After last weekend’s spanking of the Motocross Class in the Minnesota mud, Ricky Carmichael is now in the position to clinch the title five Motos early. All that RC has to do is finish 16 th or better in the first Moto at Binghamton and he will be crowned the 2006 AMA Outdoor Motocross Champion. With Carmichael this seems like a foregone conclusion, and with this being his last 100% committed season, it is a sure bet that he will leave nothing on the table, regardless of whether or not he clinches the championship.

The GOAT came into Binghamton with one goal in mind Photo by Hal Kennedy

Last week’s race was a bit of a fluke with RC lapping the entire field in one of the slimiest Outdoor National’s in memory. This weekend was looking like it could be another mudder, and although it poured Saturday night, by Sunday morning the track was in decent shape and the forecast for Sunday was for dry conditions. In Sunday practice it was obvious that there were a few slippery spots on the track, but by the time that the qualifying Motos came around, the track was decent.

Returning to the Motocross Class this weekend is Makita Suzuki’s Ivan Tedesco. Tedesco, last year’s Outdoor Lites Champion has been on the mend and is just returning to run the last few races of the series. While he has been off, his formal rival in the Lites Class, Davi Millsaps, has been putting up incredible results. It will be interesting to see how Tedesco does this weekend in comparison to what we have become accustomed to with Millsaps.

Tedesco was back and ready to race Photo by Carl Stone

Speaking of Millsaps, with Chad Reed out for the rest of the season there is now a very close battle for the second and third podium spots for the series. The dueling Hondas of Kevin Windham and Davi Millsaps are running very close in points and one or both could pass Chad Reed with good finishes today. This will also likely mean a late season charge by Windham, who has locked up second behind RC many times in the past.

James Stewart, who is now healthy and putting the pressure on Carmichael, will likely also get past Reed before the season is over, but shouldn’t catch Windham or Millsaps in points before the end of the season. Although, this is Motocross, and you never know what will happen until the last Moto is run.

Windham suddenly finds himself back in 2nd overall, while Preston holds down 6th in season points Photo by Carl Stone

In the Lites Class KTM’s Mike Alessi is doing everything in his power to hold on to his meager points lead over the Pro Circuit Kawasaki mounted Ryan Villopoto. Alessi comes in to Binghamton with a narrow five point lead and he has stated that he is looking at the championship, not at individual Motos. But we are now at the point where each and every individual Moto counts and Mikey is going to have to take off the gloves if he expects to fend off the charge of Villopoto. The competition is so fierce between these two rivals that both camps have joined the fray, mounting protests and getting into fist fights in the pits.

Waiting in the wings is the Honda of Andrew Short. One major mistake by either Alessi or Villopoto and Short could be challenging for second place in the series, and Short has been on fire as the season winds down towards the final two Motos at Glen Helen.

Hepler was ready for muddy conditions Photo by Hal Kennedy

To top it all off, Broc Hepler is showing everyone that he would have been the guy to beat had he been healthy all season. Hepler is playing the spoiler right now and taking away points from all three of the top contenders. Hepler took the Overall last week in the mud and seems determined to put Suzuki on top for the rest of the races this season. Every first place Moto finish that Hepler gets this season will make it that much harder for the rest of the field to make gains on the leaders, or for the leaders to increase their leads.

Alessi watched his points lead slip away in Lites Moto 1 Photo by Carl Stone

As the gate dropped for Lites Moto 1 it was Mike Alessi with the holeshot, but in the second turn Alessi hit a kicker that he wasn’t aware of and went down. He got back up quickly, but then went down again and the entire pack passed him by as he worked to start his bike. Once he got his bike started he went directly to the mechanic’s area and this would be the end of the Moto for Alessi. This left everyone scratching their heads and wondering if Alessi’s decision to skip the second practice of the morning was such a wise move as he will surely lose his points lead over Villopoto with this unfortunate turn of events.

Out front once again, Suzuki’s Brock Hepler was opening up an early gap while Ryan Villopoto struggled with a mid pack start and had lots of ground to make up in order to truly take advantage of Alessi’s misfortune.

Hepler broke away early and was gone in Moto 1 Photo by Carl Stone

At the end of the first lap it was Hepler, Walker, Sipes, Goerke, rookie Josh Hill, Tucker Hibbert, Troy Adams, Kelly Smith, Paul Carpenter and Andrew McFarlane for the top ten. Ryan Villopoto came around in 15 th place.

