Windham breaks the headlock in Houston…
Published: 18th February 2008
Author: Pondo
Chad Reed’s march to the 2008 Supercross title suffers a brief reverse in Houston as Kevin Windham marches to the win…
It was Davi Millsaps who holeshot the main event on Saturday night, but the young factory Honda pilot then fell a lap into the race, a second and a half clear in front. In his place went Kevin Windham - the Torco Fuels Honda veteran was the last rider to win a supercross other than the triumvirate of Carmichael, Stewart and Reed, and was absolutely inch-perfect once he inherited the lead. Championship favourite Chad Reed gated poorly around ninth but fought strongly back through the field - however, by the time he rounded his fellow Yamaha rider Josh Hill to claim second, K-Dub was a long way down the road and the Chadster never looked like making up the gap. Houston was the first track this year that was designed by a rider, and with a supreme irony, that rider was Windham - it was not, however, designed in his favour. “I didn’t build it to my advantage,” he said - it featured nothing that what was like his practice track. But the victory was sweet - “it’s been since ‘05 since I won, you take ‘em anyway you can get ‘em. I wasn’t waiting for tonight but I couldn’t pick a better crowd to do it in front of!” Reed, in contrast, was solid in second, but lacked the razor edge he showed at the start of the year, quick but not swift enough to run Windham down. Another vet, Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry, crossed the line in third after running down and passing the young Josh Hill inside the last five laps.
In the Lites class, series leader Jason Lawrence made a point of qualifying slower than championship rival Ryan Dungey, in order to guarantee second pick to start alongside his young rival. Dungey, aware that J-Law wanted to line up inside him on the gate, went alongside the starter’s box, with Lawrence duly lined up on the other side - Makita Suzuki’s rising star seemed to show no fear, getting out of the gate first to take the holeshot money before Pro Circuit’s Brett Metcalfe briefly snuck by, whilst Lawrence held a watching brief in third. But the wheels fell off for Dungey on the very first lap when he lost control in a rhythm section, coming to rest in the next turn. Smartly, he managed to keep the motor running and rejoined quickly in fifth, but the damage had been done, Lawrence forcing his way into the lead as Metty rounded the fallen Suzuki. Austin Stroupe was the man on a mission, though, running up on Lawrence’s YZF and finding his way into the lead on lap six - with Dungey falling a second time, J-Law kept it safe and brought it home, although he closed up on the Pro Circuit rookie before the finish. Stroupe stayed solid to take his first win, whilst Jake Weimar came out of an error-strewn battle with Brett Metcalfe for third behind Lawrence. Ryan Dungey crossed the line fourth after passing the downed Metcalfe - with one round left, J-Law has a six point lead, and only needs to finish on the podium at the last round in April to claim the title. Never one to keep his thoughts to himself, the Yamaha of Troy rider made a big point of Dungey’s errors in recent weeks, and claimed he’d be spending the weeks leading up to the last round getting ready for the outdoors. There doesn’t seem to be much doubt who’s heading into the West Coast break psychologically the strongest…