Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael Clinches AMA Toyota MX Championship
--Next up, Steel City Raceway in Delmont, PA, Sept. 3, 2006--
Round 10 – AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series
Binghamton, NY
Broome-Tioga Sports Center
August 20, 2006
Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ricky Carmichael clinched his 10th consecutive AMA Motocross Championship after winning the first 30-minute Motocross-class moto at Broome-Tioga in Binghamton, NY, on Sunday. Not satisfied to cruise after that, the newly crowned champion went on to win the second moto to take his eighth overall AMA Toyota MX victory for the season.
This championship is a particular milestone for Carmichael, because he will only race select races for Makita Suzuki next year. Carmichael’s impressive resume includes the 10 consecutive AMA Motocross titles – seven 250cc/Motocross and three 125cc titles. In fact, Carmichael has never lost an Outdoor title defense in his professional career.
This 2006 Motocross championship is his 15th AMA title and his 17th career title, and includes five AMA Supercross titles and the 2005 World Supercross title. In 2004, Carmichael won the 250 AMA Motocross Champion with a perfect season. Prior to that, in 1998, he won the 125 East Coast title and celebrated the only 125 SX perfect season in history. Carmichael led Team USA to victory in the 2005 Motocross des Nations and he has been the AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel Athlete of the Year an amazing four times. Finally, this is Carmichael’s 143rd combined SX/MX career win.
“Winning another motocross championship is awesome. It was hard-fought, there was tough competition and I’m happy to do it. I never expected to do this, I don’t think anyone at Suzuki expected to have the run we’ve had. We’ve been really fortunate and we’ve made our own luck and done really good as a team. That’s what it takes at this level. Now I’m just looking forward to racing for fun and putting on some good shows for the fans.
“The way I look at it, if I keep racing I’m going to get beat. That’s the same with everybody. You have to know when your time is, and you can’t be greedy. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished but now I have some other opportunities and other challenges. I’m looking forward to racing just to race and to helping Suzuki. I’m happy to go out on top and that’s all that matters.”
Also in the Motocross class, Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Ivan Tedesco returned to competition after surgery and 11 weeks off. The Makita Suzuki rider suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the 2006 AMA Supercross season and has been recuperating for the last few months. Despite this, Tedesco gave a strong performance and finished ninth overall.
“I don’t think I was ready to come back. I struggled with arm pump all weekend and that really held me back. Even though I had been riding, I hadn’t been riding with anybody fast. I felt good to go, but obviously I wasn’t quite ready. I’ve been sick all week and now I’m just trying to get better. As for Steel City, I want to play it by ear and see how I feel before I make a decision.”
In the Motocross Lites class, Team Makita Suzuki Racing’s Broc Hepler carded his second overall victory of the season after winning the first moto and finishing third in the second. Teammate Ryan Dungey got his first taste of the Broome-Tioga track this weekend, and rode his Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 to two strong 13-place finishes for 15th overall.
“It’s been a good weekend. I was out for the first part of the year and then I came on a little slow but now it seems like I’m on a little bit of a roll. These guys smoked me pretty bad in the second moto but that’s how it goes sometimes. The first moto was really good. I’ve gotten good starts all weekend and that makes things a little easier. Usually I’m a come-from-behind guy. But the Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 is running great right now and I don’t think the team could ask for anything more than to have two guys winning. It’s good that Ricky and I can both do that at the same time.”
“It wasn’t as great a race as Millville, but I had never raced at Broome-Tioga before. My lap times were there but I didn’t get great starts. I need to work on that. Also, I think part of the problem is that I got caught up in the pace of the guys in the back and you don’t want that. So I’m just going to work on some things in the next couple weeks and get ready for Steel City.”
Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z450, #4
1st Place – Moto 1, 1st Place – Moto 2
1st Place – Broome-Tioga Overall
1st Place -- Overall
Ivan Tedesco, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z450, #9
7th Place – Moto 1, 10th Place – Moto 2
9th Place – Broome-Tioga Overall
NA -- Overall
Broc Hepler, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z250, #60
1st Place – Moto 1, 3rd – Moto 2
1st Place – Broome-Tioga Overall
7th Place – Overall
Ryan Dungey, Team Makita Suzuki Racing RM-Z250, #142
13th Place – Moto 1, 13th – Moto 2
15th Place – Broome-Tioga Overall
NA – Overall
Motocross Top 10 Finishers Overall:
Ricky Carmichael, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
James Stewart, Kawasaki
Kevin Windham, Honda
Davi Millsaps, Honda
Tim Ferry, Honda
Nick Wey, Honda
Travis Preston, Honda
David Vuillemin, Yamaha
Ivan Tedesco, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
Mike Brown, Suzuki
Motocross Lites Top 10 Finishers Overall:
Broc Hepler, Team Makita Suzuki Racing
Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki
Josh Hill, Yamaha
Andrew Short, Honda
Ryan Sipes, Suzuki
Brett Metcalfe, Yamaha
Kelly Smith, Honda
Matt Walker, Yamaha
Danny Smith, Honda
Troy Adams, Kawasaki
