Reed begins his charge for the title
Published: 21st January 2008
Author: Pondo
Chad Reed takes the win at the retro Anaheim 2, but James Stewart hogs the headlines with a knee injury.
Anaheim 2 on Saturday was meant to be a celebration of arguably the greatest Supercross race ever - twenty years ago, Rick Johnson and David Bailey went elbow to elbow in one of the closest, most keenly fought battles the sport has seen, but even the presence of nearly forty of the greatest riders ever to grace the sport, plus a track built as a replica of, and tribute to, the original ‘86 track, not to mention a lap of honour by both RJ and DB, all were overshadowed by a piece of news that may well have decided the Supercross crown for 2008. James Stewart withdrew from the event on Saturday afternoon - missing just one round, when he and Chad are so far ahead of everyone else, would make a realistic challenge a near-impossible feat, all other things being equal. But, although nothing is clear at the moment, it seems likely that the Kawasaki star may well miss more than one round, and it’s not impossible he could be out of the series altogether - the story as we have it at the minute is that the injury occurred before Christmas, and not training or riding have failed to heal it up. Chad has a tap-in to clinch the title now - there’s still a long way to go, but the Australian has metronomic consistency, is by far the fastest rider in the series with Stewart gone, and as a previous champion has all the experience he needs to put a chokehold on the crown.
But alongside all the excitement, there was plenty of racing action - Austin Stroupe holeshot the Lites class ahead of the traditional massed pack of brawling 250Fs, a great response from the Pro Circuit rookie after failing to qualify for the main last weekend, but it was Ryan Dungey who came charging through to take the lead. Stroupe fought back, but the Makita Suzuki youngster stayed calm and began to edge out an advantage. Factory Yamaha’s Broc Hepler caught and passed Stroupe, with Stroupe keeping his place to earn a fine first podium, even as “Hamburger” began to close on Dungey, but the clock ran out before Broc could put a move on, and Ryan took another step towards his first title - with pre-season rival Jason Lawrence failing to score after bike starting problems, it looks like Suzuki could have another championship maybe a little sooner than they anticipated following RC’s retirement…
In the big-bore class, Mike Alessi jumped out to yet another holeshot, but he had Reedy right on his tail from the start - the Thunder From Down Under made an early move for the lead and ran a canny race thereafter, riding well within his limits but always able to up his pace in response to any threat from behind. Behind Reed, Alessi soon succumbed to a move by the fast-starting Josh Hill, although the Makita Suzuki holeshot specialist tried to fight back, but a fast-moving Kevin Windham also ran Alessi down. K-Dub made a game effort at running down Hill too, but the factory Yamaha rookie was equal to the task, riding rock-solid for his first big bike podium. A less-than-100% Alessi hung tough for fourth.