2003 Supercross San Francisco Results

Ricky Carmichael won the inaugural THQ Supercross at Pac Bell Stadium in front on a near sellout crowd in San Francisco. After a rough start to his season that wasn’t that unusual, the defending champion was back on his game. Carmichael now leads the AMA series by 6 points, but his challengers are very strong and Chad Reed, in his first year on 250s full time in the US, charged from 8th to second and was gaining on the champ in the closing laps of the 250 main.

Every event this season has featured some of the best racing in the heats. This one had Ezra Lusk, Chad Reed, and David Vuillemin locked in an intense three-way battle for the lead. Vuillemin won it, but the crowd booed him loudly over a dispute over what they could double-jump and where during a caution flag when Subway racing’s Ted Campbell was on the ground getting medical attention. All the rider’s agreed during the press conference that the AMA rules are vague on this.

In the main Paul Carpenter got the holeshot on his borrowed factory Honda CRF450R, but soon he was passed by Sobe Suzuki’s Stephane Roncada. Carmichael followed Roncada for 5 laps before he made a clean pass as the jumped into a berm, and Carmichael checked out. Reed was charging through the pack and setting impressive lap times, but he was 6 seconds short of catching Carmichael at the end. Finishing third was Reed’s Yamaha teammate Vuillemin, who also had to charge-from 10th. Vuillemin spoke of the races since his win at Geneva last December, and the second round at Arnhem, Holland: “Arnhem was kind of tough,” he said. “I went off the track in the second turn and came back to 4th, so it wasn’t that bad. The races after that were kind of a struggle for me. I tried to do some things differently with the bike. I just went out there with a mind on having fun and tried to ride smooth and it worked out good this weekend.”

Vuillemin was fastest in practice, and this set him up for a strong night. “In practice you make mistakes and you know you can go even faster for the race so it’s good for the confidence,” he said. “I have been running pretty good lap times since the beginning of the season. Right now there are so many good guys. You have to get a good start and stay on the pace with the guys out front. In the heat race, everyone was talking about it and I talked to my team manager. The red cross flag is for a triple. That’s all. I don’t think that I was taking a risk.”

Chad Reed talked about the increase in pace for all riders on the year.

“Everyone can go so fast, and there are more and more people who are on the pace,” said Reed. ”It’s tough you have to get a good start and stay out of trouble. The beginning of a race is the scariest part. Everyone is going everywhere. I got in behind LaRocco, and he is supposed to be one of the guys that will go fast 20 laps, so I kind of got towed by him. He wasn’t really going that fast so I had to do something and pass him. I got lucky I passed him and Grant in one straightaway. (Compared with last year) I am on a bike I feel comfortable on. It is great I won a championship and won some races in the 125 class, but I just wasn’t comfortable. I wanted to be in the 250 class. This is where I dreamed of being and want to be.”

Carmichael was happy to be back on his game after not winning either of the two opening AMA rounds in the US. “It was good this weekend,” he said, “It was important for me to win (last weekend) and back it up this weekend. I got good starts and stayed away from trouble. I feel like I am getting a little stronger now. I am coming back around a getting to where I was at the end of last year.”

“Tonight was pretty good for me. I won the heat race and got a good start in the main event and did my own deal. I got a sizable lead and just kind of cruised a little bit. The track was slippery. It seemed like the last 4 laps I started to slow down and rode a little better. I am just trying to get to that win number 90.”

Carmichael has a chance of breaking the sport’s all-time win record this season. He has 82 career national and 250 Supercross wins, and the record is held by Jeremy McGrath with 89. Carmichael was also happy to get a warm reception from the San Francisco fans, because they have been unusually hostile this year. “It was awesome to go out there and be appreciated like that,” he said.

250cc AMA Supercross Series Event Results:
1. Ricky Carmichael, Havana, Fla., Honda
2. Chad Reed, Corona, Calif., Yamaha
3. David Vuillemin, Corona, Calif., Yamaha
4. Tim Ferry, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha
5. Mike LaRocco, South Bend, Ind., Honda
6. Ezra Lusk, Bainbridge, Ga., Kawasaki
7. Michael Byrne, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda
8. Stephane Roncada, Menifee, Calif., Suzuki
9. Grant Langston, Lake Elsinore, Calif., KTM
10. Nick Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Yamaha

