Bench Racing Ammo: Red Roller Coaster
March 28, 2006 1:37pm
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In the 450 class, Honda was in a major hole before the gate dropped on the first race of the season as their number-one rider, Factory Connection’s Kevin Windham, suffered a broken arm practicing on his SoBe/Samsung Mobile CRF450R and was forced to the sidelines for the first half of the season. Kevin was Honda’s number-one title threat, so this put added pressure on the remaining full-time 450 riders in the Honda camp, which included Travis Preston and Ernesto Fonseca on the main team and Windham’s stablemate Mike LaRocco.
But all hope was not lost, as the best supercross racer Honda has ever had, Jeremy McGrath, was returning to racing yet again and was competing in the first six races of the season under the Honda tent. This alone helped raise the overall team morale to another level. McGrath is the undisputed King of Supercross, and his knowledge and experience with testing and racing was invaluable to the other riders. Although Jeremy stated several times that he was out there “to just have fun,” he came in more prepared than ever and his results reflected that. Out of the five races he finished (he broke down in the mud trying to qualify at San Francisco), MC took two fourth-place finishes, a fifth, an 11th and 16th - but those two fourth-place finishes felt like wins to MC.
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Although up front it was a three-way battle between Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed, and James Stewart, Honda still managed to hit the podium a few times this season. But out of those three times, an actual factory Honda rider only hit it once, and that was Ernesto Fonseca in St. Louis. In San Francisco and Orlando, MDK/Motosport Outlet’s Nick Wey, on a privateer Honda CRF450R, took third.
Fonseca’s podium represented a season highlight for the 450 team, but two weeks later, his accident became the ultimate low. Exactly three weeks ago to this day, Fonseca crashed while practicing at his private track and suffered a career-ending injury. You’re in our thoughts and prayers, Ernie.
Just when Honda had an opportunity to get some momentum back as the series rolled into Mike LaRocco’s hometown race in Indianapolis, the veteran crashed in practice and suffered a dislocated wrist, ending his 2006 season and possibly his career.
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But let’s take a look at the bright side of Honda’s 2006 season thus far: their sheer dominance in the 250F East class with Davi Millsaps and Josh Grant, plus West Coast leader Andrew Short.
After six West Region races, the magic number for Honda’s Andrew Short is two. That’s because, with two races left, his two race wins have given him a two-point lead over Grant Langston in his second year riding for Team Honda.
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It appears Honda is back to prominence in the 250F class, and with rumors circulating about one or two already-established riders joining the 450 squad in 2007, Honda may be back to prominence in that class, too.