More from the 2006 AMA Daytona Supercross

The only Friday race on the AMA schedule, the Daytona Supercross has gone through changes in recent years. First was the move to Friday night, as it was traditionally held on the Saturday before the Daytona 200, during the day. After the Daytona 200 rained out a couple of times, the AMA decided it would be smarter to move everything back a day, knocking the Supercross to Friday night and the 200 to Saturday, so that if it did rain, the 200 could be run on Sunday.

Ricky Carmichael, now a record five-time winner of the event, liked it the old way. "It's not the Daytona of old, that's for sure," RC said. "Obviously, I think when we started racing at night time, that stuff kind of all went away, and the track is a lot shorter now. It's definitely way more supercrossy for sure. There's no doubt about it. I prefer it the old way, racing in the daytime. It was something different. But, you know, you have to adapt to the times. Times change."

But the more they change, the more they seem to stay the same. Daytona marked a return to supercross racing for Travis Pastrana. It was actually the final event of a week of racing in three separate disciplines for Pastrana. He started out in the Orange Crush GNCC on Tuesday, and was promptly knocked down in the first turn despite the fact that he was purposely hanging back in order to pace himself off of the start. Even so, he reportedly caught up to fourth place on the first lap before his RM250 seized.

He says he's not through with the GNCC opener. "The GNCC, still to this point, I was ready for that race," TP said. "Everybody's like, 'You weren't ready for that race.' I mean, I probably would've hit a tree or something, but I really felt like I had a chance at that one. When everyone's like, 'You shouldn't even have tried,' I don't know..." When it was pointed out that Doug Henry won the event last year, Pastrana replied. "Yeah, but Henry's like God. He's my hero. He set the bar high for the motocrossers, but even that, from last to fourth... Everybody was like, 'We knew you were fast and everything, we just didn't think [you were that fast].' But in the first couple corners... Hearsay. Whatever. I'll be back next year for that."

Then, Pastrana tried his hand at the Daytona Short Track, an event famous for being very tough even on seasoned flat-track guys. "The dirt track, that's exactly where I figured I'd end up, but it was just something fun," Pastrana, who missed qualifying by just a couple of spots in the flat track, said. "When the guys were like, 'Hey, wanna try it?' I'm like, 'Shoot, I'll slide that thing around, no problem!'" Pastrana didn't adjust to it right away, but he enjoyed himself.

"It's amazing," he said. "These guys are awesome. It's pretty awesome. I'll tell you what, getting the boot down and just pitching her in there in the corner, I kept grabbing for my front brake and there's no lever there. I was about a tenth off (from qualifying for Wednesday night's program) but I was a second off of the top guy, and that's a lot of time on that short a track. I definitely messed up one or the other corner every lap, just trying. Those guys are consistent every lap. It would have been fun to get to race it."

But Travis isn't as determined to return to flat track as he is to the GNCC. "I definitely need some practice," Pastrana said. "Yesterday was the first day I slipped on a metal boot, and I've got a long way to go for sure. I'd like to think so (that he will be back next year). It would be cool. It would be a lot of fun. Just trying to do everything this week was a blast, but, so far, it hasn't been going so well."

Then came the supercross. Travis was fast, as expected, in practice, and when he went out and dominated his qualifier, he attempted a backflip off of the relatively small finish-line jump and didn't complete his rotation before the front wheel augered into the front side of the second jump, sending him and his bike spinning in the opposite direction from what was intended. When asked if he had ever attempted to backflip a 450 before, Travis answered: "No. I backflipped a 400," he said. "I thought it was going to be easy. I just came up a little short on the jump, but I mean, I'm an idiot. I apologize. If I thought there was any way in heck I was going to crash, there's no way I would've done it. I just came up a little short on the jump and... We're good, though. Hopefully, we won't get disqualified here or thrown out by the AMA, and we'll be good. Cash is all right. I'll give cash, but I want to race."

