Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael Wins Red Bud
--Next up, Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, NY, July 15-16, 2006--
Round 5 – AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series
Buchanan, MI
Red Bud Track ‘n’ Trail
July 1-2, 2006
Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael won his fourth consecutive overall AMA Toyota Motocross race of the 2006 season and extended his points lead at the Red Bud race course in Buchanan, Mich., on Sunday afternoon. The 2006 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Champion and defending AMA Motocross Champion holeshot and won both of his 30-minute Motocross-class motos, resulting in his eighth overall victory at Red Bud. Additionally, this is Carmichael’s 139th combined AMA Supercross/Motocross career victory.
“Sometimes I almost feel like I’d rather get the Racer X holeshot award rather than the win – that’s hard work,” said Carmichael about holeshotting both motos. “I love Red Bud and we had two good races. In the first moto, James (Stewart) and I had a good clean race. The Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 is phenomenal. We’ve made some changes and I’ve got to give it up to my team for giving me such a great bike. In the second moto, I was glad to see James out there. I made a bobble and I got up and tried to make it interesting for the fans. Again, thanks to Makita Suzuki – we’ve been working really hard. It’s been a hell of a weekend and we’ve been trying to get ahead wherever we could.”
In the Motocross Lites class, Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Broc Hepler put in two strong efforts on his Makita Suzuki RM-Z250. Unfortunately several get-offs had him coming home in 12th place overall. In the first 30-minute moto, Hepler was battling for a top-five position when he went down at the end of the race and recovered to finish 13th. In the second moto, he also finished in 13th position.
Broc Hepler:
“The race didn’t go so well for me,” said Hepler afterward. “The Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 was running good and I was up to fifth place in the first moto. But I ended up having a couple of crashes in both motos – I just wasn’t hitting my ruts right and getting through the corners right. But we have next weekend off and some time to work on my conditioning and testing before we come back for Unadilla.”
Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z450, #4
1st Place – Moto 1, 1st Place – Moto 2
1st Place – Red Bud Overall
1st Place -- Overall
Broc Hepler, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z250, #60
13th Place – Moto 1, 13th Place – Moto 2
12th Place – Red Bud Overall
16th Place – Overall
Motocross Top 10 Finishers Overall:
1. Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
2. James Stewart, Kawasaki
3. Chad Reed, Yamaha
4. Kevin Windham, Honda
5. Davi Millsaps, Honda
6. Timmy Ferry, Honda
7. Nick Wey, Honda
8. David Vuillemin, Yamaha
9. Travis Preston, Honda
10. Kyle Lewis, Honda
Motocross Lites Top 10 Finishers Overall:
1. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki
2. Mike Alessi, KTM
3. Andrew McFarlane, Yamaha
4. Josh Grant, Honda
5. Ben Townley, Kawasaki
6. Andrew Short, Honda
7. Brett Metcalfe, Yamaha
8. Troy Adams, Kawasaki
9. Jason Lawrence, Suzuki
10. Paul Carpenter, Honda
