2005 Steel City 250cc AMA Motocross Championship (Round 11 of 12)

This is round 11 of the 2005 250cc AMA Motocross Championship presented by FMF from Steel City Raceway in Delmont, PA.
Returning contenders like 2004 runner-up Chad Reed, 2-time runner-up Kevin Windham, John Dowd, David Vuillemin, Heath Voss, Michael Byrne, Nick Wey, Ernesto Fonseca, 250cc rookie and 2-time 125cc champ James Stewart, 2002 runner-up Tim Ferry, and 5-time defending 250cc MX champ Ricky Carmichael battle it out for the 2005 250cc AMA Motocross Championship presented by FMF. This series is dominated once again by Ricky Carmichael. Ricky Carmichael clinches his 6th consecutive 250cc Motocross title (9th consecutive if you count his 3 125cc titles), and gives Suzuki their first 250cc Motocross Championship since Greg Albertyn in 1999. The Motocross community does its part to try to help out the victims of Hurricane Katrina and raises $49,000 total.
Enjoy.

[@mitchellkalina8191]

Ricky was just too damn good. It's unbelievable how he was always up front race after race year after year for so long. He's the best ever and regardless of who is 2nd, it's a pretty good distance from him to them so it doesn't even really matter. He's the culmination of God given ability meeting the right mental state and work ethic. He already had the the talent but he would not b outworked, it's impossible to give more effort than he did and u have to tip ur hat to that. The man

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

No arguments from this corner. Trying to beat Ricky straight-up in Motocross was like trying to beat Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, and Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi on their best days all rolled into one. I still firmly believe that the only rider to beat Ricky straight-up is Kevin Windham. Yes, James Stewart did give some unforgettable battles, but the only times James won was because RC made a mistake on his behalf (3 times in 2006). Ricky is definitely the best outdoors, which is why he's got 102 wins and a win average better than 70%.

[@mitchellkalina8191]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames I watched both of the washougal races from 01 and 03, Windham beat him straight up both times. Ricky said so at both interviews also which is another reason I loved him so much. He never made excuses, just came back and totally destroyed whoever it was that beat him to set the record straight. Also his outdoor win % is over 80%, winning 102 out of 126 races entered... completely fuckin bonkers

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Well, a win average of over 80% is still unreal, but 70% is as impressive, too.
Washougal '01 and '03 are definite prime examples to me why I feel Kevin Windham is the only rider to beat Ricky straight up. 2003 was a little wacky for Carmichael because he even said after moto 1 that he was stung by a bee; it does kinda make you laugh a bit. On another note, I also think Kevin being on a 450 as opposed to Ricky being on the 250 might have a considerable amount of reason why RC didn't win at Washougal '03. That was also Ricky's last loss until Hangtown '06 (27 races). That stat, along with his back-to-back perfect seasons in 2004 and 2005 are two that I very much see are etched in stone to this day.

[@mitchellkalina8191]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames oh yea, those things will never b done again I'm pretty certain. Basically from washougal 01 til 06 he lost a few times, insane. Also he WAS stung by a bee at washougal in 03, u could see the swelling in his face. I don't think that was said as an excuse, just stating what happened.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Absolutely. Those days are unfortunately over with today's talent pool. And yeah, Ricky did say he was stung by a bee. I myself didn't think Ricky used that bee as an excuse at all, but I just mainly felt it was more along the lines that Kevin was on that 450, and Ricky was on the 250 2-stroke -- not to mention that Ricky says Washougal isn't one of his favorite tracks (pretty sure).
Davey Coombs even brought up how quickly Ricky comes back after a loss at the '05 Orlando Supercross after Ricky lost to Chad Reed at Daytona. It was at mid-season of the 2003 MX season that Ricky last lost two in a row; before that, it was to Chad Reed in the final 6 races of the 2003 Supercross season; before that, it was the opening 2 rounds of the '03 SX season; then round 4 (Phoenix) of the 2002 Supercross season after starting with a 20th and two 4ths. It's totally mind-blowing to see that Ricky's last drought in MX was in the opening 3 races of the 2001 MX season (4th, 2nd, and 5th).