PONTIAC IS ALL CARMICHAEL– APRIL 7

Ricky Carmichael may look like the “Flyin Freckle,” but put him on a bike and he is all Bob Hannah. Carmichael is going quasar speed right now and that means he’s taking risks. He doesn’t have to with the 46 point lead he currently enjoys, but that hasn’t seemed to affect him in the slightest. At least once every weekend, Carmichael has a brush with the motocross equivalent of death–crashing. Luckily for him it has yet to happen during a main event. At Pontiac, Carmichael’s brush came on the last lap of his 250 heat race. The whoops were all that was talked during the weekend, due to their impressive shape and size. While the 125 riders couldn’t skim them at all, Ricky blitzed through them on the second lap of practice. This confidence or overconfidence might have been Ricky’s undoing as his crash was smack dab in the middle of the whoops. You might not know this, but it is possible to go too fast through the whoops and have your front wheel fall in because of it. This is what happened to Ricky, but luckily for him by the time the crash finished he was at the end of the whoops, so after the bike got done hitting him in the jaw, he landed on smooth ground. Even more impressive than the crash was the fact that he got right back up and finished second behind Ezra Lusk. Come main event time, Carmichael was all business. He took the lead mid way through the first lap and pulled away to his tenth victory in a row.

Ezra Lusk looked good all weekend long. He didn’t quite have RC speed, but he was without a doubt the second fastest guy all weekend long. In the last few rounds Ezra seems to have a new found maturity. Lusk was the only rider not to make a single mistake on Saturday.

Mike LaRocco is amazing. The guy is like the energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going. At Pontiac he wasn’t quite as fast as Carmichael or Lusk, but he was fast enough to finish on the podium once again.

Jeremy McGrath is struggling. This is the first time in years that McGrath has finished outside the top three two weekends in a row. Last week he had enough crashes to last him a lifetime. This weekend he was up to his old speed and easily won his heat race. Unfortunately, during the main event, his front motor mount bolt came out leaving the champ a bike that vibrated violently.

250 Main Event:

1. Ricky Carmichael…Kaw
2. Ezra Lusk…Hon
3. Mike LaRocco…Hon
4. Jeremy McGrath…Yam
5. Kevin Windham…Suz
6. Tim Ferry…Yam
7. Robbie Reynard…Yam
8. Stephane Roncada…Kaw
9. Michael Byrne…Kaw
10. Damon Huffman…Yam

250 Point Standings:

1. Ricky Carmichael – 317
2. Jeremy McGrath – 271
3. Mike LaRocco – 233
4. Kevin Windham – 217
5. Ezra Lusk – 216
6. Tim Ferry – 163
7. David Vuillemin – 135
8. Stephane Roncada – 121
9. Sebastien Tortelli – 109
10. Damon Huffman – 107