CARMICHAEL WINS AT HIGH POINT
Tuesday, May 31, 2005


Team Suzuki Press Office - May 29, 2005.

Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael raced his RM-Z450 to another double victory at today's second-round AMA 250cc Motocross Championship round at High Point Raceway, Mount Morris in Pennsylvania.

The 26-year-old World and AMA Supercross Champion won both races from Kawasaki's James Stewart to move 28 points clear in the series ahead of David Vuillemin (Yamaha).

In the first moto, Carmichael took the lead immediately and opened up a commanding lead and by the flag was more than a minute clear.

The second moto victory didn't come as easily: Carmichael got a bad start and ran in second for the first half of the race. But after clawing back, he took the lead, created a gap and held it to the end.

Said Carmichael: "It's fun out there and it was a heck of a race. I'd like to thank Mt. Morris for being so gracious to me, I love this race and it feels like a home track to me. But it was great to get out there and battle. No' ifs or buts' James Stewart was in front of me and I caught him and I passed him.

"This is going to be a long season and I felt good out there. I love the challenge and I'm sure we'll have some great races and I'm looking forward to it. That's what it's all about, and the fans love it. I feel good, I'm in good shape and I can't say enough about the Makita Suzuki RM-Z450. This is the first year on the Makita Suzuki four-stroke and I'm Impressed."

In the 125 class Team Makita Suzuki Racing's Davi Millsaps charged hard in both motos and came away with two podium finishes for a second-place overall as team mate Broc Hepler ended the day in 11th.

In the first moto, Hepler finished a solid fourth but in the second moto, he succumbed to a lap-one get-off even though he still pulled off a top-20 finish and earned points in the title chase.

Said Hepler: "I got bad starts in both motos today. But in the first, my RM-Z250 got me up into fourth pretty quickly. I just tried to ride as hard as I could and still be consistent. In the second moto, I got tangled up with somebody off the gate and fell before the first turn and by the time I got back in the race, I was way back in 30th position or something. So I just tried to get as far ahead as I could and get as many points as possible. This is only the second race of the season and the goal is to win the championship."

Millsaps said: "In the first moto, the race went by really fast. The bike got me off to a better start than I had during Supercross and I want to thank my mechanic Carlos and Suzuki for that. In the second moto, I didn't get as good of a start and I knew I was going to have to play catch-up, but I just put my head down and rode my Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 as hard as I could and tried to get around as many guys as possible. Overall, this was a good race for us."

250 Results: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki) 1st/ 1st, 2 James Stewart (Kawasaki) 2/2, 3 Kevin Windham (Honda) 3/3, 4 Ernesto Fonseca (Honda) 7/4, 5 David Vuillemin (Yamaha) 5/5, 6 Chad Reed (Yamaha) 4/8, 7 Michael Byrne (Kawasaki) 6/7, 8 Jean Sebastien Roy (Honda) 11/6, 9 Josh Woods (Suzuki) 9/9, 10 John Dowd (Suzuki) 10/11.

Championship Points: 1 Carmichael 100, 2 Vuillemin 72, 3 Reed 71, 4 Windham 62, 5 Stewart 59, 6 Byrne 56, 7 Fonseca 55, 8 Preston 45, 9 Roy 43, 10 Voss 38.

Next Round: Southwick, June 12.