Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael continued to hammer his competition into the ground like a nail into a two-by-four when he won his fourth consecutive THQ AMA Supercross Series main event, before a sellout crowd of 45,050 at the third of the three rounds held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, tonight. The event was round five of the THQ AMA Supercross Series and round seven of the THQ World Supercross GP.
Carmichael didn’t get the holeshot, but it didn’t matter, as he flat dominated the 20-lap main event, winning the race with a whopping 20.275 seconds in hand – nearly half a lap – over second place. Carmichael lapped up to seventh place in the race.
With the win, Carmichael also set a new record for most consecutive AMA Supercross main event wins by a Suzuki rider, four. Former factory Suzuki rider Mark Barnett won three straight en route to the 1981 AMA Supercross title.
Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed, the defending THQ AMA Supercross Champion, overcame a neck injury suffered earlier in the week, a crash in practice and a first-turn pile-up in the main event to finish second. Team Kawasaki’s Michael Byrne finished third to earn his first podium finish of the season.
Byrne actually grabbed the holeshot, followed by Carmichael, Star Racing Yamaha’s Erick Vallejo and American Honda’s Jeremy McGrath, while Reed got snarled up in the first turn and went down, quickly remounting but starting well down in the running order. Seven-time former AMA Supercross Champion McGrath then stumbled in the short rhythm section before the third baseline triple jump and lost two positions. Meanwhile, Carmichael shot by Byrne in the bowl turn by right field foul pole to take over the lead just before completion of lap one.
American Honda’s Kevin Windham suffered another disaster in a main event when he crashed out of the race in a rhythm section on lap two. McGrath then high-sided off the back off of Fonseca and crashed out of the race in the left-hander at the end of the same section one lap later. McGrath was credited with 19th, Windham 20th.
Reed was battling with his temporary Yamaha teammate, Heath Voss, for seventh place by lap five, but it wasn’t long before the champ began to really charge through the field.
American Honda’s Travis Preston took up the chase for third place early in the main event by hounding teammate Ernesto Fonseca for third place on lap seven, but Team Yamaha’s Vuillemin snuck under Preston in same left-hander where Carmichael passed Byrne for the lead, on lap eight.
Reed got by Preston at start of first baseline jump section on lap nine, and then Reed passed Vuillemin on lap 10 before coming after Fonseca and passing him in the whoops to take over third place on lap 11. Reed then chased down Byrne and skipped past him on the step-on step-off section two turns before the finish line before pulling away to a comfortable margin of just under four seconds to ensure the runner-up spot. Byrne would finish just over three seconds ahead of Vuillemin for third.
By the time Reed moved to second, Carmichael was all but gone, having amassed a lead of over 13 seconds by the halfway point and stretching it even further before the checkered flag fell.
The win moved Carmichael into a commanding lead in both the THQ AMA Supercross Series standings and the THQ World Supercross GP standings. Carmichael now leads Reed in the AMA points, 120-91. Carmichael leads Mike LaRocco, who finished sixth tonight, in the THQ World Supercross points, 172-143.
Defending THQ AMA 125cc Western Region Champion Ivan Tedesco became the first repeat winner that his class has seen in five rounds of racing when he took the checkered flag in the 15-lap 125cc main event. Tedesco piloted his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki to a 2.232-second margin of victory over Amsoil/Chaparral/Napster’s Billy Laninovich. Red Bull KTM’s Nathan Ramsey finished third.
Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing’s Danny Smith emerged from the split S-turn section to barely grab the holeshot ahead of San Francisco Supecross winner Laninovich, who came from the other split to run right with him. Tedesco passed both to take the lead before the first triple jump, however. Tedesco put about 2.5 seconds on Laninovich by lap four, and that gap grew when Laninovich got hung up on a hay bale in turn two to start lap five. Tedesco rode his typical flawless race to earn just his second victory of the season.
Ramsey was fourth on the first lap but passed Smith before the race was three laps old to take over third place.
