The Carmichael & Bubba press release
by Mike Fraser
06 April 2004
For those moto-fans who haven't found the official new release on the Carmichael move to Suzuki and the beginning of the Bubba rumor, here it is.
*
Ten-time AMA Supercross/Motocross National Champion Ricky Carmichael inked a contract this morning that will see him switch to Team Suzuki for the 2005 racing season, according to American Honda team manager Chuck Miller.
And that may not be the biggest motocross news of the day as other reports indicate that Bubba Stewart will soon sign a contract with the Red Bull KTM team.
Carmichael, whose knee injury prevented him from defending his AMA THQ Supercross title this year, is set to begin defense of this 250cc National Motocross Championship next month in the series opener at Hangtown on May 15. Carmichael will be riding a Honda CRF450R in defense of this title, in what will be his final season with the team.
“In the next hour or two, Ricky is going to make a press release to everybody, so that will be forthcoming,” Miller said today at California Speedway in Fontana, California. “At this point, it is inappropriate for us to make an official comment. We’ve had a great relationship with Ricky and his family and we’ve had a lot of success together. I think right now all we want to do is focus on the outdoor season. I think there are probably some more pieces that are going to fall into place and I think probably when people hear what some of them are, they will be shocked.”
Carmichael’s move to Suzuki increases the speculation that Honda will make an offer to Chad Reed, the man who is closing in on his first AMA THQ Supercross Series. Reed is in the final year of his Yamaha contract. Honda, naturally, would have also gone after Stewart, but the reports of him on the verge of signing with KTM will change that.
“Those opportunities [Reed and Stewart] were available before this as well,” Miller said. “We’ve looked at all of those options and some things are very pro and some things are a bit con. We didn’t even want to ever go down that road because always our first choice and focus was to retain Ricky and keep him on a red bike, but that looks like that’s not going to happen now so Honda will sit back and pull together our thoughts and figure out our next move and step. A lot of different companies have a lot of different time lines on when things have to happen. Sometimes it’s a Thursday meeting and everything has to happen on a Thursday or a Friday. Our company, as they have always done, will make those decisions on those timelines. We won’t be driven by another manufacturer or rider or manager.”
Honda does have Kevin Windham and Mike LaRocco under contract for next year.
”Losing Ricky Carmichael is certainly a huge element of our program, but we don’t want to sell ourselves short on the riders and staff and effort that we’ve put forth anyway,” Miller said. “Everyone looked the other way when Kevin came back and look what he’s done. And no one ever thought that LaRocco would win again, and look what he’s done. Now we’re up to the ultimate challenge to see what we can make happen. It’s exciting to see what we can turn around.”
In 2002, Carmichael set the motocross world on its ear when he recorded the first perfect season in AMA National Motocross history, the Floridian winning 24 straight motos to earn his sixth consecutive AMA National Motocross Championship. Last year, Carmichael battled for the outdoor crown with fellow Honda man Kevin Windham, but ended up coming out on top to earn his seventh consecutive AMA motocross crown, adding that to the 250cc Supercross title he’d earned earlier in the year.
**
source: http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=5990
