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/128612
W het her h e 's at home i n Florida, o r far away in C a l i f o rn i a , C arm ich a e l has a l ot fans a r o und him. I en joy just hang ing ou t at m y hou se , pla ying around on m y lan d - I've got a hundred a cr es. I like do ing s tuff wit h that , d es igning tra c ks . I a lso like wakebo ard ing , m y s ki boat and just go ing to the beach . Who d o y ou thin k will be s ome o f the st ron gest riders o n the Na ti onal circ u it t his year? . I think Ezra [Lusk] is going to be good right fro m the get-go. He's been injured [d uring the Supercross series] and he 's been riding outdoors a lot lately , a nd we 've been racing Supercross, so he 's got a lot of time o utdoors a nd he 's go t the speed. He works hard . I thi nk he's going to be good. If he can hold it together for the whole se ries, h e ' s defin ite ly going to be tough, he 's one fast gu y. I think Albee [Greg Albertyn] co uld be d e c ent ; [David] Vuillem in 's going to be You 've already wo n thre e 12 5 cc Nat iona l MX Ch amp ionsh ips. What a re s ome of t he key fa ct ors you need to win a n o ut door t itle? If anyone s hould kno w, it ' s yo u. You've got to be injury-free. You 've g ot to go into the season 100-percent fit, have a good bike, have no DNFs and put in consistent rides . The main things are no DNFs and stay ing injury -free, have a lot of podium finishes and wins here and there , and this will get yo u a championship. [This year's 250 series] will be close. There's going to be gu ys who are up th er e , but it's going to be tough to keep it together for 24 motos. Just from my past three outdoor c h a m p io n s h ip s , I kn ow it's tough , man . There's a lot of stuff that can go wrong. There are going to be guys that are going to go fast , but there are only a few guys tha t are going to be able to hold it tog ethe r for th at long . "'n a w a y it's good being sho rt..." Do you th ink your s m alle r s t a t ure , c o m pa re d to mo st of your c o m petito rs , is an advanta ge or disadvantage? In a way it' s good being short, and in a way it's g o od being tall. E verything has their good po ints and thei r bad points. Probably in th e mud is one of the disadvantages , and the whoops in Super cross. But Jeff Ward 's won S up e rc ros s titles and he's short, so that throws that theory out the win dow. La rry Ward seems to thi nk sometimes it' s easier bei ng s horter , 'cause you don 't have the [long] transition from s tanding to sitting as m uch. Definitely you need to be fit for some of the nationals. Back East, being so hot, you definitely have to by physically prepared. How do yo u prepare for a scor c he r? Drink a lot of H20 , and wear a ve nte d jersey [he laughs] . ", want the 25Dcc championship bad, really bad." Do you have favorite motocros s tra c ks ? I enjoy Mount Morris qu ite a bit. I also like Steel City , Budds Cre ek , a nd I like Millville. Troy's fun because - [I] just like it because it gets hot. Some peop le ha ve the tendency to get tired [in the heat], s o it's a good ra c e mentally for me. The hotter the better for me, I like it being hot. Whe n yo u ' re not racing, what do you like t o do ? If Carmichael ri d e s a 250 h alf as good as he does a 125 on the outdoor tracks, he stands a good chance to w in this year's 250cc title. re all y fast , 'ca use he 's coming off the 250 c c GP s la st ye ar . I know how those guy s are, and they're definitely good . Kevin [Windham] is goi ng to be fast at times , [Mike ] La Rocco , [S e b a s t ien] Tortelli , it ' s tough to say. How im po rta nt is it t o you to win the ou t door 250c c Na tio na l title? I wa nt the 250 championship bad , really bad . I don 't know why, I just do . Last year , I d id so po orly in t he 250s; fina lly I've kind of prove n to everybody that being too s mall is n't really the case. I won th e to ug hest Supercross of th e year; it' s just taking tim e . All these guys are fast ; it's taken me a while to adapt to th eir s pe ed and pac e . What is yo ur ulti ma t e goa l? I want a S upe rc ross title a nd a n outdoor [250cc] title, as many as I can get. If I can get six S uper. cross t it le s - great, if I get o ne .. .I want a tit le in every catego ry. I've got 125cc Super cross [title], 125cc o utdoor [titles], and I want both [a 250c c Super cr oss title and a n o ut door 250c c title ]. I'm go ing to giv e it 1 10 percent outdo o rs . CN Do you have to be in be tte r physical shape in motocross than you do in S upe rcro s s ? eye I e n e _ S • MAY 1 0 , 2000 33