Anaheim III was not so kind to American Honda’s Andrew Short. After two runner-up finishes in the two previous main events, Short suffered a bad start this time and found himself mired deep in the pack, battling with the wrong Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, that of Tedesco’s teammate, Paul Carpenter. Things went from bad to worse for Short when he crashed out of the race in the first whoop section late in the race.
Smith was fourth, followed by his Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing teammate, Brett Metcalfe, who was fifth aboard a Yamaha YZ125, the only two-stroke in the main event.
Tedesco now leads Smith in the Western Region series points standings, 105-76.
Angel Stadium
Anaheim, California
Results: February 5, 2005 (Round 7/5):
250 MAIN (20 laps): 1. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 4. David Vuillemin (Yam); 5. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 6. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 7. Nick Wey (Hon); 8. Travis Preston (Hon); 9. Tyler Evans (Suz); 10. Ryan Clark (Yam); 11. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 12. Damon Huffman (Hon); 13. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 14. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 15. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 16. Jeff Gibson (Hon); 17. Heath Voss (Yam); 18. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 19. Jeremy McGrath (Hon); 20. Kevin Windham (Hon).
Time: 19 min., 34.800 sec.
Margin of victory: 20.275 sec.
THQ AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 16 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (120/4 wins); 2. Chad Reed (Yam); 3. Mike LaRocco (81); 4. Kevin Windham (80/1 win); 5. Ernesto Fonseca (74); 6. Nick Wey (73); 7. David Vuillemin (67); 8. Sebastien Tortelli (65); 9. Michael Byrne (64); 10. Heath Voss (55); 11. Tyler Evans (42); 12. Damon Huffman (35); 13. Jeff Gibson (34); 14. Jeremy McGrath (31); 15. Erick Vallejo (25); 16. Kyle Lewis (20); 17 (TIE) Ryan Clark (19)/Timmy Ferry (19); 19. (TIE) James Stewart (16)/Joe Oehlhof (16).
THQ WORLD SUPERCROSS GP SERIES STANDINGS (After 7 of 18 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (172/6 wins); 2. Mike LaRocco (143); 3. Nick Wey (136); 4. Heath Voss (112); 5. Tyler Evans (98); 6. Damon Huffman (88)/Sebastien Tortelli (88); 8. Erick Vallejo (68); 9. Kyle Lewis (65); 10. Jeff Gibson (63).
125 MAIN (15 laps): 1. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 2. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 3. Nathan Ramsey (KTM); 4. Danny Smith (Yam); 5. Brett Metcalfe (Yam); 6. Tim Weigand (Hon); 7. Josh Woods (Hon); 8. Bryan Johnson (Yam); 9. Ryan Morais (Suz); 10. Jay Marmont (KTM); 11. Sean Collier (Hon); 12. Christopher Gosselaar (Suz); 13. Steve Lamson (Hon); 14. Steve Mertens (Yam); 15. Akira Narita (Hon); 16. Joshua Summey (Hon); 17. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 18. Andrew Short (Hon); 19. Ryan Abrigo (Hon); 20. Kyle Partridge (Suz); 21. Tommy Hahn (Hon); 22. Ryan Sipes (Suz). Time: 15 min., 10.710 sec.
Margin of victory: 2.232 sec.
THQ AMA 125cc WESTERN REGION SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 8 rounds): 1. Ivan Tedesco (105/2 wins); 2. Danny Smith (76); 3. Ryan Sipes (67); 4. Nathan Ramsey (66/1 win); 5. Billy Laninovich (64/1 win); 6. Andrew Short (59); 7. Brett Metcalfe (57); 8. Jay Marmont (50); 9. Tommy Hahn (49); 10. Ryan Morais (46); 11. Christopher Gosselaar (41); 12. Josh Woods (36); 13. (TIE) Steve Lamson (35)/Jesse Casillas (35)/Sean Collier (35); 16. Bryan Johnson (33); 17. Tim Weigand (30); 18. (TIE) Broc Hepler (28/1 win)/Akira Narita (28)/Richie Owens (28).
