2007 Supercross - Anaheim Three - Race Report - Dirt Rider Magazine

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After a great race last weekend in San Francisco, the fans at Anaheim Stadium were eager for a great night of supercross. On thing became clear during timed practice and during rider introductions - there are a lot of Chad Reed fans out there still pulling for him to have that ride that turns the season on its ear. Or maybe they're just cheering for a contender to step up to Stewart's pace. Either way, if Stewart is going to be stopped from running off with the championship, Reed is going to be the one to have to do it.Lites HeatsThere weren't too many surprises in the first two races of the night, but a little good racing. Heat one saw Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy's Jason Lawrence take the holeshot and then fall way back with problems. He looked aggressive and fast, and barely managed a direct transfer into the main with a 7th place finish. Martin Davalos of Red Bull KTM took the win.The big surprise of heat two was Star Racing/Bobby J's Yamaha's Matt Lemoine, who grabbed the holeshot and looked like he belonged in the lead as battled with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto. Ryan got by on lap two, but then fumbled in the tricky triple-triple section and allowed Lemoine right back into the lead. A mistake on lap three let Villopoto by for good, and then Lemoine had Red Bull KTM's Josh Hanson and SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Josh Grant to conted with as Villopoto pulled out a comfortable lead. On lap four Grant snuck by both riders, going from 4th to 2nd as Lemoine and Hanson were battling in a corner. In the next corner, Lemoine, anticipating a stuff from Hanson that never came, tipped over. He would stumble around the track for the rest of the heat with a shift lever problem, eventually crossing the line in 17th.Supercross HeatsAside from a re-start in Heat one when Kyle Mace went down, the Supercross heats held few surprises. Makita Suzuki's Ivan Tedesco grabbed the re-start holehot, but San Manuel Band of Mission Indians' backed Chad Reed quickly got past. Where the two had been in the middle of a battle prior to the re-start, this time Reed looked to have an easy time pulling out some breathing room and slowly stretching out the lead until the end.Heat two ended just like it began, with Factory Kawasaki's James Stewart in front. There was very little passing as SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Kevin Windham chased, followed by WBR/Rockstar Suzuki's Michael Byrne, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians' Nathan Ramsey, and Xyience/MDK Motorsports Nick Wey. Wey did manage to close in on Ramsey on the last lap and made an inside pass attempt, but he wasn't close enough, and Ramsey held onto the position.Lites LCQThe Lites LCQ was the Factory Yamaha Josh Hill show as he grabbed a big holeshot and pulled away as he ran a smooth and quick race. Lemoine held an equal gap over third for the race, as the rest were left to battle for the two remaining spots on the podium. It was KTM R&D;'s Michael Willard and MDK/Lucas Oil's Adam Chatfield, without out much drama.Supercross LCQThe Supercross LCQ only takes two riders to the main, and Moto XXX Honda's Josh Summey made sure one was him as he grabbed the lead by the third corner and never looked back. Summey looked cool and fast as he kept a gap over the final transfer position, held by Butler Brothers/BTO Sports/Rick Case Honda's Bryan Johnson. The six lap race came down to the wire as Johnson's teammate, Butler Brothers/BTO Sports/Rick Case Honda's Jason Thomas, was charging hard and ducked under Johnson with three corners to go. The two riders raced side by side down the next set of jumps. Johnson had the inside in the second to last corner, and blocked Thomas to secure the final transfer slot.Lites MainThe Lites main was looking to be a good one until the red flag came out for the second time of the night. Josh Hanson was leading with Jason Lawrence, Josh Grant, Ryan Villopoto and WBR/Rockstar Suzuki's Troy Adams on his tail when the red flag stopped the race due to SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda's Jake Weimer's second corner crash. The restart was everything the fans didn't want - a Villopoto holeshot. Grant was right on his tail, and the two stretched out a gap between them and the rest of the field throughout the 15 laps. Villopoto got a very healthy lead over Grant, who had no pressure from behind.But if you ignored the first two positions, the race had some excitement. Josh Hill started working his way quickly up from 11th. He passed three riders in one lap, and was pushing for more. When he caught the pack of Hanson, Lawrence and Motoworldracing.com/PPG Yamaha's Michael LaPaglia his progress slowed because he was not able to jump the same combinations as when he had a clear track. He was still moving ahead, but not as quickly.On the seventh lap Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Chris Gosselaar, who was running up in fourth fell off the pace and dropped back quickly. Goselaar fumbled some jumps, and looked to be having mechanical problems.On the ninth lap Jason Lawrence made his move past Martin Davalos over the triple, cutting off Davalos' line and slowing his drive. Davalos shorted hard, did an old school flying W, saved the crash, but slowed considerably. Though he would finish, the battle was over for him.The running order two thirds of the way through was Villopoto, Grant, Lawrence, Hanson, and Hill. One lap later Hill made his last pass of the night into fourth. Lawrence wasn't far, but far from close, and Grant and Villopoto were practially already on the road to Houston.Supercross MainThe Supercross class got things started with what looked like the beginning of a boring race. James Stewart didn't get the holeshot, but you wouldn't have known it if you were standing at the third corner. Reed was close behind in second, with Ferry right on Reed's tail.The Bubba-runaway-victory was all set and ready to switch to autopilot, but Chad Reed had other ideas. After three laps, Stewart's lead of about a second and a half over Reed wasn't growing. By lap five his lead seemed to be doing something it rarely does - it started shrinking. Reed was gaining, and was in position when Stewart bobbled in a corner on lap five.The two went side by side for the lead through the next timing section and triple, with Stewart retaining the lead. On the next lap, Reed used a timing Stewart was not and got past Stewart. The lead lasted only two straights, because in the next left hand corner after a whoop section Stewart went in aggressively on Reed. James dove straight across the corner to cut Reed off at his exit. Reed nearly went down but kept the bike up and got right back into charge-mode.Stewart's move was aggressive, but not dirty. Many of the fans felt otherwise as some booing followed Stewart around the track. Reed was about two and half seconds back, and was not losing an inch on James. Lappers have worked against Reed so far this year, but he handled them well and kept his chance of a victory alive.By the last lap, Reed had closed nearly to within striking distance, but was just a little shy of putting a real move on Stewart. The two crossed the line with Stewart taking the win, and Reed grabbing second. If any fans were questioning Reed's ability to hang with James and bring the fight to him, their questions got answered. If any wondered how aggressively Stewart will fight for that lead position, they saw James' answer at Anaheim 3.Though the race had very little passing, it was close, it was exciting, and it infused the season with the possibility that there may be some great racing ahead. Reed is back, and James is ready.Lites Results

