CARMICHAEL WINS AT ST. LOUIS
06 March 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki''s Ricky Carmichael stormed to his seventh win in the ninth-round AMA/ THQ Supercross Championship at St. Louis and increased his series lead to 35 points.

The RM250-mounted 25-year-old Makita rider led the 20-lap 250cc Main Event at the Edward Jones Dome from start to finish to beat reigning champion Chad Reed and Kevin Windham.

Carmichael, who picked up an extra $1500 bonus cheque for taking the holeshot, said: ''Makita and Bridgestone were working good tonight. I had the right tyre selection and it was crucial to get a good start into the tight first corner as it was a difficult track to pass on. The rest is history.

''It''s a long season - we''ve still got seven rounds to go - and anything can happen, but I''ve got a vision of being at the top of the box when the last race at Vegas comes around.''

Carmichael steadily pulled ahead, but just after the halfway stage made a few mistakes. ''I had a couple of near falls. I''d made a few changes to the bike for the Main Event, which I''m not sure were the right thing to do, and I got a bit wild at times which allowed Chad to catch me up in the last few laps. But I did what I had to do.''

Team mate Sebastien Tortelli put Suzuki''s flagship four-stroke, the RM-Z450, into fifth position after a lowly start. The Frenchman gated 11th but steadily carved through the field to grab fifth place to hold on to sixth in the series.

In the 125cc East Coast event, Davi Millsaps rode the race of his life to claw back from 15th to second place. He now lies second in the series after three of seven rounds.

250cc Results: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki), 2 Chad Reed (Yamaha), 3 Kevin Windham (Honda), 4 David Vuillemin (Yamaha), 5 Sebastien Tortelli (Suzuki), 6 Ernesto Fonseca (Honda), 7 Mike Larocco (Honda), 8 Michael Byrne (Kawasaki), 9 Andrew Short (Honda), 10 Tim Ferry (Yamaha).

Championship Points (after 9 of 16 rounds): 1 Carmichael 217, 2 Reed 182, 3 Windham 156, 4 Larocco 149, 5 Vuillemin 132, 6 Tortelli 128, 7 Fonseca 123, 8 Byrne 103, 9 Voss 95, 10 Wey 73.

125cc Results: 1Grant Langston (Kawasaki), 2 Davi Millsaps (Suzuki) , 3 Joshua Hansen (KTM), 4 Joaquim Rodrigues (Honda), 5 Branden Jesseman (Suzuki), 6 Steve Boniface (Honda), 7 Greg Schnell (Honda), 8 Troy Adams (Honda), 9 Ryan Mills (KTM), 10 Broc Sellards (Yamaha).

Championship Points (East Coast - after 3 of 7 rounds): 1 Langston 72, 2 Millsaps 65, 3 Hansen 55, 4 Sellards 40, 5 Walker 38, 6 Smith 37, 7 Boniface 35, 8 Rodrigues 33, 9 Adams 31, 10 Jesseman 30.

Next Round: March 12, Daytona.

www.suzuki-racing.com

More News
  For March 2005
  From Suzuki Racing
  For Supercross
  Biker247.com Home Page