Monster Mash
By TMX Archives on 9th Jan 08
AMID muddy track conditions and a slightly subdued atmosphere for the opening round of what is the biggest series in the off-road world, Yamaha's Chad Reed blitzed to victory at round one of the long-awaited 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series over reigning champion and outright title favourite, James Stewart, and Stewart's Kawasaki team-mate, Tim Ferry.
On a night when the heavily rutted and slick track made the whole racing programe a lottery of sorts, Reed looked fresh, fit and sharp after his six-month break from racing, and not even an early stall could stop his march towards and huge winning margin as Stewart was forced to ride throught the pack after going down at the first turn and causing chaos behind him.
While the premier class was somewhat of a runaway, the opening salvo of the West Coast Lites championship proved to be a real nail-biter as six riders battled for supremacy during the early stages before the battle wound down to a duel between Suzuki's Ryan Dungey and Yamaha of Troy's Jason Lawrence, with Dungey eventually taking it comfortably after Lawrence dropped it late on.
Stewart and Reed both comfortably won their heat races, as expected, to set-up the Main Event showdown, but realistically few expected Reed to seriously challenge Stewart. As Stewart washed his front-end out and hit the dirt at turn one though, taking the Honda's of Kevin Windham, Davi Millsaps and Ivan Tedesco with hime among others, Reed exited the trun out front with fellow Yamaha man Grant Langston and Ferry in tow, an upset was on the cards.
MONSTER ENERGY
AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 1 - Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA
SUPERCROSS: 1 Chad Reed (Yam), 2 James Stewart (Kaw), 3 Timmy Ferry (Kaw), 4 Grant Langston (Yam), 5 Kevin Windham (Hon), 6 Mike Alessi (Suz), 7 Davi Millsaps (Hon), 8 Andrew Short (Hon), 9 Nick Wey (KTM), 10 David Vuillemin (Suz), 11 Nathan Ramsey (Yam), 12 Eric Sorby (Hon), 13 Paul Carpenter (Hon), 14 Heath Voss (Hon), 15 Ivan Tedesco (Hon).
Series Standings (After 1 of 16 rounds): As above
SUPERCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 2 Jason Lawrence (Yam) 3 Justin Brayton (KTM), 4 Daniel Reardon (Hon), 5 Austin Stroupe (Kaw), 6 Thomas Hahn (Kaw), 7 Gavin Gracyk (Hon), 8 Andrew Mcfarlane (Kaw), 9 Chris Blose (Suz), 10 Wil Hahn (Yam), 11 Broc Hepler (Yam), 12 Jeff Northrop (Hon), 13 Michael Lapaglia (Suz), 14 Michael Blose (Suz) 15 Michael Willard (Yam).
Series Standings (After 1 of 8 rounds): As above
Next Round: Jan 12 - Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ.
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX News, Friday, January 11, 2008