250cc AMA Supercross Series Season Standings:
1. Ricky Carmichael, Havana, Fla., Honda, 90
2. Chad Reed, Corona, Calif., Yamaha, 84
3. Tim Ferry, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha, 74
4. Ezra Lusk, Bainbridge, Ga., Kawasaki, 71
5. David Vuillemin, Corona, Calif., Yamaha, 67
6. Sebastien Tortelli, Temecula, Calif., Suzuki, 57
7. Mike LaRocco, South bend, Ind., Honda 56
8. Stephane Roncada, Menifee, Calif., Suzuki, 42
9. Michael Byrne, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda, 39
10. Ivan Tedesco, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha, 33

250cc THQ World Supercross GP Season Standings, After Anaheim 2:
1. Chad Reed, Corona, Calif., Yamaha, 134
2. David Vuillemin, Corona, Calif., Yamaha, 125
3. Tim Ferry, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha, 121
4. Sebastien Tortelli, Temecula, Calif., Suzuki, 106
5. Mike LaRocco, South Bend, Ind., Honda, 105
6. Grant Langston, Lake Elsinore, Calif., KTM, 76
7. Ryan Clark, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha, 70
8. Damon Huffman, Canyon Country, Calif., Honda, 64
9. Heath Voss, Mico, Texas, Yamaha, 58
10. Keith Johnson, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha 57 125

James “Bubba” Stewart handed Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki another spectacular win at the first ever Supercross at San Francisco’s Pac Bell Park. In front of about 42,000 fans, Stewart jumped past several other riders in the first two turns and motored away, winning easily. It wasn’t even the best of tracks for him and he didn’t have the fastest lap times in practice, but when he got away with a clear track in the main, he left his competition to struggle with each other.
The $1,000 www.sxgp.com holeshot award went to Walker’s Pro Circuit teammate Eric Sorby, but Stewart, who appeared to be shut out of the first turn, tripled past riders in to sections immediately after the start and ran away on a clear track. Sorby was second after a lap, and Motoworld Racing dot com teammates David Pingree and Andrew short were third and fourth.

Defending champion Travis Preston had to battle up from a bad start that left him mid pack, but by the halfway point, the race for second was an exciting battle between Walker, Sorby, Preston and Chris Gossellar. The incident that got the crowd worked up happened in a left turn just before a long finish double. Walker passed Preston for second, and he took Preston high in the turn and got away by a bike length. Right after that was a long double with the finish line support beams at each the side of the jump. Walker slowed a little on the approach to the jump and didn’t double, which caused Preston to shut down and he did it too late to keep from tipping over on the face of the double. It took some time for him to get going again and he dropped to 12th, a lap behind the leader Stewart.

The Pro Circuit and Amsoil/Factory Connection teams have had incidents already at several events, beginning with Phoenix when Preston knocked Walker down just before the finish double there and knocked him off the podium. Just last week at Anaheim 2, Sorby took Preston high in a turn and knocked him down, causing tempers to flare in the pits. Walker reportedly mentioned the word “payback” on the podium interview, and this combined with the fact that the incident happened at a point in the track when a support beam for the finish sign was a dangerous thing to hit, resulted in the AMA fining Walker $1,000 without a verbal warning.

Gosselaar finished in third, and managed to stay out of the crossfire. “I have been pretty consistent,” said Gosselaar. “I think the worst I got was a 12th and I got a couple of 4ths and a third. I just need to stay consistent the rest of the year and do the best I can. If you get a bad start in our class it’s hard. Guys are rolling the triples and cutting off everyone. It’s all in the start in our class. Once my starts get better I think I will do better.”

“I have no problem with Matt (Walker) and Sorby,” said Gosselaar of the incident’s with his teammate. ”They haven’t done anything to me yet. Last week there was a little bit of tension in our pits but I think we have it worked out. This week I didn’t see anything so I don’t know what happened with Preston and Matt.”

About Stewart’s fast riding he said, “It’s pretty hard when you have Stewart winning by like a minute. I just need to go out there and get a good start and ride my own race.”

Walker spoke at length at the post race press conference about the incident with Preston and the fine from the AMA. “I just went out there and rode the best race that I could,” he said. “I was not intending to knock anyone down. I am sure the tape will tell. I did put on inside move on him before the triple, and he railed the outside. I never made contact with him. He still tried to gas it. I guess he thought he was going to jump the finish line. I am not sure. Instead of letting off he gassed it and hit me in the side, he bounced off me and went into the thing where the flagger stands. A lot of people can say there is drama between the Honda team and us but it’s not like that. Two races ago we were at Phoenix and I did nothing wrong. I was riding my own race and he (Preston) ended it for me. It’s called karma, what goes around comes around. I am sure that last race between he and Eric Sorby was a lot of BS. That again has nothing to do with me. This weekend was just a clean race. I am sure everyone is going to try and blow it out of proportion and I got fined $1,000 for no reason. It is devastating that an official can fine me $1,000 and not give me a warning ahead of time.”

