So Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael is “retired” is he? Scheduled to race “selected events” both in Supercross and Outdoor Motocross next year, Carmichael has been training hard for the opening round of the World Supercross GP in Canada. Apparently, Carmichael is also committed to training for a future in NASCAR racing, and will not race enough two-wheeled events to be a title threat.
The interesting question is this. What will the real title contenders (Kawasaki’s James Stewart and Yamaha’s Chad Reed, for instance) do when Carmichael is on a supercross track? Will these riders allow Carmichael to lure them into a pace that might cause them to crash? Alternatively, will they let Carmichael go when he is having a good night and be content to race the rest of the field? You can bet team managers are discussing this with their riders.
Carmichael has certainly made it interesting over the last 10 years as a full-time racer. He is about to make it even more interesting as a part-time competitor in 2007.