After winning the first three main events of the season in the Lites East class, Trey Canard carried a 24-point lead in the championship into Minneapolis’ Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. However, a crash in practice left him limping off of the track and missing much of practice. After a midpack start in the main, he worked his way up to a solid fourth-place finish, missing the podium by a small margin.
“I just tried to play it smart,” Canard said of his race. “I think I could’ve hit Martin Devalos and gotten third, but I didn’t want to take a chance on taking both of us out and put myself in a bad position. I did the best that I could. I tried to just work it, and tried to make something good out of something bad. Not every day is perfect, and not everything is always great, and I think today went well. I learned a lot of stuff, and I can’t complain at all.”
Canard now leads Ryan Villopoto by 24 points with three rounds left to run.
One of the big stories for the team in Minneapolis was the re-emergence of star Lites rider Josh Grant. Grant has had a tough go so far this year, but in Minneapolis, he led all but one lap of the
main event. Unfortunately, the lap he didn’t lead was the last one. Along with Villopoto, Grant put on a show that most fans will not soon forget, and despite a fall as he attempted to pass Villopoto back for the win over the last jump, Grant finished a solid second on the night.
“It was a good race,” Grant said. “I just got good starts and was pumped with everything that was going on. I had great lines and felt comfortable all day. After second practice, I felt even better, and I just knew that tonight was going to be a good night for me. I felt really comfortable with where we’re at in Minnesota and everyone that’s around – it’s kind of a good atmosphere. It’s good to get our team up on the podium, but it’s just unfortunate that I had to go down on that last jump. This gives me something to work for when we have our next race in three weeks, and we’ll go from there.”
Grant moved back inside the top 10 in points to seventh in the standings with three rounds left to run.
In the 450cc class, Kevin Windham once again managed to take back a bunch of points from points leader Chad Reed, who went down early in the main event and finished seventh. Windham 
finished third, his seventh podium finish of the season, and he still has yet to finish outside the top five this season.
“It was a disappointing start to a pretty good race," Windham said. “I’m happy with the way things went, ultimately. We made some points, and we’ve got to look at the big picture. We’re closing in, and that feels good. We’re going to have a nice week off, and it’s going to be a good opportunity to look at a few of these things and have some new intensity for Toronto.”
Windham now sits only 17 points behind Reed with seven rounds remaining.
From here, the team takes a weekend off before heading to Toronto, Ontario, and the Rogers Centre for round 12 of the AMA Supercross Series.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
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