SUPERCROSS - Windham Wins A Wild One
Kevin Windham won a
drama-filled SX-class main event that wasn’t decided until final
moments of the 20-lap race tonight at Qwest Field in Seattle.
Windham, on the Torco Racing Fuels
Honda, jumped out to an early lead, while points leader Chad Reed fell
on the first lap and was 19th as they headed into the second lap.
Windham, who trailed Reed by 13 points going into the race, was looking
to reduce that gap significantly, as he opened up a big lead over the
rest of the back, but on the third lap, Windham collected a Tuff Block
wrapper on his footpeg that quickly got sucked into his rear wheel,
forcing him to stop, get off his bike, and pull out the plastic cover.
He lost five positions in the process and handed the lead over to
Honda’s Andrew Short.
Windham slowly worked his way back to
the front, but, unfortunately for him, so did Reed. On the 18th lap,
Windham passed Short for the lead, while Reed passed Kawasaki’s Tim
Ferry for fourth place. Between Windham and Reed rode Short and Honda’s
Davi Millsaps, and all of them were within seconds of each other. Reed,
riding on a tidal wave of momentum, slipped past Millsaps, then,
moments later, tangled with Short, who wasn’t going to give up second
easily to the Yamaha rider. Their little get-together held up Reed just
enough to ensure victory for Windham, his fourth of the season and
second in a row.
Even though Reed lost another three
points to the Honda rider, Reed, on the San Manuel Yamaha, took this
one almost as a victory, considering how far back he was at the
beginning of the race and how many points he could’ve lost to Windham.
With just one race left in the series, Reed now leads Windham by 10
points.
Third in the race went to Short, who got
an earful from Reed after the race. Millsaps ended up fourth, followed
by Ferry, Torco Racing Fuels/Honda's Josh Grant (who was riding in the
SX class for the first time), Yamaha’s Josh Hill and MDK KTM’s Nick
Wey. Makita Suzuki’s David Vuillemin, who had to use up his provisional
to get into the main, finished ninth, while Honda rider Heath Voss
rounded out the top 10.
Source: CycleNews
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