Red Riders clinch two championships on Labor Day weekend

Red Rider Weekend Report
5 September 2004
Road Race-Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA
MX-Steele City, Belmont, PA

Carmichael wins the 250 Championship at Steel City, Duhamel takes the FX
crown at Road Atlanta

The last weekend of summer saw team Honda's road racers visiting the Peach
state of Georgia, where Miguel Duhamel clinched the Formula Xtreme
Championship with the 79th victory of his amazing career. Duhamel won by a
margin of .210 seconds over teammate Erion Honda's Jake Zemke, giving Honda
its fifth FX championship. While Duhamel was busy racking up his seventh
AMA title, team Honda's Ricky Carmichael was wrapping up his fifth
consecutive 250 motocross championship at Steel City Raceway in Belmont,
PA. Carmichael again won both motos on the CRF450R four-stroke by huge
margins to keep his perfect season going with only one round remaining in
the 2004 motocross season. Amsoil/Chaparral Honda's Kevin Windham took
second at Steel City, and 16-year-old privateer rookie Mike Alessi took
third overall on a production Honda CRF450R.

Road Atlanta

Road Atlanta hosted round 10 of the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship, and
Duhamel made his intentions known by taking pole with the 1.26.120 lap
time. At the drop of the green flag the CBR600RRs of Duhamel and Zemke
charged ahead of the field. With one race remaining after Road Atlanta,
Miguel only had to finish in the top-ten to take the title, but he was not
going to settle for anything less than the win. Despite a red flag that
cost him an early lead, Duhamel battled back to the front to engage in a
race-long battle with Zemke. Duhamel, always the hunter, saved the best for
last position back and forth with Zemke and saved the best for last,
slingshoting around Zemke on the final lap to take the checkers and yet
another national championship.

"My hat's off to Jake," said the smiling Duhamel. "He ran a really great
race, gave me plenty of room. I tried to do the same. It was really tight
racing.  I'm just really happy to be a part of the Honda team. The CBR600RR
won the championship and my guys worked really hard. We had a tough year
against Jake for sure and I'm just really happy to be here."

In the first race of the weekend's Superbike double-header, Duhamel and
teammate Ben Bostrom battled for the lead early with Mat Mladin, but the
Honda duo lost touch with the lead mid way through the race. Once into
lapped traffic, Duhamel used his passing mastery to close the gap on
Mladin. On lap 22, Duhamel stuck a wheel alongside the Aussie, but lapped
traffic worked against Duhamel making the pass stick. Duhamel would have to
settle for a close second. Bostrom, also balked by lapped traffic, finished
third while Zemke, suffering from set-up problems that robbed him of
traction throughout the race, finished forth.

 "At the end I had an outside chance coming into the chicane," said
Duhamel. "I went wide hoping they'd (lapped traffic) go in tight because
Mat was going in tight, but it didn't work out. I didn't want to do
anything too crazy coming down the hill because it was too tight anyway. I
just came up a little short."

Said Bostrom of his third-place finish: "It was quite fun, actually. We
just need a little better start so we can race with these guys, but at
least we had Jake and Aaron out there to race with most the race. I was
wishing I was up with the leaders, but they were going too fast to run
down. The bike was fantastic and the tires were great. It was set up really
well, we just need the rider to get a better start and go quicker."

Sunday's Superbike race kicked off with Duhamel taking the holeshot, but
not for long before teammate Bostrom would claim the lead. As the two
charged ahead, Mat Mladin was carving his way through the field and took
the lead on lap six. A few laps later, Bostrom was nearly forced off the
track by lapped traffic, allowing Duhamel to get by for second, and from
then on, the order remained the same to the checkers, with Zemke again
battling set-up difficulties and finishing fourth.

"It was a little bit tougher race today," said Duhamel. "It was hotter and
seemed a little trickier on the tires. But everybody was in the same boat
so we just tried to do our best. Traffic was pretty bad for everybody, but
that's how it goes, you know?"

"These guys rode better than I did and they won," said Bostrom. "Mat was
fantastic all weekend, the man to beat. He deserved to win, and Miguel was
right there pushing hard every day. He's a great rider."

AMA Motocross

The Steel City motocross kicked off in front of a capacity crowd, and when
the gate dropped in the 250 race, it was Honda-mounted Kyle Lewis who
grabbed the hole shot. But his lead would be short lived as Ricky
Carmichael immediately charged to the front and pulled his patented
disappearing act. This time, a huge pile-up at the start added even more
distance to RC's win margin, as the crash took out Kevin Windham and Chad
Reed, RC's closest rivals all season. As a result, RC took his 21st win of
the season and clinched the 250 championship after beating the field by a
whopping 1.03.593 seconds.

"This winter, while recovering from knee surgery, I just sat in front of
the T.V. watching Supercross and dreaming about getting back to this
point," said Carmichael. "I want to thank everyone who helped me get to
this point. Winning five straight 250 championships is something I never
imagined I could do when I started racing."

