Kevin Windham will make his return to racing in Saturday night’s Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas – six months after injuring himself at the Houston Supercross.
“I haven’t raced since Houston Supercross, which was back in April,” said Windham in a team release. “Things are good right now. My body is strong. I’ve been doing a lot of preparation and [this week] I came out to California and rode the 2013 Honda for the first time. I had an amazing day of testing and I’m looking forward heading into Monster Energy Cup on that new bike.”
Windham will join GEICO Honda teammate Eli Tomac at Saturday’s Monster Energy Cup at Sam Boyd Stadium with an eye toward getting a measure of the 2013 Supercross competition and, of course, winning the $1 million top prize.
Even though there is big money up for grabs and a slightly different format than a standard Supercross race, Windham said he’s not going to change his approach too much.
“I’m going to try and treat it as just another race,” Windham said. “That being said, I’ve never been so confident about a bike after one day of testing than I am with this 2013 Honda. I’m going out there to race the best guys in the sport and I feel very confident. It’d be nice to win a whole heap of money – and that is the goal – but it’s also nice to be feeling good and be able to get my feet wet on this new bike.”
Tomac is coming off a career year for the GEICO Honda team with the Lites West Championship in Supercross and a third-place effort in 250cc National Motocross Championship – with eight moto wins and four overall victories. This weekend Tomac will be riding a 450.
“It’s going to be cool to jump up there and compete against the fastest guys in the world,” Tomac said. “It’s a little different competition than what I see in the 250 class with all the veterans who will be out there. By the way it looks, it seems like a fun track,” Tomac said. “There’s no whoops, but it’s got a lot of rhythm sections. It seems like a perfect mix. We’ve talked about [the Joker Lane]. If you are in the lead you are going to want to take it late, because you want a chance to put a gap on the guys behind you. If you are in the back, you might want to do it early and get it out of the way.”
Windham echoed the situational nature of that feature of the track.
“It’s one of the obstacles you’ll face during the race,” he said. “I can see it coming into play if there’s a guy you are trying to pass holding you up. You don’t want to take the lane at the same time he does. There’s going to be a little strategy to that.”
Justin Barcia, who won the last two Lites East titles in Supercross for GEICO Honda, meanwhile, will be making his debut this weekend with his new team, Muscle Milk Honda.
