AMA SX 2002 - Round 9 Results

Ricky Carmichael did what everyone expected him to do – he won the Daytona Supercross by Honda in convincing fashion.

It marked the third straight Daytona Supercross win for the 22-year-old rider and moved him into the AMA EA Sports Supercross Series lead for the first time this year.

Carmichael: "It was so fun. Timmy (Tim Ferry), he got second off the start and he was right on my tail. I went on the outside back there and he got by me. Man, he was running excellent. I think I was a little over anxious on my heat race. That's why I was making a bunch of mistakes. I thought I was going to have a hard time out there. Timmy was riding excellent and so was Travis (Pastrana). I was just trying to stay smooth and put in at least 15 good laps and see what happens and let the race come to me. The Honda was working awesome. The Dunlop tires got me off to an awesome hole shot. The hole shot is so important here for me. It's nice to get out on a clean track, but I didn't hold it very long because ‘Red Dog' (Tim Ferry) got by me."

Frenchman David Vuillemin, who led the championship coming into this weekend, did not race at Daytona. He attempted to ride in morning warm-up, but his shoulder, which he injured a week earlier, was too tender to race. "I injured my shoulder in a practice crash last week. I tried to practice and I could not hold the bike very good, so I just decided to sit out and hopefully I'll be back next week. If it turns out to be a serious injury I may not be able to race anymore this year. That would be really bad, but hopefully I'll be back ready to go for New Orleans."

Tim Ferry finished second on a Yamaha in his first race back in almost two months. Ferry crossed the finish line 13.9-seconds behind Carmichael. Georgian Ezra Lusk earned his best finish of the season, taking third on a Kawasaki.

Tim Ferry: "Right off the bat I got a good start. I was second behind Ricky. I got by him and he got back by me. I was just trying to get as big as lead as possible. Ezra was running about the same pace as I did the whole race except when I got that 10 to 15 second gap on him right at the beginning. That made it easy for me toward the end of the race. This is my second time back this year. I had knee surgery and missed the first round. I came back for the second and third and the fourth round (at Phoenix) I bruised my lungs. This is my second comeback. That's all we want to do – win titles. Races are great, but everyone remembers the No. 1 plate."

Ezra Lusk: "I had a tough going at the beginning. There were a lot of guys in between me and the leaders. I was just trying to find the best lines. It's kind of hard back there going all over the place. I used a lot of energy to get up to the front. There at the end, Sebastien (Tortelli), he was going as hard as he could. It was a great race.
"I've always been able to do good here. I guess it's because I think a lot and try to find good lines and not try to hang out here too much. I would like to win one day and I have a few more years to give it a shot."

Australian Chad Reed won the AMA 125 East race on a Yamaha. Reed emerged from a three-way battle with early leader Grant Langston and Michael Brown to win by nearly 20 seconds over Brown. Langston recovered from a crash, after tangling with Reed, to finish third. It marked Reed's first win at Daytona in his debut race there and expanded his championship points lead to 16 over Brown.

Reed: "I went into the corner really hard on the outside trying to square him (Langston) off. He knew what I was trying to do and our lines came together. It's unfortunate. I was really looking forward to it (racing him) and you know, it's really fun when you're racing. It seems like the three of us have been a step above everybody. I think for the rest of the year, it's just going to be mainly us up there.

"This was my first time racing here at Daytona. I really liked the hard track and the ruts and the sand. I lived in Europe last year and it was a lot like this. A lot of people said this was my first time at Daytona and they weren't sure how I was going to do. But I was confident and I really do enjoy racing like this."

Michael Brown, 2nd: "I hung in there as hard as I could. I was just trying to stay with him and stay relaxed the first couple of laps there. Then Langston went down and I started pushing a little harder to stay with Reed. Then my arms got really pumped up. Chad was going on and I was just trying to run my own race and finish second. My arms got tight trying to stay with him and he pulled away."

Grant Langston, 3rd: "I got a good start for a change. I made a little mistake coming into the first turn and Chad got next to me. Our lines crossed and we jumped into each other. I ended up being the one going down because that's kind of how my luck has been. I just lost my rhythm completely when I got up. I struggled and there was no way I was going to catch the front two."

125 Race Result	250 Race Result
Chad Reed Michael Brown Grant Langston Branden Jesseman Joshua Woods Greg Schnell John Dowd Andrew Short Buddy Antunez Ryan Clark	Ricky Carmichael Tim Ferry Ezra Lusk Sebastian Tortelli Jeremy McGrath Nathan Ramsey Ernesto Fonseca Nicholas Wey Damon Huffman Heath Voss