2002 Pontiac 250cc Heat #1 (The 5-Man Fight for the Heat Win)
1This is the first 250cc qualifying heat from the 2002 Pontiac Silverdome Supercross.
In 2002, Yamaha's David Vuillemin came into the Pontiac race trailing Team Honda's Ricky Carmichael by 20 points in the championship chase. The Frenchman had won only 3 races out of 12, but those 3 wins came in the first 1/2 of the Supercross season. At one point, David held a 35-point-lead over Carmichael. At this point, Ricky was already leading the series, despite finishing the first race at Anaheim 1 in 20th due to a bad crash that left him with a bloody nose, a concussion, and a broken bone in his hand. Vuillemin took advantage of Ricky's DNF and won the Anaheim opener; he had become the first rider to beat Ricky in a Supercross race since Jeremy McGrath did at Anaheim 2 last season.
Through the first 8 rounds, Vuillemin held the points lead. After winning Anaheim 1 (and the first leg of the Vans Triple Crown), Vuillemin made it 2 wins in a row the following week in San Diego, holding off a last lap charge from Team Suzuki's Travis Pastrana. Vuillemin took a 2nd at Anaheim 2 to AMSOIL Honda's Mike LaRocco before 2 3rds at Phoenix and Anaheim 3; Carmichael won both races before Vuillemin completed a storybook finish at Indy when he passed Carmichael on the last lap. Sadly, the win at Indy would turn out to be the last of Vuillemin's career.
After starting 12th at Minneapolis, David finished 3rd place behind Carmichael and his Honda teammate Ernesto Fonseca. He was lucky though because Team Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk crashed on the final lap and Vuillemin had snuck by for 3rd. After the first 7 races, Carmichael trailed Vuillemin by 23 points; after finishing 20th in the first round, Carmichael had only made up just ONE point on Vuillemin. Despite a qualifying incident at the next round in Atlanta with Team Kawasaki's Stephane Roncada, which turned into a helmet-slapping fight and a $2000 fine for Vuillemin, David finished the main in 2nd, but disaster struck at the next race.
When Daytona came around, Vuillemin held a 20-point-lead over Carmichael. Unfortunately, he injured his shoulder in a photo shoot and elected not to race the brutal track. Ricky took advantage with his 3rd straight win (5 for the season), giving him a 5-point-lead. From then on, Vuillemin continued to lose points to Carmichael. He never finished higher than 2nd for the remaining half of the season. Sadly, numerous bad starts, and a lack of proverbial effort forced Vuillemin to no longer be a championship contender.
Check out this exciting action here in this heat race between Yamaha's Vuillemin, Tim Ferry, Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk, and Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca. Fonseca held the lead over these 3 for a good 5 or 6 laps before Vuillemin blasted through the whoops, and made the pass on Ernesto. Vuillemin went on to win the heat, but the main went sour rather early.
In the main, Fonseca tied with Moto XXX Honda's Kyle Lewis for the holeshot. Carmichael started in 3rd and moved past Lewis; he immediately challenged Fonseca for his 7th straight win of the season (9 overall). Shortly into the next lap, Carmichael looped out off a dragon's-back double and crashed. His bike was in shambles, and his visor was broken and flapping around in his eyes. Lusk and Vuillemin challenged Fonseca for the lead, but David tipped over before the tunnel in an attempt to avoid tangling with Ezra Lusk. Vuillemin would end up 4th in the race, while Carmichael came back to finish 2nd behind his Honda teammate Nathan Ramsey.
Enjoy.