AMA Toyota MX Championship–Binghamton '06

In addition to the report and photos below, there's also a much larger photo gallery/report you can access by clicking here.

After a muddy round of motos in Millville, everyone was looking forward to drying out in Binghamton, but there was no such luck. Light drizzle on Saturday morning, which was good for keeping the dust down in the first practice round, turned into heavy rain during the second 450 practice…and just in time for the WMA race.

Fortunately for the women, and to help preserve the track for Sunday, their event was limited to one moto, rather than the usual two. But for a while it looked like a race that no one wanted to win that one, as Tarah Geiger led (and fell) twice, and Alisa Nix crashed out of the lead. That left the door wide open for Jessica Patterson, who took the win and padded her points lead heading into the final round in Steel City in two weeks.

Coming into Binghamton, New Zealand's Katherine Prumm was second in points and the biggest threat to Jessica Patterson winning yet another WMA title. But unfortunately, Katherine couldn't make it over for the final two rounds due to lack of sponsorship (her parents have been footing much of this year's travel to the World Cup races in Europe, and to the WMA races here in the U.S.), though we'd heard that Kawasaki had a bike there for her.

Want to see more from the WMA race? Click here.

Sunday morning in the pits was the usual frenzy of waterproofing, taping, swapping discs, and wrapping panty hose around radiator shrouds. Practice was also reduced to one (sloppy) round, with qualifiers right afterward, so they could do a bunch of track maintenance. The track improved throughout the day, and amazingly (given the amount of rain the track was hit with) there were actually some duty spots on it by the end of the day.

Mike Alessi came into Binghamton with a five-point lead over Ryan Villopoto, but that rapidly vaporized when he crashed shortly after the start, and then crashed again while rushing to get back on the track. Somewhere in the melee, Mike's clutch lever mechanism was broken, which resulted in a DNF. Unfortunately for Mike, he missed a golden opportunity to extend his lead, considering that many of the top contenders in the championship chase had gone down in the first turn and had to fight their way back up through the pack. For example, Ryan Villopoto was 15th after the first lap, Andrew Short was 26th, and Josh Grant was 29th.  By the end of the moto, they were fourth (Villopoto), and seventh (Short).

With the problems for the championship hopefuls, that opened the door for some other faces at the front of the pack, and Makita Suzuki's Broc Hepler led the charge. After missing the first three races of the series, and working his way back up to speed since then, Broc took another moto win, and was unchallenged. Yamaha of Troy's Matt Walker was also up front early in the first moto, followed by new Team Yamaha recruit, Josh Hill. Josh rode smart, reeling in Walker and moving into second. Walker came around behind Hill (and without goggles), so it looked like he may have gone down.

Coming into the first moto of the big-bore class, Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael merely needed a 17th in a moto to clinch his 10th consecutive outdoor title on ice. Of course, we can't say that we've ever seen RC back into a championship, and things were no different in Binghamton. Team Honda's Davi Millsaps grabbed the holeshot and led for a lap before RC put the hammer down and took over the lead, with Team Kawasaki's James Stewart in tow. Kevin Windham (Sobe / Samsung Mobile / No Fear / Honda) was behind Millsaps until just past the halfway point, when he got by Davi.

Afterward, RC accepted his number one plate from the AMA's Steve Whitelock, and there were plenty of happy smiling faces in the Suzuki camp. None of these guys (Ricky included) take it for granted until it's in the bag.

The second Lites moto had all the makings of a real barnburner, but it never seemed to develop that way. Broc Hepler got the holeshot, followed by Ryan Villopoto, Andrew McFarlane, Andrew Short, Matt Walker, and Mike Alessi. By the end of the first lap it had settled in with Villopoto in the lead (which he'd never give up), followed by Hepler, Short, and Alessi. Josh Hill had jumped to fifth. Short went by Hepler a couple laps later, and that and that was how they stayed until the end. Villopoto took the moto, and now has a 20-point lead in the title chase. Hepler took the overall, winning his second national in a row; and Josh Hill ended up third overall, scoring a podium in his second-over National.

When they lined up for the final 450 moto, Ricky was in all black, and sporting a cool number one on the back of his jersey, rather than his customary number four. Millsaps scored the holeshot again, with Windham in tow, but that lasted less than a lap before RC went by both of them. RC's lead was short-lived, though, as he tipped over in a corner, which allowed James Stewart by, and effectively kept nearly every spectator in the place locked in their seats, anticipating some great action. They weren't disappointed, as RC worked his way back up to James' rear fender, and finally going by on lap nine. RC built up a decent gap, which was good, because with three-and-a-half laps left, he discovered that his front tire was going flat…his first flat in ten years as a pro. A post-race inspection revealed that a large staple had punctured the tire and tube. James finished second.

Kevin Windham won the battle of the Hondas, as he beat Davi Millsaps in both motos and is now tied with Chad Reed in points, though obviously Reed is done for the season. Davi is eight points behind K-Dub, and it'll be a battle over the next two races to see who finishes in second behind RC.

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