In Dallas last weekend, point's leader Canard’s night started out tough and got tougher, as he went down in the second turn of his heat race and was unable to restart his bike, forcing him into the Lites LCQ. The
re are no “provisional” qualifiers in the Lites class, so the LCQ truly had championship implications, but Canard left nothing to chance as he got the LCQ holeshot and went on to win in dominant fashion.
Still, that left Canard with the 19th pick on the gate. Even from there, he battled out front from the beginning, but then tangled with Billy Payne and championship rival Ryan Villopoto just after the first turn and quickly found himself dead last.
“In the main, I had a good jump, and I was in third, and Villopoto gave a little love tap to Billy Payne, and that kind of started the drama,” Canard said. “Before I knew it, I was down on a tabletop and had nowhere to go, so I had to do a little 180 and head the other direction. That was it.”
Canard rounded the first lap in 20th while Villopoto was out front. However, by lap five, Canard had maneuvered his way into seventh.
“To be honest, I don’t even remember it,” Canard said. “I guess when things like that happen, your natural instincts take over, and that’s what happens when your adrenaline gets going. It’s like a fighter’s mentality, and what you know how to do just happens.”
Late in the race, Canard passed Tyler Bowers for fourth, and got to within striking distance of third-placed Martin Davalos on the last lap, but was forced to settle for fourth for the second race in a row.
Canard still leads Villopoto by 17 points with only two rounds left to run, and it’s possible that Canard can wrap up the championship in Detroit with a little help from Villopoto, as a win by Canard and a fifth or worse from Villopoto will clinch the title early.
While Canard was fighting his way through the pack for the second race in a row, his teammate Josh Grant was also putting on a strong performance. The opening laps saw Grant trade the lead with Villopoto before a stall cost him the spot.
“I just came into a corner on the third lap and stalled it,” Grant said. “After that, luckily, I got it bump-started.”
Grant hung on for second in the main event, which paired nicely with his earlier heat-race win for a rather successful night.
“That’s my goal now, just to get a win, stay healthy and consistent, and work on what’s coming up, which is the outdoors,” Grant said. “That’s all I can do right now.”
In the 450cc class, Windham started the night out with an absolutely dominant performance in his heat race, where he won by a large margin over championship rival Chad Reed. However, the start didn’t work out quite as well in the main event.
“What happened was, I had two different types of dirt, and I picked the dirt that was best behind the gate, but worst in front of the gate, and I was hoping I’d get a good jump,” Windham said. “But I think my body positioning was such that on the tacky dirt, I was really forward, and I got a good jump, and then I got over the gate and it spun. I didn’t have time to slide back. I think I would’ve been better off to start off with a more neutral body position on the gate that would work on both sides. That was my downfall. I got down there horribly, but as good as I rode in my heat, I rode 10 times better than that in the main. That was one of the best rides that I’ve had. I don’t know that I made a mistake. I felt virtually on rails.”
Unfortunately, Windham started at the tail end of the top 10 while championship rival Reed was quickly into the lead, followed by Josh Hill, Davi Millsaps and Timmy Ferry. Windham got Ferry relatively early for fourth, but then couldn’t make any headway on Millsaps and Hill.
“Well, this was a track that had a lot of people doing the same lines,” Windham said. “It wasn’t the best track for passing. But we came through and we gave it our all. II’m trying to keep it close, but it’s just not happening. Two races in a row, we’re giving points. Anything’s still possible, but it’s starting to get to a point where it’s going to take a mishap on Chad’s part. He’s done it a couple times, so we’ll wait and see how it works. I’m not going to quit what I’m doing. I enjoyed tonight’s racing, and the fans were behind me so much. At the end of the day, I really can smell a championship, and when you lose points like that, it hits you in the stomach.”
Windham now trails Reed by 27 points with only four rounds left to run, but has a full 55 points on third place in the championship.
Windham, Canard and Grant will travel to Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. this weekend for round 14 of the AMA Supercross Series. The race will air on Sunday, April 13 on SPEED Channel (6:00 p.m. EST).
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
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