AFTER NEW ORLEANS SUPERCROSS
Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Chad Reed retains an eight-point lead in the AMA/ FIM Supercross Championship after racing to second place at Saturday's 11th round in New Orleans.
Reed started the night by taking the win in his heat race and finished the night with an epic battle in the Main, where he finished a strong second. This season, Reed has finished every race on the podium.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki team mate Mike Alessi also had a good night, finishing fourth in his heat race and then battling with the front-runners for most of the main before finishing sixth. Currently, Alessi is seventh in the overall championship points.
Unfortunately, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Michael Byrne was injured at last weekend's event and did not race. He hopes to be back racing again soon.
In the Supercross Lites class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Nico Izzi experienced a rough night. The young rider rode well in practice and set impressive lap times on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250. While making a pass for the lead on lap one of his heat race, however, Izzi went down and had to go to the Last Chance Qualifier. While making his way to the front in the LCQ, he went down again, ended up finishing third and did not race the Main.
Chad Reed:
"I'm a little frustrated because I felt like I was riding really well on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 at the beginning of the race, but I wasn't really able to take advantage of having better lines and riding faster than the leader. I started getting frustrated and unfortunately that's when James Stewart started finding his lines and he just rode really, really solid and made great passes on the lappers. I kind of struggled in that area. It is what it is, and I was really happy to be back on the podium. You know, it's second but it could always be worse."
Mike Alessi:
"I got the holeshot and was leading, then James Stewart kind of hit me and he and my team mate Chad got by and I was third. I made a little mistake on the first lap and got into fourth. I was running a good pace on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki, but I got into some lappers and my handlebars got tangledup with another rider and we collided and I went down. I got up real quick and charged hard to get back to sixth. I tried my hardest, but unfortunately, I just fell. I'm riding, good, the bike's working great and everybody at Rockstar Makita Suzuki is doing a great job."
Nico Izzi:
"Not making the main was a real bummer, because I'd been riding good all day and my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 was working well. I'm pretty disappointed because I trained hard for this race this week, but I know I gave it all I had. Now, I just need to regroup and get ready for next weekend's race."
Supercross results: 1 James Stewart (Yamaha), 2 Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 3 Broc Hepler (Yamaha), 4 Kevin Windham (Honda), 5 Andrew Short (Honda), 6 Mike Alessi (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 7 Josh Grant (Yamaha), 8 Justin Brayton (KTM), 9 Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki), 10 Matt Boni (Honda).
Supercross points: 1 Reed 246, 2 Stewart 238, 3 Short 179, 4 Villopoto 165, 5 Grant 152, 6 Tedesco 148, 7 Windham 146, 8 Alessi 146, 9 Millsaps 139, 10 Hill 102.
East Coast Lites results: 1 Austin Stroupe (Kawasaki), 2 Brandon Jesseman (Kawasaki), 3 Blake Wharton (Honda), 4 Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki), 5 Wil Hahn (KTM), 6 Darryn Durham (Yamaha), 7 Daniel Blair (Honda), 8 Broc Tickle (Yamaha), 9 Matt Goerke (Suzuki), 10 Steven Clarke (Suzuki).
Lites points: 1 Pourcel 115, 2 Stroupe 84, 3 Izzi 82, 4 Jesseman 73, 5 Hahn 68, 6 Wharton 66, 7 Davalos 57, 8 Lemoine 51, 9 Clarke 51, 10 Goerke 50.