While Hepler would continue to increase his gap lap after lap, the most impressive runs on the track would be Yamaha’s rookie Josh Hill, who struggled in the mud at Millville, but would manage to make his way up to 2 nd by mid-Moto and hold the position to the end, and Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Troy Adams, who made his way up through the pack to finish 3 rd. Hill, in his third professional Moto, is already showing that he is up to the challenge, and Troy Adams has been overdue for a podium finish. This was the first podium finish for both of these riders.

Josh Hill was impressive with his first Moto podium and Overall Podium, in just his second pro race Photo by Hal Kennedy

Villopoto managed to make his way up to 4 th by the end of the Moto, but was held up and challenged by Kelly Smith, who ended up finishing 5 th. Following Smith was Sipes, Short, Metcalfe, Goerke and Walker for the top ten.

With Alessi having handed over his points lead in Moto 1, he had to make a good showing in Moto 2 to stop Villopoto from getting too far out in front with the points lead. But due to his DNF in Moto 1 Alessi would was forced to start at the far outside of the gate. As the gate dropped it was Villopoto with the holeshot, with Alessi coming out of turn one in around 10 th place.

Hepler quickly got past Villopoto, but Villopoto gave chase and retook the lead before the end of the first lap. Alessi, who was now under incredible pressure, slammed his way up through the lead pack and at the end of the first lap it was Villopoto, Hepler, Short, Alessi, Hill, McFarlane, Walker, Adams, Nicolleti and Sipes.

Matt Walker missed it up in both Lites Motos Photo by Carl Stone

On the second lap Josh Hill put the pressure on Alessi, but couldn’t close the deal, then on the fourth lap Short got past Hepler to take over 3 rd. Then an interesting thing happened. The top five spaced out and it looked more like the Motocross Class as there were no more changes in the top five after the 3 rd lap.

As the Moto progressed, the only changes in position in the top ten were due to Adams going down, and then later McFarlane going down after doing the familiar battle with his Yamaha of Troy teammate Brett Metcalfe. And then a late Moto charge by Danny Smith was the last that we would see of any passing among the top ten finishers.

Villopoto took advantage of Alessi’s misfortune and left Binghamton with the points lead Photo by Hal Kennedy

At the end of Lites Moto 2 it was Villopoto, further extending his lead over Alessi, followed by Short, Hepler, Alessi, Hill, Metcalfe, Sipes, Danny Smith, Matt Walker and Kelly Smith for the top ten. The finishing order gave Hepler is second Overall win in two races, with Villopoto taking 2 nd Overall and Josh Hill taking 3 rd Overall.

Andrew Short is now within striking distance of Alessi in the series points chase Photo by Carl Stone

The end result for the Lites Class on the day was that both Villopoto and Short made up ground, while Alessi lost ground. Villopoto now leads the series by 20 points over Alessi, while Short is now only 12 points behind Alessi.

This Hal Kennedy photo pretty much says it all Photo by Hal Kennedy

With a relatively dry track, everyone was looking for the resumption of the Carmichael/Stewart battle that has torn up motocross tracks across the country this summer. When the gate dropped for Motocross Moto 1 it was once again Davi Millsaps with the holeshot, followed closely by Windham and Tedesco. Behind these three were Carmichael and Stewart running shoulder to shoulder.

Carmichael got the early jump and got ahead of Stewart, they both got by Tedesco, then Carmichael began putting pressure on Windham. RC got past Windham while Stewart was forced to wait and make his move as Windham wasn’t eager to give up another place.

Millsaps pulled both holeshots……again Photo by Hal Kennedy

At this point Carmichael only had Millsaps to worry about and he was putting massive pressure on Davi. Carmichael was overjumping everything in an attempt to get past Millsaps. Millsaps managed to hold off Carmichael and lead the first lap.

On the second lap, with Windham doing everything he could to hold on to 3 rd, Stewart finally got past by bombing down the big downhill past Windham. Then RC jumped past Millsaps on the big double and began to sprint away.

Stewart quickly caught and passed Millsaps, but it was already too late. Carmichael took full advantage of the open track in front of him and picked up 2-3 seconds per lap over Stewart as he ran away from the field. Of course, could anyone expect anything different when Carmichael is wrapping up a championship?

Fox’s Scott Taylor gets ready for the end of Moto 1 Photo by Carl Stone

Windham regrouped after being passed by Stewart and set his sights on Millsaps. On the ninth lap Windham began putting serious pressure on Millsaps, then on lap ten Millsaps went down while trying to fend off Windham. Millsaps was up again quickly, but Windham was gone.

