RC, Windham Take Heat-Race Wins
Kit Palmer | October 7, 2005
Amsoil Honda’s Kevin Windham and Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael won their heat races to get things started at the U.S. Open tonight. Windham led much of the first Supercross 250 heat race, but Team Honda’s Ernesto Fonseca gave him a battle towards the end of the race. Windham held on to win on the tight track, with Fonseca taking second and Moto XXX’s Justin Buckelew finishing third.
Carmichael took the lead from Team Kawasaki’s Michael Byrne on the first lap of the second heat and rode off to victory. Byrne, riding the new KX450F, finished a few second back in second, followed by Amsoil Honda’s Mike LaRocco.
In the Supercross Lites class, Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Jake Weimer took the win after early leader Billy Laninovich crashed. Laninovich, Weimer’s teammate, got up to take second ahead of Honda rider Dylan Lord.
In the second heat race, Team Honda’s Andrew Short, aboard the new twin-exhaust CRF250R, took the win over Mike Brown, who now rides a Suzuki RM-Z250 on the Rockstar Energy team. Third went to Red Bull KTM’s Josh Hansen, while Yamaha of Troy’s Bret Metcalfe and Team ECC’s Robert Kiniry rounded out the top five.
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
