Carmichael returns to Goodwood Festival of Speed
By Team TMX on 1st Jun 16
Ricky Carmichael, the multi AMA Supercross and Motocross Champion, is making a welcome return to the UK as he heads to the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the end of this month.
An ambassador for Visit Florida, the 36-year-old is known to generations of motocross fans all over the world as the GOAT, the greatest of all time. For many that is all that really needs to be said.
Famous for its 1.16-mile hill climb, fast cars, superbikes and the type of mega racing stars associated with those sporting sectors, it's satisfying to see that the globally-renowned motorsports festival continues to endorse and embrace off-road motorcycling.
Goodwood Action Sports (GAS) is entering its fifth year at the West Sussex venue, and is gearing up for the legendary American ace to turn a trick or two alongside the giants of the FMX world, such as Brit Jamie Squibb, Spaniard Edgar Torronteras and Czech Petr Pilat.
GAS, of course, is the brainchild of e22 Sports, an action sports specialist company headed by Matt Bates, a massively competitive star of the professional motocross scene in the nineties.
The company's Arenacross Tour has developed rapidly in stature throughout recent years, climaxing with the edge-of-your-seat Frenchie racing carnage at Wembley in February earlier this year.
We hear the AX Tour is poised to go on to greater things in 2017 and we promise you that whatever develops along those lines, you'll read it here first, in TMX.
American champ Carmichael dominated the AMA Amateur Nationals in his teens before going on to do the same as a professional, both in and outdoors.
He is a three-time X-Games gold medallist, was a key part of the USA's Motocross des Nations team in 2000 with Travis Pastrana and Ryan Hughes, a 2005 MXDN individual and team winner and – amongst countless other notable successes – famously dethroned Jeremy McGrath as AMA 250cc Supercross Champ in 2001.
Now semi-retired, Carmichael is still very much a part of the sport; he co-owns the factory-supported RCH Suzuki team with Carey Hart. Ken Roczen has kept the team in the spotlight, finishing second in the AMA supercross series and winning the 2016 AMA motocross season opener.
Carmichael's last appearance on UK soil was in 2013 when he ran a leg of the Ricky Carmichael University, co-organised by former 125cc world champ Jamie Dobb.
Word then was that it was the best and possibly last shot for British fans and riders to witness the champ in action.
The Festival of Speed takes place from Thursday June 23 through to Sunday 26.
Three one-hour GAS shows will take place every day across the four-day event, hosted by Arenacross motor-mouth Christian Stevenson, aka DJ BBQ.
Each one will be packed full of talent from the worlds of FMX, BMX dirt, Trials and Mountain Bike and there'll be meet/greet and autograph sessions held after each show.
More information is available via www.goodwood.com/tickets or phone 01243 755055.
