Kit Palmer | January 18, 2009
For the second week in a row, San Manuel/Yamaha’s James Stewart came away with the win in the AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series, but it probably wasn’t one of his more satisfying ones. On the difficult-to-pass Anaheim II track, Stewart got off to about a sixth-place start and had to work hard to get to the front, finally passing early leader Kevin Windham on the 10th lap to take the point position. From there, he began to slowly inch away from Windham only to lose what he had gained after casing a jump and nearly handing the lead back to Windham, and nearly losing his back brake after bending his brake lever on the hard landing. He did lose the use of his brake for a lap, though, before kicking the bent pedal back into position.
But the man of the hour was Makita/Rockstar Suzuki’s Chad Reed who stunned the crowd and his fellow competitors by coming from near dead-last to second place, doing so on a track that many deemed nearly impossible to pass on. And, on top of that, Reed finished just 3.5 seconds behind the winner Stewart after passing Windham on the last lap. Reed, who got caught up in a first-turn pile up, was undisputedly the fastest rider on the track tonight.
Windham held on to a very impressive third. The Geico Honda rider grabbed the holeshot and led the first 10 laps, despite being under heavy pressure by Anaheim I winner Josh Grant and Monster Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, who managed to get around Grant to take fourth, his best finish of the year. Grant, on the Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha, finished fifth, followed by Honda Red Bull’s Andrew Short and Ivan Tedesco, Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry, Makita/Rockstar Suzuki’s Mike Alessi and Honda Red Bull’s Davi Millsaps.
With the win, Reed now takes over the points lead. He’s three points ahead of Grant, who is eight points ahead of Short. After DNFing the first round, Stewart is already in fourth, one point behind Short.
Results:
1. James Stewart (Yam); 2. Chad Reed (Suz); 3. Kevin Windham (Hon); 4. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw); 5. Josh Grant (Yam); 6. Andrew Short (Hon); 7. Ivan Tedesco (Hon); 8. Tim Ferry (Kaw); 9. Mike Alessi (Suz); 10. Davi Millsaps (Hon); 11. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 12. Josh Hill (Yam); 13. Nick Wey (Yam); 14. Heath Voss (Hon); 15. Troy Adams (Hon); 16. Steve Boniface (Hon); 17. Ben Coisy (Hon); 18. Sean Hamblin (Yam); 19. Robert Kiniry (Kaw); 20. Matt Boni (Hon).
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
