Stewart overcomes crash, Carmichael for Anaheim supercross victory

By: RICK HOFF - Staff Writer | Saturday, January 6, 2007 10:53 PM PST ∞

ANAHEIM ---- The night may have belonged to Ricky Carmichael, but James Stewart had the last word.

Stewart overcame a fourth-lap crash in the 20-lap main event and kept Carmichael from taking the checkered flag Saturday night in the first U.S. race of the Amp'd Mobile Supercross Series at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Stewart and Carmichael exchanged the lead twice over the next lap before Stewart took the lead for good, riding to a 10-second victory aboard a Kawasaki.

"It feels good to win," said Stewart, 21. "It's the first time since the U.S. Open (in October)."

The win was Stewart's first of the current supercross series, and it looked as if it might slip away after he dumped his bike at the beginning of the fourth lap.

He quickly recovered after slamming the ground just beyond the finish-line jump.

"That ain't no time to be layin' on the ground," said Stewart. "I'm just happy nobody hit me."

Carmichael took a spill of his own on the 12th lap, dashing his chances of catching Stewart and disappointing many of his fans in the sellout crowd of 45,050.

"I was there, but the bottom line is James was better than me," said Carmichael. "I couldn't quite put it together enough.

"I was chasing something that couldn't happen."

Judging from the response Carmichael received from the crowd, local fans aren't ready to see him leave supercross racing.

"This place has been very good to me," Carmichael, a 15-time AMA motocross champion and a five-time supercross champion who is scaling back his motorcycle racing schedule this year as he explores a career in stock car racing. He said Saturday's event, the first of three races in Anaheim over six weeks, is the only Southern California supercross race he will compete in this season.

Carmichael, of Havana, Fla., thrilled his fans in the first heat race by coming back from the middle of the pack to win the eight-lap qualifier for Team Makita Suzuki.

"I really had to work for it," Carmichael said after a heat race in which he was six seconds off the lead at one point. "I didn't realize how far back I was. I had to keep my head down and keep charging."

Carmichael received the Mickey Thompson Award of Excellence from the late race promoter's son, Danny Thompson, prior to the races, and he lived up to the honor with an 8.4-second margin of victory over Yamaha's Grant Langston.

Murrieta rider Ivan Tedesco, racing for the first time since suffering a broken hand during a practice-run spill prior to the season opener last month in Toronto, led the first heat from the start before being overcome by Carmichael on the fourth lap.

Tedesco wound up finishing fourth to advance to the main event, where he finished 14th.

"I was pumped to see my teammate Ivan Tedesco up there coming off his injury," Carmichael said.

Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., dominated the second heat race from start to finish, piloting his Kawasaki to a 22-second win over Michael Byrne.

"I felt good, but the track is super slippery out there," said Stewart, of Haines City, Fla. "You've got to be smart."

Chad Reed, who won the Toronto race, went down on the first lap of the second heat race, but he guided his Yamaha through the pack to place eighth, qualifying for the main event by one position. He took the hole shot in the final, but Stewart quickly passed him on the whoop-de-dos, and Carmichael edged ahead a lap later.

Reed raced despite enduring the pain of a separated shoulder he suffered last weekend during testing.

"I've never wanted to be on the podium so bad as the third guy," said Reed, "I couldn't do it if I had been on the couch."

In the first event of the Supercross Lites West Region series for 250cc bikes, Ryan Villopoto of Poulsbo, Wash., took the lead on the third lap and kept it to win the 15-lap final ahead of Kawasaki teammate Christophe Pourcel of France. Carlsbad's Jason Lawrence finished third on a Yamaha.

In Heat 1 for the Lites, Lawrence took the hole shot and briefly held the lead before crashing later on the first lap. He recovered and rode his way to an eighth-place finish to advance to the final.

"That was the first decent start I ever got in supercross," Lawrence said. "I ended up crashing on the first lap, but luckily I have a great team now, and I made a couple of good passes."

The Amp'd Mobile Supercross Series moves to Phoenix next weekend before returning to Angel Stadium for the Anaheim II race on Jan. 20.

Contact staff writer Rick Hoff at (760) 740-3545 or rhoff@nctimes.com.