DETROIT, APR 21: James Stewart claimed his fifth-consecutive Supercross final at round 14 of the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, while Ben Townley clinched the Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites Championship title with a second place finish behind Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey.
Stewart used an inside line to earn the $1,500 Progressive Direct Holeshot Award and led the opening lap of the 20-lap main event while his teammate Tim Ferry followed closely in second.
Ferry rode a strong race early on and stayed reasonably close to Stewart, while Yamaha’s Chad Reed spent the first 10 laps working his way up from a poor start.
On lap 13, Reed drew within striking distance of Ferry and on the next lap made a successful block-pass to take over the runner up position, where he would stay for the balance of the race.
Stewart took the checkers with over seven seconds to spare over Reed, while Ferry finished the race in third, ahead of a surprising Kevin Windham, who moved his Sobe/Samsung/Mobile Honda up through the pack and into fourth after a mediocre start.
Dungey grabbed the holeshot at the start of the Lites main and led every lap to take his third-straight win in the series, however, the real story in the Lites class was about the title chase which had boiled down to Townley and Boost Mobile Yamaha of Troy’s Ryan Morais.
While Dungey rode away with the win, Morais, who came into tonight’s event as the points leader, stalled his bike on the opening lap, dropping to 12th place and allowing Townley to make an easy pass. On lap eight, Townley moved into second place, where he would finish, giving him the first AMA Supercross Lites title of his career.
Morais eventually worked his way back up to fifth, behind Dungey, Townley and Honda riders Tommy Hahn and Billy Laninovich, but fifth was not good enough to maintain the points lead.
“This is a dream come true,” said Townley, who came to the United States from New Zealand. “It’s great to have a season under my belt, and I have really enjoyed working with my team Pro Circuit Kawasaki.”
Townley finished the series with 133, compared to 130 for Morais and 117 for his teammate Darcy Lange.
Supercross class results:
1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Chad Reed (Yam)
3. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
4. Kevin Windham (Hon)
5. Andrew Short (Hon)
6. David Vuillemin (Hon)
7. Heath Voss (Yam)
8. Ivan Tedesco (Suz)
9. Paul Carpenter (Kaw)
10. Jason Thomas (Hon)
Lites class results:
1. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
2. Ben Townley (Kaw)
3. Thomas Hahn (Hon)
4. Billy Laninovich (Hon)
5. Ryan Morais (Yam)
6. Branden Jesseman (Yam)
7. Kelly Smith (Suz)
8. Mike Alessi (KTM)
9. Matt Boni (Kaw)
10. Darcy Lange (Kaw)
