Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael Wins Southwick & Extends MX Points Lead

June 13, 2006, 5:24am

Round 3 – AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series
Southwick, MA
Motocross 338
June 10 -11, 2006

Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael won his second consecutive AMA Toyota Motocross of the 2006 season at Southwick on Sunday afternoon in New England. Taking second place in the first moto and first place in the second moto, Carmichael captured his ninth career overall Southwick victory and extended his points lead in the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship.

In the first 30-minute moto, the defending AMA Motocross Champion and his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 were running in second place right off the bat. Pacing the leader for the first 10 laps, Carmichael made a strong pass to take over the lead. Although he went down with just a few laps to go, he remounted and charged hard, going from 30 seconds behind first place to just three seconds behind first place in a mere two laps.

In the afternoon’s second moto at sandy Southwick, Carmichael continued his winning ways by taking the lead within the first five laps. The newly crowned AMA Supercross Champion created a gap over the rest of the field, and won the moto with almost 20 seconds over second place.

“The Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 was awesome today,” said Carmichael. “You know what? We’re just going keep on trying, and trying to put these motos together. That’s all we can do, that and put on a good show for the fans. I’m just out there doing my best. To be honest, I don’t even ride in the sand any more. My track has a decent amount, but it’s not sandy like this place is. But I did grow up as mini-bike rider in the sand and everything. I think this race just basically comes down to how strong you are really. You’ve got to have speed obviously to win, but how strong you are -- that was my strong point today.”

Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z450, #4
2nd Place – Moto 1, 1st Place – Moto 2
1st Place – Southwick Overall
1st Place -- Overall

Motocross Top 10 Finishers Overall:

Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
Chad Reed, Yamaha
Davi Millsaps, Honda
James Stewart, Kawasaki
Kevin Windham, Honda
John Dowd, Suzuki
Tim Ferry, Honda
Nick Wey, Honda
Travis Preston, Honda
Ryan Clark, Honda

Motocross Lites Top 10 Finishers Overall:

Andrew Short, Honda
Brett Metcalfe, Yamaha
Mike Alessi, KTM
Andrew McFarlane, Yamaha
Josh Grant, Honda
Matt Goerke, Yamaha
Kyle Chisolm, Kawasaki
Jason Lawrence, Suzuki
Grant Langston, Kawasaki
Nathan Ramsey, KTM