Chad Reed has regained the AMA/ FIM Supercross series lead after winning Saturday’s Daytona Supercross in Florida.
The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider is now 11 points clear of James Stewart after 10 of 17 rounds after the Yamaha rider crashed in the opening corner of the 20-lap Main Event and had to charge back from dead last to seventh.
The race was led by Reed’s team mate Mike Alessi for three laps as third team rider Michael Byrne was taken down in the first corner crash, but Reed - having carved through from eighth at the start - took to the front on lap 17 and held it to the flag.
In the East Coast Supercross Lites class Nico Izzi collected his fourth podium position in as many round, finishing third overall.
Chad Reed:
“This weekend was great, having two wins in a row. I worked my way up to my team mate Mike Alessi and about midway through the race, I just put my head down and tried to get it done. I didn’t feel like I was being as aggressive as I should have been to make passes quick. So I just tried to pay attention to the times and try to make up a few seconds per lap. I feel good about the title chase and I’ll take one point and I believe we got 11. It’s a long season and we have a lot of races to go, but two wins in a row is awesome. You have to take it one race at a time and we’ll do our work this week and come out next week to hopefully get a win.”
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Mike Alessi:
“Daytona was good; in my heat race I got a great start but I fell on the first lap. I got up and tried to charge hard and went from about 10th or so to fifth. In the Main, I got a great start; I got the holeshot and ran in first for two laps and then settled into a pretty good pace. I ran in second for a long time, but toward the middle of the race I backed off a little to save something for the end and my team mate got by me. I started charging again but then another rider came up the inside and totally cleaned me out. I got up and the bike was still running and I was able to get fourth.”
Nico Izzi:
“This was a tough race, probably the toughest night I’ve had so far. I think I’m going to go home and sleep for a whole day. But I was just trying to get to the front on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 and I was trying to get up into the top five. I got out of shape a couple of times but I just tried to be aggressive and I just never quit. I’m happy to stay on the box and I just want to keep on getting on the podium and hopefully we can make some headway in the championship.”
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday, March 14, 2009.
Supercross results: 1. Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 2. Jason Lawrence (Yamaha); 3. Davi Millsaps (Honda); 4. Mike Alessi (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 5. Kevin Windham (Honda); 6. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 7. James Stewart (Yamaha); 8. Andrew Short (Honda); 9. Ryan Sipes (KTM); 10. Tommy Hahn (Kawasaki).
Supercross Lites results: 1. Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki); 2. Martin Davalos (KTM); 3. Nico Izzi (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 4. Matt Lemoine (Yamaha); 5. Wil Hahn (KTM); 6. Matt Goerke (Suzuki); 7. Darryn Durham (Yamaha); 8. Broc Tickle (Yamaha); 9. Blake Wharton (Honda); 10. Kyle Keylon (Honda).
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