Honda riders Trey Canard and Malcolm Stewart score significant wins at the Oakland Supercross.
After being an unwilling participant in last weekend’s Chad Reed controversy at Angel Stadium, round four of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series tonight at O.co Stadium in Oakland, California, probably couldn’t come soon enough for Team Honda’s Trey Canard.
Canard took full advantage of it to hit the reset button by claiming his fourth career AMA 450cc supercross win and his first win since the 2011 season in the 20-lap main event.
Meanwhile, GEICO Honda’s Malcolm Stewart had been waiting for this night for a long time, as he finally etched his name in the supercross win column alongside his brother, James Stewart, by claiming his first career AMA regional supercross win in the 15-lap 250cc main event.
450
BTO Sports KTM’s Andrew Short has been quick off the starting gate since the beginning of supercross season, and he pulled another holeshot to lead the 22-rider main event field in Oakland. Two-time former Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion Chad Reed was right behind Short, while two-time 2015 winner Ken Roczen put his RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki into third place, in front of Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and Team Honda’s Cole Seely.
The complexion of the race changed quickly when Roczen made an attempt to pass Reed for second place in a tight left-hander just before one of the triple jumps. The German rider competed the pass but robbed himself of enough drive to clear the obstacle in the process. Roczen smacked the face on the landing, driving his bars into his helmet chin bar and crashing. He was slow to get up, but he managed to soldier on to finish 15th, which would cost him the series point lead.
Canard was mired way down in 10th place through the first two laps, but he was able to take advantage of a right group of riders in front of him and snake his into contention as Reed, Short, Seely, Dungey and Anderson all battled for position. Canard was up to fourth place, behind Seely, but ahead of Dungey, by the time the race five laps old.
Reed put away short to take the lead on lap four, and he tried to get away from the pack, but Canard was charging, and he came from nearly about 1.5 back to catch Reed, setting up another potential clash between the two—this time for the win. Canard followed Reed through a rhythm section, and when Reed cut from the inside to the outside line, Canard cut underneath him, executing a clean and decisive pass for the lead. Reed tried to say with Canard, but Canard rode away to claim the main event win by 3.3 seconds over second place.
“I’m so thankful,” Canard said. “It’s been a long road, and you always start to doubt. An outdoor win was nice, but I had to get this monkey off my back. This time of year, it gets scary for me.
The win was nice turnabout for Canard who admitted that he was “bummed last week.”
“You never want to be involved in confrontation, especially with people you’ve looked up to your whole life,” Canard said. “I’m glad that’s over. Hopefully we can talk about something else this week.”
Speaking of second place, that position went to the strong and steady Dungey, who fan as far down as fifth place early in the race to catch Reed who then effectively handed Dungey the runner-up spot when Reed went off the track. Dungey’s runner-up finish, combined with Roczen’s misfortune, put the Red Bull KTM rider into the series points lead.
“We work hard to be in this position, and things went our way tonight,” Dungey said. “It’s awesome. You’ve go to take it for what it is and keep building. At this point of the season it is still early, but, you know, just keep building off of that. I made a mistake there in the middle of the moto [main event], and they got by me, and I had to regroup. This track was nasty—I think any rider would tell you that, but we played it cool, tried to make some passes as quick as we could.”
Reed held on for third place, his best finish of the season and a tremendous bounce back from the disappointment of last week’s controversial black flag at Anaheim II.
“There was a lot of hot energy, so I had to try to channel that into the right areas,” Reed said. ”We just kind of did our thing, you know, got our bike better. [We] made a lot of changes this week, went in a completely different direction, and it helped. This year the tracks are developing different and the talent is riding differently, so you’ve got to adapt. I think that is one of the things that I do better than most, and that’s why I think I am still relevant at this age.
“It was a rough week,” Reed added. “I totally disagree with what happened last weekend, but we’ll hold our heads high and fight for this thing [championship]. I thought I was, at worst, a second-place guy tonight, and I just made a really stupid mistake on my part—jumped off the track twice in the same area.”
It was a great night for the Honda brand, as red riders finished in three of the top five spots. GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac finished fourth, followed by Seely. Toyota/JGR Yamaha’s Justin Barcia was sixth, ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Davi Millsaps and Short. Anderson ended up a disappointing 10th after suffering an endo.
250
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Bell powered into the lead at the start of the 250cc main event, followed by Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Alex Martin and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Chris Alldredge, with Allredge taking the lead in the rhythm section after the whoops.
Bell held onto second place, but Stewart quickly moved into third, just ahead of Martin and Justin Hill, who was quickly coming forward in the pack aboard his Red Bull KTM. Stewart, Martin and Hill bunched up coming through the sand section on lap two, with both riders quickly dropping Bell to fourth place.
