By Brian Hilderbrand

Fri, Apr 30, 2004 (9:30 a.m.)

Raymond Carvalho knows the odds are stacked against him, but that won't stop him from rolling his Honda 450 into Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday afternoon in an attempt to qualify for that night's THQ AMA Supercross Series 250cc main event.

While riders such as Chad Reed, Kevin Windham, Mike LaRocco and James Stewart will be at the center of attention in the Supercross season finale, Carvalho, a 22-year-old Las Vegas resident, quietly will continue to pursue his dream of joining the sport's stars as a regular on the circuit.

But first, he will have to outrace close to 150 other riders to earn one of 20 coveted spots in Saturday night's main event.

"It's a lot tougher than everybody thinks," the Hawaiian native said of qualifying for a Supercross main event. "You've got a lot of factory (supported) guys trying to qualify during the day and you've got all these top riders out there making big money.

"Everybody's out there trying to do the same thing. They've got 20 guys on the (starting) gate and only four or five of them actually make it to the main (from the heat races). You've got three heats of 20 guys and four guys going in from there, so it's kind of hard."

Carvalho, who rides for Las Vegas-based Team Lever MX, has not qualified for a Supercross main in five attempts this season. He was sidelined for much of the past three months after suffering a fractured jaw in a spill at the San Diego event in late January. Last weekend in Salt Lake City, Carvalho got the hole shot and took the early lead in his pre-qualifying race, but did not advance to that evening's heat races.

Although he has competed in motocross since he was four years old, Carvalho said experience and money are what separate a privateer like himself from the top factory-backed stars of the sport.

"It's mostly equipment," Carvalho said. "They've got a lot of stuff that we can't even buy -- even if you had the money to buy it. They've got the factory tracks to practice on and they've got their own tracks in their yards, which helps out a lot.

"There aren't many places to ride around here, so I go out in the desert and ride. It's really good for the outdoor (motocross) ... but to find jumps for the Supercross Series, it's a little harder."

Carvalho, with the help of team manager Mitch Libonati, has lined up sponsorship from several local companies to help him in his quest to break into Supercross on a full-time basis. From there, Carvalho said he hopes he can catch the eye of one of the factory teams.

"That's the long-term goal," he said. "So far, we've got support from Lever MX.com, Tuff Boyz Racing, Area 51 Fireworks.com, Saturn of Henderson, Green Valley Window Tint, Cool Air and my mom and dad.

"This season, we're kind of just winging it but we're setting up for next season. It should be a lot better next year and hopefully we can make some (main events) and see where it goes from there."