Carmichael Keeps Perfect AMA Motocross Championship Season Alive

Red Rider Weekend Race Report
Broome-Tioga Sports Center, Binghamton, NY
Round 10 of the AMA Motocross Championship
25 July 2004

Carmichael Keeps Perfect Season Alive

Mother Nature attempted to take center stage by producing some seriously
nasty weather at Round 10 of the AMA Motocross Championship Series held at
Broome-Tioga Sports Center in Binghamton, New York, but in the end it was
Team Honda's Ricky Carmichael who was the star once again. RC easily won
both motos on his CRF450R in the mud-spattered event, which means his
perfect season continues with his tally now raised to 20 moto victories in
10 events. With only two rounds remaining, Carmichael's perfect record
gives him a commanding 94-point lead over second-place Chad Reed. An
advantage of that magnitude means RC need only net a mid-pack finish in the
first moto in the next round in order to clinch the 2004 MX title, the
fifth AMA 250 Motocross championship of his career.

Heavy rains left standing water on the track by the time practice was
scheduled to begin on Saturday, so the AMA wisely elected to forego
qualifying for the day in order to spare damage to the track. But even that
precaution couldn't prevent the saturated course from rutting up badly by
the time racing go underway on Sunday under sunny skies. With traction at a
premium and a one-line, heavily rutted track in the offering, holeshots
took on paramount importance-and RC delivered, just like the champion he
is. In both motos, the Honda CRF450R adorned with the big number 4
immediately rocketed into the lead, and in both motos Carmichael pulled out
big leads to take the checkers unchallenged.

"The track was like one big rut today," Carmichael said after the race. "I
knew the starts were going to be important and after not getting good
starts at Millville I really concentrated on that today. My bike was set up
really well today and I felt like I could go anywhere I wanted."

In the first moto, Amsoil/Chaparral's Kevin Windham kept his Honda CRF450R
tucked in right behind RC as the two riders lead the field. In due time,
Carmichael pulled out a sizeable gap over KW, and late in the moto a
hard-charging Chad Reed managed to slip by Windham to take the runner-up
podium position.

Moto Two flagged off with Carmichael in the lead once again, but this time
misfortune struck Windham on the first lap when he went down hard on a
tricky downhill triple jump. Although he re-entered the race, the get-off
relegated KW to the back of the pack, and he soldiered on to a credible
12th place by moto's end. Meanwhile, Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca, who had
ridden his CR250R to seventh place in the first moto, tucked into third
place behind Chad Reed. Fonseca soon had his hands full as he fended off
numerous determined probes by Sebastien Tortelli. This hard-fought battle
reached its climax on the last lap when the two riders collided and both
went down. However, their ferocious charge had stretched out a big gap over
fifth place, so Fonseca managed to get remounted first and he went on to
capture the final podium spot, good enough for a fourth-place overall on
the day.

In 125 action, James "Bubba" Stewart clinched the season title with 1-1
moto finishes. Team Honda's Nate Ramsey sat out the Binghamton event with a
possible concussion suffered in practice earlier in the week. However, Team
Amsoil/Chaparral Honda riders Chris Gosselaar and Greg Schnell posted
laudable finishes in seventh and eighth places, respectively.

The series moves to Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pennsylvania, in two
weeks.

AMA 250 Race Results
1. Ricky Carmichael-Honda (1,1)
2. Chad Reed-Yamaha (2,2)
3. Sebastien Tortelli-Suzuki (4,4)
4. Ernesto Fonseca-Honda (7,3)
5. Joaquim Rodrigues-KTM (5,7)
6. Kevin Windham-Honda (3,12)

AMA 250 Overall Points
1. Ricky Carmichael-Honda-500
2. Chad Reed-Yamaha-406
3. Kevin Windham-Honda-384
4. David Vuillemin-Yamaha-316
5. Michael Byrne-Kawasaki-258
6. Ernesto Fonseca-Honda-245

AMA 125 Race Results
1. James Stewart-Kawasaki (1,1)
2. Broc Hepler-Suzuki (2,3)
3. Davi Milsaps-Suzuki (4,2)
4. Michael Brown-Yamaha (3,7)
5. Troy Adams-Kawasaki (8,4)
7. Chris Gosselaar-Honda (6,9)
8. Greg Schnell-Honda (7,10)

AMA 125 Overall Points
1. James Stewart-Kawasaki-475
2. Broc Hepler-Suzuki-338
3. Michael Brown-Kawasaki-320
4. Nathan Ramsey-Honda-250
5. Matt Walker-Kawasaki-226