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Wednesday, February 28
RC wins fourth straight
By B.J. Smith
Motoworld.com

ATLANTA, GA - Cool, calm and collective. Carmichael. For the fourth race in a row Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael took an early lead and motored to a near flawless win at round seven of the EA Sports Supercross in the Georgia Dome. Team Mazda Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath was the official holeshot cash winner, but it was Carmichael that came out of the first hairpin in the lead and the first to cross the finish, ending McGrath's streak of three in a row in Atlanta.

McGrath was also passed in the first corner by Yamaha's Tim Ferry, making the first lap a replay of round six in Indianapolis. MC passed his former teammate after two laps but it was still just enough to let Carmichael slip into a lead big enough to spoil McGrath's chances of a comeback.

On a very technical, demanding circuit, Carmichael rode mistake-free and kept McGrath at least four-five seconds back for most of the race. MC rode a constant pace that matched that of Carmichael's, but it was little mistakes that prevented him from reaching striking distance-slight bobbles, and rhythm.

Toward the end of the race, Mike LaRocco made his patented late-race charge on the lone, third place Ezra Lusk. Universal Studios Honda's Lusk was able to hold off the charging LaRocco to take his second podium in a row.

On the last lap, Carmichael slowed his pace, allowing McGrath to come within two seconds, but the win - his fifth of the year was in the bag. RC crossed the finish line with two fists in the air and three more points over second place McGrath.

"I'm feeling good," Carmichael said. "Jeremy is hanging in there and we're going 1-2 every weekend and it's hard to pull out a big lead with that kind of consistency. This track was demanding. It was gnarly out there, really rutty. Because of the tough track, this was probably the hardest win for me this year."

"RC gets great starts and he had me on the inside, but somehow I got this check," McGrath said after being presented with the SFX Holeshot Award. "I was trying not to let RC get out there in front and I knew I had to pass Ferry as fast as I could. I'm not too happy about getting all these seconds, but we'll see what we can do. Just got to go get him next week."

Sebastien Tortelli's night was cut short when the pipe on his Honda was smashed in while running in the top five.

250 Main Event:

1. Ricky Carmichael
2. Jeremy McGrath
3. Ezra Lusk
4. Mike LaRocco
5. Stephane Roncada
6. David Vuillemin
7. Tim Ferry
8. Steve Lamson
9. Kevin Windham
10. Damon Huffman
11. Jean-Sebastien Roy
12. Mike Craig
13. Jason Thomas
14. Michael Byrne
15. Robbie Reynard
16. Heath Voss
17. Kyle Lewis
18. Casey Johnson
19. James Povolny
20. Sebastien Tortelli

Overall Point Standings:

1. Ricky Carmichael - 167
2. Jeremy McGrath - 158
3. Mike LaRocco - 129
4. Kevin Windham - 109
5. Ezra Lusk - 108
6. David Vuillemin - 100
7. Stephane Roncada - 93
8. Tim Ferry - 72
9. Nick Wey - 62
10. Sebastien Tortelli - 56

Material from MotoWorld.com.
Visit their web site at www.motoworld.com