The AMA showed up as we were speaking to Pastrana. They didn't much like the attempted backflip over the finish-line jump. "Travis has been issued a very severe warning," said AMA SX/MX Manager Steve Whitelock. "Action like this will result in something he won't be happy with. It would probably be a loss of his license for life. This isn't freestyle. This is supercross. And that kind of nonsense can't be tolerated. We made it very clear. He's in violation of three sections of the rulebook, and it's just dumb. This isn't freestyle. He's a good freestyler, but this isn't X Games. If his bike would've got away and killed a track worker or if he would've broken his neck, everybody would've thought it was terrible. He escaped without injury even though he didn't quite make it, but he got lucky. They're set up for it at freestyle events, but we're not. It's not worth a fine. It's worth a warning, and if you do it again, you're done."

Drama follows Travis Pastrana. In his heat race, he had the 28,000 people in attendance on their feet, as he grabbed the holeshot, only to lose the lead spot to Suzuki's Ivan Tedesco. But Pastrana wasn't daunted, as lap after lap, he worked on Tedesco, even passing him through the whoops one lap. Every lap he came into the whoops, the crowd was louder, and he hit them faster, until only a couple of laps from the end of the race, he lost it and went over the 'bars spectacularly.

"I wasn't quite as quick, so it kind of disappointed me a little bit, but I knew I could make up time in the whoops and I figured I could do it about 9 out of 10 times, so I figured in an 8-lap qualifier, I should be able to make it through," Pastrana said. "But, you know, same stuff different day. I had a concussion a week and a half ago. I was throwing up a little bit, but I got better this last week, and this is what we had put everything into, so I really just wanted to go out there and do well this week. It's just been kind of one thing after the next. It's definitely disappointing, but it was fun to get out there and run a little bit. This whole week was about having fun. It definitely wasn't what I had in mind. It was what most people expected, but I've got such a great team and support crew behind me, it was really cool that I was able to come out here and try all of this stuff and have some fun. But I'm definitely bummed. I kept falling a little further behind, so I had to come faster and faster into the whoops to make up the time. Son of a gun. Right after the finish line, Ivan was quicker than me in the dogleg, so every lap, if that dogleg wasn't right before the whoops, I could make up some time, but it didn't matter how close I was, when I hit the dogleg, I would drop back, and I had to make it up. Well, I didn't have to. A smart guy would've just said, 'Hey, I'm qualified. Go to the main event.' Nooo. No such luck."

Travis returned for his Semi and finished second to Chad Reed, who was racing with a separated shoulder. "I was going in hot [into the whoops] because that was my one spot a lap where I could get back into the lead or get close, so I knew when I had a chance to win that I needed to go for it," Pastrana said. "It's stupid. It's a Heat race. I doesn't mean anything. But to me, if I see the lead, I always... It's just me. I was consistently going well through the whoops, so I didn't really think about it, and then I just missed one whoop... It's not too bad, I just rung my bell a little bit again. It's kind of the same thing as Texas last year. When I went out the second time [in his Semi], I basically just hit the whoops again and stuff and got the heart rate up, and the world started spinning a bit. It's just two concussions too close together. This one wasn't bad. I was up, and it wasn't even really a concussion, it just rung me a little bit. I wasn't quite all there for the beginning of the Semi, but I felt good enough that I felt like I was safe on the track. My head was just really spinning, and it's no big deal, I just came back and was throwing up a little bit, and it definitely wasn't... It's just slow. Everything is slow. I'm fine, no big deal, nothing major, I just didn't want to go out and pass out like I have in the past. It's frustrating, but it kind of happens."

