Carmichael, Alessi and Grant snag first $500 Racer X Illustrated Holeshot Awards
Morgantown, WV – The opening round of the 2006 AMA/Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF marked the debut of the Racer X Illustrated Holeshot Award, which hands $500 over to the holeshot winner in each of the 48 AMA Motocross and AMA Motocross Lites motos this season.
At the
season opener at Hangtown, Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael snagged both Racer
X Holeshot awards on his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 in the AMA Motocross class,
although he apparently tripped on the holeshot line in moto one and went down
moments after securing the bonus! Carmichael was obviously not content with the
$500, because he promptly remounted and charged all the way back up to third
place. He grabbed the holeshot again in moto two to take another $500, but this
time he never looked back and snagged the moto win for second overall behind
James Stewart. 
Ricky Carmichael grabs $500 in Racer X Holeshot money.
TFS photo
The AMA Motocross Lites class kicked the series off at Hangtown, and it’s fitting that Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi, who at just 18 years old is already regarded as one of the best starters in the history of the sport, took the very first $500. Alessi used his holeshot to win the race. In moto two, Sobe/Samsung Honda’s Josh Grant grabbed the $500 check by inching ahead of Alessi, who would go on to win the moto and the overall.
Racer X Illustrated will hand out Racer X Holeshot awards in all 48 motos this season, a total of $24,000. In addition, the Racer X Gas Card is handed out at each round of the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series, and the Racer X Holeshot award is handed out at each round of the Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series.
