Ricky Carmichael dominated the first qualifying moto for tomorrow’s Motocross of Nations. The first race, the MX1 class, saw Carmichael jump out to an early lead, but he felt some early pressure by South Africa’s Grant Langston.
Langston stayed close but RC started to gradually pull away, then Carmichael cross-rutted in a trick off-camber turn and fell, handing Langston the lead. But not for long.
A little over a lap later, Carmichael shot passed Langston and steadily pulled away from the recently crowned AMA MX-class National Champion. Carmichael ended up finishing well ahead of Langston, who finished second.
Third in the moto, but well behind the two front-runner was Italy’s David Philippaerts. Germany’s Nagl Maximilian finished fourth, followed by Steve Ramon and Sebastien Pourcel of France.
Ramon had a good dice with Great Britain’s Billy Mackenzie before both riders ran into troubles. Mackenzie went down and Roman got run off the track by a lapped Chad Reed.
Reed had a miserable race. The Australian fell on the first lap, got up midpack and then struggled to get around Japan’s Akira Narita, which he never did. He later fell a couple of more times before pulling into the mechanic’s area. Moments later, he re-entered the race, and eventually crossed the finish line a few laps down.
MX1 Qualifying Results:
1. Ricky Carmichael – USA (Suz)
2. Grant Langston – South Africa (Yam)
3. David Philippaerts – Italy (KTM)
4. Maximillian Nagle – Germany (KTM)
5. Steve Ramon – Belgium (Suz)
6. Sebastien Pourcel – France (Kaw)
7. Jonathan Barragan – Spain (KTM)
8. Billy Mackenzie – Great Britain (Kaw)
9. Julien Bill – Switzerland (Hon)
10. Akira Narita – Japan (Yam)
