); 5. Broc Hepler (Suz); 6. Nathan Ramsey (KTM); 7. Jay Marmont (KTM); 8. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 9. Joshua Summery (Hon); 10. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 11. Bradley Ripple (Suz); 12. Ryan Morais (Suz); 13. Turbo Reif (Hon); 14. Troy Adams (Hon); 15. Josh Hansen (KTM); 16. Matt Walker (Kaw); 17. Kelly Smith (Yam); 18. Brock Sellards (Yam); 19. Josh Woods (Suz); 20. Steve Boniface (20); 21. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 22. Joaquim Rodrigues (Hon).
250 MAIN: 1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 3. Kevin Windham (Hon); 4. David Vuillemin (Yam); 5. Heath Voss (Yam); 6. Travis Preston (Hon); 7. Tim Ferry (Yam); 8. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 9. Ryan Clark (Hon); 10. Damon Huffman (Hon); 11. Jason Thomas (Hon); 12. Joseph Oehlhof (Hon); 13. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 14. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 15. Jiri Dostal (Hon); 16. Cole Siebler (Suz); 17. Tyler Evans (Suz); 18. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 19. Isaiah Johnson (Yam); 20. Keith R. Johnson (Yam).
