Fast all day through practice and in his heat race, Windham started fourth in the main event, passed Mike Alessi for third, and then pulled away from the rest of the field while the two championship rivals battled out front. The end result was a quiet, but strong, podium finish for the fan-favorite.
“We were struggling at the beginning of the season, and I think that the last few races, I’ve been where I needed to be,” Windham said. “My lap-times have been up on the board, and that’s impressive, and it’s hard to get to, because there are some guys in practice who can do some real glory laps. It’s hard to get up there in this environment, especially when you’re coming from the back. So I know I’ve had the speed. I just needed to get off the line, and tonight was proof of that.”Windham has three rounds left to find the additional speed necessary to run with the front two, but he has now moved up to fourth in the points standings.
In the Lites class, St. Louis winner Blake Wharton won his second heat race of the year, and in typical Wharton style, did no celebrating over the finish line. In the main event, though, Wharton got a poor start and was forced to work his way forward. After posting the second-fastest lap-
time of the race, with only the winner posting a faster one, Wharton was able to battle his way up to fifth.“My start wasn’t real good, and when you’re back there, everyone’s all over the place, but I made some passes and rode pretty good,” Wharton said. “My lap-times were good, but the track was kind of hard to pass on. But it was a good night. I didn’t crash or anything, and I’m looking forward to Vegas.”
Wharton finished his rookie supercross season fourth in points, only one point out of third (despite missing one main event in the eight-round series), with one win and one additional
podium finish.Daniel Blair had a tough night in Jacksonville. He never felt comfortable all day, but still managed to run near the front much of the night. Blair will be back with the team for the East/West Shootout in Las Vegas on May 2.
From here, the AMSOIL sponsored team will get its first weekend off since the beginning of the year before heading to Seattle for round 15 of the AMA Supercross Series, and round seven of the Lites Western Regional Supercross Championship, with riders Trey Canard and Dan Reardon scheduled to re-assume racing on April 18 inside Qwest Stadium.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