“In that first round he actually hit me on the finger with a flag and fractured my pinky finger,” said Walker, “I have X-rays to prove it. Its just drama and I’m trying to not let it get to me. I am just trying to ride the best race I can and do what I get paid to do, race my motorcycle. I know how Ricky Carmichael feels because I just got booed by 60,000 people for no reason. It will come on ESPN next weekend and I am sure everyone will see it. It’s racing. Competition is tough this year. If you look at lap times, we all run the same lap times in practice. It boils down to a good start and its going to be action. It’s going to be bar-banging. I didn’t cry about it when they did it to me, when Preston took me down. I was mad about it. What goes around comes around. He got what was coming to him.”

“I struggled in the first two races with a broken finger, but no excuses,” Walker continued. “I have had my problems just like everybody else. We all go through trying times in our lives. Luckily I have had mine and put it in the past. I am not sure what I said on the podium. Everyone was booing. I kind of got caught up in that. I might have said it was payback, I am not sure but Duke (Finch, AMA referee) said I said that it is payback and that is why he is fining me. Eric or I or anyone on our team have never been warned. Duke hasn’t said anything to this point. I am going to appeal it.”

“It didn’t actually break my finger,” said Walker about the incident with Duke Finch at Anaheim 1. “It was a hairline crack, but I guess you could call it a break. Eric Sorby and I cut the track in the first lap of practice at Anaheim and Duke kind of blew up and ran across the track. He hit me in the finger. He just kind of whacked me with the flag he had in his hand. He hit me in the hand and I was like “shit,” I looked at my hand and it was swollen up. I was freaking out but I never said anything about it. It is one of those things where you don’t want to let anyone in on it. If you look at it right now that is about as straight as it will go. (holds hands up) I am not saying anything about it until now. I am only saying this because I am getting fined $1,000. I got second place tonight in front of 60,000 people. (Looks at Stewart) What do you get James, $1,500 for winning a main event? I probably get $300 for second, so I am in the hole $700. I am not feeling too great right now.”

(Actually the amount for second place is greater than $1,000)

Stewart didn’t get to see the fun back in the battle for second, so he just got a clear track until he started lapping about half the field. “I heard the fans out there every lap cheering me on,” he said. “I was just riding my own race. I didn’t know what was going on back there. I just want a clean race out there. I want to race them at the end of the season and beat them straight up.”

“Today I felt borderline, I was 5th fastest in practice, said Stewart. ”When I went to the main I was down and all, I didn’t feel good at all, but I happened to get a good start. (After the first turn) I tripled into the next turn and passed a couple of guys, then tripled out of it and I was in first. I didn’t want to race anyone, I wanted to get out front and do another Anaheim. The first 100 feet was the scariest part of the race for me. The lappers were crazy out there.”

“I don’t think Matt did it on purpose,” said Stewart. “Even Sorby last week, its crazy. I am just riding my own race and the next thing you know Matt is getting fined $1,000 for a sore finger. I just happened to get a good start and leave all that behind. There is so much dirty riding going on out there. Luckily I don’t have to do it all.”

125cc Western Regional AMA Supercross Series Results:
1. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Kawasaki
2. Matt Walker, McRae, Ga., Kawasaki
3. Christopher Gosselaar, Corona, Calif., Honda
4. Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., Suzuki
5. Josh Woods, Flint, Mich., KTM
6. Billy Laninovich, Escondido, Calif., KTM
7. Steve Mertens, Sonoma, Calif., Yamaha
8. Erick Sorby, France, Kawasaki
9. David Pingree, Menifee, Calif., Suzuki
10. Josh Hanson, Elbert, Colo., Yamaha

125cc Western Regional AMA Supercross Season Standings
1. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Kawasaki, 97
2. Travis Preston, Hesperia, Calif., Honda, 72
3. Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., Suzuki, 72
4. Christopher Gosselaar, Corona, Calif., Honda, 65
5. Billy Laninovich, Escondido, Calif., KTM, 61
6. Matt Walker, McRae, Ga., Kawasaki, 56
7. Danny Smith, Middleton, Idaho, Suzuki, 50
8. Eric Sorby, France, Kawasaki, 38
9. Josh Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Yamaha 36
10. Sean Hamblin, Sun City, Calif., Suzuki, 27