Windham escaped injury in the first turn pile-up, and charged up from fifth
to take second. Team Honda's Ernesto Fonseca, got off the gate in the
middle of the field and was able to take his CR250R to an eighth place
finish. Alessi, in only his second professional start, took his production
CRF450R to a fifth place finish in the first moto.

Carmichael's perfect season continued in moto two with a holeshot ahead of
Reed and Windham. RC built on his early lead to win once again without
drama. "I'm looking forward to Glen Helen," said Carmichael. "I want to
concentrate on the win streak now, and it's going to be a hot weekend at
Glen Helen."

Windham managed to finish second overall. "I'm happy to get second overall
today," said Windham. "I can't wait to get to Glen Helen and battle for
second in the championship; we're only seven points behind."

Alessi took third overall. "It's awesome to be up here with these guys,"
said Alessi. "I didn't want that crash in the first moto to ruin my day
again like it did at Millville a few weeks ago so I gave it everything I
had to come back. I was pretty exhausted by the second moto." Fonseca
finished fifth overall.

Steel City saw the return of Jeremy McGrath, who had a rough day finishing
20th overall (15,32). In the first moto, McGrath got caught up in the
first-turn pile-up and started near the back off the field, working his way
up to 15th at the finish. A mechanical failure took him out of the second
moto, but he was able to score points to keep his famous #2 for the 2005
AMA Supercross Series.

"I had a little mechanical problem," said McGrath. "I'm kinda bummed; I
wanted to finish better. I got running pretty darn good, especially after
the first moto. Those were the hardest points I ever earned in my life."

In 125 race action, Chris Gosselaar was the man of the day, finishing
fourth overall. His Amsoil/Chaparral Honda teammate, Ryan Mills, finished
8th overall, followed by Greg Schnell in ninth. Notably, Tommy Hahn, in his
first national race, finished 11th overall.

The final round of the 2004 AMA Motocross season will be at Glen Helen
Raceway Park, in California, while the AMA Superbike championship will wrap
up at Virginia International Raceway in Virginia. Can Duhamel, Bostrom or
Zemke take the Superbike title? Can Carmichael keep his perfect season
going? Stay tune for all the race details.

AMA Formula Xtreme Results
1. Miguel Duhamel-Honda
2. Jake Zemke-Honda
3. Doug Chandler-Ducati
4. Jason Pridmore-Suzuki
5. Larry Pegram-Yamaha
21. Alex Gobert-Honda

AMA Formula Xtreme Points Standings
1. Miguel Duhamel-Honda-358
2. Jake Zemke-Honda-307
3. Alex Gobert-Honda-254
4. Vincent Haskovec-Suzuki-231
5. Larry Pegram-Yamaha-215

AMA Superbike Results (Saturday)
1. Mat Mladin-Suzuki
2. Miguel Duhamel-Honda
3. Ben Bostrom-Honda
4. Jake Zemke-Honda
5. Aaron Yates-Suzuki

AMA Superbike Results (Sunday)
1. Mat Mladin-Suzuki
2. Miguel Duhamel-Honda
3. Ben Bostrom-Honda
4. Jake Zemke-Honda
5. Josh Hayes-Kawasaki

AMA Superbike Overall Points
1. Mat Mladin-Suzuki-532
2. Jake Zemke-Honda-490
3. Miguel Duhamel-Honda-477
4. Ben Bostrom-Honda-364
5. Geoff May-Suzuki-344

AMA 250 Overall Results
1. Ricky Carmichael-Honda-(1,1)
2. Kevin Windham-Honda-(2,3)
3. Mike Alessi-Honda-(5,4)
4. Sebastein Tortelli-Suzuki-(4,6)
5. Ernesto Fonseca-Honda-(8,7)

Overall AMA 250 Points
1. Ricky Carmichal-Honda-550
2. Chad Reed-Yamaha-432
3. Kevin Windham-Honda-426
4. David Vuillemin-Yamaha-336
5. Michael Byrne-Kawasaki-282
6. Ernesto Fonseca-Honda-272

AMA 125 Overall Results
1. James Stewart-Kawasaki-(1,1)
2. Broc Hepler-Suzuki-(3,5)
3. Troy Adams-Kawasaki-(7,3)
4. Chris Gosselaar-Honda-(5,4)
5. Matt Walker-Kawasaki-(2,10)
8. Ryan Mills-Honda-(4, 15)
9. Greg Schnell-Honda-(8, 11)

AMA 125 Overall Points
1. James Stewart-Kawasaki-525
2. Broc Hepler-Suzuki-375
3. Michael Brown-Yamaha-342
4. Matt Walker-Kawasaki-259
5. Nathan Ramsey-Honda-250
9. Josh Grant-Honda-200
10. Ryan Mills-Honda-198
12. Chris Gosselaar-Honda-182
13. Greg Schnell-Honda-167