RC completes third perfect season, Tedesco crowned

Newly-crowned AMA Motocross Champion Ricky Carmichael has once again made AMA Motocross history by winning the twelfth and final round of the 2005 series, held at Glen Helen Raceway - to complete a third undefeated season!

The Makita Suzuki rider, racing in a special Motocross of Nations colour scheme, won the opening 30-minute plus two lap race by 16-seconds from Honda's Kevin Windham and the second by seven seconds from another Honda rider, Ernesto Fonseca.

The victory was Carmichael's 27th win in a row, dating back to July of 2003, extending the longest winning streak in AMA Motocross history: He became the first rider ever to go undefeated in the series in 2002, repeated the feat in 2004 (again with Honda) and now again this year with Suzuki.

"I had a great season," said Carmichael, the all-time wins leader in AMA Motocross. "Makita Suzuki stepped up to the plate and delivered. We came into the year with an unproven motorcycle and we were able to be successful. Helping this team come back to prominence makes me feel like I really accomplished something."

Windham gave Carmichael a bit of a race in the first moto before slipping off the pace, although he still finished well ahead of the third place finisher, Yamaha's David Vuillemin, who in turn finished race one ahead of series rival Ernesto Fonseca - the two factory riders having gone into the Glen Helen round tied for third place in the points standings.

In the second moto, Fonseca got into second with Windham third and Vuillemin fourth. Fonseca held Windham at bay, though Windham did not seem to be too concerned about passing his fellow Honda rider, knowing that if he had, it would jeopardise Fonseca's finish in the series.

Fonseca went on to finish second in the moto, take third overall on the day and third in the series. Windham finished second overall and second in the championship, while Vuillemin finished fourth and fourth in the series.

The event also saw the return to racing from injury of Carmichael's outgoing team mate Sebastien Tortelli who finished seventh overall. The Frenchman will head back to GP racing next season with KTM.

Meanwhile, in the 125cc class, Ivan Tedesco looked set to safely wrap up his first outdoor crown, but a race one crash - that left him outside the points - combined with victory for nearest rival Mike Alessi (after Grant Langston was penalised for cutting the track) meant that the title would go down to the wire in race two.

The drama would increase when the title challengers pair clashed - and then crashed - early in race two, and a frantic pushing match ensued as the pair tried to remount as quickly as possible, with Matt Walker also caught up in the chaos.

Tedesco would get going first and ultimately finish ahead to secure the crown, while Langston took the race victory. The South African would be joined on the overall podium by Ryan Villopota and Andrew Short.

Tedesco will move up to the premier 250cc class next season, while the 125cc class itself will be renamed AMA Motocross Lites to better reflect the use of 250cc four-strokes in the support class. The current 250cc class will simply be known as AMA Motocross. The same name changes will apply to AMA Supercross.