Choir of Angels..
By TMX Archives on 12th Feb 09
SAN Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart did it again at the weekend, when he took his fifth consecutive win of the 2009 World and AMA Supercross Championship inside the Angel Stadium, in Anaheim. Over 43,000 hardy fans braved the rain and bitter weather to witness this, the penultimate Supercross round in California. Stewart led the race from the first corner, and led for all 20 laps in the main event, whilst Red Bull Honda's Davi Millsaps and Yamaha's Josh Grant followed close behind in the early stages.
Rockstar/ Makita Suzuki's Chad Reed required a hospital check-up after a press day crash, and opted to play it safe with his gate selection for the Main event. However things didn't go to plan and he was left mid-pack from the start. The Suzuki rider found himself fighting his way back into the top five by the second lap and the top three by the fifth.
Reed continued to claw his way up through the leaders and into second just before the race was halfway, however he could not close in on Stewart and had to settle for his fifth runners-up place. Davi Millsaps managed to hold off a persistent Ivan Tedesco despite some bar bashing, and grabbed third place on the podium.
"I was happy with that,” Reed said. "Second is second, but that did feel a lot sweeter than the past two weeks. My laps are definitely there but unfortunately my starts aren't at the moment. I need to put it all together and make it happen,” Reed explained.
Reed continues to lead the championship by three points over Stewart, and will now turn his attention to preparing for round seven next weekend at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.
In the SX Lites, Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Jake Weimer opened the main event with a modest start, but weaved his way to the front behind KTM's Justin Brayton on the first lap.
From here on, the two riders tussled for positions until lap eight when Weimer made a pass taking team-mate Ryan Morais with him. Morais kept close to Weimer, bringing home a runner-up finish with Brayton in third.
"This is a huge win, for sure,” said Weimer, "I just kept my head down and tried to ride consistent. It feels great to take the points lead and keep the momentum going into San Diego next weekend.”
Despite taking the win in his heat, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey crashed in the first turn along with Chris Blose, Trey Canard and Ryan Sipes. Dungey re-started nearly dead-last, but worked his way back up to finish fifth.
AMA/ WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 6 – Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California
SX MAIN: 1 James Stewart (Yam), 2 Chad Reed (Suz), 3 David Millsaps (Hon), 4 Ivan Tedesco (Hon), 6 Andrew Short (Hon), 7 Kevin Windham (Hon), 8 Josh Hill (Yam), USA, 9 Kyle Chisholm (Yam), 10 Tim Ferry (Kaw), 11 Mike Alessi (Suz), 12 Matt Boni (Hon), 13 Steve Boniface (Hon), 14 Paul Carpenter (Kaw), 15 Nick Wey (Yam), 16 Heath Voss (Hon), 17 Daniel McCoy (Hon), 18 Josh Hansen (Hon), 19 Thomas Hahn (Kaw), 20 Troy Adams (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 Reed 130 points, 2 Stewart 127, 3 Josh Grant 111, 4 Short 102, 5 Tedesco 91, 6 Ryan Villopoto 88, 7 Windham 82, 8 Millsaps 75, 9 Alessi 68, 10 Ferry 67, 11 Hill 64, 12 Carpenter 46, 13 Voss 45, 14 Wey 32, 15 Benjamin Coisy 31,...
SX LITES MAIN: 1 Jake Weimer (Kaw), 2 Ryan Morais (Kaw), 3 Justin Brayton (KTM), 4 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 5 Jeff Alessi (Hon), 6 Ryan Sipes (KTM), 7 Dan Reardon (Hon), 8 PJ Larsen (Kaw), 9 Chris Blose (Hon), 10 Eric McCrummen (Hon), 11 Adam Chatfield (GB - Hon), 12 Trey Canard (Hon), 13 Ryan Clark (Hon), 14 Jake Moss (Hon), 15 Kyle Cunningham (Kaw), 16 Ben Evans (Hon), 17 Sean Borkenhagen (Hon), 18 Derek Costella (Hon), 19 Justin Keeney (KTM), 20 Daniel Hendrix (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS (West) after 5 rounds: 1 Weimer 113 points, 2 Dungey 110, 3 Morais 102, 4 Brayton 88, 5 Sipes 69, 6 Blose 68, 7 Reardon 56, 8 Larsen 51, 9 Alessi 39, 10 McCrummen 38, 11 Canard 36, 12 Evans 36, 13 Jason Lawrence 34, 14 Chatfield 34, 15 Cunningham 33 ,...
NEXT ROUND: February 14 – Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California.
James Stewart was spectacular at Anaheim 3, taking his fifth consecutive victory.