Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael returned to motorcycle racing with a vengeance at the recent weekend's season-opening round of AMA Toyota Motocross at Hangtown Raceway in Sacramento, California. The 15-time AMA Champion took the overall win after finishing second in the first moto and winning the second moto on his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 on Sunday afternoon. This victory is Carmichael's 91st motocross win and his 17th victory at Hangtown and this marks his 145th career win.
For 2007, Carmichael plans to run an abbreviated six-race motocross schedule.
Ricky Carmichael: "James Stewart was pushing me, no doubt about it. We were back to where we were last year The first moto came around and I felt good but I fell down, got back up and was trying to go again. He was just faster than me, he was riding good and he won the first moto I'm just here, racing a few races, trying to help Makita Suzuki and do some testing and racing at the same time. I'm glad I'm here for the first five races to provide the fans with some good 450-class racing. I'm a fan now that I'm part-time, and it's not fun to watch a race when there's no one racing out there. But there'll be good racing next week at High Point: They have epic fans there at Mt. Morris and whatever happens, it's going to be good racing."
In the Motocross Lites class, Team Makita Suzuki Racing's Ryan Dungey made an impressive debut in his first full Pro AMA Motocross season: The 17-year-old Minnesota rider finished in third in both 30-minute motos to bring home third place overall.
Ryan Dungey:"It was a big step, coming up from the amateurs. I learned a lot last year when I raced the last four races and I really struggled. But I learned what it takes - it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. I've been working hard lately and it's paying off. Coming into this weekend, I knew a lot of guys would be going fast, and I just wanted to see how practice would go. But my lap times were good so I knew I could get on the box if I got a good start on my Makita Suzuki RM-Z250. So it wasn't a complete surprise to be on the box and it was good to get third."
Motocross Top 10 Finishers Overall:1 Ricky Carmichael (Makita Suzuki)
2 James Stewart (Kawasaki)
3 Timmy Ferry (Kawasaki)
4 Davi Millsaps (Honda)
5 Grant Langston (Yamaha)
6 Kevin Windham (Honda)
7 Andrew Short (Honda)
8 Mike Alessi (KTM)
9 Michael Byrne (Suzuki)
10 David Vuillemin (Honda)
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