A Win for Reed - Disaster for Carmichael and Stewart in St. Louis

Round 7 of the Amp'd Mobile/AMA Supercross Series in St. Louis, Missouri, couldn't have been more unpredictable. It all started when defending champ and points leader Ricky Carmichael went down hard in the whoops while leading his heat race. When he hit the ground (essentially head first), his helmet facemask folded into his chest, badly bruising his sternum. Rumors also include a bruised upper back and maybe even a leg that was injured in some capacity in the get-off.

He returned for his Semi, which he easily won.

But in the main event, while his teammate Ivan Tedesco grabbed the early lead, Carmichael went down in the first turn. After he got up, he reportedly cased a triple jump and broke his shock, dropping out after only one lap. He was credited with 20th place, and 1 point.

James Stewart was then poised to take over the points lead, as he moved around Ernesto Fonseca into third by lap five, chasing Chad Reed and Tedesco and the three lined up like a freight train. Stewart made a move around Reed near the halfway point, only for Reed to regain the position.

"At that point, I was just trying to put good laps together," Reed said. "I knew the track was tough, and as long as you did all of the obstacles and everything like that, it all came down to corner speed and getting a good rhythm through the whoops. I didn't think James was as close as he was, and I came out of the last turn there on the start straight, and next thing I know there's a big 7 sideways in front of me. I kind of had to swerve around him, and from then I was expecting a battle. I was looking forward to it being my turn to take it and have a good battle. I didn't see Ricky around, so I knew that he was having some problems, so I was just looking forward to that."

Reed may have taken it as a hint to get a move on, and he reeled in Tedesco and made the pass for the lead on lap 11. On the same lap, while battling with Tedesco for second, Stewart went down, highsiding on the exit of a corner. And then, as if in a bad dream, Stewart's KX450F refused to re-start. Although Stewart was a considerable distance in front of fourth-placed Fonseca, he not only lost the spot, but every spot, restarting a lap down in 19th place. The only rider he was beating was Carmichael, who dropped out after one lap.

With the turn of events, Tedesco had secured second place, while Reed went on to win his first race of the '06 season—and, more importantly, take over the points lead.

"This was probably my most important win of my career, I would say," Reed said. "I had so much pressure on me, I just felt that I was 300 pounds lighter after the checkered flag. You know you can win, and it's so tough to go home during the week and go, 'Why do I feel so good here and so pathetic on the weekend?' It's really tough. To turn that around, it's nice. I'm extremely happy and proud of the team for sticking by me. They never got frustrated. They probably got frustrated when I wasn't around, but when I was, they never got frustrated... I mean, I knew that I could do it, and I never gave up on that, and that was all I had was my self-belief, because my on-track performance wasn't showing a whole lot. I just went into the main event knowing that I could do it, and the first lap, Ernie passed me there and I saw Ivan going away, and I'm like, 'I'm throwing this away. I'm throwing this away. I'm either going to go for it and make it or they're going to stretcher me out of here.' So I'm happy that we got it done. It was a tough track tonight. Some sections were some really good dirt, and other sections are really rutty, so you had to be on your toes."

Tedesco hung on for a career-best Supercross class score of second place after leading half of the race.

"I felt really good the first half of the race. I got out front, and I felt like I rode really well for about eight laps, then I started to ride a little tight," Tedesco said. "Once you start getting tight, you start making mistakes, and you get even tighter, so things just start snowballing the wrong way. I rode good the first half of the race, and that's the only way you learn how to win is to lead a race, so hopefully I can keep on getting good starts like that and run up front a little longer. You just start thinking instead of just riding. I started thinking about it, started making some mistakes, and it just started snowballing. My arms kind of got tight, and after Chad got around me, I tried to stick with him, but he had a good pace going, and I was making some mistakes, and he got away from me."

Fonseca inherited third after Stewart went down. But he'll obviously take it.

