TORONTO, CANADA, DEC 2: Chad Reed won a wild opening round of the 2006-2007 Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP Series in front of 33,400 fans at Toronto’s Rogers Centre tonight, while Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael recovered from a second lap crash to finish second, and Kawasaki’s James Stewart finished third.
MDK/Honda’s Nick Wey grabbed the $1,500 Progressive Direct Holeshot Award at the start of the 20-lap feature, with Carmichael and Reed, riding his San Manuel Band of Mission Indians/L&M Racing YZ450F, in tow. In the meantime, Stewart ran in 10th after a getting poor start.
On lap two, Carmichael hit a tuff block and went down, giving Reed some breathing room out front. However, at the midway point, Stewart moved into second place and started putting some pressure on Reed.
The two leaders swapped the lead several times, before Stewart finally went off course on lap 17. As he was pulling back onto the track, Sobe/Samsung Honda’s Travis Preston came over a blind jump and T-boned Stewart, sending both riders to the ground.
Stewart remounted in second place, but was obviously in pain and eventually yielded second position to Carmichael, who had worked his way up from 13th place after his crash.
Reed took a well-deserved victory, crossing the finish line with fists in the air, while Carmichael followed in second and Stewart limped home in third.
“I came here with an open mind, and here I am on the top of the podium,” said Reed. “The first time James passed me, he almost knocked me over and that fired me up.”
Reed, who won the 2003 World Supercross GP championship, heads to Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium with a three-point lead over Carmichael in the season standings. Stewart sits in third with 20 points.
In the Lites race, Red Bull KTM’s Martin Davalos was able to extend a comfortable lead over Yamaha’s Broc Tickle in the early part of the race. Davalos kept Tickle in check and went on to win his first Amp’d Mobile Supercross Lites main event. KTM’s Zach Osborne was third.
“I got a great jump off the gate and rode my own race,” said Davalos. “I wanted to put 15 laps together on the new bike. Zach Osborne is a training partner of mine, and I am happy.”
Ivan Tedesco was forced to sit out the evening program in Toronto after injuring his left hand during the first timed qualifying practice session on Saturday afternoon. Tedesco and James Stewart came together over a jump and Stewart’s bike landed on Tedesco’s hand, causing the injury. There were no on-site x-ray facilities available at the Rogers Centre, so Tedesco was scheduled to get the hand x-rayed on Sunday. No official status was given by the Suzuki camp, however, there was speculation that the hand was broken. Suzuki also said that Tedesco would see a hand specialist on Monday.
1. Chad Reed (Yam)
2. Ricky Carmichael (Suz)
3. James Stewart (Kaw)
4. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
5. David Vuillemin (Hon)
6. Nick Wey (Hon)
7. Ryan Clark (Hon)
8. Paul Carpenter (Kaw)
9. Heath Voss (Hon)
10. Jeff Gibson (Kaw)
