Canard’s Surprise in Indy SX Qualifying
Cycle News Staff | March 12, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS (March 12, 2011) –
American Honda’s Trey Canard surprised the Indianapolis Supercross fans Saturday afternoon by turning in the fastest lap in qualifying at Lucas Oil Stadium. Canard clocked a time of 48.301 seconds on his factory Honda CRF450R. Canard timed it perfectly, turning in his fastest lap on the very last lap of the final session. “I think I just had a clean lap really,” Canard said. “I’m excited. I had a good clean lap and I just executed everything. That’s a good way to start out the day.” It marked the first time Canard topped qualifying this season. “That’s a huge step for me,” he said. “Hopefully I can keep the momentum going. It doesn’t mean much to be the fastest in the afternoon; hopefully I can keep a level head and turn in laps like that tonight.” Canard edged out Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, the series leader, who lapped at 48.357 seconds. Team San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart was fastest in the first session, but played it conservative in the final session; spending much of it just rolling jumps. Stewart said he felt O.K. coming back from his huge crash in Daytona last week. “I’m alright,” he shrugged just before the final qualifying session. DNA Shred Stix Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes led the way in the Lites class, turning a 48.836 second lap. Sipes is becoming somewhat of a timed qualifying specialist. He was fastest in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. “I was a little off at Daytona so it’s feels to be back on top in qualifying,” Sipes said. “For sure I have the speed, but it’s going to be a battle in the races tonight. Everyone is going to be going for it. I’m ready to attack it.” When asked why he was becoming the man to beat in timed qualifying Sipes replied, “I never was that guy up until the last year or two,” he said. “It was one of my goals to be fast in practice. Last year I wanted people to say ‘Sipes looked good tonight,’ and it just evolved from there.”
Supercross combined qualifying from Indianapolis
1 41 Trey Canard Honda CRF450R 48.301 seconds2 2 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki KX450F 48.357 3 7 James Stewart Yamaha YZ450F 48.497 4 22 Chad Reed Honda CRF450R 48.6925 1 Ryan Dungey Suzuki RMZ450 48.734 6 14 Kevin Windham Honda CRF450R 49.012 7 10 Justin Brayton Yamaha YZ450F 49.282 8 18 David Millsaps Yamaha YZ450F 49.857 9 9 Ivan Tedesco Kawasaki KX450F 49.891 10 29 Andrew Short KTM 350 50.078
Supercross Lites combined qualifying from Indianapolis
1 25 Ryan Sipes Yamaha YZ250F 48.836 seconds2 15 Dean Wilson Kawasaki KX250F 48.932 3 17 Justin Barcia Honda CRF250R 49.539 4 48 Matthew Lemoine Kawasaki KX250F 50.123 5 21 Blake Wharton Honda CRF250R 50.161 6 57 Blake Baggett Kawasaki KX250F 50.2137 42 Nico Izzi Honda CRF250R 50.343 8 533 Gannon Audette Yamaha YZ250F 50.606 9 156 Jason Anderson Suzuki RMZ250 50.689 10 139 Malcolm Stewart Suzuki RMZ250 50.742