Rain Holding Off On Anaheim I

Kit Palmer | January 5, 2008

The 2008 Supercross season has officially begun now that timed practice is over at the opening round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross FIM World Championship at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

Heavy rain the night before forced an abbreviated and delayed practice session. Each class got one 15-minute practice session on a muddy but steadily improving track. The threat of rain all day had the track covered in plastic until 4:30 p.m. and the first rider took to the wet track at 4:45.

In the Supercross class, Monster Kawasaki’s James Stewart set the quickest lap time with a 58.240, followed by San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed with a 59.181. Next quickest was Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry with a 1:00.043. He was closely followed by Honda Red Bull’s Ivan Tedesco, Torco Racing Fuel Honda’s Kevin Windham and Yamaha’s Grant Langston. Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi was seventh-fastest and Honda Red Bull’s Davi Millsaps was eighth-fastest.

However, the surprise of the night so far is Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence who posted the quickest lap time of all in the Lites class with a 57.910. The New Yorker who is no stranger to the mud was over two seconds faster than the next-best Lites-class rider, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, who posted a time of 1:00.189. Next quickest was MDK/KTM’s Justin Brayton, followed by Star Racing Yamaha’s Matthew Lemoine.

As for the weather, it looks as though tonight’s race should make it through the racing program without rain. More rain isn’t forecasted until well after midnight.