Thrilled fans reach out to LaRocco

It's a good thing Edison Field doesn't have a roof over it, because if it did the 45,000 plus supercross fans that just watched Amsoil/Factory Connection's popular Mike LaRocco win his first main in 7 years would have blown the roof off the place.

LaRocco's win underscores a bizarre EA Sports Supercross season that features the only two winners of 2001 outside the top five in points, and a competitive field where the number of potential winners seems to grow by the week.

Pastrana leads Windham

After winning an exciting heat race battle for the lead with his teammate Kevin Windham, the remarkable 250 class rookie Travis Pastrana again found himself racing with Windham for the lead in the main. He would get away and was running a winning pace, only to missed a shift through a series of jumps, causing his bike to loose momentum and loop out, throwing him over the bars. Pastrana's mistake handed the lead to David Vuillemin, until now the only winner of 2002, but LaRocco would charge up from a midpack start and pass him with 5 laps to go.

LaRocco was possibly the fastest here 2 weeks ago when he was chasing Carmichael and fell went Carmichael crashed hard and took himself out. LaRocco was a crowd favorite, and the cheers for his first supercross win in 7 years let this veteran know the crowd was as pleased as he was.

#12 David Vuillemin

Vuillemin is still the series leader with a consistent 1-1-2 score to his credit. Vuillemin is France's top supercross rider and is racing his third full-time season in the US.

Defending champion Ricky Carmichael is mostly over his hard landing of two weeks ago and injured hand, but at Anaheim 2 he got knocked around too much in the beginning of the race and only worked up to fourth.

"It felt great. It's been a long time," said LaRocco, "I have been trying for years and I finally did it. It feels great. I knew this was a kind if track where you really need a good start. I tried my best to get a good start but I got bumped around. Travis was the only one that really took off but he made a mistake and took himself out and I had the opportunity to race with David and things worked out. (When I passed) it was one of those situations where the fast line is outside and the block line is inside, and I took the block line. I felt pretty good in the past at several races and I gave it away, or didn't start early enough, this one worked out. The (Honda) bikes are really good this year. I felt pretty good coming into this season and I felt optimistic after the first round. I expected to give it what I had, but on the other hand I didn't expect to be racing when I was 30. I feel good riding. It's a heck of a lot of fun."

"I didn't have a great start. I was riding with Roncada in the first lap. It was ridiculous and he rode really dirty and took me out in a corner. That 's racing. I did not expect to race this weekend because Sunday after San Diego I pulled my knee out at the gym and went back to France to see my osteopath and came back the next day. I could not walk Tuesday so I was really happy to race and to get second place was great. I was in the lead after Travis crashed. I thought I could go three in a row but Mike was as usual really fast at the end of the race and I made a little mistake. Mike was right there. He deserves the win. This year we are close together a lot in points and on the track. It's going to be a fun season. It's always great to race those guys."

Pastrana can at least say he was right a couple of days ago when he said at a press conferencfe he has the speed to win his first 250 supercross and just needs to keep it on two wheels. Also he was making a move for third on the last lap and took out Honda's Nathan Ramsey. "I can't seem to keep it off the ground," said Pastrana after falling in a rhythm section after the main. "I hit neutral. It was a dumb mistake. I started focusing on the guys behind instead of trying to keep riding my own race. Hopefully I will learn from my mistakes and go get them next weekend." Pastrana was making time with a bold high-speed jump into a whoops section most of the night, but he backed off a little in the main, "It was really scary jumping into the whoops, jumping in that far," he said, "I missed the corner a few times. I am happy with a podium and I apologize to Nathan Ramsey who I just kind of cleaned out in the whoops on the last lap. Tonight I felt really good. I thought tonight was going to be my night. I had a great heat race with Kevin Windham. That was probably the most fun I ever had on a Supercross track. I might have the fastest lap time but I am far from perfect after that.

"My hand is OK, I just can't do it coming from 15th," said defending champion Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael's season hit the ground early with an opening night crash and concussion, and he has been struggling with a sore hand since. "My stamina was good and everything," he said,"You can't get a bad start now. I got held up behind Ezra and didn't get to tag along with Mike and that was the end of it. I had a few screwups the first lap with Chad Reed, he bike almost chopped my head off. He was putting it in on me the first couple of laps and just got out of control and hit a hay bale and his bike popped up and almost took me out. Then I got passed by two more guys and, just bad starts. I just need to start winning races. I still haven' t gotten to ride like I normally ride. I am going to stay out here this week and try and get something going. I have what it takes to win." Pastrana's teammate Kevin Windham, who had a slow season start because of a broken finger, was leading the first five laps but faded

Sensational newcomer Chad Reed of Australia had a problem on the first lap and managed to salvage 8th. His fellow Aussie Michael Byrne wasn't as lucky and crashed out of the main. Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk has been having uneventful mains but still has third in points, and his teammate Stephane Roncada was as high as third in the beginning but was slowed with a carburetor problem.

"You know what? Tonight was a big improvement," said 7-time champion Jeremy McGrath, who has been struggling with a world class case of arm pump. "If you look at the results it wasn't. Ninth was not a major improvement from last week but at least I could hold on these week. I have been having a lot of problems with my arms and made some improvements this week. The doctor has been telling me I have compartment syndrome where the fascia around the muscles has been tightening. I got some rolfing this week. It's like deep, deep, gnarly deep, painful tissue massage. I got some adjustments to make sure the nerves and everything are OK. I have been pretty tweaked lately. Over time it has been building up I guess. I was feeling it the month before the season and I thought I would be able to ride through it. I am a million times better than last week. At least I could ride."