Justin Barcia now has three Supercross Lites
victories to his credit.
This one had it all: close racing, crashes, dramatic finishes, plenty of elbow rubbing, controversy, heartbreak, a first-time winner,
and more crashes. The 45,859 fans who filled
Reliant Stadium in Houston saw more action in
one night than those who follow all 17 rounds usually see in a full season. And when it was all over,
two Honda riders - Trey Canard and Justin Barcia
- stood atop the podium after two very exciting
main events.
But the highlight of the evening had to be Canard, the Oklahoman getting his first 450cc class
victory in dramatic fashion. The class rookie rode
like a seasoned veteran by riding smart, avoiding
pile-ups and out-dueling defending Supercross
Champion Ryan Dungey at the end to take the
highly popular victory.
Canard found himself leading just past the halfway point when holeshotter Kevin Windham fell,
and by that time he didn’t have to worry about
BRIEFLY...
After the race, Kevin Windham got checked out by Dr.
John Bodnar then went home. We talked to GEICO Powersports Honda team manager Mike LaRocco about the
crash: “I haven’t talked to [Windham], but I saw the crash.
I don’t know if he caught a rut or spun off that triple, but
he came up short and still went for that second table-to-table, and when he snagged that one, he got all sideways
and it pitched him over and the bike followed him. He
faced it pretty good and the bike pounded him. He has
pain in upper ribs, under his left arm, and he’s a little bit
kooky, but I think he’ll be all right. I also think he got the
wind knocked out of him. It sucks, he was actually running a pretty good race, big bummer.”
MotoConcepts Yamaha’s Kyle Chisholm was involved in
a multi-rider crash in a heat race and was taken to a hospital with reportedly a punctured lung and is expected to
remain in the hospital for a few days.
ARMA/Suzuki City team manager Mike Nasakaitis talked
about signing Malcolm Stewart for the 2011 season.
“ We worked all off-season trying to get the deal done and
get him used to the Suzuki after riding the Yamaha for so
long,” said Nasakaitis. “Once we got everything set we
started working on suspension settings and motor settings. Pro Circuit did a lot of motor work for us and that’s
really helped out. Malcolm is certainly showing what he
needs to do out there and put it on the box. We are also
set to do the outdoor Nationals with Malcolm and Sean
Lipanovich, so we are looking forward to that as well.”
Nasakaitis also announced that ARMA/Suzuki City also
just signed Jason Lawrence to race the outdoor series
in 2011.
Despite qualifying for the Lites main event, Pennsylvania’s
Darryn Durham was a no-show for the big show. While
battling for the win with Dean Wilson in their heat race,
the two racers, at one point, collided, leaving Durham
with a broken foot. He still finished third but could not
start the main event.
South African Gareth Swanepoel made his Supercross
debut at Houston – it didn’t go well. The 250cc Yamaha-mounted GP star crashed in his heat race and was run
over by another rider, and then he crashed in the first turn
of the LCQ. Needless to say, he did not make the main.
