This Week in Supercross - San Francisco

AURORA, Ill. (January 30, 2009) - It has been three races of playing catch up for Team San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart after starting the season 18 points behind arch rival Chad Reed of the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki team. Stewart, of Haines City Fla., has won the last three consecutive AMA Supercross class races and has his sites set on four tomorrow night as Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, rolls into San Francisco's AT&T Park. Current Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites class points leader Ryan Dungey, who rides for the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki team, carries a two-race win streak into AT&T Park.

The AMA Supercross class will air on CBS Sports on Sunday, February 1 at Noon EST and the Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites class race will also air on SPEED on Sunday, February 1 at Noon EST.

Defending, two-time AMA Supercross champion Reed currently leads the overall AMA Supercross class championship points lead and is the only rider to be on the podium every race of the 2009 season showing his consistent ways.

"San Francisco is always a good race for me. I've always had good, strong rides there and I'm looking forward to racing the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 there," said Reed. "We all know San Francisco has the potential to be muddy, so who knows what we'll get? But I'm looking forward to it."

Reed's AMA Supercross class teammate Mike Alessi keeps getting stronger with each AMA Supercross class race. The Californian is currently in ninth place overall, having picked up his best results of the 2009 season at last week's Houston race.

"My goal is to keep riding hard on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 and training hard during the week," said Alessi. "I want to go to San Francisco with a positive outlook, and I want to keep improving and try to be a little faster in practice. I want to try and be, again, top four or five in my heat race, and get another top-10 in the main, for sure. I want to try to better my result next weekend and get sixth."

After taking a weekend off when the Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites class championship started last weekend in Houston, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey is looking forward to racing again at San Francisco.

"We had two weeks off between races and I headed back to Florida to ride back there on that type of soil," said Dungey. "We've done some testing with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250, and I've had a little bit of fun and now I'm ready to show up at San Francisco 100 percent ready."

Defending Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites class champion Trey Canard, of the GEICO Powersports Honda team, returns to action after suffering an injury during the Phoenix stop of this year's tour.

"It was disappointing to miss out on racing Anaheim two but I am back and feeling great heading into this weekend," said Canard. "I'm told it rained a lot at this race last year and was really muddy. As far as I'm concerned, it can't get any muddier than the Daytona race last year where my bike was submerged in the mud. I went the distance then, so I know it can go the distance with whatever the San Francisco weather brings."

Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM rider Wil Hahn was the surprise of the night when he finished 6th in the main event in Houston last weekend. It was Hahn's first race back since breaking his sternum.

"I was pretty happy with my result," said Hahn. "Of course, I would have liked to be on the podium, but I was glad to finish inside the top ten and gauge where my speed is since returning from my injury." Hahn's teammate, Martin Davalos, finished 7th at Houston and was not as impressed with his result, "I really expected to come out better for the first round. I struggled to relax the whole day and I rode tight in both my heat and the main event."

Davalos will now head out West to train with his teammates in California in preparation for the Atlanta supercross.

"We think it will be best for Davalos to train in California over the next month. Allowing him the opportunity to ride with fast riders in California is better than him riding alone back east," responded KTM Director of Racing, Kurt Nicoll.

West Lites rider, Ryan Sipes, will return to the KTM 250 SX-F machine for this week's San Francisco Supercross after riding the KTM 450 SX-F in Houston last weekend. "It was fun to ride the 450 SX-F in Houston, but some bad luck in my heat and an even worse start in the LCQ kept me from qualifying for the main event," reported Sipes. "I intend to race the 450 at another East round and hope the result will be much improved."