CARMICHAEL WINS AMA SUPERCROSS TITLE
 Ricky
Carmichael has clinched the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross
crown for the fifth time after finishing second to James Stewart
at Saturday night’s Las Vegas Supercross final round
at Sam Boyd Stadium.
In a race where both titles could have gone to either Carmichael,
Stewart or Yamaha’s Chad Reed, the RM-Z450-mounted rider
finished runner-up in the THQ World series behind Stewart
after the 20-lap Main Event in front of 35,000 fans.
“I can’t believe it. I kept saying to myself,
there’s no was no way I was going to let Chad Reed beat
me this weekend. The last few weeks he’s beaten me fair
and square. I knew going into this weekend that I’m
only racing part-time next year, and I’ve had a great
career. This is just amazing; this is the sport that made
me and I can’t say enough for the people in my corner
and my Makita Suzuki team. It’s great to go out on top.”
The evening started out with Carmichael and team mate Ivan
Tedesco paired together in their eight-lap heat race. Carmichael
got a good start and won the qualifier. Tedesco, unfortunately,
crashed hard during the heat race but rebounded strong and
won his six-lap semi. Both riders advanced to the Main.
The main event saw Carmichael get a good start on his Makita
Suzuki RM-Z450 and move aggressively into second position
on lap one. Carmichael knew that he only had to maintain second
place to win the title and that’s exactly what he did
for all 20 laps.
“There are so many people I want to thank,” said
Carmichael about the championship. “This was a team
effort. We’ve had a lot of adversity this year, but
we overcame it. We pulled together and it’s been an
incredible year. I knew going into this weekend that I had
to get this title. The team worked too hard for me to not
get this. I just talked myself into this performance tonight.
I’m proud of myself and I’m proud of my Makita
Suzuki team.”
Like Carmichael, Tedesco got a good start on his Makita Suzuki
RM-Z450 in the Main and rode with the top five for most of
the race. But towards the last few laps, he faded, feeling
the effects of the heat race crash. In the end, Tedesco finished
his rookie Supercross-class season with an impressive fourth-place
overall.
“My shoulder was a little bit sore after I crashed
in the heat race,” said Tedesco after the Main Event.
But my trainer taped it up and that worked for the semi and
the first half of the Main. Then it started bothering me towards
the end. But overall it was a good night, it’s been
a good season and I’m looking forward to the Outdoors.”
Supercross Main: 1 James Stewart (Kawasaki),
2 Ricky Carmichael (Makita Suzuki), 3 Chad Reed (Yamaha),
4 Kevin Windham (Honda), 5 Travis Preston (Honda), 6 Nick
Wey (Honda), 7 Ivan Tedesco (Makita Suzuki), 8 Jeff Demuth
(Honda), 9 Broc Sellards (Honda), 10 Heath Voss (Yamaha).a
Final AMA Supercross Points: 1 Carmichael
338, 2 Stewart 336, 3 Reed 336, 4 Tedesco 255, 5 Wey 249,
6 Byrne 228, 7 Preston 207, 8 Fonseca 125, 9 C
lark 118, 10 LaRocco 108.
Final World Supercross Points: 1 Stewart
380, 2 Carmichael 365, 3 Reed 354, 4 Tedesco 292, 5 Wey 286,
6 Byrne 259, 7 Thomas 193, 8 Gibson 188, 9 Clark 185, 10 Evans
138.
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