SUPERCROSS: San Diego preview

Carmichael races towards fourth straight THQ World Supercross GP/AMA Supercross series win.

AURORA, Ill. (February 8, 2002) - Team Honda's Ricky Carmichael, the two-time defending supercross champion, brings a nine-point lead into San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium over Yamaha's Chad Reed. Carmichael's win last weekend at Anaheim's Edison International Field, his third-straight, moved him into second place on the all-time 250cc win list with 28.

Reed, the winner of last year's 125cc Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Series, has two wins on the season, Arnhem, Holland and Anaheim, Calif. (Round 1) and continues to challenge Carmichael.

Team Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk, who won in San Diego in 1999 when he finished second overall in the series, is tied with Yamaha's David Vuillemin. Lusk is one of three winners in this year's season. Vuillemin won the opening round of THQ World Supercross GP in Geneva, Switzerland and is the only two-time San Diego winner in Saturday's field.

Another ringer in this weekend's field is two-time defending World Motocross GP champion Mickael Pichon. Pichon, who won the 1995 and 1996 125cc Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Series championship, finished third in his heat race but failed to finish the main event due to mechanical problems.

Teenage sensation James Stewart pushed his Kawasaki to his fourth-consecutive 125cc Western Regional AMA Supercross Series win last week over defending champion Travis Preston. The 17-year old from Haines City, Fla., has won by an average of :20 in his four wins.

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