After a career on two-strokes, the Daytona Supercross was Travis' first race on a 450. "I love two-strokes, personally, but I was riding two-strokes testing and training and everything, and I was kind of looking at everyone jumping on four-strokes and doing a lot better, so I tried it two weeks ago or so, and my laptime the first time on it was as good as my best lap on the 250," Travis said. "So, I figured, 'All right.' And Rick Johnson said I could be nice and smooth with it. I actually thought I'd stay up better because you can't really be that super-aggressive on the four-stroke. I mean, you could be aggressive, but it's not the same as a two-stroke. The bike mellows you out. The starts were way better on the four-stroke than they were on the two-stroke, but it's a long time since I was riding and it felt good to get out there and run with the guys. Am I completely disappointed? Yeah."

Travis was thinking about racing in Orlando next week, but after hitting his head again, he has decided against it. "Not now. I would've liked to, but I've been kind of playing this by ear, and there was a lot of work by the team, and you figure once you're in shape you may as well continue on," Travis said. "But I felt good on the bike. The Suzuki was working, everything was working, but it was just the same old me."

Another guy making a 450 debut was SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Billy Laninovich, who is in the points hunt for the title in the Lites West. "Last year I rode St. Louis and twisted my ankle pretty good, so this is my second time trying it," Laninovich said about his last attempt in the class, although it was on a 250cc two-stroke. "Yeah, it's not that bad when you go to a 250cc two-stroke. I kind of adapt to bikes pretty easy. But we're trying the 450 this time, and I love the bike. I've only ridden like four days of supercross on it because we've been getting rain and stuff, but I feel good on it. I actually like it a lot better than my 250F."

With LaRocco out and Kevin Windham returning possibly next week in Orlando, Laninovich graduated to the 450 truck. "They weren't going to let them bring it into the stadium because they didn't have any riders, but the guys were like, 'No! We do have a rider!'" Billy said. "I like it better being by myself in a truck. I don't have to deal with everybody. I need to be a superstar so I can get here or else I'm just going to suffer my whole life. I don't know. I'd like to do good, but I think those guys want me to win a championship before I move up. I was hoping to come out here to Daytona and just be in the top 10, and then hopefully I can improve next weekend." Laninovich had a horrible start in the main, but still recovered for 9th.

Steve Whitelock showed us some new prototype track markers he designed with help from Acerbis. "This is meant for the outdoors, but we're prototyping it today. It's an Acerbis thing. I designed it, came up with the idea, and told Acerbis what I wanted to do, and then I turned the design over to them to go for it and build me one," Whitelock said. "I gave it to them. I gave them the design because I think it's going to be really good for everyone. The idea is that we line the outdoor racetrack with this. They fold over really easy, and I guess already today Reedy went through and hit about six of 'em and they all just popped right back up. So, they're made of two kinds of plastic. The bottom is a Nylon plastic and the top is a propylene plastic like a fender.

"Because we made an agreement, Acerbis is going to sponsor us with 45,000 of them, with 3,500 going to each of our 12 National racetracks, and we're going to have like 2000 that we're going to use for replacements, emergency spares, that sort of thing. We're going to use haybales where they belong—as protection—and we're going to use these as track markers. We're trying to get rid of haybales as track markers. That's what this is all about. I think it's going to be a great thing for our outdoor tracks. What we've invisioned is the racetrack with the track markers, and then back five feet, the repeater banner, so that the customer—our fans—can see the tires because right now they're complaining that our repeater banner hides wheels, so we're going to get back off and get some space. I think it's going to be a really neat thing. I handed them a prototype in October, we reached an agreement in December in Vancouver to go ahead and do the project, they built the mould, and there it is. Now that we've seen them, and they've seen them and watched them work, they're going to go home and build them. They're going to do a special series in different colors, too."

James Stewart led most of the first three laps of the Supercross main and seemed to be checking out on Carmichael and Reed when he went over the bars spectacularly and launched himself over a berm and off the track. "I was out front, having fun," Stewart said. "I had a good pace, and I felt in control, and then I don't know, I just leaned a little too far forward off of that jump and I don't really know what happened. The next thing I know, it was diving on me and I went over the haybales. I didn't even remember what happened until I saw it on video. I didn't hit my head, but it just happened so quick..."

