Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Carmichael Celebrates Record-Setting Victory at Millville
--Next up, Broome-Tioga Sports Center in Binghamton, NY, Aug. 20, 2006--
Round 9 – AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series
Millville, MN
Spring Creek MX Park
August 13, 2006
Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael became the first rider in the U.S. to ever lap an entire Motocross-class field at Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minn., on Sunday afternoon. After Carmichael won the first 30-minute MX moto of the day, a heavy downpour created swamp-like conditions for the second moto. In spite of this, the defending AMA Motocross champion persevered and went on to lap the second-place rider before taking the moto win and the overall victory. This is Carmichael’s 142nd combined AMA Supercross/Motocross career win.
“It was a great race and I felt good. I knew the holeshot was important, and mine haven’t been so great lately. Getting a good start is super, super important, and I did what I had to do. The Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 came through and I just kept trying to plug away. Mostly, I was just concerned about making it through the moto and making the bike last.”
In the Motocross Lites class, Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Broc Hepler picked up his first moto win and overall victory of the season after finishing third in the first moto and winning the second one. Hepler’s newly signed teammate Ryan Dungey gave an extremely impressive performance in his first Pro AMA Motocross National. The young Minnesota rider rode his Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 to two top-10 moto finishes for a seventh-place overall result.
“It was fun race. It was great being out front on my Makita Suzuki RM-Z250. I rode in rain just like this two weeks ago when I was practicing so I was prepared. Now I’m moving up in the points so I’ll get a better gate pick next week at Binghamton and that will help. Also, Binghamton has been good to me in the last few years, so I’m looking forward to it.”
“The Millville race was really cool, partly because I didn’t expect to do as well as I did. It was great to walk out of there with a top-10 finish in my debut on the Makita Suzuki team. Binghamton is next and I’ve never raced there before. I’m really excited about the race and also about the opportunity to learn a new track.”
Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z450, #4
1st Place – Moto 1, 1st Place – Moto 2
1st Place – Millville Overall
1st Place -- Overall
Broc Hepler, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z250, #60
3rd Place – Moto 1, 1st – Moto 2
1st Place – Millville Overall
7th Place – Overall
Ryan Dungey, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z250, #142
8th Place – Moto 1, 8th – Moto 2
7th Place – Millville Overall
28th Place – Overall
Motocross Top 10 Finishers Overall:
Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
David Vuillemin, Yamaha
Kevin Windham, Honda
James Stewart, Kawasaki
Mike Brown, Suzuki
Travis Preston, Honda
Josh Demuth, Honda
Kyle Lewis, Honda
Davi Millsaps, Honda
Chad Reed, Yamaha
Motocross Lites Top 10 Finishers Overall:
Broc Hepler, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
Andrew Short, Honda
Mike Alessi, KTM
Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki
Matt Goerke, Yamaha
Josh Grant, Honda
Ryan Dungey, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
Paul Carpenter, Honda
Danny Smith, Honda
Brett Metcalfe, Yamaha
