Carmichael's farewell fling
By TMX Archives on 6th Jul 07
RICKY Carmichael signed off on his glittering AMA Motocross career with overall victory at Red Budd, round five of the AMA Motocross championship, on Sunday.
After riding full-time for the opening rounds of the series, and leading the championship naturally, Carmichael chose the infamous Michigan track to make his final AMA appearance – before he signs off from motocross completely after the MXdN – and gave the fans just what they wanted with one last victory.
He really had to work for it though and conceded victory in the opening moto to James Stewart after an uncharacteristic fall, and narrowly snatched that final moto win and the overall over Stewart and a resurgent Mike Alessi on the Red Bull KTM after Stewart tipped over with three laps to go whilst leading.
In the battle for Lites class supremacy meanwhile, reigning champion Ryan Villopoto extended his lead over teammate and arch rival Ben Townley with another dominant double win while Townley bounced back following an overnight stay in hospital with severe stomach pains to twice finish second and claim runner-up over Samsung Honda's Josh Grant.
Full report, results and pictures in T+MX News, issue July 6, 2007.
RESULTS
AMA MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Red Budd Track n Trail, Buchanan, MI
MOTOCROSS: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suz) 47 points, 2 James Stewart (KAW) 47, 3 Mike Alessi (KTM) 40, 4 Tim Ferry (Kaw) 36, 5 Andrew Short (Hon) 31, 6 Grant Langston (Yam) 30, 7 Jeff Alessi (KTM) 27, 8 Kevin Windham (Hon) 26, 9 David Vuillemin (Hon) 23, 10 Michael Byrne (Suz) 20, 11 Josh Summey (Hon) 20, 12 Gavin Gracyk (Hon) 19, 13 Ivan Tedesco (Suz) 17, 14 Kyle Lewis (Hon) 15, 15 Bobby Garrison (Yam) 12.
Series Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds): 1 Carmichael 241, 2 Stewart 225, 3 Ferry 163, 4 Short 160, 5 Langston 159, 6 Mike Alessi 147, 7 Windham 132, 8 Vuillemin 110, 9 Davi Millspaps (Hon) 102, 10 Byrne 100.
MOTCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan VIllopoto (Kaw) 50, 2 Ben Townley (Kaw) 44, 3 Josh Grant 38, 4 Jason Lawrence 35, 5 Jake Weimer (Hon) 32, 6 Thomas Hahn (Hon) 30, 7 Ryan Morais (Yam) 25, 8 Andrew McFarlane (Suz) 24, 9 Chris Gosselaar (Kaw) 21, 10 Kyle Chisholm (Kaw) 18, 11 Joaquim Rodrigues (KTM) 17, 12 Robert Kiniry (Kaw) 16, 13 Josh Hill (Yam) 15, 14 Matt Lemoine (Yam) 13, 15 Tucker Hibbert (Kaw) 12.
Series Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds): 1 Villopoto 238, 2 Townley 218, 3 Grant 184, 4 Lawrence 176, 5 Dungey 150, 6 Weimer 110, 7 Hill 105, 8 Hahn 104, 9 Broc Tickle (Yam) 86, 10 Chisholm 78.
Next Round - July 15, Unadilla Valley Sports Centre, New Berlin, NY.