Monster Energy’s Rick Carmichael (MX) & Sarah Burke (Ski) Nominated For ESPY Awards

Monster Energy stars of motocross and women’s free skiing both enjoy stunning seasons and hope to be rewarded on ESPY program this Sunday.

CORONA, Calif., (July 12, 2007) – Monster Energy-backed Ricky Carmichael (Makita/Suzuki), viewed by most as the Greatest Motocross Racer Of All-Time – aka the “GOAT,” and women’s freestyle skiing ace Sarah Burke, winner of the 2007 Winter X Games gold medal in the premier Superpipe event, have both been nominated as for the men’s and women’s Extreme Sports Athlete of the Year, according to ESPN.

This is Carmichael’s fourth nomination for the ESPY Athlete of the Year award and, according to industry insiders, he’s favored to win versus surfer Kelly Slater, skater Danny Way, FMX’s Travis Pastrana and snowboarder Andreas Wiig.

“It’d mean a lot to win,” said Carmichael, who wrapped up his Outdoor National motocross season two weeks ago with a win at RedBud (Mich.) – his fifth overall win in five tries on the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship tour this summer. “I’ve been nominated before and it’s always pretty cool to attend that event. Couple years back we sat with (skater) Bob Burnquist and his wife.”

Burke is up against surfer Layne Beachley, snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Torah Bright and skateboarder Elissa Steamer.

"I’m stoked just to be mentioned with those other great athletes that were nominated,” said Burke. “I mean Layne’s won like seven world surfing titles and Elissa’s considered to be the greatest female skater ever. So yeah, being the only skier nominated is pretty much a win in itself!”

In addition to winning the Winter X Games’ Superpipe gold in Aspen this past January, Burke also won the 2007 Global X Games Superpipe and Nippon Open Slopestyle event and was named the ESPN Female Skier of the Year.

The 15th annual ESPY Awards show airs on Sunday (July 15th) at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN.