Jean Turner | February 7, 2010
Right out of the gate, GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard stole the holeshot from Jake Weimer – the Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider who has been so dominant thus far in the Western Regional Monster Energy AMA Supercross Lites series. It looked as though Canard might wrestle a win away from Weimer going in to the first lap at Qualcomm Stadium, but Weimer would not be denied a win in San Diego.
Canard and Weimer came together on the first lap as the two battled for the lead with Canard getting the raw end of the deal. He hit the ground and spent the rest of the race playing catch up while Weimer continued on to the win.
Canard’s GEICO Powersports teammate Blake Wharton then moved into second with DNA Shred Stix/Division 7 Yamaha rider Max Anstie in tow. The young Brit had been looking very strong all night and was ready to nab his first win. Anstie and Wharton soon came together and Anstie ran him wide from the inside, which led Wharton off the track and sliding all over the wet plastic before he was able to rejoin the race.
Anstie then set to work trying to reel in Weimer, which he started to do quite steadily. All the while, the Troy Lee Designs Honda duo of Cole Seely and Wil Hahn ran third and fourth not far behind. As Weimer began to get hung up in lappers, Anstie moved in, but it was also lappers that kept Anstie at bay and unable to make a solid run at Weimer.
On the last lap, Anstie tried an inside line in an attempt to get a wheel in on Weimer, but the Yamaha rider slid out, losing two positions to Seely and Hahn before the checkered flag. Anstie recovered to finish fourth followed by his teammate Broc Tickle, who ran a solid but lonely fifth for much of the race. Canard rallied to a sixth place finish followed by the KTM’s of Phil Nicoletti and P.J. Larsen (filling in for the injured Tommy Searle), respectively. Wharton was able to salvage ninth for the night.
Josh Hansen’s bad luck streak continued in San Diego as he was caught up in a first-turn mess. He was not only off to a dead-last start, but also nearly half a lap down. Incredibly, Hansen was able to continually pick off riders and find his way into the top-ten finishing tenth behind Wharton.
Lites Main Event:
1. Jake Weimer (Kaw); 2. Cole Seely (Hon); 3. Wil Hahn (Hon); 4. Max Anstie (Yam); 5. Broc Tickle (Yam); 6. Trey Canard (Hon); 7. Phil Nicoletti (KTM); 8. P.J. Larsen (KTM); 9. Blake Wharton (Hon); 10. Josh Hansen (Kaw); 11. Chris Gosselaar (Hon); 12. Hunter Hewitt (Suz); 13. Robert Kiniry (Suz); 14. Antonio Balbi (Kaw); 15. Eric McCrummen (Hon); 16. Jeff Alessi (Yam); 17. Mike Horban (Hon); 18. Hugo Dagod (KTM); 19. Travis Baker (Yam); 20. Joshua Clark (Kaw).
Jean Turner | Contributor
A former staffer at Cycle News, Turner continues to contribute to the website and magazine as a columnist and someone we can count on to whip up a few thousand words on an off-road race when needed.
