Carmichael Runs Away with Another Victory, Andrew Short Takes his First

Ricky Carmichael ran away with both motos to take the overall victory at the Millville National in Spring Creek, Minnesota, but then we've come to expect nothing less from our champ, haven't we? Kevin Windham rode to another strong second, followed by Fonseca who took his second podium in a row. The 125 class saw yet another new winner; Andrew Short took his first overall with a 1-1 sweep ahead of Mike Alessi and Josh Grant who finished second and third, respectively.

It was another repeat performance by Ricky Carmichael aboard his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 who won the first moto by 24 seconds and the second by 12. But luckily there was plenty of excitement behind him. Kevin Windham finished a strong second place, but the hard battle for third turned into the spectacle of the day.

Both Chad Reed and James Stewart's absences at Washougal left an open podium position, and again at Millville, both Reed and Stewart were sidelined. Stewart's mysterious season continues, and this time he's out with a "severe hematoma" after a practice crash that occurred only hours after a press release announced he was ready for Millville.

Reed recovered well enough from his concussion suffered during practice at Glen Helen as he rode a strong race at last weekend's X Games. But Reed's season is suddenly over. He reportedly damaged some pins in his wrist during the same crash and has elected to undergo surgery to repair damage. He will sit out the remainder of the Outdoor Nationals, but still plans to defend his title at this year's U.S. Open (October 7-9). With Reed and Stewart effectively out of the series, there now sits an open spot on the championship podium, and the battle for third is on between Ernesto Fonseca and David Vuillemin.

During the first moto, Windham was off to an early lead, but Carmichael's strong point proved to be the infamous Millville whoops, where he passed Windham on the first lap. Ernesto Fonseca got off to a great start, but crashed on the first lap and spent the rest of the moto playing catch up. Fonseca was able to salvage a sixth place finish.

Motoworld Racing.com's Matt Goerke had a rather surprising performance, running up front between Windham and RC early in the race. Windham had moved into second by lap two, followed by Goerke and Honda's Travis Preston (another surprise) who was quickly closing in on the third place rider. Preston got around him late in the race, earning his first moto podium. Goerke held on for fourth place in front of Unbound Energy MDK privateer Nick Wey, who worked his way up to fifth after a bad start.

The second moto also saw Carmichael and Windham out front followed by a fierce battle for third. Fonseca got another good start and held onto it, running third for most of the race. David Vuillemin was creeping up behind him, though, and got around him in the last laps of the race.

"I didn't want him to go by," said Ernesto, "but it was probably good in a way, in that I was able to see his lines."

The pass didn't stick, however. Fonseca wasn't about to relinquish his podium so easily, "A lapper got in my way and David pulled away from me, but when I got the two lap board, I gave it a second effort and got closer to him. Then when the white flag came out I got really, really close." How close? They collided on the final lap with DV going down and Fonseca taking the podium (for the moto and the day).

Vuillemin was able to regroup in time to collect fourth, giving him sixth overall with an 8-4 finish. Nick Wey had again climbed his way up after a poor start to finish fifth and take fifth overall behind Travis Preston who's 3-7 earned him fourth.

125 Class - Short Wins One!

Honda's Andrew Short backed up his first moto win with another one, and earned his first overall victory with a perfect 1-1 sweep. The win was well deserved considering he led the most laps at Washougal, but still walked away with second place without a moto win. Mike Alessi made a return to the podium finishing second with a 2-3 finish and Josh Grant rounded out the podium (3-4).

During the first moto, KTM's Ryan Mills grabbed the holeshot followed closely by Short and Alessi. Short quickly passed Mills to take the lead, and Mike Alessi also eventually got around his teammate to move into second place. Honda's Tommy Hahn moved ahead of Alessi mid-race, but couldn't quite pull away. Alessi regained his runner-up position by lap nine and held on to the finish. Honda's Josh Grant finished third and Matt Walker and Billy Laninovich rounded out the top five.

