1998 Indianapolis 125cc Main (Ricky Carmichael's Beginning of a Perfect 125cc Supercross Season)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- This is the 125cc Main from the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, IN.
In 1998, Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael #6 had full expectations of his first 125cc Supercross Championship. Carmichael won 3 races in 1997 -- the most of any rider in the 125cc East -- unfortunately, Ricky's rookie season of 1997 was plagued by crashes and inconsistent results. Carmichael ended up 3rd overall in the final points tally. At season's end, the champion turned out to be Tim Ferry with 0 wins and 5 2nd place finishes; unfortunately, an unexpected (and dumb) rule change didn't allow Ferry to defend his 125cc East title and sent him to the 250cc class under Noleen Yamaha.
After 5 races on the West, Indianapolis marked the opening round for the 125cc East, and the first we'd see Ricky Carmichael in 1998. Ricky had came off a masterful 1997 125cc Motocross Championship. He took 8 wins in the 13 races en route to the title. Carmichael won his heat race easily, and he looked to take a win in the Indy opener.
In the main, #163 Greg Rand aboard a privateer Suzuki RM125 pulled the holeshot. Rand battled with Kawasaki rookie #583 Derrick Shae Bentley early until Bentley crashed in the whoops and finished 21st. Carmichael started out 4th and showed he'd learned a lot from a crash-filled rookie 125cc Supercross season in 1997. Carmichael got around Rand on lap 3 and so did #21 Robbie Reynard on his Primal Suzuki RM125. Rand eventually faded to 20th. Reynard, who rode a 250cc machine at the last race in San Diego (finishing 19th), got around Ricky and led for several laps. Carmichael hung with Reynard and got around him at the halfway point. Ricky surrendered the lead momentarily on lap 12, but got back around Reynard and cruised to the win. Reynard would take 2nd, and FMF Honda's Casey Lytle #33 would finish a distant 3rd.
Ricky Carmichael dominated the next round in Atlanta. Robbie Reynard challenged Carmichael at times during the 125cc East season, but mediocre starts and riding tight eventually did Reynard in. As a result, Carmichael never lost a Supercross race in 1998. He would clinch the title at Pontiac with his 7th straight win in a battle with Casey Lytle. Carmichael put the cherry on top of his season in the mud at Charlotte with his 8th straight win of the season, and a perfect 200 pts. to his credit. Carmichael then made it 9 in a row at the Las Vegas 125cc East/West Shootout in a head-to-head battle with 125cc West champ #9 John Dowd of Team Yamaha. Carmichael's 9 wins was the most of any rider in 1998 (including Chaparral Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath's record of 7 wins in the 250cc class). Both Dowd and Carmichael would choose not to defend their 125cc Supercross titles for 1999. Carmichael left the 125cc class with 12 career wins; Dowd left with 7.
Enjoy.
15:11 prophetic
No doubt about it.
Art eckmans voice was absolutely legendary
No argument there. I grew up hearing Art call the races and he handled it like a pro.
RC hard to believe how his career went, Awesome ! Showed whole world how hard work pays off . The Goat 🐐
No disagreements there. A lot of people said that RC should've stayed on the 125 in 1999 after he swept the season in 1998 and I'm one of those people. It's hard to believe he went from crashing so many times in '99 to 5th in 2000, and winning 5 straight titles (save for 2004).
Reynard was beat mentally already, you can see it in his eyes.
Well, that, and Reynard said on the podium that he couldn't stop worrying about Ricky behind him. In Reynard's own defense, it WAS round 1 of the series, and nobody really knew where everyone else was at.
I've been racing with Greg Rand I call him Gregey . He was so fast on an 80 because of the hardest motocross school. HE lives 45min away I'm in Batavia. In 1988 and 1989 Beechmont motorsports was are local motorcycle shop that sponssrd us.
Lucky you. I heard more about Rand when he raced Arenacross in 2000.
@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames yeah it was between Greg Mike Jones and Robbie Ranard.
@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames I think that the money and fame got too him someone told me he traded on of hif F&S Suzuki's for pound's of cocaine.
@@ryanbarker4422 Hmm. The Kawasaki team there was Rand, Jones, and Pedro Gonzalez in 2000. I know this because I have the Hampton Arenacross race posted.
@@ryanbarker4422 Oh wow, never knew that.
I remember watching RC on a 125 motocross race where he had faster lap times than everyone (250s included) and was the only one hitting this one triple all day (again, 250s included). But I can’t for the life of me remember which race that was or find it searching online. Does anybody know the race?
Maybe it was Binghamton 1998.
I wonder what was hanging off RC's bike @11:57...??
Probably a clump of the dirt in the RCA Dome that stuck to one of the hoses at the bottom of his KX125.
Is that Gene Deckerhoff as the announcer?
On the PA System? I don't know.
ESPN2? No, it's Art Eckman and color analyst David Bailey.
12:55
Carmichael's final pass for the lead, yeah.
@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames yeeeaaahh buddy!!
@@jaxxrocket1530 Ricky did have some challenges from Robbie Reynard in '98, but the mental game did Reynard in quite a bit. Who'd have thought that his arm pump solution was bad carpal tunnel, too -- I wouldn't have.
@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames He sure did, Matt, Robbie was fast, and a tough competitor!
I didn't know that he suffered from carpel tunnel, makes sense though now that you mention it.
You know, from a technical aspect, with Robbie being a taller rider, if you look at his body positioning when he charges, he's very upright and very forward and this combination puts his wrist in the perfect position to excessively pinch the nerves there.
When I was 16, my standing position was very forward and I was suffering from a host of issues, carpel tunnel and extreme arm pump were amongst said issues. As was meniscus because I was locking my knee out in the position.
Not sure if it was a contributor for Robbie but it sure looks as though it may have been.
@@jaxxrocket1530 No disagreements there. I'd read somewhere that he had bad carpal tunnel. I have noticed that Reynard's body position is perfect a lot of the time. It just really frustrated people that Robbie doesn't ride up to how he can go. He's made the podium before in the premier class (two 3rd place finishes at Pontiac and New Orleans 1999).
I guess when I started racing myself, my issue was mostly bike setup. I'd have a hard time riding my bike to its potential (and it didn't help that I was 130 lbs. and 6' tall.
I'm willing to bet that carpal tunnel was the main problem to why Reynard pumped up so much.
Brian Deegan 7th 👍
Yep -- when Deegan was a Supercross racer. By 1999, he was onto Freestyle MX.