CARMICHAEL LEADS USA ''NATIONS VICTORY
25 September 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Makita Suzuki rider Ricky Carmichael won two motos today at a sunny and sold-out Ernee circuit in France and helped the USA win the 59th Motocross of Nations.

It was the 16th success for America and brings them level with Great Britain at the top of the all-time winners list.

The French mud had received a watering thanks to heavy rainfall during the night and morning of the race, but sunshine soon broke through after a gloomy start and all three motos of the most prestigious off-road motorcycling competition in the world took place in warm conditions in front of more than 60,000 people over the weekend as the terrain became rougher and stonier throughout the day.

Multi AMA Supercross and Motocross Champion Carmichael holeshotted the first moto on his RM-Z450 contested between the MX1 and MX2 classes and broke away with such ferocity that he soon had a five second lead after just three laps. Much of the attention of the crowd was drawn to the battle for places further down the field as Josh Coppins and Mickael Pichon circulated in lonely second and third positions.

Later in the afternoon (in the MX1 versus MX Open categories) Carmichael again set the pace by seizing the lead on the first lap and pulling away from Ben Townley. Thanks to the efforts of Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki, MX2) and Kevin Windham (Honda, MX Open), USA claimed the Chamberlain trophy by eight points over France and Belgium.

Team Suzuki''s Kevin Strijbos, riding the MX Open class on his RM-Z 450 for the 2004 Champions, chased down Windham in the second moto after the American had crashed twice out of the lead but could not get close enough to seize fifth place. The 20 year old then finished several seconds in front of countryman Stefan Everts in the final sprint for eighth, confirming his second consecutive podium appearance for Belgium in the competition.

Motovision Suzuki Racing''s Neville Bradshaw helped South Africa to ninth overall with 16th and 21st positions. His team-mate Yoshitaka Atsuta, riding his RM-Z in MX Open, was twice involved in first corner incidents. The former Japanese Champion scored Japan''s best result with a ninth in the first moto but also registered their worst after a heavy crash in the last race left the World Championship regular knocked unconscious.

The international motocross season has now come to a close. Carmichael will return home immediately to start testing for the US Open and the upcoming Supercross campaign while Team Suzuki will begin to plan development work for the 2006 World Championship that starts on April 2nd in Belgium.

Ricky Carmichael - Makita Suzuki:

''I wanted my two team-mates to have the same sensation that I had in France in 2000 when I won the Nations for the first time. It was a good day. Everyone was talking about me but there were two other guys on this team that rose to the occasion. We race so much at home and it is almost overkill but the factories invest a lot of money and they don''t care about this race, they just want success in 250 Supercross. We come here for pride and because we want to and that is why it is so sweet to win. The fans were great. I have been on the upside and the downside of fans in my career and it was nice to feel wanted.''

Kevin Strijbos - Team Suzuki:

''The result is good for us.. I took two fairly bad starts today and the track was pretty rough, especially in that second heat and that made it difficult. I am happy to be on the podium and the best team made it to the top.''

Yoshitaka Atsuta - Motovision Racing Suzuki:

''In the first moto I had a good jump but Townley came across my line and I almost crashed coming out of the gate. I was around 13th for a while but it was difficult to pass and I could come back to ninth. I don''t really remember too much becau se I crashed hard in the second moto and lost consciousness. I know that I went down at the start with Everts and started riding from dead last to 17th but then I lost control and the rest is a blank.''

Moto1 (MX1 and MX2): 1 Ricky Carmichael, (USA) Suzuki 35:52.761. 2 Joshua Coppins, (NZL) Honda 36:00.181. 3 Mickael Pichon, (FRA) Honda 36:07.889. 4 Tanel Leok, (EST) Kawasaki 36:33.092. 5 Stefan Everts, (BEL) Yamaha 36:48.056. 6 Ivan Tedesco, (USA) Kawasaki 36:49.925 7 Sébastien Tortelli, (FRA) KTM 36:50.723. 8 Marc de Reuver, (NED) KTM 37:01.901. 9 Steve Ramon, (BEL) KTM 37:04.875. 10 Billy Mackenzie, (GBR) Yamaha 37:14.988.

Moto2 (MX2 and MX Open): 1 Ben Townley, (NZL) KTM 36:13.816. 2 David Vuillemin, (FRA) Yamaha 36:23.311. 3 Steve Ramon, (BEL) KTM 36:32.988. 4 David Philippaerts, (ITA) KTM 36:35.110. 5 Kevin Windham, (USA) Honda 36:51.853. 6 Kevin Strijbos, (BEL) Suzuki 36:56.094. 7 Francisco Garcia Vico, (SPA) Honda 37:18.508. 8 Marc Ristori, (SUI) Honda 37:20.725. 9 Yoshitaka Atsuta, (JPN) Suzuki 37:21.575. 10 Matti Seistola, (FIN) Honda 37:27.664. 21 Neville Bradshaw, (RSA) Suzuki 36:14.954.

Moto3 (Open and MX1): 1 Ricky Carmichael, (USA) Suzuki 35:34.904. 2 Ben Townley, (NZL) KTM 35:39.967. 3 Kevin Windham, (USA) Honda 35:50.717. 4 Joshua Coppins, (NZL) Honda 36:12.696. 5 Mickael Pichon, (FRA) Honda 36:17.609. 6 Marc de Reuver, (NED) KTM 36:22.992. 7 David Vuillemin, (FRA) Yamaha 36:29.152. 8 Kevin Strijbos, (BEL) Suzuki 36:33.253. 9 Stefan Everts, (BEL) Yamaha 36:36.942. 10 Tanel Leok, (EST) Kawasaki 36:39.921. 16 Neville Bradshaw, (RSA) Suzuki 35:45.940. 34 Yoshitaka Atsuta, (JPN) Suzuki 22:54.536.

Overall Nations Result: 1 USA 16. 2 France 24. 3 Belgium 31. 4 New Zealand 32. 5 Great Britain 56. 6 Estonia 59. 7 Netherlands 82. 8 Portugal 83. 9 Republic of South Africa 86. 10 Spain 99. 12 Japan 107.

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