Reigning Champion Carmichael - the current AMA Supercross and World Supercross series leader - holeshotted the 20-lap 250 Main Event on his RM-Z450 and held a narrow advantage until one lap from home when the Kawasaki rider forced through, sending the packed 70,000 crowd wild.

Throughout, the two riders were never more than one second apart and Carmichael was delighted with his performance, despite not taking the win.

After picking up the $1,500 holeshot award, he said: "It was nice to finally get a good start and I think we both put on a great race for the fans. I gave it my all tonight and I got beat; James got the best of me and he was better than me."

Carmichael's team mate Ivan Tedesco raced to sixth place, climbing from 12th on the start. Although he got a good jump off the gate, he got caught in turn one with another rider and was at the back of the field by the end of lap one. In spite of this, Tedesco rode hard and worked his way up the field.

"In my heat race, I got up front and my adrenaline was going and I was just pinning it," he said. "But I made a mistake and put myself on my head.

"In the Main Event, I got a good start but got tangled up with another rider. I was lucky I didn't go down, but when I finally got started again, I was in something like 16th place - so sixth place isn't bad, considering where I was coming from."

The San Diego race is the last of the West Coast rounds until April. Next weekend, the Makita Suzuki team heads for St. Louis and the East Coast rounds.

Added Carmichael, "I'm excited about the East Coast races. I've said before that my goal is to get out of California in the hunt for the Championship and I feel like I've accomplished that goal."

Tedesco is also eager to race at St. Louis, but for different reasons: The former 125cc West Supercross Champion added: "I've never raced there before and I'm looking forward to racing in a new venue."

250 Main.: 1 James Stewart (Kawasaki), 2 Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki) ., 3 Chad Reed (Yamaha), 4 Jeremy McGrath (Honda), 5 Mike LaRocco (Honda), 6 Ivan Tedesco (Suzuki) ., 7 Michael Byrne (Kawasaki), 8 Nick Wey (Honda), 9 Ernesto Fonseca (Honda), 10 Erik Vallejo (Honda).

AMA Supercross Points. (after 6 rounds): 1 Carmichael 139., 2 Stewart 128, 3 Reed 124, 4 LaRocco 89, 5 Byrne 88, 6 Tedesco 86., 7 Wey 85, 8 Fonseca 74, 9 McGrath 67, 10 Preston 63.

World Supercross Points. (after 8 rounds): 1 Carmichael 183., 2 Stewart 181, 3 Reed 164, 4 Tedesco 133., 5 Byrne 130, 6 Wey 128, 7 Thomas 95, 8 Gibson 87, 9 Clark 82, 10 Evans 69.