When the gate dropped at the start of the
20-lap main event, a huge pileup in the first turn claimed heat winners
James Stewart and Josh Hill, as well as Davi Millsaps and Michael
Byrne. Stewart was slow to remount and finally rejoined the race after
getting his bike started, sans visor. Stewart in fact accidentally
picked up Hill’s bike, thinking it was his own before realizing it and
moving on to his own YZ450F. Up front, Mike Alessi emerged with the
holeshot, but Jason Lawrence motored past and into the lead with
authority aboard his privateer Yamaha. Once past Alessi, J-Law began to
establish an immediate cushion over the field.
Of the riders who got held up in the first
turn melee, Kevin Windham emerged the quickest and held down third by
lap five. Reed was also on the move, and found himself in fifth by lap
six. Reed then reeled in Windham in short order. And as the two battled
over third, their dice pushed them to Alessi’s rear wheel. After Reed
found his way past K-Dub over the “wall” jump, he immediately got to
work on his Suzuki teammate.
At the start of the 10th lap, Lawrence
enjoyed a 10-second lead over Alessi, but Reed managed to move past
Alessi on a whooped out straight to take over the runner-up position.
Windham was next to pressure Alessi, and K-Dub moved past in the whoops
before the wall section. Stewart, meanwhile, set the fastest laps of
the race, but was only up to 12th at the start of lap 11.
Once into second, Reed began to chip away at
Lawrence’s lead, and by lap 14 had closed to nine seconds. Villopoto
made quick of work of Alessi and Aindham on the 15th lap, and Stewart
concurrently moved into the top 10. At the same time, RV stalled in a
rutted corner and dropped out of the top five.
Reed turned in the fastest lap of the night
on lap 15 and found his way past a visibly fatigued Lawrence, who rode
wide in a corner and put up little fight as the defending champ raced
past.
With two laps to go, Lawrence had a solid
lock on second, but Alessi had his hands full with Milsaps in a battle
for third. With only one lap left, Millsaps torpedoed into the side of
Alessi’s bike and took his long time rival down, but almost went down
as well.
At the finish, Reed raced past the checkers
elated with his third-career Daytona SX win. Lawrence finished a
very-impressive second in what was his first-ever 450 Supercross, and
Millsaps earned third and a nice personal victory over Alessi.
Following his incredible ride, J-Law had
this to say. “If I had better fitness I definitely could have won the
race,” a visibly tired Lawrence said, “but I know Chad’s style, and I
knew that he gets faster as the race wears on. Instead of trying to be
the hero, I backed it down and settled for a second in my first 450
race.”
Despite the rough start, Reed was elated
with his third win at the grueling Daytona Supercross. “I had the win
taken away from me last year and it feels good to win,” Reed said. “I
was almost at the bottom of that pileup when Stewart went down, and I
felt lucky to make it through turn one clean. I’m happy for Lawrence
and I wasn’t surprised to see him out front. He had the fastest
qualifying times, after all. “
Results:
1. Chad Reed (Suz)
2. Jason Lawrence (Yam)
3. Davi Millsaps (Hon)
4. Mike Alessi (Suz)
5. Kevin Windham (Hon)
6. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
7. James Stewart (Yam)
8. Andrew Short (Hon)
9. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
10. Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
11. Josh Hill (Yam)
12. Broc Hepler (Yam)
13. Ivan Tedesco (Hon)
14. Tyler Bowers (Hon)
15. Heath Voss (Hon)
16. Kyle Chisholm (Yam)
17. Ben Coisy (Hon)
18. Matt Boni (Hon)
19. Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
20. Michael Byrne (Suz)
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Points Standings (After 10 of 17 rounds):
1. Chad Reed (224/2 wins)
2. James Stewart (213/7 wins)
3. Andrew Short (163)
4. Ryan Villopoto (153)
5. Ivan Tedesco (140)
6. Josh Grant (138)
7. Davi Millsaps (136)
8. Mike Alessi (131)
9. Kevin Windham (128)
10. Timmy Ferry (100)