With defending Supercross champion James Stewart on the sidelines, Chad Reed took an easy win at Anaheim 2, topping fellow Yamaha rider Josh Hill by an eight second margin at round three of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.
Reed turned the fastest qualifying lap in timed practice earlier in the day, and carried that momentum into the final where he led all 20 laps of the main en route to his second win of the season.
“I felt awesome out here tonight, I think bringing the retro thing back was a lot of fun,” said Reed. “We just put it in cruise control and let the thing wind down. I think with James gone, it made it kind of hard to focus but I’ve just got to put my head down and keep it going.”
Suzuki’s Mike Alessi ran in second during the opening laps after grabbing the holeshot, but gave way to the hard-charging Hill on lap four. Like Reed, Hill also gapped the field and at one point even gained ground on the leader.
Kevin Windham claimed his second podium in a row by putting his Torco Racing Fuels Honda into third, while Alessi held on to finish fourth ahead of Honda’s Ivan Tedesco.
After qualifying second in practice, Stewart called a press conference before the evening program, announcing that he would be sitting out the night’s race due to complications with the knee that he injured last year. This caused some speculation that Stewart might be out for the remainder of the Supercross season.
“It was a tough decision to make,” said Stewart. “For me it was really difficult because as you could see during the first two races, I wasn’t racing at 100 percent. I’m going to go in for a MRI and then we will make a decision on the future. I’m just sorry for my fans; I know it is disappointing for them.”
Tonight was retro night at A2 and the track featured some of the same obstacles that were found on the 1986 version of the course. Tonight’s track included a 75-foot triple, a sand section, a right-hand first turn and some very steep jump-faces.
In the Lites division, Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey stretched his lead in the West standings by taking the win over Yamaha’s Broc Hepler.
“I was just trying to be consistent,” Dungey said. “The track was really choppy, and I made a couple of mistakes, but I just tried to not make the same mistake twice. We are just doing our program and trying to be as consistent as we can be.”
Monster Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe finished third ahead of Torco Racing Fuel’s Dan Readon and Kawasaki’s Brett Metcalfe.
Meanwhile, Boost Mobile Yamaha’s Jason Lawrence stalled his bike while running in third position and was eventually credited with 21st place.
Results:
Supercross class
1. Chad Reed (Yam)
2. Josh Hill (Yam)
3. Kevin Windham (Hon)
4. Mike Alessi (Suz)
5. Ivan Tedesco (Hon)
6. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
7. Nathan Ramsey (Yam)
8. Josh Hansen (Yam)
9. Andrew Short (Hon)
10. James Summey (Yam)
Lites class
1. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
2. Broc Hepler (Yam)
3. Austin Stroupe (Kaw)
4. Dan Reardon (Hon)
5. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
6. Rob Kiniry (Hon)
7. Billy Laninovich (KTM)
8. Gavin Gracyk (Hon)
9. Justin Brayton (KTM)
10. Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
