Riders Overcome Elements in Rain Drenched Amp'd Mobile Supercross at SBC Park

January 30, 2006, 6:28am

SAN FRANCISCO (January 28, 2006) - Kawasaki's James Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., won a mud-filled battle at Saturday night's Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross race before a crowd of 37,557 at SBC Park in San Francisco. KTM's Nathan Ramsey, of Menifee, Calif., won the Western Region AMA Supercross Lites.

Nick Wey, of DeWitt, Mich., plodded his Honda through the mud to claim the Toyota Holeshot Award to start the 12-lap AMA Supercross feature. Wey would surrender the lead to Stewart by the end of the first lap, with Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael, of Havana, Fla., a couple spot back in third.

Stewart would lead Carmichael for eight laps before a jump pass by Carmichael on lap nine shot him into the lead. Carmichael's lead did not last long as Stewart regrouped and got back into the lead on the next lap. From there Stewart never looked back and won his fourth main event win of the season. Carmichael finished second, while Wey held on to finish third.

"The first few laps I was in my own world (and was thinking) I just wanted to finish," said Stewart in the post-race press conference. "I made a few mistakes, but I think it was just more the track than me making mistakes. I knew (Carmichael) was behind me. I could hear the crowd going crazy and I didn't know if he had crashed or if he was right up on me.

"He passed me after I cased it in the rhythm section. When he got in front of me, I was thinking "this is kind of over." Then I caught back up to him and ended up making it happen from there."

Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto, of Poulsbo, Wash., won the Toyota Holeshot Award to start the eight-lap main event for AMA Supercross Lites. His lead would be short lived after a crash at the end of the opening lap gave the lead to Yamaha's Brett Metcalfe, of Murrieta, Calif. Metcalfe's tenure at the top soon came to a halt when he crashed in the whoop section before the start straight. Meanwhile, Ramsey, who was running a few seconds back in second, shot to the lead.

Ramsey was able to hold a late-race charge from Metcalfe, who wound up crossing the finish line just one bike length behind in second.

"It was such a fun race, it was one of those dog paddlers," said Ramsey, describing the legs-off-the-bike riding style he used in the mud conditions. "We had a bad go of it in the first (heat) race, so winning this really makes everything okay."

Tonight's race will air on CBS tomorrow, January 29, at 12:00 p.m. EST.

Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP Season Standings
1. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Kawasaki, 140
2. Ricky Carmichael, Havana, Fla., Suzuki, 136
3. Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha, 122
4. Nicholas Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Honda, 98
5. Michael Byrne, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki, 96
6. Ivan Tedesco, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 95
7. Jeff Gibson, Westerville, Ohio, Honda, 74
8. Jason Thomas, Melrose, Fla., Honda, 73
9. Ryan Clark, Phoenix, Honda, 69
10. Tyler Evans, Corona, Calif., Suzuki, 51

Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series Event Results, San Francisco
1. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Kawasaki
2. Ricky Carmichael, Havana, Fla., Suzuki
3. Nicholas Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Honda
4. Michael Byrne, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki
5. Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha
6. Tyler Evans, Corona, Calif., Suzuki
7. Travis Preston, Hesperia, Calif., Honda
8. Jeff Gibson, Blacklick, Ohio, Honda
9. Ryan Clark, Waddell, Ariz., Honda
10. Jason Thomas, Melrose, Fla., Honda

Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series Season Standings
1. Ricky Carmichael, Havana, Fla., Suzuki, 92
2. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Kawasaki, 90
3. Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha, 82
4. Nicholas Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Honda, 61
5. Michael Byrne, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki, 58
6. Mike LaRocco, Corona, Calif., Honda, 55
7. Ivan Tedesco, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 51
8. Ernesto Fonseca, Murrieta, Calif., Honda, 48
9. Travis Preston, Hesperia, Calif., Honda, 47
10. Jeremy McGrath, Encinitas, Calif., Honda, 44

Amp'd Mobile Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites Event Results, San Francisco
1. Nathan Ramsey, Menifee, Calif., KTM
2. Brett Metcalfe, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha
3. Mike Alessi, Apple Valley, Calif., KTM
4. Jason Lawrence, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki
5. Ryan Mills, Clintondale, N.Y., Suzuki
6. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki
7. Billy Laninovich, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda
8. Paul Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y., Honda
9. Ryan Morais, Menifee, Calif., Suzuki
10. Marco Dube, Quebec, Canada, Yamaha

Amp'd Mobile Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites Season Standings
1. Nathan Ramsey, Menifee, Calif., KTM, 79
2. Billy Laninovich, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda, 74
3. Andrew Short, Murrieta, Calif., Honda, 71
4. Grant Langston, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki, 69
5. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 64
6. Brett Metcalfe, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha, 60
7. Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., KTM, 57
8. Paul Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y., Honda, 49
9. Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Honda, 39
10. Eric Sorby, Sun City, Calif., Honda, 33

For more information about the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series, please log on to www.supercross.cc.com. For media requests, please contact Denny Hartwig at 630-566-6305/e-mail at dennyhartwig@livenation.com or Tony Gardea at 949-365-5750/e-mail tony@nextlevelsportsinc.com.

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