"The first lap, I overjumped that tunnel jump by like a mile," Fonseca said. "But then I rode it out, and Chad passed me there. Then I passed him back, and he went by me again, and James and Ivan had a pretty good pace going, and I was trying to stay as close as I could, but they started inching away slowly, and I tried to stay consistent after that. I didn't make any big mistakes, and I saw there was a big gap between me and fourth-place, so I just tried to stay cool and didn't really make any big mistakes."

Supercross Main Event Results:
1. Chad Reed (Yam)
2. Ivan Tedesco (Suz)
3. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon)
4. Nick Wey (Hon)
5. Travis Preston (Hon)
6. Michael Byrne (Kaw)
7. Mike Brown (Suz)
8. Timmy Ferry (Hon)
9. Ryan Clark (Hon)
10. Jason Thomas (Hon)
11. Jeff Gibson (Hon)
12. Kyle Lewis (Hon)
13. Tyler Evans (Suz)
14. Michael Young (Hon)
15. Mike LaRocco (Hon)
16. Cole Siebler (Hon)
17. James Stewart (Kaw)
18. Jacob Saylor (Hon)
19. Jeff Dement (Suz)
20. Ricky Carmichael (Suz)

Amp'd Mobile/AMA Supercross Series Points Standings
(After 7 of 16 rounds):
1. Chad Reed (149/1 win)
2. Ricky Carmichael (140/3 wins)
3. James Stewart (132/3 wins)
4. Ivan Tedesco (108)
5. (TIE) Nick Wey/Michael Byrne (103)
7. Mike LaRocco (95)
8. Ernesto Fonseca (94)
9. Travis Preston (79)
10. Jeremy McGrath (67)

Amp'd Mobile/World Supercross GP Points Standings
(After 9 of 17 rounds):
1. Ricky Carmichael (192/3 wins)
2. James Stewart (191/5 wins)
3. Chad Reed (189/1 win)
4. Ivan Tedesco (155)
5. (TIE) Nick Wey/Michael Byrne (148)
7. Jason Thomas (110)
8. Jeff Gibson (101)
9. Ryan Clark (98)
10. Tyler Evans (81)

St. Louis marked the opening round of the Lites Eastern Regional Supercross Series, and as such, very few people knew what to expect. Many folks obviously considered Honda's Davi Millsaps to be the odds-on favorite, but at least last year, he was rather inconsistent. Even a talent such as his was in question when the gate dropped.

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's replacement rider Chris Gosselaar grabbed the holeshot, followed by Red Bull KTM's Josh Hansen, who lost the Eastern title in a tie-breaker to Grant Langston last year, and Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy's Branden Jesseman, who has had a tough go of it basically since he won the Eastern title in 2003. Hansen quickly passed Gosselaar when the Kawasaki rider came up short on the opening triple jump and took over the lead. SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Tommy Hahn sat fourth off the start, with his teammate Josh Grant fifth, Motosport.com/MDK/MSR Honda's Bobby Kiniry sixth, Boo-Koo Honda's Steve Boniface seventh, and Millsaps eighth by the time the riders crossed the finish line for the first time.

When asked if he expected to get a good start, Millsaps responded: "No. You've got to be realistic. I haven't been able to get good starts the last two years. Coming into this year, I thought maybe I could change my luck a little bit, because at my house, I have Bryan Johnson and Martin Davalos, and a bunch of people, and I get the start on them and I'm just like, 'Yeah, man! I'm doing good!' Then I come here, and I'm just like, 'Dang it! You're not doing good!' So that's definitely not good."

For the first five laps or so, the front three remained in that order. That was until Millsaps worked his way around Jesseman into third on lap sixth, and followed that up with a pass on Gosselaar for second only a lap later.

Then Millsaps set out after Hansen in the lead. Three laps later, he had not only caught Hansen, but he passed him. Millsaps also towed Gosselaar and Jesseman along, and they began to hound the KTM rider.

"[I just had to] catch up, like always," Millsaps said. "When I see myself in the back, I'm just like, 'I hate being back here.' There are so many guys just going all over the place and going crazy the first couple laps trying to kill everybody. I see people on my left trying to nose-dive right into me. I'm just like, 'Oh my god! I'm going to die on the first lap!' But I rode smart the first couple laps, and saw everyone spread out a little bit, and worked my way through there."