At first, it looked like Stewart was reluctant to get up, but then he got up and climbed all the way back up to sixth after spending nearly a minute on the ground. "At first, I couldn't breathe that good," Stewart said. "I knocked all the wind out of me. So I just felt like all these fans came out and want to watch me ride, and if I'm not broken up, I want to continue riding, so I never gave up. I just got hit with the handlebars and it knocked the wind out of me, but I'm good now. I'm fine."

During intermission, Opie, an Australian Shepherd, rode around for a delighted crowd on his owner's XR650 (his owner was at the controls, of course). According to his owner, the first time he put a helmet and goggles on Opie, Opie didn't mind. He didn't even try to take them off, as most dogs would.

For Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael, his win was not only his fifth, but the first for Suzuki since 1981, when Darrel Schultz won the Daytona Supercross for Suzuki. Actually, that season, Suzuki won all but two races with Schultz and Mark Barnett, while the other two races were won by Bob Hannah and Broc Glover for Yamaha.

It was RC's 6th win of the year. "When I was on the line, the announcers were saying it was 1981 since Suzuki won a 250 race here, and I was like, 'That's a long time. I was only 2 years old then,'" RC said. "Actually, Timmy Ferry was like, 'Dude, were you even born?' Just barely. It feels good, mainly for them rather than myself. I wish James would've stayed up. It would've been fun to do battle. I felt that I had stepped it up in the main and I felt super-comfortable, but unfortunately he didn't, and I just kind of got out there and rode my own race. I just wanted to come here and do better than I did last year. The goal for me was to try to get out of here with the points lead. It sucks that Chad had a little injury there, but like you said, he has some good people around him and they helped him get through the race there, and he ended up getting second. I came out with the points lead, so I'm really, really happy. As far as the five wins at Daytona, it feels great. It's pretty amazing and I'm super-pumped, but at the same time, I'm happy where I am in the series. I think this was my sixth win, so..."

RC is a little behind where he wants to be, due to the DNF in St. Louis. "Definitely it's different this year," Carmichael said. "I felt like I was on track to have everything where I need it, but unfortunately for me, it hasn't been that good, so I feel that I'm riding good and I'm doing the best I can do. It's going to go down to Vegas, for sure, and I'm looking forward to it. I think it's fun for the fans. I actually enjoy it. I was in this place in '02 with Vuillemin, and he ended up not riding this race and then we were back even again. It's all good. We're on a level playing field now, so it's time to do it."

Late in the race, Carmichael was gaining on Stewart to put the Kawasaki rider a lap down, and as he got closer, the crowd went nuts. "I mean, I was putting in some good laps," RC said. "I think it was important for me to keep pushing for the 20 laps because I know we're going to have some good battles down to the wire, so I don't want to get in the habit of cruising. He was in front of me, and it was fun. It kept me motivated, and I think the last five laps, he slowed down quite a bit and I was able to get by him and just see how good I could keep my laps the whole time."

Chad Reed had a heroic ride to grab second place with a separated right shoulder. "I didn't get those shots for nothing," Reed said of shots he got in his shoulder that he credited with helping him finish the race. "I just knew I needed a good start. I knew that I needed to make things happen at the beginning because I knew it was going to be tough at the end as the track kept getting rougher and rougher and the pain started to set in. So this kind of feels like a win to me because of the situation I was in. I just felt confident coming into this week. I was really at ease and really looking forward to it. The fall was just kind of a bummer, but that's part of it. I'm just looking forward to the days off and the rest for sure."

He lost the championship lead to Carmichael, although he's only two points out of the lead. "I think everything's fine," Reed said. "I would've liked to have a shot at the win tonight, but I wasn't strong enough. Just those first couple laps being around those guys, I figured I'd just chill out a little bit and don't let the goal of the weekend slip away and do something stupid. I just kind of had to be careful and I was surprised to see James on the ground and I just put some good laps together."

