Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael claimed a two-moto sweep at round nine of the AMA 250 National Motocross Championship at Spring Creek Motocross Park in Millville, Minnesota, today, and in doing so, extended his amazing run of consecutive overall wins, the longest in AMA motocross history, to 24. The 25-year-old is now nine for nine in overall wins for the year and has a virtual lock on the 250cc championship title chase.
Second overall, and the only rider to pressure Carmichael at all, was Amsoil/Chaparral/Honda’s Kevin Windham, who went 2-2 for the day. Windham lead briefly during the first lap of the second moto before Carmichael got around going into the sandy whoop section, and except for that, it was basically an easy day for Carmichael, while Windham ran all alone in second for the majority of both motos.
The battle for third overall was the most interesting race of the day and it was between Team Honda riders Travis Preston and Ernesto Fonseca. Preston turned in a superb first moto, passing PPG/Motoworldracing.com’s Matthew Goerke late in the race to finish third, behind Carmichael and Windham, while Unbound Energy/MDK Motorsports’ Nick Wey and Fonseca rounded out the top six.
In moto two, Fonseca and Team Yamaha’s David Vuillemin battled over the third-place position, while Preston worked his way up from a 14th place start.
Late in the race, Vuillemin passed Fonseca for third, while Preston moved up into sixth. Had the moto ended that way, Preston would have finished third overall, with Fonseca fourth overall. However, Fonseca and Vuillemin collided on the final lap with Vuillemin going down, giving Fonseca third for the moto and third overall.
The very disappointed Preston ended up fourth overall, while Nick Wey claimed one of his best finishes in a while, going 5-5 for fifth overall.
Carmichael now leads Windham by 89 points, 444-355, with only three rounds remaining. Vuillemin (284); Fonseca (281) and Chad Reed (258) finish out the top five.
In the 125cc class, Team Honda’s Andrew Short took his first win of the outdoor season with a 1-1 score. KTM’s Mike Alessi, who finished second in moto one, looked to be on track for the overall, after grabbing the second-moto holeshot and leading for the first eight laps, before Short found a way around. Team Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Grant Langston also found his way around Alessi and ended the moto in second.
Alessi, however, finished second overall with a 2-3 score, while Josh Grant put together a 3-4 performance for third overall.
Team Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco still leads the points standings after Millville with 332 points, despite finishing fifth overall, while Short (281) and Alessi (276) are sitting second and third, respectively.
250 OVERALL: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 4. Travis Preston (Hon); 5. Nick Wey (Hon); 6. David Vuillemin (Yam); 7. John Dowd (Suz); 8. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 9. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 10. Sean Collier (Hon); 11. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 12. Matthew Goerke (Suz); 13. Jeff Dement (Suz); 14. Cole Siebler (Hon); 15. Clark Stiles (Suz); 16. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 17. Casey Johnson (Suz); 18. Ryan Clark (Hon); 19. Brian Gray (Hon); 20. Jason Thomas (Hon); 21. Sean Hamblin (Kaw); 22. Brad Modjewski (Suz); 23. Jiri Dostal (Hon); 24. Dennis Stapleton (Hon); 25. Matthew Burris (Hon); 26. Chris Gosselaar (Suz); 27. Kyle Mace (Hon); 28. Barry Carston (Suz); 29. Jacob Marsack (Hon); 30. Mark Eastwood (Hon); 31. Vernon McKiddie (Suz); 32. Brandon Butler (Hon); 33. Chad Ward (Yam); 34. Brad Smith (Suz); 35. Brian Mason (Hon); 36. Eric Nye (Yam); 37. William Browning (Suz); 38. Levi Reid (Suz); 39. Tim Weigand (Hon); 40. Mark Corder (KTM).
125 OVERALL: 1. Andrew Short (Hon); 2. Mike Alessi (KTM); 3. Josh Grant (Hon); 4. Grant Langston (Kaw); 5. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 6. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 7. Matt Walker (Kaw); 8. David Millsaps (Suz); 9. Thomas Hahn (Hon); 10. Ryan Sipes (Suz); 11. Kelly Smith (Yam); 12. Jeff Alessi (KTM); 13. Ryan Mills (KTM); 14. Jason Lawrence (Suz); 15. Mike Brown (Hon); 16. Joaquim Rodrigues (Hon); 17. Tucker Hibbert (Hon); 18. Jesse Casillas (Hon); 19. Brock Sellards (Yam); 20. Robet Kiniry (Hon); 21. Brett Metcalfe (Yam); 22. Richie Owens (Suz); 23. Ryan Hughes (Hon); 24. Danny Smith (Yam); 25. Michael Blose (Hon); 26. Chris Pugrab (Kaw); 27. Cody Gilmore (Kaw); 28. Andrew Bakken (Yam); 29. Clayton Miller (Yam); 30. Justin Brayton (Suz); 31. Tanner Reidman (Suz); 32. Donnie McGourty (Hon); 33. Broc Hepler (Suz); 34. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 35. Michael Pugrab (Kaw); 36. Teddy Maier (Kaw); 37. Kyle Garro (Hon); 38. Steve Boniface (Hon); 39. Michael Sleeter (KTM); 40. Ty Morrow (Hon).
