The National motocross season is officially finished after today’s round at Glen Helen Raceway. And it was no surprise that Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart won again with perfect moto sweeps in their respective classes.
In the 250cc class, Carmichael was able to keep his perfect season intact, putting an exclamation point on another stellar outdoor season. As far as the 125cc class goes, Stewart opted to ride a KX250F four-stroke instead of his KX125 and did so with the same success. He even said that it made it easier.
In the first 250cc class moto, Team Moto XXX’s Kyle Lewis grabbed the holeshot ahead of Chad Reed and his Yamaha teammate David Vuillemin. Behind them Carmichael was fifth, but after the first two laps, and a quick battle with Reed, the Honda rider was in the lead and pulling away. By the end of the moto the Floridian had a 45-second lead over Reed. There was a brief battle for third between Suzuki teammates Sean Hamblin and Sebastian Tortelli, but Tortelli eventually passed the Californian and pulled out to a comfortable margin. At the finish it was Carmichael at the front, followed by Reed and Totelli, respectively.
In the second moto, Lewis again pulled the holeshot, but was quickly passed by Carmichael. By the end of the first lap, Carmichael had opened up a lead of around 10 seconds over second-placed Reed. In third for most of the race was Lewis, who held his own against the factory riders behind him. In the end though, Tortelli and Honda rider Kevin Windham got around him. At the finish it was Carmichael in first followed by Reed and Tortelli, respectively.
The overall saw Carmichael on top with a perfect 1-1 score. Reed and his 2-2 tally ended up second with Tortelli’s 3-3 giving him third.
In the 125cc class it was all Stewart. In the first moto Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco pulled the holeshot with Stewart close behind followed by Tedesco’s teammate Matt Walker. But before the first lap was complete, Stewart was in the lead and Tedesco was on the ground. By the third lap Stewart had opened up an 18-second lead over second place Matt Walker. Behind Walker was Suzuki’s Broc Hepler, who had been slowly working his way up in the pack. And in the closing stages of the race, Hepler passed Walker for second. Stewart took the moto win followed by Hepler and Walker.
The second moto saw Stewart get the holeshot ahead of Tedesco and Ramsey. But a holeshot was all Stewart needed to check out from the rest of the field, and by the end of the second lap he had a huge lead over second place. Walker didn’t get the best start; and he ended up crashing hard and getting taken off the track by the medical personnel. As for Hepler, he crashed as well and had the same fate as Walker. At the completion of the second moto, Stewart had another victory followed by Tedesco in second and Amsoil Honda’s Chris Gosselaar.
The overall went like this: Stewart, Gosselaar, Ramsey.
Results:
125 O/A: 1. James Stewart (Kaw); 2. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 3. Nate Ramsey (Hon); 4. Kelly Smith (Yam); 5. Danny Smith (Yam); 6. Mike Brown (Yam); 7. Troy Adams (Kaw); 8. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 9. Broc Hepler (Suz); 10. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 11. Matt Walker (Kaw); 12. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 13. Brett Metcalfe (KTM); 14. Nick Evennou (Yam); 15. Tommy Hahn (Hon).
250 O/A: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 4. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 5. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 6. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 7. Heath Voss (Yam); 8. Nick Wey (Suz); 9. Ryan Clark (Yam); 10. Juss Laansoo (Hon); 11. Kevin Windham (Hon); 12. Joaquim Rodrigues (KTM); 13. Richie Owens (Kaw); 14. David Vuillemin (Yam); 15. Rodrig Thain (Suz).