Reed fell on the opening lap of his heat race and dropped out to concentrate on his Semi. "I was lucky enough not to fall [off of his feet]," Reed said. "As soon as I felt myself falling, I planned on going down on my left side. I got a decent start, and I was behind some guy, and it started on the first jump out of the first turn. He totally checked up on the up-ramp, and I just kind of got off to the right and I didn't even go over the down ramp, because I figured people would jump right on me. So I was on the outside, and I couldn't really see, and I was following a guy and someone came up over the backside of the berm there and it just caught me off-guard. I went down and kind of just thought there was no use trying to come back to fourth. I'd just go to the semi and try to win that."

Reed will probably take next week off during the week to heal up. "I think next week will be more of a week off for me," Reed said. "I think I will just keep up my off-the-bike training and try to regroup. I think I have the best guy in the business to get me healthy again, and that's what we'll be doing this week—concentrating on that and getting healthy as soon as possible."

Fellow Aussie Michael Byrne scored his second-career podium. "Oh, man, to be at Daytona and to get it is definitely special," Byrne said. "It's always the toughest race of the year, and I don't know why, but it seemed like the easiest race I've had so far this year, and it all comes down to the start. I got out front with these guys and sprinted the first 10 laps. Travis Preston and I were actually having a pretty good battle, and I just kept going and I think I wore him down a little bit, and I built up a comfortable cushion, tried to get through the lappers as best as I could and keep it on two wheels."

Davi Millsaps dominated the Lites main, when last year, he finished 18th. "I didn't have people jumping across the track and taking me out [this year]," Millsaps said, referring to his collision with Troy Adams in last year's race. "I got a good start; that's one thing that changed. I thought I had the holeshot, and then Goose blew by me on that straightaway and that was kind of that. But that's what you get for being 8 feet tall, I guess. I don't know. I went by him in the whoops and I rode my own race from there."

Millsaps still hopes to ride a 450 when the series moves back west, but nothing's final. "I definitely want to ride it, but it all depends on everyone's decision," Davi said. "Honda, me, my mom has a big part in that, and it just depends on how I feel. Right now, it's not a 100% decision. We'll just see what happens."

Millsaps is more of a fan of the traditional SX tracks, though. "Honestly, this track wasn't as long as last year, and it didn't have that many jumps, and the whoops weren't as long, but I don't know," Millsaps said. "I just felt like the track was harder than last year. Last year, everything went by faster. I'd definitely rather ride a real supercross track."

Millsaps was blazing fast through the whoops all night, and it had something to do with a bet he made Bryan Johnson. "My buddies Bryan Johnson, Martin Davalos and their mechanics and everyone from the Star Racing team were looking at the whoops, shaking their head, and they called me over there, and Bryan looks at me and he goes, 'I bet you 10 bucks you won't skim these,'" Millsaps said. "I looked at them, and I go, 'You're probably right, but I'll take you on that bet.' Martin looked at me, and he goes, 'I skimmed some like this in California, but I ended up on my head.' I was just like, 'Hopefully that won't happen to me.' They thought I was stupid taking the bet to try to skim them, but it ended up being the fastest line."

Josh Grant seemed faster basically everywhere on the track except in the whoops. "I definitely felt better on the rest of the track besides the whoops," Grant said. "That was just my weak point tonight. Everywhere else was good, more like an outdoor track to me—the jumps were small. The track was really one-lined, so it was all right."

Chris Gosselaar finished on the podium for the third time in four races. "I was off the pace all night," Lil' Goose said. "I think Josh and Davi were better than me all night, so I think I need to work on my speed. I'm happy finishing on the podium. That was my goal for the year, to try to finish on the podium at every single race, so I'm happy with where I finished. I know the whoops were tough for me. Davi's like 8 feet tall, so he can just get on the back fender and pin it through there. I have a hard time in the whoops. I need to charge harder in the beginning, and I think that's what I'm going to work on this week."