Windham Keeps Pace in Supercross

In the season’s final visit to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Cali., the AMSOIL/Honda team looked to improve their standings in both classes. In the Supercross (450cc) class, Kevin Windham was looking for his first win of the season and in the Lites class, Jake Weimer was looking for his second, while Dan Reardon was looking to improve from fourth place and get up onto the podium for the first time in America.

Things were looking good for the AMSOIL riders. Weimer startedthe night out strong in practice, and then went out and passed his teammate Reardon on the last lap to win his Heat race.

“In practice, I was stoked,” Weimer said. “I didn’t ride well the first practice, but I was pumped on the track, so I was feeling good. Then, I got a good start in my qualifier and followed Reardon around the whole time. I knew that I could make a pass where I did, because I felt like I was a little bit faster right there. I got close enough on the last lap, and with a couple straightaways to go, I made the pass and got the win. And we had the fastest Heat by a pretty good amount, so I was feeling good going into the main.”

Unfortunately for Weimer, the main ended just as it began. Heading into the sand section just after the first turn, he clipped another rider, went down, and then was hit by the riders behind him. Weimer slipped to 15th in the points standings with three rounds left to run.

Reardon’s night got tough just after Weimer passed him in their Heat race, when Jason Lawrence cleaned Reardon out for second and knocked him down in the last turn. In the main, Reardon came through from a mediocre start, but then fell, which likely cost him another top-five finish. Reardon is third in the West Coast Lites points standings.

“I was way outside off the start, and I worked my way up to about sixth, but then I crashed,” Reardon said. “That put me back in like 11th or something, and I caught back up to eighth. I’m just kind of bummed out that I crashed. It was a silly mistake on my behalf, so we’ll pick it up. I’m working well during the week, but I’ve just got to put all of the pieces together on the weekend.”

Windham was fast all day on the Anaheim III track, and he briefly challenged points leader Chad Reed for the lead in his Heat race before going down. He recovered for third in the Heat, but went into the main event with confidence, knowing he could run with Reed. However, in the main event, he started behind Reed and challenged him for the first few laps, but then began to fade, eventually finishing fourth. It was the first time he missed the podium since round one and now sits 26 points behind Reed in second place.

From here, the team heads down the California coast to San Diego for round six of the AMA Supercross Series on January 12 inside Qualcomm Stadium.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.