Since this site is dedicated to northern Nevada motocross, the first accolades for the 2005 Hangtown National belong to Bobby Garrison (928). Garrison was the lone northern Nevada pilot to make either main event, and he did so in the 250cc class via a seventh-place finish in his morning qualifier. Garrison went on to score 25-22 moto scores in the national, finishing very close to the points-paying threshold at 20th place. With a little luck, Garrison will likely score some national points this summer, and maybe even land an elusive top-99 national number at year’s end. He’s that fast.

Now to the national angle. What was supposed to be a race in the 250cc class turned out to be a two-moto ceremony in which Ricky Carmichael (4) scorched the hopes of his adversaries and scattered the ashes over Hangtown pond. This was exactly what Chad Reed, Kevin Windham and James Stewart did not want to see at the first race of the year. Carmichael put in two flawless rides to post a 47-second lead in the first moto (over David Vuillemin) and a 25-second lead in the second moto (over Windham.) Carmichael led every lap and looked--if this can be believed--even faster than he was last year.

Reed put in a respectable performance that likely failed his own expectations. After getting behind early in the first moto, Reed could only reach third place by moto’s end (more than 30 seconds behind Vuillemin.) In the second moto, Reed gated second behind Carmichael but soon lost touch with RC’s charge. Before long, Windham turned up the pressure and motored by for second place in the moto, leaving Reed to a lonely third. There was speculation afterward that an earlier crash in practice dulled Reed's edge for the afternoon. Nonetheless, Reed’s steady 3-3 ride earned him second on the day, ahead of Vuillemin’s third-place tally (2-4). Windham’s second-moto ride was compromised by a crash-induced 21st-place outing in the first moto, earning him ninth for the day.

And where was Stewart? He struggled through two crashes in the first moto to finish a disappointing sixth behind Carmichael, Vuillemin, Reed, Travis Preston, and Juss Laansoo. Stewart fared much better at the start of the second moto, reaching fourth, just behind Windham and Reed, early in the race. But to the surprise of many, Stewart began losing time on the duo before long, eventually exiting the race after reportedly feeling dizzy. There has been no confirmation of what caused the dizziness. In any case, his 6-30 moto scores cost him a staggering 35 points to Carmichael at the first round of the series. This was a severe blow to Stewart’s title chances--especially considering Carmichael’s display out front.

The 250cc-class surprises included Travis Preston’s strong fourth-place ride (4-5), Juss Laansoo’s solid fifth-place performance (5-8) and John Dowd’s strong first-moto outing (eighth place.) Dowd was also running in the top ten in the second moto when a mechanical failure ended his day. Michael Byrne also put in a respectable showing (9-6) on his way to top two-stroke (sixth overall.)

The 125cc class, which, ironically, featured no 125cc machines, was the opposite of the anticlimactic 250cc contest. Grant Langston (8) took the overall win on the day via a 2-1 score but it came at the cost of a potentially dislocated ankle. After posting second in the first moto behind Broc Hepler, Langston wore down the early lead that Mike Alessi built in the second moto as the laps closed down. As the invigorated Langston went for a last-corner move on the obviously depleted Alessi, the two collided just feet from the finish. Langston remounted his still-running Kawasaki to cross the line in first, while Alessi put in a heart-wrenching struggle to restart his bike at the base of the finish line, which ended only after Alessi failed to start the machine, fell while trying to push the bike up the jump, and eventually rolled the bike off the course to restart it. He scored 15th after leading all but the last few feet of the moto, giving him ninth overall (6-15).

Mike Brown put in a steady ride on his new Honda to score second via a 3-2 posting. Brown was the victim of one of the more comic moments of the day when his seat fell off in the first moto, allowing his side panels to dangle freely. Hepler took third overall (1-5) after a second-moto crash kept him from a chance at duplicating his first-moto win. Ivan Tedesco claimed fourth (8-3) and Josh Grant rounded out the top five (7-6).

Disappointment reigned throughout much of the 125cc class, as a number of would-be contenders were stalled by crashes, bike problems, or plain poor performances. Ryan Hughes looked fast all day long, but a crash in the first moto and a second-moto mechanical failure left him with a 5-35 tally for 13th overall. Davi Millsaps, a popular pre-race favorite, struggled to dismal 17-16 moto finishes for 19th overall. Perhaps the most bitter part for Millsaps was knowing that Alessi--Millsap’s bitter minicycle rival--led much of the second moto and still finished one spot ahead of him despite the ordeal that Alessi endured near the finish line.

But the day was undoubtedly the hardest for many of the young 125cc-class prospects. Justin Keeney (29-24), Robert Kiniry (22-33), Bryan Johnson (23-30), Matt Goerke (27-28), Thomas Hahn (28-36), Josh Lichtle (34-31), and Donnie McGourty (37-40) all came in with high expectations and left with zero points. Worse yet, many highly regarded 125cc riders--including Brett Metcalfe, Robbie Reynard, Josh Woods, Sean Collier, Eric Nye, Nic Evennou, Dusty Klatt, Jacob Saylor, Tucker Hibbert and Michael Blose--failed to make the main event.

So the stage has been sent for another year of outdoor action, with Carmichael again commanding the momentum in the 250cc class (to be more accurate: 450cc class) and any number of riders (including the former champ Langston and young stars Alessi and Hepler) vying for 125cc class (no, wait, 250cc class) superiority.