Pondo's Blog
Published: 21st April 2008
Author: Pondo
Trey Canard sealed his first AMA championship with a dramatic victory on Saturday - everyone thought Villopoto would blow the #48 Torco Fuels Honda away but no-one told Trey that…
Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it any better! Rookie Trey Canard won his first-ever SX in Atlanta and the thinking was that this was a crowd-pleasing blip on the radar before the Villopoto Show began. But it was no blip - the youngster won three on the trot and did a great job of working to maintain his advantage ahead of Pro Circuit’s ginger wonder-kid, right until the wheels fell off last week. Stranded with a bike that didn’t want to start, Canard remounted and took 10th in Detroit and his lead was down to a slender three points heading into the final round. With Villopoto firing on all cylinders, no-one gave Canard a chance - it was almost impossible to imagine him beating 'Poto straight up or finishing close enough to take the crown. But when it came to the crunch, Trey held his nerve - and it was Villopoto who blinked first…
Canard actually holeshot the main but Villopoto’s ProCircuit team-mate Brandon Jesseman snuck right by him for the lead. Josh Grant briefly made it into second before Canard got going, retaking both his team-mate and then Jesseman as Villopoto closed up and joined in the fun. RV made his way past the lot of them to take the lead and as 'Poto’s #2 bike started to pull away it looked like it was all over for Canard. But the youngster gritted his teeth and stepped it up, lifting his pace and actually closing down the fastest 250f racer on earth. As the race approached the halfway point, Canard was close enough to have a go. Moving to show a wheel to the '07 West Coast champion, the two collided before the finish line jump. Canard stayed on course but Villopoto got pushed wide and found himself wrapped around the finish line gantry. For Canard, that moment meant he had to just bring it home while Villopoto could only remount for fourth. Grant took third and Jesseman an excellent second but Canard took the win and the title in his first season with a brilliant ride under intense pressure. A first title - but not, I suspect, his last…
In contrast, the Supercross class - not untouched by drama itself this year - was a relative yawner. San Manuel Band Of Mission Indians rider and championship leader Chad Reed was still in serious pain after breaking his shoulder in a horrific practice crash last week - the Aussie stayed off the bike all week and partook only a limited programme on race day in order to spare himself as much damage as possible. It paid off with a fast start and he led Torco Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham in the Main Event but he was definitely feeling the effects. K-Dub jumped straight on him just to give Reedy a bit of pressure, then made a move through the whoops on lap four and cleared off for the win. Reed, just as tough as they come, hung on to take second place ahead of Andrew Short which means Chad heads Kevin by 13 points with just two races left. This one really could go either way…
The second round of the world championships went off on Sunday - unfortunately, the rain in Spain fell mainly on Bellpuig, turning the surface into soup. The meeting ran anyway but the normal course of events was somewhat disrupted by the shockingly-bad conditions with a degree of luck being needed just to stay on the bike - that’s not to take anything away from Tyla Rattray, the championship leader was almost flawless in the first MX2 moto, streaking away to win by a minute from Cairoli and Guarneri as everyone else struggled in the slop. But the shortened moto two was a different story as this time it was Guarneri who kept it shiny side up for the the overall. The 23-year-old Italian was riding injured - just taking it steady and keeping it together - but this may have been the perfect strategy on a day like today. Manuel Monni took the second step of the podium ahead of Stephen Sword with Tony and Tyla fourth and fifth overall.
In MX1, reigning MX1 world champion Steve Ramon took his first-ever MX1 GP win - the Belgian won moto one amid all the confusion with the bikes so plastered that it was hard to tell who was who. David Philippaerts and Ken De Dycker took second and third after - astonishingly - crashing together on the start and having to come from dead last. But with the weather showing no signs of capitulating, the organisers turned to the riders to make a decision about whether or not to run the second moto. Given that the final veterans race ran just one lap before it was stopped it was not a hard decision to make and the teams began packing for the next round one race early.