Race day started off rough for the GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL/Honda team, as championship hopeful Brett Metcalfe crashed in practice, breaking his collarbone. He’s scheduled for surgery this week, but the timeline of his return isn’t yet known.
His Lites teammate, rookie Blake Wharton, had a tough go of it to start the day, coming from behind to barely qualify in his heat race, finishing eighth. This gave him the 15th gate pick out of 20 riders in the main event. He started near the tail end of the top 10 and then methodically began working his way forward. With three laps to go, he was fourth and pressuring for third, a position he actually nabbed during the next go-around. He held third for the final two laps until two turns to go, when he was caught on the outside and relegated back to fourth, where he finished.“I was in eighth for eight laps,” Wharton said. “Usually, I can get those good starts, but tonight was a bad start night for me. You can’t get every holeshot, right? So you’ve got to learn how to do both (come from behind and race from the front). I felt like I was smart in the race, and I wasn’t rushing things. I waited for the right time and started passing them, and I ended up being in third and just made a silly mistake and lost it back and got fourth. I’m happy with how I rode, though, because I was in ninth and I caught all the way up and passed guys. That shows me that my speed and endurance are there, so I just need to fill in the middle
In the 450cc class, the story was similar for Kevin Windham. In his heat race, Windham came from way behind to finish fifth. He started mid-pack in the main
event and worked his way forward, eventually finishing sixth.“The starts are killing me right now,” Windham said. “I’d like to think I can run with those guys if I get the start, but the starts continue to elude me.”
From here, the GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL/Honda team heads to Indianapolis, Indiana, for round nine of the AMA Supercross Series, and round three of the Lites Eastern Regional Supercross Championship, on February 28. Retired AMSOIL rider Mike LaRocco will be designing the track.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
