Suzuki’s Chad Reed slipped past surprise leader Jason Lawrence with three laps remaining to win the Daytona Supercross By Honda on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
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The victory was Reed’s third career triumph in the Daytona Supercross By Honda and his second straight AMA Supercross win of the season.
“I found it tough to pass tonight,” Reed said. “I felt that I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be. That kind of hurt a little bit. I was lucky that it was this guy’s first race and that he hadn’t been racing a whole lot so I put my head down and tried to go for it.”
Lawrence, the defending West Supercross Lites champion who was making his first career start in the main 450 Supercross class, led 15 of the 20 laps to take runner-up honours. Davi Millsaps, who made the main event by winning the last chance qualifier, took third place.
Pre-race favourite James Stewart fell off his Yamaha in an incident on the race’s first turn but battled back for a seventh-place finish.
Reed, who entered the Daytona Supercross By Honda tied with Stewart for the points lead, now owns an 11 point advantage in the AMA Supercross championship standings.
Elated with his third-career Daytona Supercross win Reed said he felt as though he had exorcised the ghosts from the 2008 event where he had enjoyed the lead until the final lap when his bike suffered a mechanical failure.
“I had the win taken away from me last year so it feels especially good to win here tonight,” Reed said.
“The start tonight was insane, I was almost at the bottom of that pileup when Stewart went down, and I felt lucky to make it through turn one clean. It was a tough track to pass on so I had to be patient and pick my moments carefully.”
“With seven rounds to go I really feel like we have got the momentum going again and both the team and I are ready to fight hard,” Reed acknowledged.
For the second consecutive year, the course was designed by five-time Daytona Supercross By Honda champion Ricky Carmichael and built by Mark Barnett, a former Supercross Champion and three-time National Champion.
In the East class, Christophe Pourcel on the Monster Energy Kawasaki captured the 15-lap event over KTM rider Martin Davalos and Nico Izzi. The margin of victory was 6.368 seconds.
The series reconvenes at the New Orleans Louisiana Superdome for the eleventh round of the series next weekend.
Pictorial – Image Gallery from Daytona Supercross
AMA Supercross Results, Daytona 1. Chad Reed, Suzuki 2. Jason Lawrence, Yamaha / 5.6 secs 3. Davi Millsaps, Suzuki / 19.3 secs 4. Mike Alessi, Suzuki / 21.7 secs 5. Kevin Windham, Honda / 22.9 secs 6. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki / 23.8 secs 7. James Stewart, Yamaha / 38.2 secs 8. Andrew Short, Honda / 41.8 secs 9. Ryan Sipes, KTM / 43.1 secs 10. Tommy Hahn, Kawasaki / 47.3 secs |
AMA SX Standings 1. Chad Reed, Suzuki, 224 2. James Stewart, Yamaha, 213 3. Andrew Short, Honda, 163 4. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, 153 5. Ivan Tedesco, Honda, 140 6.Josh Grant, Yamaha, 138 7. Davi Millsaps, Honda, 136 8. Mike Alessi, Suzuki, 131 9. Kevin Windham, Honda, 128 10. Tim Ferry, Kawasaki, 100 |
AMA SX Lites 1. Chris Pourcel, Kawasaki 2. Martin Davalos, KTM / 6.3 secs 3. Nico Izzi, Suzuki / 6.8 secs 4. Matt Lemoine, Yamaha / 20.8 secs 5. Wil Hahn, KTM / 24.9 secs 6. Matthew Goerke, Suzuki / 26.5 secs 7. Darryn Durham, Yamaha / 45.6 secs 8. Broc Tickle, Yamaha / 52.6 secs 9. Blake Wharton, Honda / 60.4 secs 10. Kyle Keylon, Honda / 67.9 secs |
AMA SX Lites East Standings 1. Pourcel 97 2. Izzi 82 3. Stroupe 59 4. Davlos 56 5. Hahn 52 6. Jesseman 51 7. Lemoine 47 8. Wharton 46 9. Clarke 40 |