Fans of professional motocross got a treat this summer. 2002 was the year Honda's Ricky Carmichael pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of a perfect outdoor season, 24 moto wins, no losses. Even for someone as dominant as Carmichael has been, a perfect record has not even been thought of because so much can happen. Bikes break, even they best riders crash or people crash into them, and a 40-man dash for the first turn has got to be one of the most intense, and risky, moments in any sport. At the final round at Steel City, Carmichael was again perfect with a 1-1, even though Yamaha's star Tim Ferry gave it his all in the final moto.

Carmichael made it through all 12 rounds of the AMA/Chevy trucks U.S. Motocross Championship with hardly a scratch, or even any dirt on his number plate. He led almost every lap of the series and broke Bob Hannah's career mark for 250 class wins, with 28 career wins. Carmichael's combined supercross and motocross career mark is now just 9 behind Jeremy McGrath's record of 89, and Carmichael is just 22 years old.

Carmichael's moto starts have been as remarkable as his finishes. Rarely has he been far enough back after a start where he can't grab the lead by the end of the first lap. At Steel City Carmichael just saw John Dowd nearby as each race started, and after that he cruised away with the lead. In moto 1 Dowd was second ahead of Kyle Lewis for a couple of laps, but Ferry moved up to second, and LaRocco third after starting outside the top 10. Nathan Ramsey was next and Sean Hamblin was fith. In moto 2 Carmichael again got away from Dowd and took off. Carmichael knew he just had to win the moto to seal his perfect season, but Tim Ferry wasn't going to give up on his last chance to spoil it. The two left the pack far behind, but Ferry just wasn't quite on the leader's pace. Sebastien Tortelli, on his last race for Honda before moving to Suzuki, was third, and LaRocco 4th, for third overall.

"It has been a phenomenal year<" said Carmichael. "Things really came around after the first five supercrosses. I really got comfortable on my Honda. The bike was great. My trainer had me in tiptop shape. Hats off to Timmy, I think he gets the most improved award from last year. He kept me on my toes all year. He didn't allow me to slack at all. It was good. It kept me motivated. Sometimes its easy to get unmotivated out there when you win there is no one behind you. He kept me honest. It was fun. You never think you would go undefeated. It is awesome to win races. I just wanted to defend my title, which I did. Along with that came an undefeated season. I doubt it will ever happen again. It has been a hell of a year. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. If I never win another race in my career I can still say I have accomplished a lot. Hopefully this record will stand. Bubba needs to slow down a little bit, and it will last for a while. This season is done. We are going to go to the Motocross of Nations and try to win that. Myself, Timmy and Mike, we are going to try and put a thorn in those guys side. We are going to get ready for the US Open and we are going to get ready for supercross. I am really looking forward to it. I want to have as much success in supercross as I did this year. (Supercross promoter) Clear Channel put on a good show for us."

Asked when he believed he really could pull off a perfect season, Carmichael said, "After Millville I thought OK, this is for real. The first time I won my supercross title three-quarters of the way through the season I thought man this is the real thing. That is when I realized that I could do it. I still had a little question mark coming into this season. I don't feel that comfortable coming off the gate here. The track is awesome here but I never really had much luck. It really hit me today, in the first moto sitting there (at the start) what I have accomplished."

"I have had a lot of seconds (this season) but no wins," said Ferry, "Ricky had a perfect season which is really good for him. I felt good. I had a bad weekend at Binghamton, I finished 18th overall. I don't know how you go from finishing 2nd to 18th but I did it. I had a lot of crashes. This track was good. Ricky and I just took off from everybody else. It was a good race for me. I put everything I had into that second moto. Ricky just had a little bit of an edge on me. I made a big improvement in my speed (since last year). I didn't win a national like I did last year but my speed was a lot better. I had some races where I crashed a little too much and tried too hard."

"I felt pretty good today. The track was good," said LaRocco. "I just struggled with my starts, as always. It was fun but it was just one of those days where I as in the back where I shouldn't have been."

All three podium finishers at Steel City are also the three that make up Team USA for the Motocross of Nations, which takes place at San Jacinto, Ca. on Oct 29.

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