Carmichael Clinches Title At Steel City

| September 5, 2004

Honda’s Ricky Carmichael clinched the 250cc National Motocross Championship today, the Floridian taking the title with his victory in the first moto at Steel City in Pennsylvania.

All Carmichael had to do to clinch the title was to finsh the race, and he did just that. And  more. By the end of the day, Carmichael had won both motos in convincing fashion. As for the 125cc class, James Stewart did much the same, winning both motos and surpassing Carmichael as the all-time win leader in AMA 125cc National wins.

In the first moto of the 250cc class, Kyle Lewis jumped out to the lead as a pileup in the first turn knocked many riders out of contention, including Joaquim Rodrigues. It also put Yamaha’s Chad Reed in last place.

Lewis led for a few laps before being passed by Carmichael, the Honda rider taking the win over Kevin Windham and David Vuillemin.

The surprise of the moto was young Mike Alessi. In what was just his second 250cc National, Alessi was also caught in the pileup but he recovered to an impressive fifth.

The start of the second 250cc moto saw Carmichael grab the holeshot followed by Reed, Rodrigues, Alessi and Windham. Alessi eventually got around Rodrigues for third, but was passed a few laps later by Windham. At the finish it was Carmichael followed by Reed, a few seconds back, and Windham. Finishing fourth was Alessi. Carmichael captured the overall with Windham second and Alessi third.

As for Jeremy McGrath, he didn’t have the best of luck at Steel City. In the first moto he got engulfed in the big crash at the start, and could only work his way up to 15th. Then, in the second moto, his bike broke while he was running in the top 10. Even though his results didn’t show it, he had fun and was happy to get a few points to keep his number two, which was his main reason for riding.

The 125cc class was much of the same as Stewart again swept both motos. In the first moto, Ryan Mills got the holeshot followed by Matt Walker, Broc Hepler and Stewart. But by the end of the second lap Stewart was in the lead and pulling away. For most of the moto things remain the same as Stewart was never headed. The Kawasaki rider ended up crossing the line ahead of Walker with Hepler in third.

The start of the second moto saw another Honda rider get the holeshot, but this time it was Chris Gosselaar. Again it didn’t take long for Stewart to take over and by the end of the second lap he was in the lead and pulling away. Hepler, meanwhile, crashed in the first turn and was forced to make a charge to the front. By the end of the moto he’d worked his way up to fifth. At the finish, Stewart was folloed by Mike Brown and Troy Adams. The overall saw Stewart take the win followed by Hepler and Troy Adams.

Results:

125 O/A: 1. James Stewart (Kaw); 2. Broc Hepler (Suz); 3. Troy Adams (Kaw); 4. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 5. Matt Walker (Kaw); 6. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 7. Danny Smith (Yam); 8. Ryan Mills (Hon); 9. Grag Scnell (Hon); 10. Mike Brown (Yam); 11. Tommy Hahn (Hon); 12. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 13. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 14. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); 15. Brian Gray (Suz).

250 O/A: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. Mike Alessi (Hon); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 5. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 6. Chad Reed (Yam); 7. Nick Wey (Suz); 8. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 9. Heath Voss (Yam); 10. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 11. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 12. David Vuillemin (Yam); 13. Jason Thomas (Hon); 14. Clark Stiles (Hon); 15. Jeff Gibson (Yam)

By Freelance