Carmichael plans Windham response.

Last weekend's Washougal round of the AMA Motocross championship saw Kevin Windham win his second Outdoor National in a row, with reigning champ Ricky Carmichael - who had been unbeaten since 2001 before Unadilla - forced to settle for two runner up spots behind his fellow red rider for the second week in succession, something he's not about to start getting used to.

Factory Connection-backed Windham exploded to an early lead in both motos, leaving Carmichael to chase. In the first outing, the defending champ and his CR250R two-stroke followed a sizeable Windham lead, before cutting it down to 3.7 seconds at the end of the 15th and final lap.

The second moto began the same for Windham, but drastically different for Carmichael. With another early lead, Windham quickly separated himself from the rest of the field on his 450F four-stroke, while Carmichael was mired in the middle of the pack after a poor start.

RC completed the first lap in ninth place and in eight remarkable laps had worked the #4 Honda up to second place. The Floridian crossed the finish line just 4.2 seconds behind Windham and more than six seconds ahead of third place Chad Reed.
Carmichael's effort was an exhausting one, but one required to defend his championship.

"I'm going to have to start training harder if he keeps this up," said a gracious Carmichael about his competitor, friend and teammate Windham. "Kevin has definitely stepped it up, which means I'm going to have to do the same. The fans are definitely in for some more good racing before this series is over."

Windham agreed and admitted that Carmichael has helped him rise to the occasion of winning the last two races.

"It's awesome what we've done in the past two weeks," said Windham praising his Factory Connection team. "But I can't rest on these results. I have to keep it going."

Despite his recent two-race win streak, Windham and the rest of the field will have their work cut out for them as the series heads to Millville, Minnesota on August 17 for round nine.

Carmichael has won three 250 and two 125 races at Millville's Spring Creek Motocross Park since 1997. In other words, Carmichael has only lost there once...