Stewart then passed Alldredge for the lead on lap three. Alldredge tried to press the issue by pushing Stewart wide in a left-hand turn, but in doing so he opened the door up for Hill, who traded paint with Alldredge, causing Alldredge to crash. Alldredge would remount and get back underway, only to later crash out of the race after suffering a vicious endo after clipping a jump.
In the meantime, Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb was up to fifth place by lap four, running behind Martin and Bell. However, Webb soon found himself on the ground, courtesy of an aggressive check by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Tyler Bowers as the two were going through the right-hand corner that led into the whoops. Webb was able to recover quickly, and his ability to do so would pay big dividends by the end of the race.
Hill took the lead away from Stewart just before the sand section on lap five, and he quickly began to pull away from the field. But just when it looked like Hill might cruise to his first win, he threw it away when he crashed on the sand section two laps later. That put Stewart back in the lead for good. Nevertheless, Webb had put on an aggressive charge back up through the pack after his clash with Bowers. Webb passed teammate Martin on the last lap, but he simply didn’t have enough time to catch Stewart, who claimed the win followed by Webb and Martin.
“A1 didn’t start as well, but Phoenix [I] got second and just tried to build from there,” Stewart said. “What’s weird is even though I got this win, it still doesn’t feel like I won because my brother is not here. I miss him so much. It’s not the same without you, bro; I just want to let you know. I’m kind of a little emotional right now. I just want my brother back.”
Webb was arguably a little emotional as well, only his emotion was anger after having another on-track run-in with Bowers.
“If I could cuss right now, I would,” Webb said. “I’m pretty pissed off. That was kind of bull crap, but hey, I still blew his doors off when I came through the pack, so it’s all good. I got second, but I felt really good. Congrats to Malcolm. First win for him has to to be feeling really good. But paypack is a ‘B-word,’ Bowers.”
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
O.Co Stadium
Oakland, California
Results: January 24, 2015 (Round 4 of 17)
450
1. Trey Canard-Hon
2. Ryan Dungey-KTM
3. Chad Reed-Kaw
4. Eli Tomac-Hon
5. Cole Seely-Hon
6. Justin Barcia-Yam
7. David Millsaps-Kaw
8. Andrew Short-KTM
9. Blake Baggett-Suz
10. Jason Anderson-Hus
11. Jacob Weimer-Kaw
12. Brett Metcalfe-Suz
13. Kyle Chisholm-Kaw
14. Phil Nicoletti-Yam
15. Ken Roczen-Suz
16. Vince Friese-Hon
17. Fredrik Noren-Hon
18. Kyle Partridge-Hon
19. Killian Rusk-Yam
20. Martin Davalos-Hus
21. Joshua Grant-Kaw
22. Broc Tickle-Suz
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Standings (After 4 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Dungey-82
2. Ken Roczen-78/2 wins
3. Trey Canard-68/1 win
4. Eli Tomac-64/1 win
5. Jason Anderson-62
6. Justin Barcia-58
7. Cole Seely-45
8. Andrew Short-44
David Millsaps-44
10. Chad Reed-42
11. Blake Baggett-40
12. Broc Tickle-39
13. Jacob Weimer-36
14. Weston Peick-32
15. Brett Metcalfe-27
16. Kyle Partridge-25
17. Dean Wilson-23
18. Tevin Tapia-22
19. Mike Alessi-17
20. Kyle Chisholm-16
250
1. Malcolm Stewart-Hon
2. Cooper Webb-Yam
3. Alex Martin-Yam
4. Tyler Bowers-Kaw
5. Zach Bell-Hus
6. Zach Osborne-Hus
7. Aaron Plessinger-Yam
8. Josh Hansen-Kaw
9. Justin Hill-Kaw
10. Jessy Nelson-KTM
11. Shane McElrath-Hon
12. Zach Freeberg-Yam
13. Scott Champion-Yam
14. Jackson Richardson-Hon
15. Cole Martinez-Yam
16. Tommy Hahn-Hon
17. Austin Politelli-Yam
18. Trevor Reis-Yam
19. Brandon Scharer-Suz
20. Nico Izzi-Yam
21. Chris Alldredge-Kaw
22. Aaron Simince-Kaw
AMA 250cc West Supercross Series Point Standings (After 4 of 8 rounds)
1. Cooper Webb-86/2 wins
2. Tyler Bowers-78
3. Jessy Nelson-71/1 win
4. Zach Osborne-69
5. Justin Hill-65
6. Malcolm Stewart-64/1 win
7. Aaron Plessinger-54
8. Shane McElrath-49
9. Alex Martin-47
Josh Hansen-47
11. Zach Bell-40
12. Tommy Hahn-35
13. Michael Leib- 25
Scott Champion-25
15. Zack Freeberg-24
16. Jackson Richardson-20
17. Cole Martinez-18
Matt Bisceglia-18
19. Austin Politelli-16
20. Trevor Reis-9
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