Further back in the pack there quite a few passes as Travis Preston and then Tim Ferry made their way up through the pack, while David Vuillemin, Nick Wey and Ivan Tedesco diced back and forth.

The look on Mike Gosselaar’s face says that even after so many victories, the season championship still means a lot Photo by Hal Kennedy

At the end of the first Motocross Moto it was Carmichael with the win, and his seventh straight Motocross championship, followed by Stewart, Windham, Millsaps, Ferry, Preston, Tedesco, Vuillemin, Wey and Voss.

Carmichael received the number one plate on the podium and an abbreviated championship celebration took place. When Windham was introduced for his 2 nd place finish he gave RC great props for being such an incredible competitor for so many years.

With all of the pomp and circumstance out of the way and the championship decided, RC came out for the second Moto wearing the number 1 jersey. Always playing the psychological game, this was RC’s way of saying that he wasn’t about to roll over and let anybody beat him. When RC runs the number 1 on his back, it’s on!!!

Carmichael puts heavy pressure on Stewart in Moto 2 Photo by Carl Stone

As the gate dropped for Motocross Moto 2 it was once again Millsaps with the holeshot. This time RC took over the lead from Millsaps almost immediately, while Stewart blew by Windham to take over 3 rd. Millsaps managed to hold off Stewart through the first lap, but Stewart was quickly by him at the start of the second lap and chasing down Carmichael.

For the first time this weekend both Carmichael and Stewart jumped the triple that most thought too muddy to clear, and the battle was on. Stewart was pushing it as hard as he could, while Carmichael was absolutely launching off of everything in an attempt to get away from Stewart and open up a gap.

Then on the third lap Carmichael went down in the off-camber section at the top of the hill and Stewart was able to take over the lead. Carmichael got up about four seconds behind Stewart with a broken visor and began mounting his charge. For the next three laps Carmichael stalked Stewart, then finally caught him and began applying massive pressure. RC continually pushed inside and outside, showing James a wheel and pushing him to ride over the edge.

Eventually James was able to open up a small gap while RC regrouped, then as the two approached a large group of lappers RC was able to make his move. James was held up by the lappers and RC was able to immediately open up a gap. Then Stewart missed a double and that was all that RC needed. From this point RC opened up about a nine second gap and held it to the end of the Moto.

Behind these two was more of the great racing that we saw in Moto 1. Once again Windham was able to get past Millsaps for 3 rd, while the same group of Ferry, Wey, Vuillemin, Preston and Tedesco traded places back and forth, except this time Mike Brown was added in the mix.

Tim Ferry continues to step up his game in 2006 Photo by Carl Stone

At the end of Moto 2 it was Carmichael, Stewart, Windham, Millsaps, Ferry, Wey, Brown, Vuillemin, Preston and Tedesco for the top ten.

Windham, with his 3-3 on the day was able to pull even with Chad Reed in points and now stands tied for 2 nd overall on the season. Millsaps, with a 4-4 is only eight points behind Windham, which means that 2 nd and 3 rd overall for the season is totally up for grabs.

This is what seven straight motocross championships looks like Photo by Hal Kennedy

What can be said about Ricky Carmichael that hasn’t already been said over and over? RC continues to cement his place in Motocross history and continues to ride like he has something to prove. At this point RC is the G.O.A.T., and his performance this year against James Stewart leaves no doubt that he was able and willing to face any challenge that comes his way. RC continues to raise the bar and set new records with each win, records that will stand for a long time, some that may never be beaten. Not only has RC faced and conquered his biggest challenge in the form of the phenomenal James Stewart, but he has also done something unheard of by wrapping up the season with five Motos left to run. That’s less than 80% of the season complete.

In the Lites Class we are running at the same pace as last season with it looking very likely that the outcome could come down to the last Moto at Glen Helen. Although Villopoto currently has the lead, his performance this season would indicate that there is a high probability that he will not finish one of the remaining four Motos of the season. This would level the playing field and potentially make it a three way battle for the season title.

But……the future still belongs to James Stewart Photo by Hal Kennedy

To top this all off, the next round is Steel City, which is Broc Hepler’s home track, and the last round is Glen Helen, which is Alessi’s home track. With two races, four Motos, left in the season, it is still anybody’s guess as to how it will all shake out. And with the KTM team and the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team at each other’s throats, the next two races are truly starting to take on the feel of a WWF title fight. Anything could, and will, happen