From there, the race for the lead was over, as Millsaps began to check out. But the podium positions were far from secure.

Gosselaar passed his way around Hansen immediately after Millsaps did, and he actually began to catch Millsaps momentarily, before it seems he deemed pushing himself that hard at the first round to be a bad idea.

He backed it down and settled for second instead of risking crashing off of the podium.

"Aww, man, it's a big relief for me," Gosselaar said. "I was really down on myself after last year. The season I had, like Branden [Jesseman], I mean, it's like, you just don't know what to do when you're down like that. But I got a second chance and I felt like I had the best bike, and I can't thank my team enough for the chance they're giving me."

While Gosselaar pulled away from Hansen, Jesseman began working on him. When he got the 2-to-go board, Jesseman pulled the trigger.

"I think it was the lap before the last lap, and I think I saw the two-lap board, and I was like, 'Oh great,'" Jesseman said. "Then I saw Hanny was having a little bit of trouble, and I was a little bit, too, so I just put a safe pass on him."

The pass actually came on the last lap, relegating Hanny to fourth on the night.

For both Jesseman and Gosselaar, it was a return to form.

"I'm really psyched about getting third in my first race back, with Yamaha of Troy, Fly gear, but I still feel I have quite a bit to give yet," Jesseman said, not satisfied. "I wasn't really happy with the way I rode."Gosselaar was all smiles in the press conference. He actually had to choke back tears a couple of times.

"Yeah, I mean, [knowing he had to perform because the bikes are considered the best in the class] was probably the most nerve-wracking..." Gosselaar said. "This whole day, I mean, I got married, and this doesn't even compare. I was so nervous. But Mitch did put a lot of pressure on me, too, saying that only a podium is respectable. After my practice, I was kind of worried because my times weren't that good, but I got better and better, and you get the holeshot like that and finish on the podium, I'm just so relieved right now."

But it was 17-year-old Davi Millsaps' day, as he prepares for his 18th birthday.

"Honestly, I had no idea this guy [Jesseman] was racing until I got here," Millsaps said. "I didn't pay any attention. I knew he [Gosselaar] was coming. I heard a story about him begging and whatnot, but it's definitely cool to be up here, and I wasn't expecting either of these guys to be up here. I wasn't expecting myself really, until I got here. It's good. I'm just glad that they got up here, for sure."

Lites Main Event Results:
1. Davi Millsaps (Hon)
2. Chris Gosselaar (Kaw)
3. Branden Jesseman (Yam)
4. Josh Hansen (KTM)
5. Tommy Hahn (Hon)
6. Steve Boniface (Hon)
7. Sean Hamblin (Suz)
8. Teddy Maier (Kaw)
9. Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
10. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
11. Martin Davalos (Yam)
12. Chad Johnson (Yam)
13. Dusty Klatt (Hon)
14. Kevin Johnson (Yam)
15. Matt Walker (Yam)
16. Michael Blose (Hon)
17. Kelly Smith (Hon)
18. Chris Pugrab (Kaw)
19. Tucker Hibbert (Yam)
20. Donnie McGourty (Kaw)
21. Bryan Johnson (Yam)
22. Josh Grant (Hon).

Amp'd Mobile/AMA Lites Eastern Regional Points Standings
(After 1 of 7 rounds):
1. Davi Millsaps (25/1 win)
2. Chris Gosselaar (22)
3. Branden Jesseman (20)
4. Josh Hansen (18)
5. Tommy Hahn (16)
6. Steve Boniface (15)
7. Sean Hamblin (14)
8. Teddy Maier (13)
9. Bobby Kiniry (12)
10. Kyle Chisholm (11)
11. Martin Davalos (10)
12. Chad Johnson (9)
13. Dusty Klatt (8)
14. Kevin Johnson (7)
15. Matt Walker (6)
16. Michael Blose (5)
17. Kelly Smith (4)
18. Chris Pugrab (3)
19. Tucker Hibbert (2)
20. Donnie McGourty (1)