Grant's High Point
By TMX Archives on 1st Jun 07
THE Ricky Carmichael retirement roadshow continued apace at round two of the Toyota AMA Motocross Championship at High Point Raceway, Pennsylvania, on Sunday where the legendary Suzuki rider twice beat James Stewart to claim a double victory, but it was Pro Circuit Kawasaki Lites rider Ben Townley who stole the show with a phenomenal performance.
Charging herocially from last to tenth in the opening moto following a first lap pit-stop to replace a broken front-wheel, Townley devastated the field in the second heat to romp to a resounding, incredibly popular victory on the swooping, technical track and claim third overall behind winner Josh Grant and defending champion Ryan Villopoto.
If his win at Hangtown the previous weekend didn't make his competition sit up and take notice, the way Townley took the field apart in both motos at High Point must surely have the likes of Villopoto and company more than a little concerned.
Both Carmichael and Stewart hit the dirt at Hangtown's opening round, splitting the wins in the process, but even with a fall in the opeping moto Carmichael was too strong for Stewart and the rest of the Motocross class at High Point.
Davi Millsaps fired the factory Honda up the uphill start straight first in the opening motocross class moto to lead the opening lap with Stewart on his tail and Carmichael back around fifth.
Stewart made a move on Millsaps for the lead on lap two as Carmichael toppled over in turn and left himself with a lot of work to do, but two laps later he had already worked his way back past Andrew Short and Millsaps and was up to second, although some six seconds back on Stewart.
Carmichael put the hammer down though and gradually closed the gap on Stewart, helped in part by his being the only rider to turn the notorious Hight Point tunnel jump section into a sketchy double, and with just a few laps remaining he was right on the Kawasaki riders tail.
A mistake by Stewart allowed Carmichael to move right in and less than a lap later Carmicahel forced his way through on a downhill section for the win. By the flag he had opened up a three second winning margin over Stewart as Tim Ferry put in a strong ride to take third from the Honda trio of Millsaps, Short and Kevin Windham.
TOYOTA AMA MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 2 - High Point Raceway, Mt Morris, PA
MOTOCROSS: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suz) 50, 2 James Stewart (Kaw) 44, 3 Davi Millsaps (Hon) 38, 4 Tim Ferry (Kaw) 38, 5 Andrew Short (Hon) 31, 6 Grant Langston (Yam) 30, 7 Kevin Windham (Hon) 29, 8 Michael Byrne (Suz) 25, 9 Mike Alessi (KTM) 23, 10 David Vuillemin (Hon) 23, 11 Gray Gracyk (Hon) 18, 12 Jason Thomas (Hon) 16, 13 Cole Siebler (Kaw) 14, 14 Nick Wey (Hon) 13, 15 Adam Chatfield (Hon) 11.
Series Standings (After 2 of 12 rounds): 1 Carmichael 97, 2 Stewart 87, 3 Ferry 78, 4 Millsaps 76, 5 Langston 61, 6 Short 59, 7 Windham 59, 8 M Alessi 50, 9 Byrne 48, 10 Vuillemin 43.
MOTOCROSS LITES: 1 Josh Grant (Hon) 45, 2 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw) 44, 3 Ben Townley (Kaw) 36, 4 Ryan Dungey (Suz) 36, 5 Jason Lawrence 35, 6 Thomas Hahn (Hon) 31, 7 Jake Weimer (Hon) 30, 8 Broc Tickle (Yam) 25, 9 Josh Hill (Yam) 25, 10 Matt Goerke (Yam) 21, 11 Andrew McFarlane (Suz) 17, 12 Matt Lemoine (Yam) 14, 13 Kelly Smith (Suz) 13, 14 Ryan Morais (Yam) 13, 15 Boby Kiniry (Kaw) 13.
Series Standings (After 2 of 12 rounds): 1 Villopoto 91, 2 Townley 83, 3 Grant 78, 4 Dungey 76, 5 Lawrence 67, 6 Hahn 59, 7 Tickle 52, 8 Weimer 48, 9 Hill 36, 10 Goerke 33.
Next Round: June 10, Motocross 338, Southwick, MA.
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 1, 2007.