 The The Main events of the evening offered some of the best excitement of the entire Supercross season. Not only did Seattle enjoy uncharacteristic weather, they also witnessed the most intense 450 main in quite some time.
Qwest Field played host to the final battle for the West Coast Regional Lites Championship between Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki's Ryan Dungey and Yamaha of Troy's Jason Lawrence. The drama didn't end there; there is another rivalry coming to a head in the Supercross class between San Manuel/L&M/Yamaha's Chad Reed and Torco Racing Fuels Honda's Kevin Windham.
SUPERCROSS LITES MAIN EVENT
The West Coast Lites Regional Series all came down to the final race in Seattle… And when the gates dropped, it was Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki's Ryan Dungey who got the best start.
Bobby Kiniry and Justin Brayton fell in right behind the Suzuki rider, and Jason Lawrence nipped at Brayton's heels. As the group entered the second turn, only the top six or so actually exited the turn successfully. A huge pile-up left nearly half of the field scrambling for their bikes. Factory Yamaha's Broc Hepler and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Brett Metcalfe put their best efforts toward reeling in J-Law, who was trying to catch Justin Brayton.
Meanwhile, Brayton worked his magic and dipped past Kiniry. Up front, Ryan Dungey had already signed all of the necessary paperwork to check out. He was clearly in a groove and rode flawlessly.
On lap three, J-Law made his move on Brayton while Metcalfe did the same on Hepler. Behind Hepler, Tommy Hahn and Austin Stroupe got into the spirit, reeling in B-Hep while battling themselves. By lap five, Ryan Dungey was into the lapper traffic; he was not letting anyone near him.
With Dungey so far out in front, Metcalfe, Brayton, and Hepler gave the fans a small battle. Dungey easily took the checkers, but his body language told us everything. He won the race, but not the war. His win was not enough to steal the championship from Lawrence. J-law only had to finish third or better… and he crossed the line in second and clinched the West Coast Lites Regional Series.
RESULTS
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Jason Lawrence
3. Broc Hepler
4. Austin Stroupe
5. Tommy Hahn
6. Justin Brayton
7. Brett Metcalfe
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Michael Willard
10. Justin Keeney
11. Chris Blose
12. Adam Chatfield
13. Shaun Skinner
14. Gavin Gracyk
15. Zach Osborne
16. Matt Lemoine
17. Will Hahn
18. Kyle Beaton
19. Carlos Gonzalez
20. Bobby Kiniry
21. Eric McCrummen
22. Dan Reardon
SUPERCROSS CLASS MAIN EVENT
And so it all came to this... The stage was set for quite a main event. And the Supercross gods descended down onto the Pacific Northwest fans and gave them the gift of the most exciting Supercross race of the season, if not the most intense race of recent memory. The excitement kicked off Chad Reed getting caught in a first turn pile-up, leaving Andrew Short, Kevin Windham, and Davi Millsaps to duke it out for the top positions. With Reed in the very back of the pack, Windham took over the lead, with Short and Millsaps in tow. Timmy Ferry kept the green machines in the hunt in fourth place and upstart Josh Grant nipped at the veteran's heels.
Just after the first lap, tragedy struck as Josh Demuth wadded hard just past the finish line jump and did not leave the track on his own power.
The excitement only escalated from there – just as we thought K-Dub was settling into a comfortable lead, the Torco Racing Fuels Honda rider's bike sucked a track banner up into the chain forcing Windham to dismount his Honda and remove the obstructing banner. In the midst of the commotion, he lost five positions, all the while Chad Reed was picking other riders in the field off like a man on a mission. With K-Dub recovering from the evil track banner, Andrew Short assumed the lead.
At the end of six laps, Andrew Short held a strong lead, while Reed had already managed to get back up to ninth place. Soon after, Windham passed his young teammate, Josh Grant, which gave him the fourth place position. Reed continued his campaign through the field, catching back up to seventh place after eight laps.
The fans rose to their feet, shouting at the top of their lungs as the race to the front ensued between Windham and Reed. When K-Dub gained a position, so did Reed. K-Dub took Millsaps as the lapper traffic started to slow everyone down.
Reed, meanwhile, took Ferry. On lap 18, Windham finally had the lead, and Reed was in third. When the white flag came out, Shorty did his best to hold Reed off, but the Red Bull Honda rider could not hold on for that second place podium spot. When the checkers flew, Windham took the win with Reed holding on for second.
Both were clearly excited about their efforts. After the race, Reed commented, "I just tried to be smart. It's gonna be fun in Vegas. I know what it's going to take in Vegas. There's another race, another opportunity."
He alluded to the Honda rider in the front of the pack saying, "There's tactics and then there's dirty riding, but there's another race." Windham, on the other hand, said of Reed, "He has done a lot of talking, but his riding speaks for itself. He rode great tonight. This has been the biggest series of my career, and next week will hold probably the biggest race of my career."
RESULTS
1. Kevin Windham
2. Chad Reed
3. Andrew Short
4. Davi Millsaps
5. Timmy Ferry
6. Josh Grant
7. Josh Hill
8. Nick Wey
9. David Vuillemin
10. Heath Voss
11. Charles Summey
12. Ryan Clark
13. Jeff Gibson
14. Jason Thomas
15. Manuel Rivas
16. Chris Gosselaar
17. Tyler Bright
18. Travis Preston
19. Dusty Klatt
20. B. Johnson
21. Josh Demuth
|
