This weekend at round four of the AMA Chevrolet Motocross Championship Series in Budds Creek, Maryland, Ricky Carmichael reached a milestone that no one has ever obtained in National Motocross: He scored his 100th career victory by sweeping both 250cc motos – again. In the 125cc class, James Stewart was able to keep his perfect moto win streak alive by also sweeping both motos in convincing fashion.
In the first 250cc moto, Yamaha’s Chad Reed jumped out to the early lead for a few laps before giving in to Carmichael. After that Carmichael took off. However, Reed was able to keep him in his sights. By the halfway point Reed was still only a second behind Carmichael with third-placed Heath Voss another 15 seconds back. In the next few laps David Vuillemin got around Voss for third and held it until the end. With two laps to go Carmichael was able to pull out to a seven-second lead that he maintained to the finish. The finishing order for the first moto was Carmichael, Reed, Vuillemin and Kevin Windham, who snuck past Voss in the closing stages of the moto.
The second moto was much like the first – except this time Carmichael was able to grab the holeshot and jump out to an early lead. From there his lead just continued to grow over second-placed Reed. In third was Vuillemin – again. However, he was 10 seconds behind Reed. By the end of the race Carmichael was on cruise control, leaving the rest to fight for second. When the checkered flag flew it was Carmichael, Reed, Vuillemin, Windham and Voss. The overall finishing order saw Carmichael in first followed by Reed in second and Vuillemin in third.
In the 125cc class it was business as usual for Kawasaki’s James Stewart, the Floridian winning both motos easily. In the first moto, Stewart had to come up from a third-place start, but after he got around Amsoil/Honda-backed Chris Gosselaar, he checked out. By the end of the moto he was 40 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Mike Brown. Rookie sensation Broc Hepler finished third.
In the second 125cc moto Stewart again didn’t get the holeshot – but a fourth-place start was all he needed. On lap two Stewart was able to get around Ivan Tedesco for the lead. By the end, Stewart again had a huge lead over second place. The finishing order for the second moto was similar to the first, except Tedesco took second followed by Hepler in third. As for the overall results, Stewart took the win followed by Hepler in second and Brown in third.
In the next round of the series, the riders head to Red Bud, Michigan, where it will no doubt be interesting to see if Carmichael and Stewart can continue to have perfect seasons – or if someone can actually derail their plans.
125cc O/A: 1. James Stewart (Kaw); 2. Broc Hepler (Suz) 3. Micheal Brown (Yam); 4. Josh Grant (Hon); 5. Chris Gossellaar (Hon); 6. Brock Sellards (Yam) 7. Kelly Smith (Yam); 8. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 9. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 10. Stephane Roncada (Kaw).
250cc O/A: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. David Vuillemin (Yam); 4. Kevin Windham (Hon); 5. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 6. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 7. Heath Voss (Yam); 8. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 9. James Polvolny (Hon); 10. Johnny Aubert (Suz).
