The good, the Chad and the bubbly
By TMX Archives on 23rd Jan 08
IT was 1986 all over again inside the Angel Stadium, Anaheim, on Saturday as the third round of the AMA Supercross Series went retro for the night - when the re-hashed track of '86 hosted the legendary battle between Honda heroes David Bailey and Rick Johnson.
Although there was retro-themed kit aplenty, the night did not throw-up a repeat of that classic race as reigning champ James Stewart aggravated a knee problem he incurred just before Christmas during practice and was forced to sit out the race, and possibly the rest of the supercross season.
And this allowed Yamaha's Chad Reed to cruise to an unchallenged win from 450 class rookie Josh Hill and Kevin Windham on the technical, demanding track.
The demise of Stewart and the win firmly placed control of the championship in Reed's hands and after just three rounds of the championship he already holds a 16-point advantage over Windham.
The Lites class is beginning to look like it could be a one-horse race, too, as Suzuki's Ryan Dungey claimed his second win of the season on the night over Yamaha's Broc Hepler and Pro-Circuit Kawasaki's rookie Austin Stroupe to open up a big 22-point margin over Hepler at the top of the table.
Meanwhile, closest title rival Jason Lawrence suffered a nightmare, stalling his bike and being unable to re-start it for almost five laps.
With a massive start-straight, a long sand section, and numerous obstacles not seen on a supercross track in the modern era, the riders faced a fresh, and seriously demanding challenge.
And it claimed its first victim when Stewart landed heavily trying to piece together a section into one big jump and damaged his knee again, forcing him out for the night and probably long term.
As a result the main race was something of a foregone conclusion, once Reed passed Mike Alessi on the opening lap after the Suzuki teamster grabbed his customary holeshot.
Reed went past within a lap and on his way to a comfortable win, but the surprise of the race was his fellow Yamaha rider Hill who quickly worked his way past fast-starting Davi Millsaps, who would later suffer a DNF and require medical attention, and Alessi to take control of second place.
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 3 – Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA
SUPERCROSS: 1 Chad Reed (Yam), 2 Joshua Hill (Yam), 3 Kevin Windham (Hon), 4 Mike Alessi (Suz), 5 Ivan Tedesco (Hon), 6 Timmy Ferry (Kaw), 7 Nathan Ramsey (Yam), 8 Josh Hansen (Yam), 9 Andrew Short (Hon), 10 Charles Summey (Yam), 11 David Vuillemin (Suz), 12 Nick Wey (KTM), 13 Paul Carpenter (Hon), 14 Heath Voss (Hon), 15 Manuel Rivas (Kaw).
Series Standings after 3 (of 16) rounds: 1 Reed 72 points, 2 Windham 56, 3 Alessi 48, 4 James Stewart (Kaw) 47, 5 Ferry 46, 6 Short 43, 7 Tedesco 38, 8 Ramsey 38, 9 Hill 37, 10 Hansen 27.
SUPERCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 2 Broc Hepler (Yam), 3 Austin Stroupe (Kaw), 4 Daniel Reardon (Hon), 5 Brett Metcalfe (Kaw), 6 Robert Kiniry (Hon), 7 Billy Laninovich (KTM), 8 Gavin Gracyk (Hon), 9 Justin Brayton (KTM), 10 Thomas Hahn (Kaw), 11 Kyle Cunningham (Hon), 12 Jeff Northrop (Hon), 13 Tiger Lacey (Hon), 14 Cedric Soubeyras (Yam), 15 Jake Weimer (Hon).
Series Standings after 3 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dungey 72 points, 2 Hepler 50, 3 Reardon 49, 4 Brayton 47, 5 Jason Lawrence (Yam) 38, 6 Metcalfe 38, 7 Stroupe 36, 8 T Hahn 33m, 9 Weimer 31, 10 Will Hahn (Yam) 30.
Next Round: January 26 – AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA