Palmer and Carmichael Face Off

Henny Ray Abrams | February 25, 2001

Extreme athlete extraordinaire Shaun Palmer has moved to Florida to train with Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki’s Ricky Carmichael full-time as he prepares to make his outdoor motocross debut in Round 1 of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California on May 13.

“I’ve always wanted to see what I can do to if I prepare myself for racing motorcycles,” Palmer said at the Atlanta Supercross. “I’ve never been able to because of conflicts with other sports and my schedule. That’s why I moved to Florida to seclude myself, see how I can do. I have no idea how I’ll do. I want to see how I can do on a dirt bike.”

At Glen Helen, Palmer will race a factory Honda CR250 out of the American Honda truck. Palmer said that he’s planning on doing the entire outdoor series, though it likely won’t be with factory equipment. After Glen Helen, Palmer said he’d still be on a Honda.

For the most part, Palmer has cleared his schedule for the next three months to prepare for the 250 Motocross season.

“I just put a couple of other things aside,” Palmer said.

Among his other projects is a new snowboarding video for Activision which he plans to have ready for a Christmas release, as well as promotional work on the video’s behalf.

“I have a lot of other stuff going on, but, as far as sports, I’ve secluded myself to see if I could get it done,” Palmer said.

American Honda’s racing manager Chuck Miller said Palmer had discussed wanting to ride an outdoor National and said Honda could make it happen. Miller, himself a very successful off-road racer, said he wasn’t surprised by Palmer’s preparation.

“That’s the kind of guy he is. That’s the way he does stuff,” Miller said.