Riders Try to Reel In Carmichael

Ricky Carmichael’s success this supercross season has been largely credited to his fast starts -- he won the holeshot, or early lead, in the first three races and relinquished it only once, when he crashed in the mud in the opener at Angel Stadium and finished third.

But in the fourth race last Saturday at San Francisco, the rider from Havana, Fla., trailed reigning THQ AMA Supercross Series champion Chad Reed for the first seven laps before passing him and methodically pulling away for his third consecutive victory.

“I had a great start and I was riding pretty good,” Reed said, “but it was just one of those situations where he was riding really well and making better use of his [choice of] lines and corner speed.”

Reed finished 16th in the season opener but has been second to Carmichael in the last two races. He spent this week working on his speed around turns.

Tonight in the season’s third and final race at Angel Stadium, Reed, who is third in the points race (69 points), and Kevin Windham, who is in second (79 points), will attempt to close what has become a sizable gap between them and Carmichael (95 points) and keep the series from becoming a runaway.

“I’m confident and strong and feeling good, and just have to keep in there,” said Reed, 23, a Yamaha rider who was born in Australia but resides in Menifee, Calif. “[Carmichael’s] not going to win the championship this week or next. There are 12 more races, and I just have to keep putting my best foot forward.”

If Carmichael, 25, does win again, it would not only strengthen his bid to win a fourth championship in five seasons -- he won three in a row before sitting out last season because of a knee injury -- but it also would make him Suzuki’s first rider to win four consecutive 250cc events.

Windham, 26, of Centreville, Miss., won the season-opening mudfest aboard a Honda and followed that with a second and a third, but he was ninth last week.

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Seven-time champion Jeremy McGrath, 33, making a limited comeback after a two-year hiatus, will compete today. Although he acknowledges lacking the stamina that comes with racing every week, he was encouraged by his fifth-place finish two weeks ago at Anaheim. McGrath did not race at San Francisco.

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In the 125cc division, Ivan Tedesco increased his already comfortable points lead over Ryan Sipes despite finishing third last week in San Francisco.

Tedesco, who rides a Kawasaki, was involved in a crash with Nathan Ramsey on the second corner. He was 16th after the first lap but steadily advanced through the pack.

Sipes, who rides a Suzuki, finished seventh.

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On Their Marks

THQ AMA SUPERCROSS

* When: Today. Gates open 12:30 p.m., followed by practice and qualifying. Main event, 7 p.m.

* Where: Angel Stadium.

* Tickets: Beginning at $8, available at box office and through Ticketmaster.