Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael clinched victory in the weekend's Vancouver round of the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross Championship, taking over the series lead.

Carmichael was in dominant mood all night, starting the evening with a lights-to-flag win in his eight-lap heat, the 27-year old claiming the holeshot and not being headed to the finish.

“This crowd and this bike are really working for me tonight,” he said from the podium, “I just needed to put myself into a good position for the main event and try to bag one of these things. I think the last time I won here was 2004 - I love this place but I'm due.”

Carmichael got another good start in the 20-lap main event, but bided his time in second place before taking the lead with a dramatic pass on James Stewart with four laps to go.

“It was an epic battle, a race all 20 laps," he grinned, "James was riding great tonight and I wanted to keep him in sight and give myself a chance to win the race. James and I have had some sick races and it's so much fun to race like that. I've grown to have a lot of respect for him, racing with him last year - he's grown up a lot racing with me.

"I know he had a bump and bruise, but I don't know how much better he could have ridden because we were cooking around that track. I don't know if the bikes could have taken much more and whether the tyres could have gripped more.

"It was great to win this race. I was trying - I lost a little here and there that I had to make up, and he was strong from lap five to 13 or 14, but then I saw a little bit of hesitation and made a clean pass. I did what I had to do and made a nice move on him.

“When you get out there and the adrenaline gets pumping it's so fun. We had a good race and I'm just happy to get Makita Suzuki another win. Now we're going into the holidays, but I'm looking forward to Anaheim and Phoenix.”

After two rounds of the World Supercross Championship, Carmichael - who added Vancouver victory to his Toronto second place - holds a two-point lead over Chad Reed, with Stewart a further three points back in third. Reed finished third in Vancouver, ahead of David Vuillemin and Tim Ferry, who now hold fourth and fifth in the standings.

The season-opening Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Championship Series takes place at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Saturday 6 January.