Ricky Carmichael put another exclamation point on another 250cc outdoor National MX Series with his 12th straight overall victory and his third undefeated season in the overall category. The Team Makita Suzuki rider cruised through the whole weekend, posting lap times up to five seconds quicker than anybody else. And when the gate dropped for the real thing today, Carmichael simply dominated. He took the leads on the first lap of both motos and ran off with the wins pretty much unchallenged.
Team Amsoil Chaparral Honda’s Kevin Windham gave Carmichael a bit of a race in the first moto before slipping off the pace, though he still finished well ahead of the third place finisher, Team Yamaha’s David Vuillemin, who finished ahead of series rival Ernesto Fonsca. The two factory riders went into the Glen Helen round tied for third place in the series points standings.
In the second moto, Fonseca got into second with Honda teammate Windham in third and Vuillemin in fourth. Fonseca held Windham at bay, though Windham did not seem to be too concerned about passing his fellow Honda rider, knowing that if he had, it would jeopardize Fonseca’s finish in the series. Fonseca went on to finish second in the moto to take second overall on the day and third in the series. Windham finished third overall, while Vuillemin finished fourth and fourth in the series.
The 125cc-class championship was still on the line at the final round, though Team Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco seemed to have a lock on the title. However, a crash in the first moto left him out of the points in the moto, and with second-in-points Mike Alessi winning, things got a lot closer and very interesting going into the final moto of the year.
As it turned out, both Tedesco and Alessi, on the Red Bull KTM, crashed together on the first lap, and they recovered deep in the field. Tedesco got going first and went on to finish ahead of Alessi to wrap up his first 125cc outdoor MX title. Alessi, who was running well behind Tedesco on the last lap, crashed with another rider before taking the checkered flag and did not finish.
Taking the overall win on the day was Tedesco’s teammate Grant Langston, who went 2-1 on the day. Finishing second overall was another Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto, who went 3-2. Team Honda’s Andrew Short got on the podium in third with a 4-3.
Due to scoring problems, the AMA has not yet released official results for the 125cc class.
Results:
250: 1. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 4. David Vuillemin (Yam); 5. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 6. Travis Preston (Hon); 7. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 8. Ryan Hughes (Suz); 9. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 10. Jeff Dement (Suz); 11. Sean Collier (Hon); 12. Ryan Clark (Hon); 13. Richie Owens (Suz); 14. Jason Thomas (Hon); 15. Sean Hamblin (Kaw); 16. Josh Woods (Suz); 17. Ryan Abrigo (Hon); 18. Casey Johson (Suz); 19. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 20. Michael Young (Hon).
