One Race, One Page
One Race, One Page
// By Davey Coombs
The 1999 Washougal 125 National
One Race, One Page
// By Davey Coombs
The 1999 Washougal 125 National
T

he record books show that the 125cc class winner at the Washougal round of the 1999 AMA/Mazda Trucks National Motocross Championship was FMF Honda’s Brock Sellards (27), yet fans who were there that day likely remember the race as one of Ricky Carmichael’s finest performances. Over the course of two motos, Sellards racked up solid 1-3 finishes to claim the overall, but it was the 2-2 performance of Splitfire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Carmichael that day 20 years ago that has gone down in motocross lore as one of his virtuoso performances.

In both motos, Carmichael, then on his way to a third straight AMA 125 National Motocross title, went down in the first turn, which back then was a sweeping uphill righthander. In each case, he picked up his Chad Watts-tuned #1 KX125 in dead last and started climbing back through the pack. And in both cases, he passed every other rider in the race except for one. In that first moto it was Ohio’s Sellards, as the two blitzed across the famous Washougal whoops practically side by side.

Sellards’ first- and third-place finishes
Sellards’ first- and third-place finishes would have been beaten by RC’s 2-2 in the old Olympic scoring system, which is used for most amateur races, but the AMA Pro Motocross scoring system awards points for each moto.

The second time out, Carmichael again found himself digging through the entire pack, and on the very last lap he caught Sellards again—only this time he passed him. The problem was that Sellards wasn’t actually the leader—local hero Jason McCormick of Planet Honda/Pro Grip Honda was another few seconds ahead.

“I crossed the line with my hand in the air and the number-one finger, but my mechanic Chad shook his head no,” Carmichael told Cycle News. “I was like, ‘What do you mean no? I won the moto,’ and he said, ‘No you didn’t—McCormick won, you got second.’”

Sellards’ first- and third-place finishes would have been beaten by RC’s 2-2 in the old Olympic scoring system, which is used for most amateur races, but the AMA Pro Motocross scoring system awards points for each moto: 25 for first, 22 for second, 20 for third, and so on. Add them up and Sellards’ 45-point tally was one better than Carmichael’s 44.

“I wanted to beat him before the season was over and I knew I would have to push it,” Sellards said after narrowly winning an outdoor national for the first time in his career. “I got the win and that’s all I care about, not how far ahead I was or anything.”

As for the spoiler, McCormick took the sole moto win of his professional career that day. “I couldn’t have done it in a better place than my hometown track of Washougal,” he said. “This is a dream come true. . . . I’m on cloud nine right now, I can’t believe it.”

As for Carmichael, he made a total of 76 passes over the course of two motos.

“I couldn’t believe it,” the future GOAT said after the race. “I thought Sellards was leading and that I made the winning pass. If it was like the way they scored the amateur motos, I would have won. I don’t know what my problem was today—they just rode better than me.”

Actually, they didn’t.