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.
There 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.
Aside 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.
The 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.
The 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.