AMA Supercross 2009 is on again
Posted on January 13, 2009
Filed Under AMA Supercross, supercross | Leave a Comment
The first two rounds of the most anticipated supercross season have delivered exceptional racing that keeps you glued to the edge of your seat. With the majority of well known riders coming into the season injury free both the lites and premiere classes are stacked with talent.
Jason Lawrence placed 5th at Anaheim and crashed out of both his heat race and the LCQ at round 2 in Phoenix whilst his nemesis Ryan Dungy finished 3rd in round one after crashing out of his heat but winning the LCQ. Dan Reardon has shown some promising form but crashed in the final in round 1 and could only manage 10th at Chase Field. Jake Weimer looks strong after finishing first in round 1 but crashing in the final in round 2, giving up the leasd to Dungy and finishing in 4th place. Trey Canard had a nasty fall in the lites final after looking promising at the start of race.
In the supercross class, Ryan Villipoto has made it look easy winning a couple of heat races but doesn’t seem to have the same luck with the start in the main events. Ivan Tedesco also is returning to form after some strong riding within the top ten. Josh Grant is on top of the points table after winning round 1 and placing 3rd in round 2.
The intense rivalry between James Stuart and Chad Reed will give us some of the best action packed racing that has been seen for quite some time. The two champions are very close at the moment as came to light in round 1 when Stuart slowed before the entry to a whoops section and Reed clipped his back wheel which sent them both catapulting to the ground. Stuart hit his head hard and took a moment to regain his senses and started to push his bike off to the side of the track only to cut straight across Kevin Windhams path who was then knocked to the ground along with Stuart again in the collision. Meanwhile Reed started off again and continued to salvage 3rd place, whilst Stuart couldn’t get his Yamaha YZ450F started and withdrew from the race.
Round two in Phoenix saw the holeshot go to Josh Grant, out to prove his previous win was no fluke. Close behind him was James Stewart with Chad Reed in 5th place during the first lap. Soon after Reed had made his way into 3rd place but couldn’t get past Grant for several laps. Then the chase was on with Reed staying around 1 second behind Stuart for the majority of the race.
Both riders lapped the field to around 8th place, and after some close racing Reed finished right behind James Stewart. It really could have gone to either of the two, even though the lead didn’t change hands between them as it did in round 1.
As long as the majority of riders stay injury free we will be in for a great season packed with close racing and bar to bar action. Reed, Stewart, Villipoto, Grant and Tedesco all look good. It’s great to see Mike Allessi return to riding aggressively again after his bad crash last year in the outdoor season and suffering another bad injury while practicing in the off season after he recovered from the first incident.
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