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/1477536
and it handled well for me. But overall, a lot of pieces to the puzzle came together, and that's what separates everyone else in the end. Also, my training. I feel I have one of the strongest train- ing regimens out there." It turns out that Carmichael's perfect season was no fluke. He did it again two years later, this time with Mike Gosselaar as his mechanic and on a CRF450R four-stroke. So, when he said after the Steel City race in 2002 that "I doubt this [a perfect sea- son] would ever happen again," he was wrong. In fact, he was doubly wrong. In 2008, James Stewart, aboard a Jeremy Albrecht-tuned KX450F, went 24-0 while lead- ing 369 of 382 laps to winning the title for Kawasaki. Maybe Carmichael had a gut feeling when he also said after Steel City in '02, "I'm not sure that it's really possible," regarding future perfect seasons. "Unless Bubba [Stewart, who had just won his first 125cc outdoor title that year] stops winning, he's going to break all kinds of records." Luck certainly plays a role when it comes to having the perfect season. Take the last race in '04 at Glen Helen, for ex- ample, when Carmichael landed from a large jump onto a fallen motorcycle during practice. He touched down on Kevin Wind- ham's crashed bike so hard that it destroyed Carmichael's frame, which had to be replaced before the first moto, which meant the entire motorcycle had to be torn apart and put back together again in a relatively short time. Also, luckily Carmichael wasn't hurt in the incident, and the bike later performed flawlessly in the two National motos. Believe it or not, Gosselaar said, through it all, that he wasn't stressed that day. "Everybody is so professional here," he said. "It was just an easy day for me." But he admitted that he was thankful when the perfect sea- son was over: "It's a relief. I can sleep now at night." Carmichael's perfect season in '04 was also his last season with Honda before departing for Suzuki. It was also perhaps more impressive than his first perfect season when you figure some of the talent he had to contend with in '04, riders like Chad Reed, David Vuillemin and Windham. "It's nice to do what I did this year when you have a guy that is his [Chad Reed's] caliber," Car- michael said at Glen Helen. "I'm so happy, I know I don't show it, but it was a tough last couple of laps. I definitely had a lump in my throat. I must thank Honda, the guys at the shop, and the people who work with us every weekend. I've got great relation- ships with them, and I'm going to miss those guys." And they would miss Car- michael, too. After all, when everyone that year on the Honda team—technicians, mechanics, truck drivers, etc.—got a $325 bonus when one of its riders won a National, you'd miss him, too. CN puzzle came together, and that's what separates everyone else in - perfect season was no fluke. He after the Steel City race in 2002 CN III ARCHIVES P124 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives Despite it being Carmichael's final season on red, Honda gave him a classy send-off with this ad in Cycle News after his second perfect motocross season.