Carmichael, Stewart Perfect at Hangtown

Kit Palmer | May 16, 2004

Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart pretty much picked up where they left off at the opening round of the AMA Chevrolet Motocross Championship Series at the Hangtown Classic today. Both Carmichael and Stewart won both of their motos in their respective classes, Carmichael topping the 250cc class, and Stewart the 125cc class.

For Carmichael, he made his debut on the factory Honda CRF450R four-stroke a perfect one, leading every lap of both motos to take the win in his first race since last year after having knee surgery.

The only rider who gave Carmichael a challenge all day was…no, not Kevin Windham but Yamaha’s David Vuillemin. Vuillemin pressured Carmichael for almost half of the first moto before fading back to finish third. The second moto went much like the first, but Vuillemin stayed close longer and didn’t fade nearly as much, finishing second and only 4.833 seconds behind Carmichael, who did back off some on the last lap. Vuillemin ended up second overall with a 4-2 tally.

Third overall went to new Supercross Champion Chad Reed who made it two YZ450s on the podium. Reed finished about 15 seconds behind Carmichael in third place in both motos.

Windham, on the Amsoil/Chaparral Honda CRF450R, did not have one of his better days. Windham did finish second in the first moto but 11 seconds behind Carmichael and spent much of the moto dicing with Reed. In the second moto, Windham got off to a third-place start but didn’t have anything for either Carmichael or Vuillemin. Reed also got him shortly thereafter and then rapidly faded back to a distant fourth. After the race, Windham said that he physically felt fine but did say there were problems that need to be worked out, and left it at that. He finished out the day fourth overall with a 2-4 tally.

Team Suzuki’s Sean Hamblin rounded out the top five on the top-finishing two-stroke. Hamblin went 5-6 on the day.

The 125cc class produced some of the best racing action all day. Stewart and Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Stephane Roncada picked up where they left off following their duel at the Las Vegas Supercross. They battled for a while in the first 125cc moto, and Stewart went on to win with eight seconds to spare over Roncada. In the second moto, it was even closer.

Stewart and Roncada got out in front early, and Roncada gave Stewart a serious and a very crowd-pleasing battle, once again. This time, the two riders swapped back and forth for the lead numerous times before Stewart opened up a small gap after the halfway point. Roncada backed it off a bit right at the end to finish again eight seconds behind Stewart, who later said he was bothered by his hands cramping up in both motos.

Third overall went to Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing’s Mike Brown who finished fourth in both motos. Suzuki’s Broc Hepler, who rode a close third for much of the second moto, went 10-3 on the day for fourth overall.

Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Hughes, who finished third in the first moto, crashed in the first turn of the second moto and worked his way up to 11th to finish out the day fifth overall.

250 O/A: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon) 1-1; 2. David Vuillemin (Yam) 4-2; 3. Chad Reed (Yam) 3-3; 4. Kevin Windham (Hon) 2-4; 5. Sean Hamblin (Suz) 5-6; 6. Jean-Sebastien Roy (Hon) 6-7; 7. Heath Voss (Yam) 8-8; 8. Damon Huffman (Hon) 13-5; 9. Nick Wey (Suz) 9-11; 10. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 12-9.

125 O/A: 1. James Stewart (Kaw) 1-1; 2. Stephane Roncada (Kaw) 2-2; 3. Mike Brown (Yam) 4-4; 4. Broc Hepler (Suz) 10-3; 5. Ryan Hughes (KTM) 3-11; 6. Nathan Ramsey (Hon) 13-5; 7. Chris Gosselaar (Hon) 9-9; 8. Danny Smith (Yam) 8-13; 9. Ryan Morais (Hon) 21-6; 10. Kelly Smith (Yam) 17-8.

Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor

Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.