Carmichael, 22, will ride a factory Honda this year after spending his entire career with Kawasaki. Honda hopes that "RC" can return the team to the kind of success in supercross it had through the mid-1990s with Jeremy McGrath.

McGrath will be back with Yamaha this year with sponsorship from Bud Light. The all-time leading winner in AMA Supercross history turned 30 in November, but is reportedly entering this season in the best shape of his life. McGrath won the season opener in Anaheim last year, but Carmichael went on to win a record-tying 14 races to dominate the series--McGrath finished a distant second. McGrath considers Anaheim his home track and he is the all-time leading winner at the venue with eight-career victories at the stadium.

While all eyes will again be on the Carmichael-McGrath showdown, a number of other riders hope to fly in under the radar and steal away a surprise win in Anaheim.

AMA 125 East and West Supercross champs Travis Pastrana and Ernesto Fonseca are both stepping up to the big class full-time this year. Pastrana is back with the factory Sobe Suzuki team and is hoping to stay injury free after an injury plagued 2001 season.

Fonseca will be teammate to Carmichael, Sebastien Tortelli and Nathan Ramsey on the powerful factory Honda team and will be back riding a two-stroke (Honda's CR250) after a season on a Yamaha four-stroke.

Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki is the defending championship-winning team in Supercross. This year the squad will try to make up for the loss of Carmichael by fielding former Honda star Ezra Lusk and Frenchman Stephane Roncada. Lusk, who began his career on Kawasaki, is eager to prove he can again be a winner in Supercross. After winning Supercross races in 1997, 1998 and 1999, he has been shut out the last two seasons. Lusk is a two-time winner at Anaheim.

Veteran rider Mike LaRocco, who will be starting his 15th season in AMA Supercross, is back this year after finishing third in the supercross standings last year. LaRocco is riding for the Factory Connection Honda squad and is hoping to get better starts this year after having to ride come-from-behind races at nearly every event last year.

Kevin Windham is the other rider a lot of people are talking about. Windham turned in some great rides last year and is returning with the factory Suzuki team. He hopes to give Suzuki its first win at Anaheim in over 20 years.
The AMA 125 West Region championship will also kick off Saturday. This race will mark the highly-anticipated pro debut of 16-year-old James "Bubba" Stewart, the rider who won a record number of AMA amateur motocross championships. Stewart is the first African-American to earn a factory AMA Supercross ride.

The Australian charge for the AMA SX title is headed by Michael Byrne and Chad Reed.

Reed had a hugely successful 2001 in World Motocross but this year is riding for the well renowned 'Yamaha of Troy' Team.  The YOT team is the official YZ125/YZ250F program for Yamaha in the US and will provide Reed with a fantastic opportunity to rocket straight to the front of the pack.

Chad Reed will not be the only Australian in the team though as Multiple Australian Motocross Champion Craig Dack also takes up a position with Yamaha in America this year, but not as a rider, instead he will fill the role of assistant Team Manager.

Ex-Australian SuperCross champion Michael Byrne takes up a ride with the 'Jack in the Box Honda' Team. The Queenslander finished an impressive 9th in last year's AMA 250 SuperCross Championship.