One Honda rider cooled off and another warmed up when round six of the THQ AMA Supercross Series visited SBC Park in San Francisco, California, and in the aftermath one Kawasaki rider is no longer perfect.
Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed capitalized on a crash by Amsoil Chaparral Honda’s Kevin Windham, the only rider who has proved capable of beating him thus far, in the early stages of the 20-lap 250cc main event. The Australian was not in the lead at the time of the crash. Yet. In fact, he and Windham were running in third and fourth, respectively, behind early race leader Michael Byrne on the Chevy Trucks Kawasaki and Grant Langston on the Red Bull KTM.
Then Windham bailed in the first whoop section, on lap four. He was basically last before he returned to the fray with a slightly askew front wheel. Just before that, Langston and Byrne had a moment, which saw Byrne hit the dirt and Langston assume the lead (for which Langston was later docked by AMA Pro Racing). Reed chased down Langston to take the lead on lap five, before pulling out to a sizeable lead that was later shrunk by Reed’s teammate David Vuillemin and Windham’s teammate Mike LaRocco as they battled over second. Reed won by a scant margin (for Reed) with Vuillemin second and LaRocco third. Windham worked his way back through the pack to sixth by the finish (although he was later credited with fifth after Langston was docked from his fifth-place finishing position).
The incident for which Langston was docked came as Langston passed Byrne on the inside of a 90-degree right-hand corner while Byrne railed the outside. The two appeared to come together on the exit, and Byrne crashed into the Tuff Blox. Byrne was quite upset by the move, saying Langston basically hooked bars with him and sent him to the ground. However, Langston insists that on the tape from ESPN and from KTM’s own cameras, they “almost didn’t touch at all.” Regardless, AMA Pro Racing penalized Langston from fifth to seventh for the incident – even though, it’s not yet known if it was a time penalty or a position penalty. At the end of the night, it was even said that Langston would keep his finishing position but be docked four points. However, FIM representative John Gallagher pointed out earlier in the season that he doesn’t have to go along with any AMA ruling on any rider, so even though Grant Langston is unofficially leading the FIM World Supercross points by one over Damon Huffman at the end of the night, he may or may not be by the time his penalty (or lack thereof) is decided by the FIM.
Team Honda’s Nathan Ramsey and his Honda CRF250R snapped Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco’s perfect win streak by passing Tedesco late in the 15-lap 125cc main event and riding red all the way to the checkered flag. Tedesco, who claimed to be suffering the effects of the flu, got the holeshot and tried to escape from Ramsey, who did away with early second-place rider Brock Sellards, but Ramsey was relentless in his attack. Ramsey caught Tedesco on the step-on, step-off tabletop just before the finish line on lap 12, knifed underneath him in the ensuing left-hander and then pulled out to a 1.45-second lead in the remaining laps.
Amsoil Chaparral’s Travis Preston, the man who many insiders predicted would defeat Tedesco, put together another solid main event run, racing right behind Ramsey and Tedesco for most of the way before finishing before finishing about five seconds behind Ramsey at the finish.
250cc MAIN (20 laps): 1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. David Vuillemin (Yam); 3. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 4. Nick Wey (Suz); 5. Kevin Windham (Hon); 6. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 7. Grant Langston (KTM); 8. Damon Huffman (Hon); 9. Heath Voss (Yam); 10. Michael Byrne (Kaw); 11. Ryan Clark (Yam); 12. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 13. Joe Oehlhof (Hon); 14. Mike Brown (Yam); 15. Erick Vallejo (Yam); 16. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 17. Craig Anderson (Hon); 18. Tyler Evans (Suz); 19. Ted Campbell (Hon); 20. Scott Davis (Suz).
THQ AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 of 16 rounds): 1. Chad Reed (144/4 wins); 2. David Vuillemin (114); 3. (TIE) Kevin Windham (112/2 wins)*/Mike LaRocco (112); 5. Michael Byrne (84); 6. Damon Huffman (82); 7. Nick Wey (79); 8. Grant Langston (64); 9. Heath Voss (55); 10. Keith R. Johnson (50); 11. (TIE) Ezra Lusk/Sean Hamblin (47); 13. Ryan Clark (43); 14. Tyler Evans (40); 15. Erick Vallejo (37).
125cc MAIN (15 laps): 1. Nathan Ramsey (Hon); 2. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 3. Travis Preston (Hon); 4. Brock Sellards (Yam); 5. Stephane Roncada (Kaw); 6. Steve Boniface (Suz); 7. Andrew Short (Suz); 8. Jeff Gibson (Yam); 9. Joshua Summey (Yam); 10. Joaquim Rodrigues (KTM); 11. Michael Blose (Yam); 12. Troy Adams (Kaw); 13. Greg Schnell (Hon); 14. Eric Nye (Yam); 15. Ryan Morais (KTM); 16. Sean Collier (Hon); 17. Dylan Lord (Suz); 18. Stephan Demartis (Hon); 19. Nathan Tiearney (Suz); 20. Vincent Blair (Yam); 21. Jesse Casillas (Yam); 22. Daniel Blair (Yam). AMA THQ 125cc WESTERN REGIONAL SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 of 8 rounds): 1. Ivan Tedesco (147/5 wins); 2. Travis Preston (117); 3. Stephane Roncada (116); 4. Nathan Ramsey (109/1 win); 5. Brock Sellards (92); 6. Andrew Short (89); 7. Troy Adams (71); 8. Greg Schnell (67); 9. Joshua Summey (49); 10. Christopher Gosselaar (42); 11. (TIE) Jeff Gibson (41)/Eric Nye (41); 13. Ryan Morais (39); 14. Steve Boniface (37); 15. (TIE) Joaquim Rodrigues (30)/Michael Blose (30); 17. Joshua Hansen (28); 18. Cole Siebler (24); 19. Brian Gray (19); 20. Johnny Marley (18).
