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-- Reed taken out while battling for Dallas
race win Arlington’s Cowboys Stadium played host to one of the most controversial races of the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship. In what has become the greatest rivalry in the sports history, TwoTwo Motorsports star Chad Reed and James “Bubba” Stewart were once again the talk of the night. The duo spectacularly clashed on Lap 8 of tonight’s ‘Main Event’ when Stewart reprehensibly ran the Australian off track, while he was coming through the whoops. The impact sent Reed through a berm and over the handlebars of his Honda CRF450. He remounted and re-joined the race to finish eighth. “That was a tough night tonight, but we can’t dwell on what might have been. We have to move forward,” Reed acknowledged. “I am pretty sore and cut up from the foot peg and I am now six points behind Ryan (Villopoto) in the championship but it could have been a lot worse. Two races ago I was 29 points behind. “We have four races to go and 100 points up for grabs. I need to stay on my A-game and keep focused on the big picture,” he added. Tonight’s result sees Reed slip one spot to sit second in the championship order and six points behind Ryan Villopoto. There are just four rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship remaining and St Louis’ Edward Jones Dome will host the next instalment on Saturday 9th April.
- KTM Red Bull/KTM Team riders Andrew Short and Mike Alessi both earned top ten finishes at the thirteenth round of the AMA Supercross Series held at the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, TX. Team rider Mike Alessi nailed the holeshot in the main event aboard his 350 SX-F. After earning multiple holeshots this season on his 350 SX-F Alessi's bike was randomly chosen for a tear-down after the race. After careful evaluation the AMA concluded that Alessi's bike was legal and he has been pulling multiple holeshots on his appropriately bored 350cc KTM. Alessi's teammate, Andrew Short, was not as fortunate off the start and had to fight his way up from a mid-pack beginning. "I haven't been getting off the line quick enough. I am determined to study my starts and work on my initial jump as I know the bike is capable of getting the holeshot because I see my teammate do it all the time," commented Short. Just as he did in his heat, Short worked his way quickly up through the pack. From his 12th place start, he quickly moved into the top ten and by the end of the first lap was sitting in 8th. On the second lap, Short moved around Austin Stroupe to take over 7th position. He worked away closing the gap toward the top six riders for the next few laps. On the ninth lap, James Stewart and Chad Reed crashed together and Short was able to pick off one of their positions. He remained in 6th position for the remainder of the race earning valuable points toward the title chase. Alessi, who had earned the holeshot, struggled throughout the middle of the race but came back strong near the tail end of the twenty lap main. "A lot of riders went down tonight and I was able to capitalize on their mistakes by remaining smooth and consistent," remarked Alessi. When the checkered flag flew, Alessi had worked his way up from a low of 14th position to 10th overall. - Yamaha The thirteenth round of seventeen in the 2011 AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship), saw San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart overcome a difficult week and also an off-track excursion through a tricky whoops section in Dallas to post fourth position. The Cowboys Stadium saw over 51,000 spectators take-in the latest instalment of the most unpredictable and utterly-engrossing AMA title chase in recent memory. Stewart was tussling for second place on his YZ450F midway through the Main Event when he lost control through the whoops and clattered into Chad Reed. Both riders were able to remount and Stewart regained composure to score his second consecutive fourth position in a row. “There have just been some unfortunate incidents here and there, just with the racing; Jacksonville, Daytona, Atlanta... You know, it’s definitely been tough, for sure, but like I said, I think the positive is that I’ve been riding good, and we’ll just keep fighting,” said Stewart. “My thing wasn’t a blatant take-out, so I can’t really fix that, you know?” he said regarding the run-in with Reed. “I swapped through the whoops and thank god he was there because I would probably have been eating popcorn in the stands.” “With everything that happened I was still here this weekend trying my best,” he summarized. “And again, things didn’t go right in the race but I’ll be there next week and will keep it going.” Thomas Hahn recorded his best finish of the season with seventh on the Motoconcepts Yamaha and Austin Stroupe also made it into the top ten with ninth. Although he has gone three rounds without a podium celebration, Stewart still retains a slim chance of the championship with just a 21 point deficit to Ryan Villopoto at the top of the table and maximum of 100 left to win. Justin Brayton is eighth and Davi Millsaps ninth. In the penultimate round of the East Coast Lites series Ryan Sipes led the field on his YZ250F and battled with points-leader Justin Barcia. Some tough moves between the pair finally ended up with Sipes on the floor and unable to restart. The DNA Shred Stix Star Racing rider is still 3rd in the standings with just one meeting remaining. Visits to St Louis, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas will take place in the coming weeks as the indoor spectacle draws to a close. The Edward Jones Dome in Missouri is next this coming Saturday. - Rockstar Makita Suzuki TBC |
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