Unadilla 2006
7/17/2006
New Berlin, NY (July 16, 2006) — Round 6 of the 2006 AMA Toyota Motocross Championships made it's way to the legendary Unadilla Valley Sports Center over the weekend. Despite torrential downpours during Saturday's practice sessions, by Sunday morning the sunny skies dried up the course enough for an outstanding day of racing. Ricky Carmichael continued his dominance in the Motocross class with a 1-1 tally, while Ryan Villopoto took home his third overall in a row and the points lead in the Lites division.
Mike Alessi rocketed out of the gate and into the early lead during moto one while Josh Grant, Andrew Short, and Andrew McFarlane followed closely. By lap five, Villopoto was able to catch up to the pack and begin applying pressure. On lap eight, he moved by Short for second and began an incredible charge for the lead, coming within a few bike lengths of Alessi at times. Alessi won the moto 1.2 seconds ahead of Villopoto.
With a great opening Lites moto, the gate dropped for the Motocross moto and it was Davi Millsaps grabbing the holeshot, followed closely by Chad Reed, RC, Kevin Windham and Michael Byrne. (Unadilla marked the return of Byrne after a broken thumb sustained during practice in Las Vegas.) Up front, Millsaps set a fast pace but wasn't able to hold off RC as he sped past and opened up a big lead. Reed, who almost didn't race due to a sore knee suffered from a practice crash was running third until Windham found some extra speed and made his move and went on to finish third.
Lites moto two had Josh Grant grabbing the holeshot and leading the first four and a half laps before a three way battle for the lead between Grant, Nathan Ramsey and Short took place. Eventually, Short made the pass stick and led for the next five laps until hard charging Villopoto snuck by and cruised to the win with a comfortable margin over Short. With his third straight overall, Villopoto now leads the championship by three points halfway through his rookie season.
Motocross moto two once again saw Millsaps grab the holeshot and lead until lap two when RC blazed past and ran off to another easy win. By lap four, Windham showed some serious speed as he too went by Millsaps and cruised to a second place overall on the weekend. Reed, meanwhile put in an inspiring ride with the injured knee and pressured Millsaps with a few laps to go but couldn't find a way past and had to settle for fourth.
450 Moto One Results
- Ricky Carmichael
- David Millsaps
- Kevin Windham
- Chad Reed - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Timmy Ferry
- David Vuillemin
- Nicholas Wey
- Travis Preston
- Michael Byrne - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Kyle Lewis
450 Moto Two Results
- Ricky Carmichael
- Kevin Windham
- David Millsaps
- Chad Reed - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Timmy Ferry
- David Vuillemin
- Nicholas Wey
- Travis Preston
- Kyle Lewis
- Antonio Balbi Jr.
250F Moto One Results
- Mike Alessi
- Ryan Villopoto - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Andrew Short
- Andrew McFarlane
- Brett Metcalfe
- Joshua Grant
- Broc Hepler
- Ryan Sipes
- Kyle Chisholm - Moose Racing
- Nathan Ramsey
250F Moto Two Results
- Ryan Villopoto - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Andrew Short
- Nathan Ramsey
- Andrew McFarlane
- Brett Metcalfe
- Joshua Grant
- Mike Alessi
- Martin Davalos
- Troy Adams - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Matthew Goerke