Carmichael dominates Supercross

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

It was only fitting that Ricky Carmichael entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena for rider introductions driving the "Grave Digger" monster truck, because the four-time national motocross champion proceeded to bury the competition in the THQ U.S. Open Supercross event.

Carmichael won both Saturday's and Sunday's main events and captured the $100,000 first prize in the world's richest motorcycle race.

Carmichael, 20, made it look easy in Sunday's 25-lap final, taking the lead coming out of the first turn and keeping his Kawasaki in front for the duration. He lapped all but five riders in the 13-bike final and cruised to an 8-second win over runner-up Kevin Windham.

"The start was the key thing this weekend with the track being so tight," Carmichael said. "Luckily, my starts have been up to par ... the start was the hardest part of the race, for sure."

Carmichael expressed surprise that he was able to run away with Sunday's main event while competing against 12 of the top motocross riders in the world.

"I was just feeling really comfortable on my bike," Carmichael said. "I didn't expect it to do as good as I did, to be honest with you, because of the level of competition. I thought, for sure, they'd be a lot closer on this smaller track."

In addition to finishing second to Carmichael in Sunday's main, Windham finished second in overall points and collected $35,000 from the $300,000 purse.

Windham overcame a weak start and worked his way up in the field, finally overtaking Larry Ward for second on lap 13, but didn't have enough to catch Carmichael in the second half of the race.

"My start was a little bit slow and by the time I got into second, Ricky was pretty much checked out," said Windham, who switched from Honda to Suzuki only three days before the U.S. Open.

"With a new bike, I'm happy with my performance and I've got a lot to look forward to and a lot to be excited about going into the 2001 Supercross Series."

Sunday's main event was marred by an incident on the 10th lap in which Ryan Hughes and Damon Huffman collided and dumped their bikes. Hughes apparently was hit by a passing bike and was knocked unconscious.

Hughes regained consciousness after several minutes and was able to walk off the track with assistance. He was taken to a local hospital for observation and a spokesman for the U.S. Open said Hughes likely suffered a concussion.