CARMICHAEL TAKES SEATTLE PODIUM
02 May 2006 - Suzuki Racing

Ricky Carmichael raced from the back of the field after poor start and off-track excursion to claim third position at Saturday night’s wet and muddy AMA Supercross Championship penultimate round at Qwest Field, Seattle.

Said Carmichael: “I gave it my all. I can’t say enough about my Makita Suzuki team - they’ve been behind me 100 percent. Now we’re going to go out to Las Vegas next week and do the best we can and whatever happens, happens.”

Because of the wet weather, the evening’s heat races were shortened from eight laps to six. In short order, Carmichael won the qualifying race and team-mate Ivan Tedesco came in third. The RM-Z450-mounted Makita Suzuki duo advanced to the Main.

Like the heat races, the Main Event was shortened due to wet conditions. Usually 20 laps long, the Seattle event was only 15 laps and when the gate dropped, Carmichael got a rough start and stalled out in the whoops. Even so, he soldiered on to pilot his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 to third place.

“All I can do is my best,” said Carmichael from the podium. “And right now, my best isn’t good enough. But this has been an amazing year. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished. I’ve won more races than I thought I would and this season has been great for the fans and great for the sport.”

Like Carmichael, Tedesco had a rough start but the Supercross-class rookie rode as hard and as consistently as possible and finished a strong seventh by the race’s end.
“I had a decent start in the main,” said Tedesco. “But then I came together with another rider and basically had to come from dead last, so I’m pretty happy with seventh, considering where I started from.”

The stage is now set for one of the most exciting Supercross showdowns ever: Carmichael is now tied at the top on 316 points with Reed with Stewart just five points adrift in the AMA series. In the World series – both of which come to a head in Las Vegas next weekend – Stewart leads Carmichael by 12 points with Reed third, 21 points down.

Supercross Main: 1 James Stewart (Kawasaki), 2 Chad Reed (Yamaha), 3 Ricky Carmichael (Makita Suzuki), 4 Travis Preston (Honda), 5 Nick Wey (Honda), 6 Michael Byrne (Kawasaki), 7 Ivan Tedesco (Makita Suzuki), 8 Kevin Windham (Honda), 9 Broc Sellards (Honda), 10 Heath Voss (Yamaha).

AMA Supercross Points (after 15 of 16 rounds): 1 Carmichael 316, 2 Reed 316, 3 Stewart 311, 4 Tedesco 241, 5 Wey 234, 6 Byrne 228, 7 Preston 191, 8 Fonseca 125, 9 Clark 116, 10 LaRocco 108.

World Supercross Points (after 16 of 17 rounds): 1 Stewart 355, 2 Carmichael 343, 3 Reed 334, 4 Tedesco 276, 5 Wey 268, 6 Byrne 259, 7 Thomas 181, 8 Gibson 178, 9 Clark 176, 10 Evans 125.

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