The Stewart/Carmichael Duel Continues This Weekend in Anaheim

February 2, 2006, 1:14pm

AURORA, Ill. (February 2, 2006) – The plot continues to thicken in the 2006-06 Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series as Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael and Kawasaki’s James Stewart lead a field of world’s best supercross riders for a final visit to Angel Stadium in Anaheim this Saturday (Feb. 4).

After claiming a wet and soggy win last weekend in San Francisco, Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., has regained the momentum from Carmichael as the two continue their see-saw battle. Stewart now has four wins on the season, including two Canadian victories and the win at the first Anaheim race, while Carmichael, of Havana, Fla., strung together victories at Anaheim 2 and Phoenix.

By virtue of his success in Canada, Stewart holds a four point lead over Carmichael in the Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP standings, but its Carmichael who holds a two-point advantage over Stewart in the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series standings.

The two riders seem to push each other each week and continue to raise the bar for the rest of the field, including Yamaha’s Chad Reed, of Dade City, Fla., who had a difficult time in the San Francisco rain and dropped back in the standings.

So what is it going to take for one rider to break away from the other?

“I think we’re both on the same page and running a good pace,” said Stewart at last week’s post-race press conference on Supercross LIVE!. “I think it’s going to (come down to) who’s the smartest … he’s got a lot of years and I learned a lot from last year. So I don’t see anything really separating us except for (the) 18 or 19 laps to see who’s going to gut it out.”

This week’s winner could be aided by some very important historical data: The 2006 season marks the sixth consecutive year that Angel Stadium in Anaheim has hosted three supercross races; and four of those times the winner of Anaheim 3 has gone on to win the championship. Carmichael accomplished the feat in 2001-03 and 2005.

Last year Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael, of Havana, Fla., picked up his fourth consecutive World Supercross GP/AMA Supercross Series win in front of a sold out crowd of 45,050 fans at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Carmichael became the only Suzuki rider in history to win four consecutive 250cc main events. Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco, of Murrieta, Calif., won his second 125cc Western Regional AMA Supercross Series race of the year.