Kevin's Qwest
By TMX Archives on 30th Apr 08
THE 2008 AMA Supercross series is going down to the wire after Kevin Windham rode his best race of the season to snatch a vital victory at the penultimate round of the series at Seattle's Qwest Field on Saturday night. In a thrilling race that saw crashes, block-passes and plenty of drama Windham bounced back from getting a bale cover stuck in his rear-wheel, and subsequently having to stop to remove it, to grab the win late on and gain those vital 25 points. However, series leader Chad Reed rode a phenomenal race from last after falling in the first turn to snatch second place two laps from home and limit the damage the to just a three point loss and hold onto a vital ten-point championship lead heading into the Las Vegas series decider this Saturday.
While Reed was helping to secure what looks set to be a premier class title for Yamaha, the company was already awarded the West Coast Lites division title as Yamaha of Troy's flamboyant Jason Lawrence comfortably claimed his much deserved crown after cruising to a runner-up finish on the night behind arch rival, Suzuki's Ryan Dungey.
For once the rain held off in the notoriously wet Pacific Northwest region and the crowds were treated to the best race of the season.
Nothing short of a win would suffice for Windham and he shot out of the gate to grab the early lead in an aggressive manner not usually seen from the quiet Honda rider. He got a break too when Reed tucked his front-end in and went down in the first turn and had to start from dead last.
Windham immediately gapped the field but the supposedly injured Reed was coming through the pack at a rate of knots already when Windham himself hit trouble, collecting a bale cover in his back-wheel that almost caused him to suffer a big crash and forced him to pull-up and tug the offending cover out.
The move dropped Windham back to fifth and with Reed closing fast he put his head down and charged once again, passing Short for the lead just two laps from home. Reed was in his wheel-tracks though and after banging bars with the factory Honda man , a move than the Australian felt was too aggressive and based on Honda team orders to impede him, also moved through on the penultimate lap. Although too late to do anything to catch Windham, it meant Reed significantly reduced his points loss and the ten points he holds over Windham still in the championship tables should be enough to see him crowned on Saturday.
Behind Windham and Reed, Short held onto third to move within one point of team-mate Davi Millsaps, who finished fourth on the night, for third in the championship while Tim Ferry and guest 450 class rider Josh Grant rounded out the top six.
Lawrence, meanwhile, rode the consummate cool, calm and collected race to take his first ever AMA crown.
Holding a six-point advantage over Dungey in the championship coming into the race, Lawrence made no attempt to run Dungey's winning pace and after avoiding a huge pile-up at the second turn that wiped-out half the field Lawrence steadily worked up from fourth to second, comfortable in the knowledge that the title was his.
The Lites classes converge for the infamous East/ West Shootout and bragging rights in Las Vegas on Saturday, but all eyes will be on the premier class showdown. It's not over yet.
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 14 - Qwest Field, Seattle, WA
SUPERCROSS: 1 Kevin Windham (Hon), 2 Chad Reed (Yam), 3 Andrew Short (Hon), 4 Davi Millsaps (Hon), 5 Timmy Ferry (Kaw), 6 Josh Grant (Hon), 7 Josh Hill (Yam), 8 Nick Wey (KTM), 9 David Vuillemin (Suz), 10 Heath Voss (Hon), 11 Charles Summey (Yam), 12 Ryan Clark (Hon), 13 Jeff Gibson (Kaw), 14 Jason Thomas (Hon), 15 Manuel Rivas (Kaw).
Series Standings (After 15 of 16 rounds): 1 Reed 340 points, 2 Windham 330, 3 Millsaps 262, 4 Short 261, 5 Hill 210, 6 Ferry 206, 7 Nathan Ramsey (Yam) 173, 8 Vuillemin 158, 9 Wey 144, 10 Carpenter 136.
SUPERCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 2 Jason Lawrence (Yam), 3 Broc Hepler (Yam), 4 Austin Stroupe (Kaw), 5 Thomas Hahn (Kaw), 6 Justin Brayton (KTM), 7 Brett Metcalfe (Kaw), 8 Kyle Cunningham (Hon), 9 Michael Willard (Hon), 10 Justin Keeney (Hon), 11 Chris Blose (Suz), 12 Adam Chatfield (Suz), 13 Shaun Skinner (Hon), 14 Gavin Gracyk (Hon), 15 Zach Osborne (Yam).
Final Series Standings: 1 Lawrence 157 points, 2 Dungey 154, 3 Stroupe 131, 4 Metcalfe 126, 5 T Hahn 117, 6 Brayton 100, 7 Dan Reardon (Hon) 95, 8 Hepler 79, 9 W Hahn 73, 10 Kiniry 72.
FINAL ROUND: May 3 Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas NV.
For full pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, May 2, 2008