This one was as close to a straight fight as it gets.
In a battle that brought the 62,764-strong crowd in the Georgia Dome to its feet for much of the 20-lap main event, Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael caught and passed Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed late in the main event to win round eight of the THQ AMA Supercross Series. In doing so, Carmichael assuaged the defeat he had suffered at the hands of Reed just one week earlier at round seven of the series in San Diego, California.
It was the battle the crowd had come to see. Defending THQ AMA Supercross Champion Reed got the holeshot over Carmichael and led the first four laps of the race before Carmichael managed to slide to the inside of Reed in the flat-track style turn one to take the point position. Carmichael’s lead didn’t last long, however, as he plowed the front end and crashed in the final turn, the one leading onto the start straightaway, a lap later. Reed retook the lead, with Amsoil Chaparral Napster Honda’s Kevin Windham also passing the downed Carmichael for second place.
But Carmichael wasn’t done yet. He quickly remounted, put an aggressive pass on Windham and then immediately began slicing into Reed’s 5.674-second lead. Carmichael caught Reed on lap 15, the two running side by side through the whoops. Carmichael then dogged Reed until lap 18, where he re-passed the champion in the same flat turn where he had made his original bid for the lead. Carmichael made it stick this time, and he went on to win the race by a margin of 1.466 seconds. Reed finished second, with Windham third, a whopping 29.379 seconds behind Reed. Carmichael lapped up to seventh place in the race.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Grant Langston won the 125cc Eastern Region main event and moved into the series points lead. Langston netted the Butterfinger Holeshot in the 15-lap main, followed closely by his teammate, Matt Walker, Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Kelly Smith, Samsung Honda’s Steve Boniface, Justin Buckelew, Josh Hansen and Josh Grant. Walker battled inside of Langston in whoops and took lead on opening lap. Walker then immediately pulled away, putting 1.354 seconds on Langston by lap two.
It appeared as though Walker would get away, but a serious bobble over the step-up jump that led to mechanic’s area nearly caused Walker to shoot right into the mechanic’s row area on lap nine. The miscue allowed Langston to catch up, and Langston immediately passed Walker in the whoops to take over lead. Langston then got away from Walker, to win the race by 2.742 seconds. Walker was second. Boniface was third, 14.265 seconds behind Walker.
Here are the main event results and series points standings from the Georgia Dome:
Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
Results: February 26, 2005 (Round 8 of 16)
250 MAIN (20 laps): 1. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. KevinWindham (Hon); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 5. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 6. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 7. Heath Voss (Yam); 8. David Vuillemin (Yam); 9. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 10. Tyler Evans (Suz); 11. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 12. Jason Thomas (Hon); 13. Travis Preston (Hon); 14. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 15. Ryan Clark (Yam); 16. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 17. Keith Johnson (Yam); 18. Andrew Short (Hon); 19. Clark Stiles (Hon); 20. Michael Byrne (Kaw).
Time: 17 min., 26.400 sec.
Margin of victory: 1.466 sec.
THQ AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 16 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (192/6 wins); 2. Chad Reed (160/1 win); 3. Kevin Windham (136/1 win); 4. Mike LaRocco (135); 5. David Vuillemin (114); 6. Sebastien Tortelli (112); 7. Ernesto Fonseca (108); 8. Heath Voss (95); 9. Michael Byrne (90); 10. Nick Wey (73); 11. Tyler Evans (67); 12. Damon Huffman (57); 13. Jeremy McGrath (54); 14. Travis Preston (43); 15. Joe Oehelhof (35); 16. (TIE) Jeff Gibson (34)/Erick Vallejo (34)/Jason Thomas (34); 19. Ryan Clark (33); 20. Timmy Ferry (29).
125 MAIN (15 laps): 1. Grant Langston (Kaw); 2. Matt Walker (Kaw); 3. Steve Boniface (Hon); 4. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 5. Kelly Smith (Yam); 6. Josh Hansen (KTM); 7. Josh Grant (Hon); 8. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 9. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 10. Brock Sellards (Yam); 11. Ryan Mills (KTM); 12. Jeff Dement (Suz); 13. Troy Adams (Hon); 14. Robbie Horton (Kaw); 15. Chad Johnson (Yam); 16. Donnie McGourty (Hon); 17. Nathan Tiearney (Yam); 18. Eric Sorby (Suz); 19. William Browning (Suz); 20. Greg Schnell (Hon); 21. Shae Bentley (Suz); 22. Bobby Kiniry (Hon). Time: 13 min., 36.650 sec.
Margin of victory: 2.742 sec.
THQ AMA 125cc EASTERN REGION SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 2 of 7 rounds): 1. Grant Langston (47/1 win); 2. Davi Millsaps (43/1 win); 3. Matt Walker (38); 4. Josh Hansen (35); 5. Brock Sellards (29); 6. Kelly Smith (27); 7. Justin Buckelew (21); 8. (TIE) Steve Boniface (20)/Josh Grant (20); 10. Troy Adams (15); 11. Joaquim Rodrigues (15); 12. (TIE) Branden Jesseman (14)/Jeff Dement (14); 14. (TIE) Tucker Hibbert (13)/Greg Schnell (13); 16. Kevin Johnson (12); 17. Ryan Mills (10); 18. Dennis Ewing (9); 19. (TIE) Robbie Horton (7)/James Marshall (7).
