CARMICHAEL SECOND AFTER CRASHING
20 March 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Makita Suzuki''s Ricky Carmichael recovered from a third-lap crash to race to second place at Saturday night''s THQ/ AMA Supercross 11th round in Orlando, Florida as team mate Davi Millsaps pulled off his second victory in the 125cc East Coast series.

The local Florida rider - who leads the 16-round series by 29 points - was lying second to Kawasaki''s James Stewart when he lost the front end in the whoops.

In the 250cc Main, Stewart - who made his comeback from injury - recorded the fastest lap time on the technical track and then he promptly won his heat race over Carmichael, putting down a lap time that was nearly a second faster than Reed, who won the first heat race.

When the gate dropped, Kyle Lewis took the holeshot from Stewart while Carmichael and Reed were in hot pursuit.

By the end of the first lap, Stewart led Carmichael and Reed. Then on lap three, Carmichael went down and dropped back to fourth. A few laps later, Stewart crashed in the whoops, handing the lead to Reed.

Carmichael, who was third at the time, moved into second, but from there, Reed held the lead to the end.

Stewart tried desperately to catch Carmichael but finally, with a few laps to go, gave up after a lapped rider crashed and he was forced to roll a triple, and, with that, Carmichael escaped and comfortably took the runner-up position.

In the 125cc class, Millsaps came to Orlando to win, and now lies just seven points off the championship lead with two rounds remaining.

The start saw Daytona winner Josh Hansen grab the holeshot followed closely by Grant Langston, Josh Grant and the Makita Suzuki rider. After some intense action on the first lap, Hansen took the lead while Millsaps attempted to move up, but on the second lap, Millsaps passed Hansen in the whoops.

A lap later, Langston set his sights on Millsaps, who was in the lead. He did all he could to make up the difference between the two, and came close several times, but lappers got in his way and mistakes soon sealed the deal for Millsaps to take the win.

At the flag, Millsaps was seven seconds ahead of Langston while Hansen completed the podium another 19.71 seconds behind.

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

Championship Points (after 11 of 16 rounds): 1 Carmichael 261, 2 Reed 232, 3 Windham 190, 4 Larocco 181, 5 Vuillemin 166, 6 Fonseca 150, 7 Tortelli 144, 8 Byrne 103, 9 Voss 95, 10 Evans 88.

125 Main: 1 Davi Millsaps (Suzuki), 2 Grant Langston (Kawasaki), 3 Josh Hansen (KTM), 4 Matt Walker (Kawasaki), 5 Steve Boniface (Suzuki), 6 Ryan Mills (KTM), 7 Kelly Smith (Yamaha), 8 Tucker Hibbert(Honda), 9 Troy Adams (Honda), 10 Greg Schnell (Honda).

125 East Coast Points (after 5 of 7 rounds): 1 Langston 100, 2 Hansen 100, 3 Millsaps 93, 4 Smith 67, 5 Boniface 65, 6 Adams 63, 7 Grant 59, 8 Walker 56, 9 Mills 52, 10 Rodriques 45.

Next round: April 2, Dallas.

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