Bench Racing Ammo: January
The month of January has been, for lack of a better word, green. Seven of the eight winners in the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross series have been aboard Kawasakis—Monster Energy Kawasakis, to be exact. Not only have they dominated in the win column, they’re dominating in laps led, as well. Check out the numbers below:
January’s AMA Supercross Class Laps Led:
James Stewart 53
Ricky Carmichael 19
Chad Reed 8
January’s AMA Supercross Lites Class Laps Led:
Ryan Villopoto 42
Christophe Pourcel 17
Steve Boniface 1
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So what the hell happened to everyone else? Seriously. Wasn’t Kevin Windham supposed to be a contender this year? His finishes are 9-8-5-10, and he’s sixth in points! That’s less than spectacular for a veteran contender like K-Dub.
Or how about Ryan Clark? The Team Solitiare rider looked to be on the verge of possibly having the best season of his career, and so far, due mostly to a lot of bad luck, he’s one-for-four in just making the Supercross main event! Is it the new qualifying format? What is it?
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Let’s move on to the Lites class. After an awesome off-season which seen him take a very dominant win at the Rockstar Energy U.S. Open, SoBe/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Josh Grant doesn’t seem to be the same rider. He finished 22-22-3-2 and is 10th in points. Those results don’t bode well for a championship. This was supposed to be his season.
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And what’s going on with Martin Davalos. The new Red Bull KTM rider came out swinging in Toronto and easily won, but that was only an exhibition race. But his West Region results haven’t been that impressive, though he too has had some bum luck. He’s currently 16th in points.
Finally, Josh Hansen: Through four races (which could be half of his entire racing season), Lil’ Hanny sits ninth in points with no podium finishes.
Another issue that needs addressed is the short lap times. I touched on this earlier today in Scott USA’s Sign of the Lap Times, but seriously, a sub-15-minute main event? There was a lot of talk about close call Chad Reed had when he tried lapping Eric Sorby on the outside—wasn’t that on like lap seven or eight? Looking back at the lap charts, they started lapping riders on lap six! And since they eliminated the semis, this gives some extra time to run a longer main event, right? The races at Phoenix and San Francisco were great--we just want longer motos! So what do you guys think? Send your thoughts to letters@racerxill.com.