Press Release
February 27, 2005
Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael bounced back from a crash to win Saturday night's Atlanta Supercross in front of a packed crowd of almost 63,000.
The 25 year old turned a six second deficit, when he lost the front end of his RM250c whilst leading the 250cc Main Event, into a 1.5 second win over Chad Reed at the Georgia Dome to increase his lead in the 16-round THQ AMA Supercross Championship to 32 points.
Said Carmichael after claiming his fourth ever victory at the Georgia Dome and his sixth win of the series: "I was fighting the front end all night and it bit me. I made a big mistake and I didn't think I could do it, but the fans were great tonight.
"I didn't think I had a shot of winning because Chad is an exceptional rider. I knew I could get second but Chad got caught up with lappers and I was able to make up time and get by him."
Carmichael's team mate Sebastien Tortelli raced his RM-Z450 four-stroke Suzuki to fourth place after a mid-pack start.
250cc Results: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki), 2 Chad Reed (Yamaha), 3 Kevin Windham (Honda), 4 Sebastien Tortelli (Suzuki) , 5 Mike Larocco (Honda), 6 Ernesto Fonseca (Honda), 7 Heath Voss (Yamaha), 8 David Vuillemin (Yamaha), 9 Jeremy McGrath (Honda), 10 Tyler Evans (Suzuki).
Championship Points: 1 Carmichael 192, 2 Reed 160, 3 Windham 136, 4 Larocco 135, 5 Vuillemin 114, 6 Tortelli 112, 7 Fonseca 108, 8 Voss 95, 9 Byrne 90, 10 Wey 73.
Source: Team Suzuki Press Office
Next round: March 5, St Louis.