Carmichael may have gone 1-1 again... but the Red Bud National was anything but the same ol' song. Ricky checked out as usual, but there was plenty of excitement behind him in the battle between Reed, Stewart and Windham.In the first moto, Chad Reed got out front followed by Stewart and Carmichael. Reed led the first few laps and began to look untouchable, setting the fastest times of the moto. He came into a corner with Stewart on his heels and suddenly Reed lost his chain. Stewart didn't have time to react and slammed into him, hard. Carmichael, who had been steadily reeling in both Reed and Stewart, took the opportunity to duck past both of them for the lead.Whether the chain derailed before or after Stewart slammed into Reed was unclear at the time. But one thing was for sure, Reed was pissed. He threw his bike down and stood on the side of the track shaking his head. He then walked through the crowd back to the pits, leaving his bike on the ground for track workers to collect.Carmichael went on to win by 18 seconds followed by Stewart and Windham. David Vuillemin and Ernesto Fonseca rounded out the top five and Chad Reed did not finish.Reed's DNF gave him a horrible gate pick for the second moto; while the usual suspects jumped out to an early lead, Reed was buried in the pack. He spent the first half of the moto picking his way through the top ten, but ultimately salvaged an impressive fourth place finish to take tenth overall.
Carmichael checked out, leaving Windham and Stewart to battle for second. And it was an exciting battle that brought the crowd to its feet. They diced back and forth, swapping the second place position. Windham was leading Stewart heading into a step-up double; Stewart was on the outside and came to the inside when he landed, taking out Windham's front wheel. Windham hit the ground and Stewart ran away with second place.Was it an intentional take-out? The crowd decided it was and began to mercilessly boo Stewart. Windham got up and began to charge, which also made the crowd go nuts. Between the boos and cheering, the staduim-worthy noise from the crowd was unbelievable.Windham eventually caught up with Stewart, and passed him to take second place, and second overall behind Carmichael who won by 17 seconds. Stewart took third with a 2-3 finish and Vuillemin and Fonseca completed the top five with 4-6 and 5-5 finishes, respectively.125 ClassIn the first moto, Monster Kawasaki teammates Langston and Tedesco got out front early with Mike Alessi in tow. Alessi charged hard and began to reel in Tedesco. On the third lap, Alessi set up Tedesco for the pass and got around him for second. He then set his sights on leader Grant Langston, who had nearly run away with the win. Alessi began to make time on him, and might have caught him if he had a few more laps. The two crossed the finish line nearly a bike-length apart. Andrew Short took third place followed by Josh Grant and Ivan Tedesco.The second 125 (or 250F) moto saw Red Bull KTM teammates Ryan Mills and Mike Alessi out front followed by Andrew Short, Grant Langston and Mike Brown. Alessi began to put pressure on Mills, threatening to take over the lead, but he eventually crashed, letting Mills run away with the lead. Alessi broke his clutch lever in the crash which slowed him down and eventually dropped him back to seventh place.Ryan Mills put together a brilliant ride and simply dominated the entire moto, but Langston's second place finish gave him the overall win. Mills took second with his 6-1 finish, and Andrew Short rounded out the podium with another third place moto-finish. Mike Alessi was fourth overall with a 2-7 score, and Josh Grant earned fifth (4-6).Red Bud Overall Results - 250 Class1. Ricky Carmichael, Suzuki (1-1)
2. Kevin Windham, Honda (3-2)
3. James Stewart, Kawasaki (2-3)
4. David Vuillemin, Yamaha (4-6)
5. Ernesto Fonseca, Honda (5-5)
6. Nick Wey, Honda (6-7)
7. Travis Preston, Honda (7-9)
8. John Dowd, Suzuki (9-8)
9. Michael Byrne, Kawasaki (8-10)
10. Chad Reed, Yamaha (40-4)
11. Jason Thomas, Honda (10-15)
12. Jeff Dement, Suzuki (15-12)
13. Justin Buckelew, Honda (11-16)
14. Ryan Clark, Honda (16-13)
15. Dylan Lord, Honda (12-18)
16. Juss Laansoo, Honda (32-11)
17. Robert Garrison, Honda (17-17)
18. Clark Stiles, Suzuki (13-29)
19. Matthew Barnes, KTM (24-14)
20. James Povolny, Suzuki (14-37)Red Bud Overall Results - 125 Class1. Grant Langston, Kawasaki (1-2)
2. Ryan Mills, KTM (6-1)
3. Andrew Short, Honda (3-3)
4. Mike Alessi, KTM (2-7)
5. Josh Grant, Honda (4-6)
6. Ivan Tedesco, Kawasaki (5-5)
7. Mike Brown, Honda (10-4)
8. Nathan Ramsey, KTM (9-8)
9. Danny Smith, Yamaha (8-12)
10. Matt Walker, Kawasaki (12-9)
11. Davi Millsaps, Suzuki (7-15)
12. Kelly Smith, Yamaha (13-13)
13. Broc Hepler, Suzuki (11-18)
14. Tommy Hahn, Honda (35-10)
15. Robert Kiniry, Honda (29-11)
16. Billy Laninovich, Honda (18-14)
17. Paul Carpenter, Kawasaki (19-16)
18. Jeff Alessi, KTM (14-21)
19. Brock Sellards, Yamaha (15-38)
20. Josh Summey, Honda (16-35)250 Class Points Standings1. Ricky Carmichael, 247
2. Chad Reed, 178
3. Kevin Windham, 176
4. David Vuillemin, 148
5. Ernesto Fonseca, 143
6. James Stewart, 118
7. John Dowd, 118
8. Travis Preston, 117
9. Michael Byrne, 93
10. Juss Laansoo, 85
11. Nick Wey, 80
12. Jeff Dement, 78
13. Ryan Clark, 61
14. Jason Thomas, 56
15. Tim Ferry, 52
16. Heath Voss, 44
17. Jean Sebastian Roy, 43
18. Joshua Woods, 38
19. Justin Buckelew, 30
20. Doug Henry, 30125 Class Points Standings1. Mike Brown, 193
2. Ivan Tedesco, 169
3. Grant Langston, 163
4. Josh Grant, 158
5. Mike Alessi, 157
6. Davi Millsaps, 111
7. Andrew Short, 105
8. Matt Walker, 103
9. Broc Hepler, 103
10. Ryan Hughes, 103
11. Danny Smith, 98
12. Paul Carpenter, 83
13. Kelly Smith, 79
14. Ryan Mills, 75
15. Nathan Ramsey, 64
16. Billy Laninovich, 63
17. Brock Sellards, 51
18. Akira Narita, 51
19. Tommy Hahn, 47
20. Ryan Sipes, 36
_Photo by Joe McKimmy
Photo courtesy of Alessi Weekly
