to him the previous week at Anaheim 2 when his chain came off,
possibly derailing his chances of
defending his number-one plate.
“The past is the past and the
future is the only thing we can
change,” the Rockstar/Makita
Suzuki team rider said. “Tonight
was good. Anything can happen,
so we need to focus on what lies
ahead.”
Earlier in the race, the crowd
was on its feet cheering on
32-year-old Kevin Windham,
who lives in neighboring Missis-
sippi. The GEICO Honda rider
had taken the holeshot and had
quickly opened up a modest
lead - his smooth and fluid rid-
ing style working perfectly on the
slick Houston track. As the race
settled in, no one was gaining on
him, not even Canard or Dungey,
and by the midway point, it was
pretty obvious that, barring ca-
tastrophe, he was going to win.
But catastrophe did occur, on lap
12. That’s when Windham lost his
rhythm in a rhythm section and
went down - hard. He was slow
to his feet and had to be helped
off the track as he clutched his
midsection in pain, retiring to the
pits with sore ribs. The heartbro-
ken crowd went silent, but not for
long. Its attention soon turned to
Canard and Dungey.
While the two “kids” battled
for the lead, two veterans - Stew-
art, on the San Manuel Yamaha,
and Reed, on the TwoTwo Mo-
torsports Honda - were already
in damage-control mode in the
back of the pack, both victims of
a controversial first turn and one-
lined track. The 90-degree left-
hand first turn with a short start
chute had left many of the riders
First-Turn Blues
Supercross racers will always tell you
“the start is everything” and that certainly
was the case at this year’s Houston Supercross when many of the series stars
got roughed up in the first turn of the 450
main event, including James Stewart,
Chad Reed, Justin Brayton and Ivan Tedesco.
Stewart and Reed went into the 90-degree left-hand turn
nearly side-by-side as they vied for the holeshot but they
quickly ran out of room and went down, taking many riders
with them.
“I just tried to get the holeshot, had to fight for position,
had to fight for every inch,” said Reed. “Basically it was just
James and I fighting for position, unfortunately, we pushed
it a little too hard in there, and James pushed the front end,
and it was just the domino effect. It was no one’s fault other
than just running out of racetrack.”
“I think me and [Ryan] Dungey hit,” Stewart recalled.
“Then I think me and Trey [Canard] tangled - he hit me from
the back and it pushed me into Reed and those guys. We
just went down.”
Dungey narrowly escaped getting caught up in the pileup.
“I ended up getting off to a good jump,” Dungey said. “I
think Chad and James were on both sides of me, and they
kind of came in on me, and I kind of got stuck behind them.
Then it seemed like the whole inside pushed out to the right
and everybody was kind of piled up.”
Two-time season winner Villopoto didn’t crash, but he got
pushed off the track.
“It wasn’t a good start for me,”
said Villopoto. “I spun [at the gate]
real bad, but James went in there,
Chad went in there, and they just
went down. The turn was so tight; it
was just a matter of getting through
it. Luckily, I was just out of the mix
a little bit, which was a worse start than
the rest of the guys, but that ended up being good. I went off the track, followed a
bunch of people and got back on.”
PHOTO BY JEFF LONG
But, of course, what might be a bad start for some is usually a good start for others, which was the case for Canard.
“James was on the right side of me, and I was on the far
left by the bales,” said Canard. “He [Stewart] moved over
a little bit, and I think he may have charged a little hard and
might’ve clipped the bales and pushed them over to the oth-
er guys. I was just in the right spot at the right time. I didn’t
touch anyone and got through real clean. Having the inside
gate made that a lot easier.”
Many of the riders we spoke to are not a fan of 90-degree
first turns.
“Tonight you had a short straightaway, you’re fighting for
it, it’s a 90-degree first turn with a jump on it, so we had everything going against us tonight,” Reed said. “Every race I
watched tonight, there were people off the track and on the
ground, so clearly, I don’t think they [90-degree turns] work.”
“I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, [but] they’re
stupid,” Stewart said.
“It was good for me tonight for sure, but to have first turns
like that isn’t very smart, I don’t think,” said Villopoto.