|||| |---|---|---| | 1 | Ryan D Villopoto | Kawasaki KX250F | | 2 | Joshua M Grant | Honda CRF250R | | 3 | Jason D Lawrence | Yamaha YZ250F | | 4 | Joshua R Hill | Yamaha YZ250F | | 5 | Joshua Hansen | KTM 250SXF | | 6 | Jake T Weimer | Honda CRF250R | | 7 | Christopher Gosselaar | Kawasaki KX250F | | 8 | Kyle Partridge | Honda CRF250R | | 9 | Kyle B Cunningham | Yamaha YZ250F | | 10 | Matthew J Lemoine | Yamaha YZ250F | | 11 | Martin Davalos | KTM 250SXF | | 12 | Dusty Klatt | Yamaha YZ250F | | 13 | Michael J Lapaglia | Yamaha YZ250F | | 14 | Daniel Sani | Honda CRF250R | | 15 | Steve Boniface | Kawasaki KX250F | | 16 | Joaquim Rodrigues | Kawasaki KX250F | | 17 | Bradley R Graham | Kawasaki KX250F | | 18 | Logan Darien | Honda CRF250R | | 19 | Michael L Willard | KTM 250SXF | | 20 | Chris Blose | Yamaha YZ250F | | 21 | Troy K Adams | Suzuki RMZ250 | | 22 | Adam B Chatfield | Yamaha YZ250F | Lites Points Standings

|||| |---|---|---| | 1 | 122 | R. Villopoto | | 2 | 91 | J. Lawrence | | 3 | 74 | J. Weimer | | 4 | 65 | C. Gosselaar | | 5 | 64 | J. Grant | | 6 | 63 | M. Lemoine | | 7 | 62 | J. Hansen | | 8 | 61 | S. Boniface | | 9 | 52 | J. Hill | | 10 | 51 | K. Partridge | | 11 | 48 | C. Pourcel | | 12 | 47 | T. Adams | | 13 | 42 | K. Cunningham | | 14 | 37 | M. Lapaglia | | 15 | 34 | M. Davalos | | 16 | 32 | J. Keeney | | 17 | 22 | D. Klatt | | 18 | 18 | A. Chatfield | | 19 | 16 | R. Owens | | 20 | 15 | M. Willard | Supercross ResultsSupercross Points Standings