It is over. Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael has finally lost a moto.
After winning a record 31 straight motos Carmichael lost one today at round three of the AMA National Championship Motocross series at MX338 in Southwick, Massachusetts. Beating Carmichael (4) was Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed (22). For the 23-year-old Australian the moto victory was the first of his 250 class career, and was a long time coming. He has been trying to beat Carmichael for a few years now only to come up short.
While Carmicheal lost a battle today he didn’t loose the war, and came back in the second moto with a vengeance. The Suzuki rider took the win by a sizable margin over Reed and with it he successfully secured his third overall victory of the year.
When the gate dropped for the first moto Team Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Kevin Windhim jumped out to the early lead with Suzuki rider John Dowd, Reed, Carmichael and Team Kawasaki’s James Stewart in close pursuit. On the second lap Carmichael took over the lead with Reed and Stewart moving past Windham not long after. The stage appeared to be set for another Carmichael runaway. Everything changed when, on the next lap, Carmichael went over the bars stalling his big RM-Z450, he effectively handed the lead over to Reed. Carmichael remounted in seventh. Stewart circulated the course in second with Windham third and Dowd fourth. A few laps later Stewart gave Carmichael a gift when he pulled out of the moto complaining he felt dizzy and lightheaded. It didn’t take long before Carmichael worked his way up to the rear wheel of Windham in second, but by that time Reed was around 20 seconds ahead. In the end Reed crossed the line in front of Carmichael, with Windham in third and Dowd in fourth.
After his defeat in the first moto Carmichael was out to win the second, and he did just that. The start saw Dowd take the holeshot, to the delight of the Southwick fans, while Reed, Windham, Team Maestro/Suzuki’s Jeff Dement, Team MDK’s Nick Wey and Carmichael followed close behind. Dowd led for the first lap, until Reed took over the lead the second time around. Carmichael was not far behind. He worked his way around Dowd, and by the third lap was pressuring Reed for the point position. The two circulated the rough, sandy course together. Until, on the fourth lap, Carmichael made his move for first and never looked back. After that Carmichael pulled out to a substantial lead over the Yamaha rider. Behind Reed was Dowd and then Windham, all alone in fourth. At one point it appeared that Windham was catching the 39-year-old Dowd, but dropped back at the halfway point and settled into fourth. By the time the checkers flew Carmichael had lapped up to seventh place and pulled out to a 29.388 second lead over Reed. Dowd was another minute back in third, while Windham quietly took fourth.
The overall saw Carmichael on top, Reed second and, in his last full season, Dowd third. Windham finished fourth, and local favorite Yamaha mounted Doug Henry rounded out the top-five.
It was anyone’s guess as to who would win the 125 class. Team Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Grant Langston (8) was returning from his ankle injury, Team Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi had just won an overall and Jim’s Cycle Sales/Honda rider Mike Brown was leading the points.
When the opening moto rounded the first turn Alessi was out front with Langston’s teammate Ivan Tedesco, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Mills and Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Tommy Hahn close behind. After the first lap Alessi began to open up a lead over Tedesco. As the moto wore on Alessi and Tedesco began to pull away from the rest of the field. Until around halfway Tedesco began to fade and Alessi opened up his lead. Behind Tedesco Langston was making a charge and on nearly the last lap passed his teammate for second. Then on the final lap Brown made his move on the fading Tedesco for third. When the checkers flew Alessi was 11.310 seconds ahead of Langston, with Brown not far behind in third.
The second moto began with Tedesco taking the holeshot only to be passed by Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Billy Laninovich. Meanwhile, Alessi was buried back in fifth. On lap two Tedesco moved into the lead, Langston took over second and Alessi crashed, effectively ending his race. By the midway point Tedesco was still out front but a mistake in a turn allowed Langston to take over. From there Langston went on to win while Tedesco faded back to fifth. At the finish Langston took first, Team ECC/Honda’s Ryan Hughes charged to second and Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Josh Grant was third.
The overall saw Langston take the win followed by Brown and Hughes.
RESULTS:
125 OVERALL: 1. Grant Langston (Kaw); 2. Mike Brown (Hon); 3. Ryan Hughes (Hon); 4. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 5. Josh Grant (Hon); 6. Tommy Hahn (Hon); 7. Mike Alessi (KTM); 8. Matt Walker (Kaw); 9. Broc Hepler (Suz); 10. Danny Smith (Yam); 11. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 12. Kelly Smith (Yam); 13. Davi Millsaps (Suz); 14. Jason Lawrence (Suz); 15. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 16. Brock Sellards (Yam); 17. Timmy Weigand (Hon); 18. Ryan Mills (KTM); 19. Brett Metcalfe (Yam); 20. Tony Lorusso (Suz); 21. Jacob Morrison (Kaw); 22. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw); 23. Turbo Reif (Hon); 24. Tucker Hibbert (Hon); 25. Jesse Casillas (Hon); 26. Michael Blose (Hon); 27. Jacob Marsack (Hon); 28. Michael Pugrab (Kaw); 29. Josh Summey (Hon); 30. Bobby Kiniry (Hon); 31. Matt Goerke (Suz); 32. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 33. Richie Owens (Suz); 34. Josh Lichtle (Suz); 35. Akira Narita (Hon); 36. Ryan Sipes (Suz); 37. Andrew Short (Hon); 38. Steve Lamson (Hon); 39. Nathan Ramsey (KTM); 40. Nick Evennou (Hon).
250 OVERALL: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. John Dowd (Suz); 4. Kevin Windham (Hon); 5. Doug Henry (Yam); 6. Nick Wey (Hon); 7. Travis Preston (Hon); 8. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 9. Ryan Clark (Hon); 10. Juss Laansoo (Hon); 11. Jeff Dement (Suz); 12. David Vuillemin (Yam); 13. Jason Thomas (Hon); 14. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 15. Scott Carter (Kaw); 16. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 17. Jeff Alessi (KTM); 18. Cole Seibler (Suz); 19. Heath Voss (Yam); 20. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 21. Barry Carsten (Suz); 22. Matthew Burris (Hon); 23. Mark Eastwood (Hon); 24. Jeff Gibson (Hon); 25. Jack Carpenter (Hon); 26. Chri Wisniewski (Hon); 27. Jeff Bryant (Hon); 28. Jason Harper (Suz); 29. Aaron Deiter (Hon); 30. David Ginolfi (Hon); 31. Sean Hamblin (Kaw); 32. Damien Plotts (Hon); 33. Josh Woods (Suz); 34. John Ober (Suz); 35. Keith Johnson (Yam); 36. Tyson Hadsell (Yam); 37. Scott Jendro (Hon); 38. James Stewart (Kaw); 39. Matthew Barnes (KTM); 40. Dylan Lord (Hon).
