Fast Times At Budds Creek
Open practice at the 61st Red Bull Motocross of Nations has just
concluded and Team USA riders topped all of the charts.
Ricky Carmichael posted the quickest lap overall during his 40
minute MX1 (450cc)-class session. Carmichael’s time was a full
five seconds quicker than his nearest rival’s time (in class), that of
Team Australia’s Chad Reed. Carmichael clocked at 2:05.817 and
Reed a 2:10.850.
Third-fastest in class was France’s Sebastien Pourcel (2:10.924),
followed by South Africa’s Grant Langston (2:11.375) and Italy’s
David Philippaerts (2:12.598). MX1 World Champion Steve Ramon
posted the eighth-quickest time with a 2:13.442.
In the MX2 (250cc four-stroke) division, Team USA’s Ryan
Villopoto recorded the quickest time with a 2:06.554, which was
over a second quicker than New Zealand’s Ben Townley. Next
quickest, nearly three seconds behind Townley was MX1 World
Champion Antonio Cairoli, though the Italian was riding a
borrowed bike. (He’ll have his race bike later in the day.)
Townely did suffer a hard get-off during the MX2 practice session,
tumbling down one of the track’s large downhills. He walked back
to the pits but came back out on the track a little later.
In the Open division, it was again an American rider topping the
leaderboard with Tim Ferry heading the list. Ferry’s best time
during his 40-minute session was a 2:08.781, which was a little
over a second quicker than that of Belgian Ken de Dycker’s time.
Australia Michael Byrne was third quickest…click o ozzy go to
the full story on cyclenews.com/transworldmotocross.com pic