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