Reed Wins A Stunner At Dallas SX

Shan Moore | April 22, 2006

In what was nearly a repeat of the St. Louis round, earlier in the year, Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart both crashed in the main event as Chad Reed took his second win of the season at round 14 of the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series held at Texas Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

At the start of the main event, Carmichael put his Makita Suzuki into the lead, just ahead of Stewart’s factory Kawaski, as 45,445 fans settled in to watch what would surely be an exciting race.

By the end of the first lap, Reed had moved his factory Yamaha into third, as Stewart began to press Carmichael for the lead. On lap five, Stewart moved past Carmichael in the whoop section to take the lead, but on the following lap Carmichael tried to return the favor in the same spot, but lost control and crashed off the track, hitting a couple of spectators. By the time Carmichael got going and back on the track, he was well out of the top 10.

Stewart could easily have been on his way to win number seven of the AMA series, but on lap nine crashed hard in the rhythm section and off the track. Stewart remounted in sixth position and was able to move up to second by the finish, while Reed coasted home with over eight seconds to spare over the Kawasaki rider. MDK/Motosport/Honda’s Nick Wey rode a strong race to finish third, with Makita Suzuki’s Ivan Tedesco in fourth and Stewart’s teammate Michael Byrne in fifth. Carmichael was able to manage a sixth despite riding with a bent front end.

Carmichael now holds a two point lead over Reed in the AMA standings with just two rounds remaining, while Stewart sits in third, 10 points out of first.

In the Lites division, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto grabbed the holeshot and pulled away for his first-ever Supercross win, finishing over three seconds ahead of Team Honda’s Andrew Short. Villopoto quickly gapped the field after taking the start and led by as much as five seconds before backing off the pace with four laps to go. Short worked his way around KTM’s Mike Alessi on lap three of the race to move into second, where he ran unmolested for the remainder of the race.

Villopoto’s teammate Grant Langston finished third, after making his way up from a poor start. Alessi finished fourth ahead of WBR Suzuki’s Ryan Morais.

Short extended his lead in the series standings with the runner up finish and now sits four points ahead of Langston with only one round remaining.

SX MAIN (20 laps):

1. Chad Reed (Yam)

2. James Stewart (Kaw)

3. Nick Wey (Hon)

4. Ivan Tedesco (Suz)

5. Michael Byrne (Kaw)

6. Ricky Carmichael (Suz)

7. Kevin Windham (Hon)

8. Travis Preston (Hon)

9. Josh Demuth (Hon)

10. Ryan Clark (Hon)

SX LITES MAIN (15 laps):

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)

2. Andrew Short (Hon)

3. Grant Langston (Kaw)

4. Mike Alessi (KTM)

5. Ryan Morais (Suz)

6. Justin Brayton (Yam)

7. Justin Keeney (Hon)

8. Ryan Abrigo (Hon)

9. Billy Laninovich (Hon)

10. Paul Carpenter (Hon)

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.