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J ames Stewart's second career MX- class National victory will be one of those races he'll never forget. Nor will Ricky Carmichael. Nor the record number 27,442 fans that packed the scenic Washougal MX Park on a cool, cloudy and some- times rainy day in Washington. This one wasn't decided until the sec- ond-to-last lap of the second moto. Much like the first moto, where Carmichael put together a spectacular come-from-behind ride to catch and pass Stewart late in the race and take the win, Carmichael was once again reeling in the leader, Stewart, in the second moto and looking for a way around after erasing an 11-second deficit. He found it three laps from the end and was inching away from Stewart. He was about to take the white flag when the unthinkable happened - the champ crashed. It was a rare mistake by Carmichael, one that cost him the overall victory. While coming up on a large, single jump, sometimes referred to as the "ant hill," that he'd ridden over seemingly a thousand times before over the course of the weekend without glitch, he suddenly lost the front end on take-off and went crashing off the other side. It was a dra- matic end to a spectacular day of racing in the MX class. After Stewart rode past the downed Suzuki rider and rode off with the overall win via 2-1 moto finishes, a frustrated Carmichael remounted and finished sec- ond for second overall, which put an end to his six-race win streak. Finishing third overall with a 3-3, was Team Yamaha's Chad Reed, who put himself up front early in both motos but just couldn't match Stewart's or Carmichael's pace in either one. Neither Stewart or Carmichael got off to particularly great starts in the first moto; after the first lap, Stewart was fourth and Carmichael sixth. Reed was out front and trying to make a break for it, but both Stewart and Carmichael caught and passed him by the fourth lap. They had some help when Reed crashed briefly. "I felt really comfortable," Reed said. "My crash in the back was kind of like [in] a GNCC section - I was just pushing and just lost my front and went down." Reed got up, still in the lead, but lost valuable real estate to Stewart. Stewart got around Reed first and was able to put a few seconds on Carmichael before he could get around Reed for sec- ond. From there, the battle was on. By the halfway point, Carmichael had only moderate success in closing the gap on the Kawasaki rider, but that would all change in the second half. Carmichael started to creep noticeably closer and closer to Stewart as the race wore down, and, with about five laps to go, Carmichael started breathing down Stewart's neck. Carmichael made the pass on Stewart, bumping him in the process. But Stewart returned the favor and took the lead back moments later. "It was definitely cheap what I did," Carmichael said of bumping Stewart. "I ran it in on him and he definitely got [me] back - I knew I had it coming back. I was just eating his roost all the time and trying to get by, trying to get by, so I did that. I hate to do that, I hardly don't ever do it, but I did it - we did that - and he got back by me, and then I just followed, trying to bide my time and think of a place that I could make a clean pass." Stewart did, in fact, return the favor. "I was just kind of riding," Stewart said. "That section back there was kind of one- lined, and he was probably getting frus- trated. I know that in practice I was get- ting frustrated people roosting me, it was just spur of the moment, and it kind of shocked me, because it was the first time all year that we touched." Stewart gave Carmichael a little of his own medicine and got the lead right back. "I was just trying to get back, and I saw an inside line," Stewart said. "It was just a little payback. He said sorry and I said sorry after the race and that was it, no bad blood." Their battle raged on for a little while more, and, on the 13th of 15 laps, Carmichael put the move on Stewart again, only this time without touching him or giving the lead back up. In the remain- ing two laps, Carmichael managed to open a small cushion that he maintained to take the win over Stewart. Finishing well behind Stewart in third was Reed, who was followed by a sea of Honda riders: Davi Millsaps, Kevin Windham, Travis Preston and Tim Ferry, in that order. Motoworld/Yamaha's David Vuillemin broke the Honda train by finish- ing eighth. The second moto, Stewart got out front early. Carmichael, on the other hand, had his work cut out for him after BY KIT PALMER PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN AND PALMER Washougal MX Park Washougal, WA Round 8 July 30, 2006 AUGUST 9, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 22 2006 Toyota AMA Motocross Championship Presented by FMF Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart battled for the lead in both motos, much to the delight of Washougal spectators.