''RC'' TAKES FOURTH STRAIGHT VICTORY
06 February 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Makita Suzuki''s Ricky Carmichael clinched his fourth consecutive victory in the THQ AMA Supercross Championship at Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California on Saturday night to increase his lead in the 16-round series over Chad Reed to 29 points.

The 25 year old also set a new record for most consecutive AMA Supercross main event wins by a Suzuki rider: Former factory Suzuki rider Mark Barnett won three straight events on his way to the 1981 AMA Supercross title, but Carmichael went one better.

The Florida rider didn''t get the holeshot but he dominated the 20-lap main event, winning the race by 20 seconds - nearly half a lap - and lapping up to eighth place.

Defending Champion Reed overcame a neck injury suffered earlier in the week, a crash in practice and a first-turn pile-up in the main event to finish second with Michael Byrne third.

Byrne grabbed the holeshot from Carmichael, Erick Vallejo and Jeremy McGrath, while Reed got snarled up in the first turn and went down, quickly remounting but starting well down in the running order. The seven-time AMA Supercross Champion then stumbled in the short rhythm section before the third baseline triple jump and lost two positions. Meanwhile, Carmichael shot by Byrne to take over the lead just before the end of the first lap.

The win moved Carmichael into a commanding lead in both the THQ AMA Supercross Series standings and the THQ World Supercross GP standings. He now leads Reed in the AMA points with 120-91 and Mike Larocco (172-143) in the 18-round World Series.

250 Results:1. Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki); 2. Chad Reed (Yamaha); 3. Michael Byrne (Kawasaki); 4. David Vuillemin (Yamaha); 5. Ernesto Fonseca (Honda); 6. Mike Larocco (Honda); 7. Nick Wey (Honda); 8. Travis Preston (Honda); 9. Tyler Evans (Suzuki); 10. Ryan Clark (Yamaha); 11. Erick Vallejo (Yamaha); 12. Damon Huffman (Honda); 13. Sebastien Tortelli (Suzuki); 14. Kyle Lewis (Honda); 15. Justin Buckelew (Honda); 16. Jeff Gibson (Honda); 17. Heath Voss (Yamaha); 18. Joseph Oehlhof (Honda); 19. Jeremy McGrath (Honda); 20. Kevin Windham (Honda).

Championship Points (after 5 of 16 rounds): 1 Carmichael 120, 2 Reed 91, 3 Larocco 81, 4 Windham 80, 5 Fonseca 74, 6 Wey 73, 7 Vuillemin 67, 8 Tortelli 65, 9 Byrne 64, 10 Voss 55.

Next round: February 12, Indianapolis.

Information courtesy of: www.cyclenews.com.

www.suzuki-racing.com

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