Bubba Qual'ity
By TMX Archives on 18th Feb 09
San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart scored a sixth consecutive win with ease atthe Monster Energy AMA Supercross and FIM World Championship in San Diego at the weekend. Meanwhile Chad Reed claimed his sixth second and now sits level on points with rival Stewart.Held at the Qualcomm Stadium, it was Mike Alessi who took the holeshot in the main event. However, on the second turn, James Stewart made a pass that took Chad Reed with him. From there on, Stewart simply pulled away from the chasing pack, and by lap nine was out in front with a secure lead that saw him finish over eight seconds ahead of Reed. ‘‘It was a tough track, but everything was working good,'' Stewart said. ‘‘I can't believe how good my bike was working tonight. I just had some good luck. To come back where we were at, 23 points back, it's just amazing.
After suffering with poor starts recently, Reed made sure that he stuck with Stewart out of the gate and round the second corner. However in response to Stewarts blistering pace, Reed had no answer.
‘‘I was there off the start, but I just wasn't fast enough,'' Reed said. ‘‘Stewart was riding good; I just wasn't feeling it today. The one thing I can guarantee is that I won't give up,” Reed promised.
Honda Red Bull's Andrew Short, took second in the 20-lap main event, and made sure Reed didnt relax, finishing just one and a half seconds down on Reed. In turn, Monster Energy Kawasaki rider, Ryan Villopoto, chased Short hard to claim fourth.
Further down the pack, Makita Rockstar Suzuki's Mike Alessi enjoyed his best finish of the series and took sixth.
Round eight of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, an FIM World Champonship will be held at Atlanta's Georgia Dome on Saturday February 21.
In the Lites class, Makita Rockstar Suzuki's Ryan Dungey made his way around Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Morais after the first couple of turns, took control of the 15-lap race and never looked back.
The Makita Rockstar Suzuki rider quickly opened up a three-second lead and stretched it out to almost five seconds by the 10th lap. From there, Dungey held his ground through heavy lapped traffic and would go on to take the win four seconds ahead of Morais.
Making the win even sweeter for Dungey was that series rival Jake Weimer finished third, which means Dungey has gained five points on Weimer takes over the series lead – again.
Weimer, who won the previous race at Anaheim 3, overtook Dungey in the points race, but Dungey quickly took it back in San Diego and now holds a slim two-point lead going into the final round in Seattle in April.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 – Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California (Feb 14)
SUPERCROSS MAIN: 1 James Stewart (Yam), 2 Chad Reed (Suz), 3 Andrew Short (Hon), 4 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 5 David Millsaps (Hon), 6 Mike Alessi (Suz), 7 Kevin Windham (Hon), 8 Michael Byrne (Suz), 9 Nick Wey (Yam), 10 Ivan Tedesco (Hon), 11 Charles Summey (KTM), 12 Thomas Hahn (Kaw), 13 Kyle Chisholm (Yam), 14 Tim Ferry (Kaw), 15 Heath Voss (Hon), 16 Troy Adams (Hon), 17 Steve Boniface (Hon), 18 Ben Coisy (Hon), 19 Broc Hepler (Yam), 20 Josh Grant (Yam).
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Stewart & Reed 152 points, 3 Short 122, 4 Josh Grant 112, 5 Villopoto 106, 6 Tedesco 102, 7 Windham 96, 8 Millsaps 91, 9 M Alessi 83, 10 Ferry 74, 11 Josh Hill 64, 12 Voss 51, 13 Paul Carpenter 46, 14 Wey 44, 15 Coisy 34,...
SUPERCROSS LITES MAIN: 1 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 2 Ryan Morais (Kaw), 3 Jake Weimer (Kaw), 4 Trey Canard (Hon), 5 Ryan Sipes (KTM), 6 Justin Brayton (KTM), 7 Chris Blose (Hon), 8 Jake Moss (Hon), 9 Jeff Alessi (Hon), 10 Cole Seely (Suz), 11 Eric McCrummen (Hon), 12 Ben Evans (Hon), 13 Sean Borkenhagen (Hon), 14 Derek Costella (Hon), 15 Alex Martin (Hon), 16 Michael Lapaglia (Suz), 17 Ryan Clark (Hon), 18 Dan Reardon (Hon), 19 Danny Bajza (Hon), 20 Michael Sleeter (KTM).
SERIES STANDINGS (West) after 6 rounds: 1 Dungey 135 points, 2 Weimer 133, 3 Morais 124, 4 Brayton 103, 5 Sipes 85, 6 Blose 82, 7 Reardon 59, 8 Canard 54, 9 J Alessi 51, 10 PJ Larsen 51, 11 McCrummen 48, 12 Evans 45, 13 Jason Lawrence 34, 14 Adam Chatfield 34, 15 K Cunningham 33,...
NEXT ROUND: February 21 – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia.
James Stewart is now level pegging with Chad Reed, a situation that promises an exciting end to the season.