Carmichael Takes Budds Creek Win

AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship
Round 5: Budds Creek, Maryland
June 15, 2003

Carmichael rocks to Budds Creek win

Budds Creek Motocross Park in Maryland is another stop on the AMA/Chevy
Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship circuit that Ricky Carmichael has
dominated over the past half decade. It all started in 1997, Carmichael's
rookie season, when the 125cc overall win went the way of the sports' new
talent. The only blemish to Carmichael's Budds Creek record came in 1999
when Honda CR125R-mounted Tallon Vohland upstaged the young champion. Since
then, the 250-mounted Carmichael has been relentless at the venue and under
studied by no one. His latest Budds Creek victory, not of typical
Carmichael run away fashion, reminded his competitors that the nine-time
champ can get the job done the old fashion way - by racing patiently and
consistently within the field and using a 2-1 moto score to capture the
overall.

Instead of going to the front early in the first moto, Carmichael gated
inside the top five and followed the holeshot led by Factory Connection
Honda CRF450F-mounted Kevin Windham. Coincidentally, before Carmichael
moved up to the 250 ranks, Windham is the last man to have won the
quarter-liter class at Budds Creek. Once the chaos of the first few laps
was out of the way, Windham and Carmichael trailed only Tim Ferry, who was
biding for his first win of the year. Surrounded by Hondas, Ferry's lead
was slim until a rare Carmichael crash on a slick corner of the course left
some breathing room.

"The track was unusual this weekend," said Honda Motocross Team Manager
Erik Kehoe. "It rained in the days prior to the race, so on the morning of
the race they scraped all the deep mud off the track and that all ended up
in the turns. That left the corners really muddy and the rest of the track
hard and rough. It made tire selection kind of tough."

After falling over, Carmichael got up quickly and closed the gap on Ferry.
He came within 1.24 seconds of taking the lead, but Ferry was able to hold
on and handed the #4 Honda CR250R only its second moto loss this season.
Windham ended the opening moto in third.

No sooner did the gate drop for the second moto than a good chunk of the
40-man field did too. A first turn crash claimed Windham, Ferry and a
collection of other riders, including MotoXXX/Yoshimura's Larry Ward, who
is usually good for a holeshot himself. Instead of the Honda CRF450Rs of
Windham or Ward arcing into the first turn with the lead, it was Team
Honda's Nate Ramsey taking holeshot honors. He also took Carmichael with
him and it wasn't long before Ramsey was out-cornered by his determined
teammate. From there, it was business as usual for Carmichael.

"I hate to see so many guys go down in the first turn," said Carmichael,
"but it also makes my job a lot easier. It was also nice to see Nate Dog
[Ramsey] up front again. He's really coming along. I guess if I can't
holeshot, someone else on the team is the next best thing."

Ramsey's consistent climb from a rehabilitating broken femur to running up
front aboard his CRF450R resulted in a 14-6 moto tally, which netted him
eighth overall. Just ahead of Ramsey in sixth was his Honda teammate
Ernesto Fonseca, who finished ninth in the first moto and then ran in the
top five for much of the second moto before colliding with Chad Reed. After
hitting the ground, Fonseca regrouped, advanced some more and then fell
again in the same area that his first crash occurred. He soldiered on to
finish the moto in eighth and still posted his highest overall placing of
the young series.

And what of Windham, who was involved in the first turn pile up? He
finished the moto an amazing fourth place, just seven seconds behind Reed,
who finished the moto in third place. Windham's third and fourth place moto
finishes were strong enough for third overall behind runner-up Stephane
Roncada, who trailed Windham in the opening bout and then managed a second
place finish to Carmichael in moto two.

Of all the usual drama that unfolds at any given outdoor National,
Amsoil/Chaparral/Factory Connection's Mike LaRocco, suffered the most. In
the first moto LaRocco took his CR250R to a respective seventh place, but
early in the second moto, the Indianan suffered a horrible crash.

"I didn't think he was going to be able to finish the moto," said Kehoe.
"He went down hard and it shook him up pretty good."

LaRocco, who has made a career out of being tough, did get up and went from
dead last on the second lap to 21st on the 15th and final lap. He still
finished 13th overall and stayed fifth in the point standings. LaRocco's
Factory Connection Honda CR125R-mounted teammates actually faired worse
than him during 125 competition, bad starts and crashes being the culprit.
The highest placing of Michael Byrne, Chris Gosselaar and Ryan Mills, was
Bryne, who went 21-10 for 16th overall. Gosselaar and Mills finished 20th
and 28th overall.

Carmichael and the rest of the Red Riders now head to Buchanan, Michigan's
Red Bud Track n' Trail for round six of the series on July 6. Not only
Carmichael, but Windham and Ward have also won at Red Bud in the past.


250 Overall Results:
1. Ricky Carmichael (2, 1) - Honda
2. Stephane Roncada (4, 2) - Suzuki
3. Kevin Windham (3, 4) - Honda
4. Chad Reed (5, 3) - Yamaha
5. David Vuillemin (6, 5) - Yamaha
6. Ernesto Fonseca (9, 8) - Honda
8. Nathan Ramsey (14, 6) - Honda
12. Clark Stiles (16, 10) - Honda
13. Mike LaRocco (7, 21) - Honda
14. Larry Ward (8, 39) - Honda
16. Kyle Lewis (19, 13) - Honda
20. Jason Thomas (20, 15) - Honda
23. Damien Plotts (17, 37) - Honda


250 AMA Motocross Points Standings:
1. Ricky Carmichael - Honda - 244
2. Kevin Windham - Honda - 191
3. Chad Reed - Yamaha - 186
4. Tim Ferry - Yamaha - 174
5. Mike LaRocco - Honda - 138
9. Ernesto Fonseca - Honda - 103
10. Larry Ward - Honda - 100
12. Nathan Ramsey - Honda - 74
15. (Tie) Kyle Lewis - Honda/Clark Stiles - Honda - 45

125 Overall Results:
1. James Stewart (1, 1) - Kawasaki
2. Grant Langston (2, 3) - KTM
3. Ivan Tedesco (6, 2) - Yamaha
4. Mike Brown (5, 5) - Kawasaki
5. Eric Sorby (7, 6) - Kawasaki
16. Michael Byrne (21, 10) - Honda
20. Chris Gosselaar (16, 39) - Honda
28. Ryan Mills (23, 31) - Honda

125 AMA Motocross Point Standings:
1. Mike Brown - Kawasaki - 188
2. Grant Langston - KTM - 173
3. Ryan Hughes - KTM - 151
4. Eric Sorby - Kawasaki - 145
5. Brock Sellards - Yamaha - 117
8. Michael Byrne - Honda - 104
13. (Tie) Chris Gosselaar - Honda/Stephane Roncada - Suzuki - 77
19. Ryan Mills - Honda - 49