Carmichael Continues his Winning Streak, Tedesco Takes his First Victory

Lakewood Colorado's Thunder Valley Motocross Park was host to an all-new round of the 2005 AMA Motocross Championship Series where Ricky Carmichael took yet another victory, and Monster Kawasaki rider Ivan Tedesco took his first. The deep, loamy and very technical Thunder Valley track, made for a tough race, and riders were also challenged with the altitude at the mile-high motocross.

Although Carmichael swept both motos (again), he didn't simply walk away with it—he had Kevin Windham keeping him honest. K-Dub took the early lead in the first moto, but by the third lap, Carmichael passed him for the lead. RC controlled the rest of the race and checked out, finishing by nearly 20 seconds over Windham in second followed by Chad Reed, David Vuillemin and Ernesto Fonseca.

James Stewart was rumored to be on his 450 by the Lakewood National; not only was the KX450F not there, but neither was Stewart. A press release from Kawasaki stated that Stewart "was not released by his physician to compete this weekend at Thunder Valley pending additional tests regarding a possible had injury." In last weekend's infamous crash at Unadilla (where Stewart landed on RC), apparently Stewart really rung his bell. There's no word yet on when (or if) he'll return to the series.

During the second moto, Windham again took the early lead, but this time held onto it. It wasn't until the halfway mark that Carmichael overtook the Honda rider. From there he began to open up a gap on his way to another moto victory, and another overall win.

"I like this place; we got a great racetrack here," said Carmichael, "It was great to come to a new place and see some new faces. This track is very, very technical and I couldn't get by (Windham). So I just held back and regained my composure and then got the lead and took it home to the checkered flag."

In other news, AMA Pro Racing announced the 2005 U.S. Motocross des Nations team (yes, that's right - we have a team this year!). Carmichael will be heading up the team effort along with Honda riders Kevin Windham and Mike Brown. RC will be contending the MX1 class (equivalent to our 250 class), Brown will be riding the MX2 class (125 class) and Windham will be riding MX3 (Open). Roger DeCoster, a six-time des Nations winner himself, will be managing the team and Honda and Suzuki have both agreed to give their respective riders full-factory support for the MXdN. Hopefully the U.S. will bring home some great results from this year's "Olympics of Motocross."

125 Class

Proving his skills go beyond the stadium, Moster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider Ivan Tedesco took his first National victory with an amazing performance at Thunder Valley. Tedesco rode two very-solid motos on the rough, rutted track and came away with the overall win, and the points lead. Previous 125 class points leader Mike Brown struggled with some bad luck and had a lack-luster seventh place finish. It was just enough for Tedesco, who had been sitting quietly in second place, to overtake Brown with a perfect score. A mere seven points now separates the two followed by Mike Alessi who still holds on to third.

In the first moto Grant Langston took the holeshot, followed closely by Tedesco. The two diced for the lead while opening up a gap on the rest of the field but ultimately Tedesco took control. Langston dropped into third place just past the halfway mark, relinquishing second place to Colorado's hometown boy Andrew Short. Josh Grant and Tommy Hahn rounded out the top five.

KTM rider Mike Alessi holeshot the second moto but was quickly overtaken by Tedesco who then checked out for his second moto win. Alessi ran in second place until Andrew Short caught him at the halfway mark. Last week's 125 winner Broc Hepler crashed early in the first moto, only able to salvage a ninth place finish, but he was able to rebound in the second moto for a podium finish. He got around Alessi in the last few laps to take third place and fifth for the day.

"The track's really rough and the ruts are really deep," said Hepler on the podium,"I've got to give it to these guys because they're riding great."

Alessi held on for fourth place, giving him fourth overall - enough to keep his third place points standing. Josh Grant finished fourth with a 4-5 finish. Grant Lanston spent most of the second moto working his way through the pack after crash on the first lap left him nearly dead last. He worked his way up to 19th for fifth place overall (3-19).

The series now moves on to Washougal, Washington next weekend for round eight of the AMA Motocross Championships.

Thunder Valley Motocross Results - 250 class
1. Ricky Carmichael, Suzuki (1-1)
2. Kevin Windham, Honda (2-2)
3. Chad Reed, Yamaha (3-3)
4. Ernesto Fonseca, Honda (5-4)
5. David Vuillemin, Yamaha (4-5)
6. Travis Preston, Honda (7-7)
7. Michael Byrne, Kawasaki (9-6)
8. John Dowd, Suzuki (10-9)
9. Sean Collier, Honda (8-13)
10. Nick Wey, Honda (11-14)
11. Juss Laansoo, Honda (6-28)
12. Joshua Woods, Suzuki (30-8)
13. Sean Hamblin, Kawasaki (35-10)
14. Justin Buckelew, Honda (15-16)
15. Matthew Goerke, Suzuki (32-11)
16. Casey Johnson, Suzuki (23-12)
17. Ryan Clark, Honda (12-36)
18. Jason Thomas, Honda (13-22)
19. Jeff Gibson, Honda (14-24)
20. Brian Mason, Honda (37-15)

Thunder Valley Motocross Results - 125 class
1. Ivan Tedesco, Kawasaki (1-1)
2. Andrew Short, Honda (2-2)
3. Josh Grant, Honda (4-5)
4. Mike Alessi, KTM (6-4)
5. Broc Hepler, Suzuki (9-3)
6. Thomas Hahn, Honda (5-7)
7. Mike Brown, Honda (7-8)
8. Grant Langston, Kawasaki (3-19)
9. Ryan Sipes, Suzuki (14-9)
10. Matt Walker, Kawasaki (18-6)
11. Jason Lawrence, Suzuki (8-18)
12. Brett Metcalfe, Yamaha (16-12)
13. Kelly Smith, Yamaha (17-13)
14. Danny Smith, Yamaha (10-20)
15. Davi Millsaps, Suzuki (27-10)
16. Nathan Ramsey, KTM (25-11)
17. Steve Boniface, Honda (11-37)
18. Josh Summey, Honda (12-28)
19. Paul Carpenter, Kawasaki (13-38)
20. Teddy Maier, Kawasaki (24-14)