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Not a single rider elected to take a parade lap before the second moto, as a hard rain had moved in during intermis- sion, turning the track to muck, and no one wanted to take a chance of getting stuck or drowning out a bike before the start of the race. Carmichael wasted no time moving into the lead after the first turn and imme- diately began putting a gap between him- self and Stewart, who was running in sec- ond. Honda-mounted Brad Modjewski ran in third, ahead of Unbound Energy/Moto XXX's Tim Ferry and Rockstar Suzuki's Michael Brown. Reed was one of the first riders to get stuck, and he lost almost full lap to the pack while trying to get out. By lap two, only Carmichael was still relatively clean, as the rest of the field was covered in mud and barely distinguishable from one another. Had it not been for transponders, this race would have been impossible to score. On lap five, Stewart's Kawasaki team- mate Michael Byrne became stuck in the main line of a narrow off-camber turn, which caused a bottleneck. The deep rut collected Stewart as well, and riders looked for an alternate line around the blockade. In the meantime, Vuillemin, who is one of the better "mudders" on the circuit, moved into second when Ferry also got stuck. Ohio privateer Chris Whitcraft also seized the opportunity and moved into third, though it didn't last for long. While every other rider on the track battled with the conditions, Carmichael wheelied and railed around the course until he finally passed Vuillemin with one lap to go, giving him a full lap on the entire field. A lap later, Carmichael took the check- ers with fists in the air. Vuillemin finished second, while a late charge carried Spring Creek MX Park Millville, MN Round 9 August 13, 2006 AUGUST 23, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 22 2006 Toyota AMA Motocross Championship Presented by FMF MY OWN RACE 15 Timmy Ferry 14th (34-8) Place Unbound Energy/Moto XXX's Timmy Ferry ran strong in the first moto, moving up from 13th at the start to seventh, just behind Michael Byrne, but then dropped out of contention at the midway point with a mechanical failure. In the muddy second moto, Ferry ran as high as third, but then he got stuck and eventually finished eighth for 14th overall. "I was up into third, and I must have had at least two or three straightaways on fourth, but I fell on one of the downhills and I was there forever," Ferry said. "I finally got my bike cranked, but my hands were all muddy and everybody was by me. Then I tipped over three or four more times and I just lost my momentum. I thought I had a top-three going there, but oh well." 686 Josh Demuth 7th (12-5) Place Perseverance was the key to Josh Demuth's seventh- overall finish. The BooKoo Honda rider logged 12-5 moto finishes on the day and, by doing so, moved into the top 10 in the series standings. "I actually went down on the first lap, but I got back up and just kept going; I knew that if I could just stay on the track that a lot of guys would pull off or get stuck," Demuth said. "I just did my best to stay up and I just kept pass- ing guys. My mechanics did a good job of keeping me pumped up." At one point in the second moto, Demuth ran as high as third. "I messed up and let Mike Brown get by me, and then at the end Windham got around me." 983 Broc Tickle 16th (11-24) Place Honda-mounted Broc Tickle made his pro debut in Millville and showed that he belonged with the big boys by posting a very credible 11th-place finish in the first moto. The 16-year- old ran as high as 12th during the second moto but suffered the same fate as many on the muddy course and finally settled for 24th for the moto and 16th overall. "I got off the line in about 20th in the first moto, and I just hooked up behind Kyle Lewis and started picking riders off," Tickle said. "I fell early in the second moto and dropped back to 15th, and then I fell again. My bike was so heavy that I couldn't pick it up. Overall, I felt pretty good, but I think I can do better." 11 Travis Preston 6th (5-6) Place Team Honda's Travis Preston had a consistent day at Millville, going 5-6 for sixth overall. "This was probably one of the toughest races ever," Preston said. "It stopped raining so [mud was] sticking to everything; the bike was heavy, and you couldn't see. It was nasty. Coming down some of those steep hills, it was so slippery, and everyone is covered in mud so you don't even know who you are racing with. I saw everyone crashing, so I just tried to stay on two wheels and survive." Ferry is a solid fifth overall in the series standings, with 257 points. David Vuillemin returned to the podium after going 7-2 for second overall. Kevin Windham didn't get to celebrate his third-place finish on the podium. He got bumped up a position after James Stewart was docked 10 seconds.