Carmichael Podiums In Florida
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Mar 20, 2007
Suzuki Racing
Tedesco was in the second heat race and unfortunately got tangled in a turn-one melee. He remounted, however, and picked off his competition one by one to finish in eighth position. “The night didn’t start off that great, “ admitted Tedesco. “I got taken out in the first corner in my heat race but I made it up and qualified for the Main. “
The Main event itself was as exciting a race as most Supercross fans had seen all year: Carmichael got a great start and he took over the lead on the second lap. Although he was passed and in second place mid-way through the event, the 15-time AMA Champion continued to fight for the lead until the race’s end.
“I tell you, it was so much fun tonight, you have no idea, “ said Carmichael from the podium. “James Stewart and I got in our little mode and started reeling out laps. It was good, clean racing and James got the job done and I was right there behind him. It was a great way to go out tonight. It’s been really fun racing James these last couple of races, we’ve really elevated our game. “
Tedesco, meanwhile, picked up his third fourth-place finish of the season at Orlando. Unlike Carmichael, he was caught up in the pack after the first turn and had to work his way through. Riding his Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 consistently and smoothly, the former Supercross and Motocross Lites Champion came home one place shy of the podium.
“I had a bad gate pick because of my heat race and I was lined up on the outside, “ recalled Tedesco. “But I got a killer jump, a really good start and I was trying for the holeshot and I almost had it but I got blown into a corner. So I ‘rodeo-ed’ over the Tuff Blocks and didn’t go down and was somewhere in the middle of the pack. I just started picking guys off and I settled into fifth for a while, before finally getting into fourth, and that was it. The Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 was really good tonight, especially after we made some changes to the suspension between the first and second practice sessions. The difference was like night and day and that carried over into the Main Event. “
In the Supercross Lites class, Ryan Dungey won his heat race with an impressive ride on his Makita Suzuki RM-Z250. In the 15-lap main event, the 17-year-old rider got another good start but was almost instantly surrounded by carnage and taken out by a bike coming from the adjacent lane. A red flag was thrown and Dungey’s mechanic rode the bike to the pits to fix it but AMA rules maintained that - in spite of the red flag—because the race was already underway the bike could not be returned to the pits and Dungey was not allowed to participate in the Main.
Team Makita Suzuki Racing will return next week for round 12 of the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