Moto two saw Mike Alessi grab the holeshot and run away with the lead. He began to open up a gap, but Andrew Short had a taste for victory and wanted it bad. He reeled in the KTM rider and passed him for the lead. Monster Kawasaki's Grant Langston was also able to get around Alessi late in the race for second. Alessi held on for third followed by Josh Grant and Davi Millsaps.

Purely Speculation...

Yes, it's that time of year again. The season is drawing to a close and talks of new contracts are in the air. Some announcements have already been made, like David Vuillemin signing with Team BooKoo Energy. DV is out of his Factory Yamaha contract and has signed a two-year "Supercross only" deal with the new BooKoo team (currently Team Samsung Wireless/Honda).

At the Millville press conference, Carmichael made a profound statement about his future: "I won't sign another contract when my Suzuki deal is up—that's for sure! I just feel what I have accomplished is good, and I don't think I've left anything on the table. The biggest thing I wanted to do this year was winning the supercross title, and I got that. If I didn't [win] I would have felt like I left something unfinished... everything else is icing on the cake."

Where will RC go? He hasn't announced anything yet, but it's clear he won't be in yellow next year. He's still pretty fresh out of his Honda deal, it's doubtful he'll be joining Bubba in the Kawasaki rig and the 125 class is the extent of KTM's factory effort. So can we logically deduce that Carmichael will show up in blue next year? Time will tell. Or who knows... maybe he'll shock us all and roll up on an Aprillia twin.

Reports from across the pond mention a few MXGP riders who might plan on coming to the states to ride supercross. Current MX2 series leader Andrew McFarlane is looking to race some selected rounds in 2006... "with the help of fellow countryman and good friend Chad Reed's new team he's currently putting together." That's the first we'd heard of that.

Once the rumors die down and contracts are signed, look for official announcements on Dirtrider.com under Industry News. It looks like we may see some big change ups for 2006.

Spring Creek Motocross Overall Results - 250 Class
1. Ricky Carmichael, Suzuki (1-1)
2. Kevin Windham, Honda (2-2)
3. Ernesto Fonseca, Honda (6-3)
4. Travis Preston, Honda (3-7)
5. Nicholas Wey, Honda (5-5)
6. David Vuillemin, Yamaha (8-4)
7. John Dowd, Suzuki (7-6)
8. Robbie Reynard, Honda (11-8)
9. Michael Byrne, Kawasaki (9-10)
10. Sean Collier, Honda (12-9)
11. Kyle Lewis, Honda (10-11)
12. Matthew Goerke, Suzuki (4-22)
13. Jeff Dement, Suzuki (13-14)
14. Cole Siebler, Honda (19-12)
15. Casey Johnson, Suzuki (15-18)
16. Clark Stiles, Suzuki (18-15)
17. Justin Buckelew, Honda (16-17)
18. Ryan Clark, Honda (32-13)
19. Brian Gray, Honda (14-36)
20. Jason Thomas, Honda (20-16)

Spring Creek Motocross Overall Results - 125 Class
1. Andrew Short, Honda (1-1)
2. Mike Alessi, KTM (2-3)
3. Josh Grant, Honda (3-4)
4. Grant Langston, Kawasaki (10-2)
5. Ivan Tedesco, Kawasaki (6-6)
6. Billy Laninovich, Honda (5-7)
7. Matt Walker, Kawasaki (4-9)
8. Davi Millsaps, Suzuki (12-5)
9. Tommy Hahn, Honda (8-14)
10. Ryan Sipes, Suzuki (15-10)
11. Kelly Smith, Yamaha (18-8)
12. Jeff Alessi, KTM (9-18)
13. Ryan Mills, KTM (7-37)
14. Jason Lawrence, Suzuki (20-11)
15. Mike Brown, Honda (11-29)
16. Joaquim Rodrigues, Honda (34-12)
17. Jesse Casillas, Honda (13-20)
18. Tucker Hibbert, Honda (17-16)
19. Brock Sellards, Yamaha (22-13)
20. Robert Kiniry, Honda (14-30)