Anaheim 2, the third round in the AMA Supercross series, marked the first 2007 event Ricky Carmichael and his Suzuki RM-Z450 would not line up on the gate. Ricky’s limited supercross schedule, necessitated by his ambitions to race NASCAR, finally played a part in the supercross racing. We knew it was coming, but it was still somehow shocking to watch the night’s racing without the big number 4 out there.Timed PracticeJames Stewart and his Kawasaki were clearly the fastest throughout the daytime practice sessions. The riders are timed, with the fastest 40 qualifying into the night event. James consistently posted the fastest timed laps, with his best being seven tenths of a second faster than the second fastest, Chad Reed and his San Manuel Band of Mission Indians sponsoredYamaha YZ450F. Slowed in the earlier rounds by a shoulder injury, Chad is still not 100%, but was 1.2 seconds faster than the third quickest, David Vuillemin on his Xyience/MDK Motorspots Honda CRF450R. During practice, SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Travis Preston took a hard fall coming out of a rhythm section. He was able to limp off the track, but was not able to make the night’s racing.Lites QualifyingMonster Energy/Pro Circuit Racing teammates Christophe Pourcel and Ryan Villopoto each won their heats, making it look like it might be another night of an all-green Lites podium. Pourcel continued to look like a supercross natural as he passed smoothly from third into the lead to win comfortably. Villopoto got a bad jump in his heat, but held the throttle open long and made up enough positions going into the first corner that he managed to slip into the lead by the third corner. Villopoto rode like he was chasing someone for a championship. With a huge gap on Red Bull KTM rider Josh Hanson, Villopoto continued to push himself, looking occasionally on the ragged edge, but pulling out a massive lead in the short six lap heat. Two riders on the move looking eager mix some blue on the podium by the night’s end were Yamaha rider Josh Hill, who passed his way into fifth in heat one, and Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence, who landed a third in heat two.Supercross HeatsWhile the Lites class heats suggested a good night for Kawasaki, the Supercross class heats screamed it. Chad Reed had an easy time of heat one. He led from start to finish without a challenge. Tedesco kept him just in sight as the two pulled a huge gap on the rest of the field. But heat two saw Stewart dominate. Stewart pulled a massive lead, and had a full straightaway lead on Windham by the time Windham had gotten into second – after a lap and a half. Stewart continued to stretch out his lead, and just like Villopoto looked to be pushing hard, and it paid off with a heat race that was four and half seconds faster than Reed’s.In past seasons, riders have complained about easy tracks not allowing the faster riders to gain much time on the slower riders. This Anaheim 2 track seemed, though not obviously more technical than the usual track, to do a good job of separating the riders by skill.LCQsThe Last Chance Qualifiers filled the rest of the gates, sending four additional Lites riders and two more Supercrosses racers to their gates. Any riders in the top ten in Supercross points would also have the right at this point to use one of their two-per-season direct transfers to secure themselves a spot in the main, if they weren’t already qualified.
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