Carmichael swinging for triple in Houston.

Honda's Ricky Carmichael comes to Reliant Stadium this Saturday [29 March] hoping to win his third straight AMA Houston Supercross, despite finally being beaten on home turf by Chad Reed last weekend.

Carmichael leads the 2003 AMA Supercross Series point standings by 22 points over series rival Reed coming into round twelve of the 16-race series. He seemed to open an almost insurmountable lead in the series after winning seven of the last eight rounds but, last week in St Louis, Reed charged back on his factory Yamaha to win his third race this year, providing hope for fans of the gritty Australian that the series will go down to the wire.

Reed and Carmichael diced for the lead early in the St Louis race before Carmichael crashed. He remounted and sliced through traffic to finish second. Reed's victory reduced Carmichael's lead from 25 to 22 points. While, on the surface, that doesn't sound like a major difference, it is important in that Reed shrank the gap to under 25 points - the points equivalent of one race win. It means that should Carmichael experience a major problem in one of the remaining five rounds Reed could have a shot of regaining the series lead he held earlier in the season.

Carmichael comes to Houston upset at himself for his mistake last week and, in the past, when he gets upset it has usually made him more even more focused and intense on the track. He'll be looking to make a correction this weekend.

"I am too old to be making stupid mistakes like that," Carmichael said of his St Louis crash, "Every time I get behind him [Reed], I do the same thing and screw it up for myself. It is fun to ride behind someone instead of having them ride behind me all the time, but I guess I am not used to that."

After suffering what he called an embarrassing defeat in the Daytona Supercross on 8 March, Reed said he refocused his training and feels his efforts have paid off.

"I know that the championship is far away right now, so I am going to keep racing for the wins," he said.

Carmichael comes to the Houston Supercross riding a two-year winning streak in the race. If he is victorious on Saturday, he would be only the fifth rider in the 29-year history of the race to sweep three wins in a row. Bob Hannah, Mark Barnett, Jeff Ward and Jeremy McGrath all won at least three-straight Houston Supercross events.

Houston will also host the penultimate round of the AMA 125 East Region Supercross Series. Houston is traditionally a West Region race, but with the addition of San Francisco and the elimination of New Orleans this year, Houston was made an East Region race to balance the schedule.

SoBe Suzuki's Branden Jesseman leads the 125 East Series coming into the weekend. The Pennsylvania rider won his third race in five starts last weekend in St Louis, to extend his points lead to ten over Kawasaki veteran Michael Brown. Although the championship looks as if it will come down to either Jesseman or Brown, Brock Sellards is still clinging to slim title hopes, even if a seventh-place finish last week will have hurt his chances.

While AMA Supercross has been coming to the Houston Astrodome since 1974, this Saturday's race will be held in the neighbouring new Reliant Stadium. Reliant, home to the NFL's Houston Texans, is a state-of-the-art facility that features a retractable roof. The stadium operates like an open-air facility, but is said to have the intimacy and comfort of an indoor arena. It promises to be an excellent venue to watch an AMA Supercross event.