THO World Supercross Grand Prix Series
J
By KIT PALMER
PHOTO S BY STEVE B RUHN
I
e came, he conquered, he left. That
pretty much sums up Ricky
Carmichael's swing through Canada
for the World part of the THQ World
Supercross Grand Prix Series. The
o pening two rou nds , both held in Canada, were
res ou nding successes fo r Carmichael, who came
away with a pair of wins and, like many, used the
Toronto and the Vancouver rounds pr imarily to gear
up for the highly anticipated first round of the AMA
Supercross Series at Anaheim Stadium, January 8.
H
18 JANUARY 5, 2005 • CYCLE N EW S
But for Carmichael, the two Canadian rounds were
exceptionally important, for they gave him some
crucial , actual race time on his new Suzuki RM250,
and both he and his Makita Suzuki team manager
Roger DeCoster felt that they accomplished what
they came to do in Canada.
"The extra preparation was definitely beneficial,"
Carmichael said. "It's going to be great going to
Anaheim ... and not having to fly out to California
two days early to ride my race bike because I'd
never raced it. This was a great experience for me .
I'm bummed out I didn't do it three years ago, the
first year they had it, but you live and learn . I had a
great time in Canada."
As far as DeCoster is concerned , "Y u can test
o
and test and test, but there's nothing like actually
racing, and we feel everything is coming along the
way it shou ld. We're very happy where we're at."
And they shou ld be.
In Vancouver, Carmichael demolished the competition just like he did a week earlier in Toronto, but ,
perhaps more importantly, he looked extremely
