Reed Outruns Windham

| January 24, 2004

Chad Reed came out on top of a duel with Kevin Windham that lasted most of the 250cc main event inside San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium to win his third main event of the year and extend his points lead to 21 over his Yamaha teammate David Vuillemin only four races into the AMA Supercross season. And Ivan Tedesco came from behind to win his fourth 125cc Western Regional Supercross in as many races aboard his Pro Circuit KX250F, which means he’s perfect halfway into the eight-race series.

However, the event was marred by the death of Riverside, California’s Jason Ciarletta, who fell during his daytime qualifying heat and sustained a fatal injury. The cause of death is unknown at this time, pending an autopsy. He was 19 years old.

For the second week in a row, Kevin Windham led much of the beginning of the 250cc main event. Reed actually led the first two circuits, but Windham studied Reed’s lines and made a move on the third go-around, and then proceeded to lead the main event all the way until lap 13 while fighting off the Yamaha Aussie. However, it was on that lap that the points leader made his move on the inside of Windham two turns from the finish, and although Windham stayed right on Reed’s tail for the next couple of circuits, he was eventually balked by a lap rider and was forced to double an infield triple, handing Reed the victory.

Windham held on for second, followed by Vuillemin, Michael Byrne (in his best ride of the year) and Mike LaRocco.

The 125cc main looked at first like it would be a Stephane Roncada runaway, as the Pro Circuit rider got a much-needed good start and led the first seven laps while his teammate Tedesco rounded the first lap sixth. Methodically, Tedesco worked his way through the field, eventually passing his teammate for the lead and pulling away. It wasn’t long until Honda’s Nathan Ramsey pounced on Roncada for second, and things got worse for Roncada before the finish, as Travis Preston also made his way by from far behind to take third. Roncada hung on for fourth, while Chris Gosselaar grabbed fifth in his best ride of the year, following sitting out Anaheim II.

250cc Main: 1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. David Vuillemin (Yam); 4. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 5. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 6. Grant Langston (KTM); 7. Nick Wey (Suz); 8. Damon Huffman (Hon); 9. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 10. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 11. Ryan Clark (Yam); 12. Joe Oehlhof (Yam); 13. Heath Voss (Yam); 14. Clark Stiles (Hon); 15. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 16. James Povolny (Hon); 17. Tyler Evans (Suz); 18. Hans Neel (Hon); 19. Mike Brown (Yam); 20. Ezra Lusk (Yam).

AMA 250cc Supercross Points Standings (After 4 of 16 rounds): 1. Chad Reed (97/3 wins); 2. David Vuillemin (76); 3. Mike LaRocco (72); 4. Kevin Windham (71/1 win)*; 5. Michael Byrne (58); 6. Damon Huffman (51); 7. Nick Wey (50); 8. Grant Langston (37); 9. (TIE) Timmy Ferry/Tyler Evans (36); 11. (TIE) Ezra Lusk/Keith R. Johnson/Heath Voss (28); 14. Ernesto Fonseca (28); 15. Ryan Clark (26); 16. Robbie Reynard (24); 17. Sean Hamblin (23); 18. Erick Vallejo (19); 19. Joe Oehlhof (13); 20. (TIE) Clark Stiles/Mike Brown (11).

*points total pending appeal

125cc Main: 1. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 2. Nathan Ramsey (Hon); 3. Travis Preston (Hon); 4. Stephane Roncada (Kaw); 5. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 6. Akira Narita (Hon); 7. Troy Adams (Kaw); 8. Brock Sellards (Yam); 9. Steve Boniface (Suz); 10. Josh Summey (Yam); 11. Ryan Morais (KTM); 12. Joaquim Rodrigues (KTM); 13. Andrew Short (Suz); 14. Greg Schnell (Hon); 15. Eric Nye (Yam); 16. Adam Mennenga (Yam); 17. Michael Young (Suz); 18. Josh Hansen (Yam); 19. Jonathan Shimp (Yam); 20. Daniel Blair (Yam); 21. Michael Sleeter (Yam); 22. Stephan Demartis (Suz).

125cc Western Regional Points Standings (After 4 of 8 rounds): 1. Ivan Tedesco (100/4 wins); 2. Stephane Roncada (80); 3. Travis Preston (75); 4. Nathan Ramsey (72); 5. Andrew Short (60); 6. Brock Sellards (56); 7. Troy Adams (46); 8. Greg Schnell (45); 9. Chris Gosselaar (42); 10. Josh Summey (37).

By Freelance