Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed raced to his first victory of the 2009 AMA/ FIM World Supercross season at Saturday night’s ninth round at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis and is now tied for the series lead.
Reed took the holeshot in the 20-lap Main Event - run in front of more than 61,000 fans - from team mate Mike Alessi and Kawasaki’s James Stewart, who crashed twice but remounted to finish second.
Alessi captured his first AMA Supercross-class podium at Indy, thanks to an impressive third-place finish and joined Reed on the box. Meanwhile, Michael Byrne also had a good night, bringing home an eight-place finish in only his third race back from injury.
In the Supercross Lites class, Nico Izzi enjoyed his third podium finish in as many races. The young rider won his first heat race of the season and then finished third in the 15-lap main event. Currently, Izzi is in second place in the overall championship points chase.
Chad Reed:
“Getting this first win is really, really awesome. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki team has been great and I’m happy to get this win for those guys. I went into the season feeling really strong at the beginning of the year and then I went through a phase where I just wasn’t riding as good as I thought that I could. But the team and I’ve been able to make some progress, and this weekend I was able to put myself into a good position—be at the right place at the right time. It was awesome to be in a position to win.”
Mike Alessi:
“The Indy race was a really, really good night. Practice didn’t go so great but - it seemed kind of weird - when the night show started, my racing instinct just took over. In my heat race, I got the holeshot and led about four laps and almost won the race. In the Main Event, I got another great start on my and was right behind Chad. I felt like I rode a solid, aggressive, smart race and ended up third.”
Michael Byrne:
“Indy was a good race overall. I was doing OK in my heat race but I came together with another rider and went down. I got back up and finished seventh, and while that wasn’t that great, it got me into the Main. In the Main, I got a good start - the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 is really going good, as you can see from all three of us being in the top five in the start - and just tried to ride a pace I could ride the whole time. It wasn’t very eventful for me but the bike was running great, as usual.”
Nico Izzi:
“‘The track was super-difficult tonight, what with the big sand turn leading right into the whoops. But I was happy to get my first heat race win, I just tried to get a good start and ride a smart race. In the Main, I got a bad start and had to work my way up into third. But I’m happy that I’ve been up on the box every weekend and I’m still fighting for a win.”
Supercross results: 1 Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 2 James Stewart (Kawasaki), 3 Mike Alessi (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 4 Josh Grant (Yamaha), 5 Ivan Tedesco (Honda), 6 Ben Coisy (Honda), 7 Davi Millsaps (Honda), 8 Michael Byrne (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 9 Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki), 10 Tim Ferry (Kawasaki).
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