|
Yamaha Racing Reed becomes third most successful AMA-SX rider after Dallas win
Chad Reed moved up to third place in the all-time AMA Supercross victories table after clinching the 34th win of his career and the eighth of the 2008 championship at the Texas Stadium in Dallas last Saturday. The Australian led from the second lap until the chequered flag for his second triumph in the space of a week. The 25 year old owned the thirteenth round of seventeen and now stands 27 points ahead of Kevin Windham.
In front of more than 46,000 fans, Reed enacted a fine performance to form part of yet another excellent night's racing for Yamaha with young hotshot Josh Hill taking second position for the third '1-2' of the campaign for the YZ450F. Hill fought with Davi Millsaps (even surviving a scary moment when the Honda rider landed on him) and Kevin Windham and was understandably excited to capture the fourth podium of an impressive season so far.
"I feel like I've given a lot of wins away this year - four, to be exact - and we're just trying to go out there and win this title," said Reed who now needs another 14 wins to match Ricky Carmichael's total (Jeremy McGrath has a mighty 72). "Tonight was awesome. I'm so happy for Josh Hill to get up here and put Yamaha 1-2."
"It should be a lot more, but I made a lot of mistakes," he added regarding his points lead of more than one main event (a win counts for 25). "I really want to win this title, and before this season ever started, we did our work and put our heads down and we never shied away from the goal. We lost a competitor [James Stewart], but we're still out there fighting for this thing, and that's all that counts."
"The track was real slick, and I just spun off that double, and he was already committed," said Hill remembering the clash with Millsaps. "I think I have a tire mark on my shoulder from it. I actually still jumped the rhythm section. It was kind of a hectic main event. I was making mistakes all over, but I had the stamina to finish it."
"It's awesome," he added about his achievement and the fact that he has become a regular protagonist; now fifth in the points table. "These guys are the guys I looked up to my whole life, and it's just awesome to be racing with them."
Tyler Bowers was fifth in the Lites class and lies seventh in the standings.
The AMA schedule, also an FIM World Championship, moves to MI Ford Field in Detroit next weekend with only four races remaining.
Team Suzuki
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing's Nico Izzi returned to AMA Supercross Lites at Dallas' Texas Stadium this weekend after skipping the independent Toronto, Ontario, race last week.
The young rookie recently celebrated his first AMA Supercross Lites podium in Indianapolis and was hoping to reproduce the experience. This past Saturday night's result was somewhat bittersweet, however:
Izzi started the night with an impressive second-place finish in his heat race, but a bout with food poisoning slowed the young rider in the 15-lap main event. In spite of this, he put his head down and still brought home a seventh-placed finish.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki's David Vuillemin was unable to race in Dallas after he injured his foot in a practice crash during the week. Likewise, team mate Mike Alessi is currently recovering from a broken collarbone and did not race.
Nico Izzi: "I was really happy with my ride in the heat race, but I wish the main had gone a little better. I got a good start on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 but about eight laps in, I started feeling really bad. After the race I got sick and almost passed out. Later we confirmed that I had 'gotten food poisoning. I know that's racing, but I'm disappointed because I felt like I had the speed to get on the podium. If I'd been 100 per cent for all 15 laps, I would have been in the top-five for sure."
|