As predicted, the rain came, and it did a number on the opening round of the AMA THQ Supercross Series at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, tonight. Significant rainfall left the track a sloppy mess and, as a result, it was truly anyone’s guess as to who would come out on top and leave Anaheim with the early points lead.
To say that the 250cc main event was full of action would be a huge understatement as riders struggled mightily on the soupy track. And when the mayhem was over, it wasn’t the three riders who everyone was talking about – Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Chad Reed – taking the win. Instead it was Amsoil/Chaparral Honda’s Kevin Windham emerging on top, but it didn’t start out that way.
The start of the race saw Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael grab the holeshot, and he began pulling away until about the halfway mark of the abbreviated 12-lap final. That’s when Carmichael went down in the mud and struggled to get his bike picked up. That left Windham with the lead. Despite a crash of his own, Windham was able to hold on to win the race.
Despite falling a couple of more times, Carmichael eventually worked his way up to finish third behind Windham’s teammate Mike LaRocco, making it a 1-2 sweep for the Amsoil/Chaparral Honda team.
Carmichael escaped another close call when he was informed that he was penalized five seconds for riding on the track backwards after his first fall, but he still managed to retain third – just a half second ahead of his teammate Sebastian Tortelli.
Fifth place went to Kawasaki’s James “Bubba” Stewart, who was making his debut in the 250cc class. After winning the first of two heat races, Stewart ended up struggling in the muddy main after crashing a couple of times.
Sixth place went to MDK Motosports/Honda’s Nick Wey, followed by Subway Honda’s Jeff Gibson, Honda’s Ernesto Fonseca and Red Bull/Cernics/Suzuki’s Travis Pastrana.
As for defending champ Chad Reed, he too suffered a couple of crashes but was seriously slowed by a mud-packed front wheel that refused to turn after one of his crashes. He was forced to stop for repairs and ended up 16th.
Honda’s Jeremy McGrath made his return to Supercross, but things didn’t go too well for the seven-time Supercross Champion. After a promising heat race, where he led before crashing in the mud, McGrath again went down right after the start in the main event, breaking the clutch perch off his handlebars. He retired early to the pits and was officially listed in last place.
When the gate dropped for the 125cc main event, defending West Region Champion/Team Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco took the early lead but h ecouldn’t come to terms with the muddy track and dropped back after surrendering the lead to Red Bull KTM’s Nathan Ramsey. Ramsey went on to ride a seemingly mistake-free race to take his third major Supercross win in a row, which includes the first two rounds of the FIM THQ World Supercross Series in Canada.
Team Samsung’s Josh Woods, aboard his Honda CRF250R, eventually got around Tedesco and held down second place the rest of the way.
Tedesco, meanwhile, was running in the top five on the last lap when he tipped over in a turn, stalled the engine and couldn’t get it running again. He was still credited with eighth place.
Third place ended up going to Samsung Honda’s Akira Narita, the first Japanese rider to finish on the podium in an AMA Supercross. Amsoil Chaparral Honda’s Thomas Hahn finished fourth with Honda-mounted Steve Lamson rounding out the top five.
Results:
250: 1. Kevin Windham (Hon); 2. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 3. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 5. James Stewart (Kaw); 6. Nick Wey (Hon); 7. David Vuillemin (Yam); 8. Jeff Gibson (Hon); 9. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 10. Travis Pastrana (Suz); 11. Heath Voss (Yam); 12. Tyler Evans (Suz); 13. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 14. Joseph Oehlhof (Hon); 15. Damon Huffman (Hon); 16. Chad Reed (Yam); 17. Antonio Jorge Balbi Junior (Hon); 18. Kyle Lewis (Hon); 19. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 20. Jeremy McGrath (Hon).
125: 1. Nathan Ramsey (KTM); 2. Josh Woods (Hon); 3. Akira Narita (Hon); 4. Thomas Hahn (Hon); 5. Steve Lamson (Hon); 6. Ryan Sipes (Suz); 7. Danny Smith (Yam); 8. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 9. Brett Metcalfe (Yam); 10. Richie Owens (Suz); 11. Eric McCrummen (Hon); 12. Ryan Morais (Suz); 13. Sean Collier (Hon);
14. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 15. Jesse Casillas (Hon); 16. Bryan Johnson (Yam); 17. Jacob Martin (Yam); 18. Broc Hepler (Suz); 19. Ryan Abrigo (Hon); 20. Adrew Short (Hon); 21. Jay Marmont (Kaw); 22. Travis Bannister (Yam).
