Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127870
of the AMA Moto cr oss Rookie of th e Yea r Award, an hon or bes towed on him in 1996. This year, Ca rmichael is growing his motocross roots dee per in to the grou nd as a m ember of the SplitFire /Pro Circui t /Kawasaki t ea m , and not long before the opening round of the 1998 AMA Supercross Series, Carmichael spoke a little bit about h is past and fut ure . ... (Left) Carmichael alread y has a huge following. (Below) Former 125cc National MX and Supe rcross J ohnny O'M ra (left) is one of a Carmichae l's be st friends. ... The firs t question is, were yo u sa ti sfied w ith your first full year as a pro in su percross in 1997? Yeah, I was. I learn ed a lot and it was good for me - a whole bunch of fu n. It s eem ed like it was either feast or famine; I mean i t wa s cra sh or win so metimes there. Yeah; I think towar d the end of the last race, I learn e d a lot. Rig ht now I'm le arni ng a lot , to o . Where I a m n o w from w here I was last year is a lot di fferen t, you know. I'm a lot more calm th an I was last year. Last year's ex perience w ill really help m e a lot, es pecia lly learning w hen I should be a lot ca lmer a u t on the trac k. How's your s etu p or yo u r approach going to be th is yea r? We ll, I'm going to be in shape, but I'm just not going to be as wild, you know. If a guy's doing good or there's a gnarly jump ou t there that's hard to do, I'm not just going to go for it like I did last year. I'm not going to take the chances that I did la s t year . I thi nk consistency is what's go ing to count, because you ca n't win one week an d get 19th the next and ge t a title out of it. You gotta be there at the en d. Isn 't it also safe to say th at you reall y w e re a true rooki e la st y e a r, in the sens e that there' s really no amateur su p ercross series? Yea h, yo u're rig ht . I kind of wish I co u ld've go tte n Ro o kie pf the Year again. But anyhow, I lea rn ed a lot last year in supe rcross . Even though I had my own supercross place to ride last year, I still had problems raci ng . I got nervous and stuff. I wanted to win so ba d that I was riding over my head . Well, once the su percross thi ng ended la st year and yo u got th at firs t ha lf- year as a pro under yo ur belt, yo u see m ed to se ttl e down a lot. Yeah, outdoors I d id. And I won three supercrosses, which wasn't bad. I was in a position to win two more, but I d idn't take advantage of it and tbat was just part of me being a rookie. But as the y e a r went on , I got smarter, and I lea rned a lot au td oa rs as well as in supercross. and now I'm just looking forward to next year. Win or lose, you definitely got a large portion of the cheers this year. Man, where did you learn to wh ip it li k e that? . . I don' t know; ever since I was on little bikes, I was always good at whipping it. I thi nk it just looks cool, you know everyth ing gets really gnarly now wi th the nac-nacs and heel -cli ckers and all that, so I'm just trying to cu t it down and bring some w hips back. I guess I'm trying to kee p it real with the old -schoo l w hip-its, because I th in k people like a good whip-it eve ry now and then. Jeff Emig told me that one of the th ings that he is going to im prove on his game this year is h is method thro ugh the w hoops - maybe attack them quicker, o r so mething like that. Wha t do you need to wo rk o n? Or do you think your te ch ni q ue's good and it's just a case of execu tio n? I just need to w ork on being sm oo th and not getting excited. I'm pretty good on the track - I nave a rhythm and all - I just need to be smooth and keep it cool. A lot of g uys like to spend the off-seaso n k ind of b a rn s to r m i n g through Euro pe and d oing a lot of in ternational thi ngs. You see m to be ta king a d iff erent approach. Yo u're st ay ing h ome. Yeah, I just thought that I need to stay home this year. I still haven't had that much supercross experience under my belt, and Mitch (Payton) and I talked it over and he said it would be safer this yea r to just stay home a nd get ready. Next yea r I will do some racing over there, but not this year. How has your life changed this ye ar? Did you go out and buy yourse lf a car or a new home or an ything, or are yo u still living with your parents in Tallahassee? I' m jus t livin g her e, still w it h my paren ts, in Tall aha ssee . I haven't bought any thi ng; I' m ju st saving m y m o n ey , man . My pa ren ts hel pe d me to ge t to w he re I am - go tta stick wi th them . Is there a possibility that some of th e West Coast fans m ight see yo u ride a 250 this year? Maybe so, yea h. If I do we ll o n the East Coast, I m ight run Dallas or one of the last races. It sho uld be exci ting if they let me. (Above) Carmichael won an incredible eight 125cc MX Nationa ls this year. (Right) Carmichael also did well in the East Coast 125cc Supercross Series in 1997, winning three events. Hey, what happened at the la st ra ce las t ye ar in Las Vegas? That's another time when I kind of got a little tense there - I don' t think I was nervous - 1 just wanted to win rea lly bad. I don't know; I didn' t really like the track to start wi th, and at leas t I didn't hit a hay bale there like I d id at all the other ones . How many hay bales di d you collect last year? (Laughs) I p rob ably collected about 10. Blew up about 20. Who do you look for as your bigges t competition? Stephane Ron cad a? John Dowd? I don' t even know, because I think Roncada's riding the West Coast, but I kn ow John Dowd a nd Scott Sh eak will be in there; and as far as the outdoors go, ( know Dowd's running outdoors, too. Dowd will be my toughest competition. It's kind of iro nic: You and D owd - the o ld est guy on the track and one of the y oun g es t gu ys on the tr ack - are the two fav orites for that East Coast title. Yep . I kno w, it is weird , but, yo u know, Jo hn 's a h a rd- w orking g uy, and I'm going to ha ve to wo rk reall y hard to beat him . He goes d own figh ting, so it' s going to be tough. So what are your expectations for th e 12Scc East Regional Supercross Seri es? You'll see a new pe rson in me . I'll be a lot calmer , a lot smoothe r, and I'll be in be tter sha pe,and hopefull y yo u' ll se e me tak e th e title. (~ 53