450 Words: Anaheim 3
February 5, 2007 10:00am
Ricky Carmichael may be gone, but there’s still hope for great racing to be had in Amp’d Mobile Supercross. James Stewart put an absolute whooping on a Carmichael-less field in Anaheim two weeks ago, but at Anaheim 3, Chad Reed was finally ready to do battle with him. The capacity crowd appreciated Reed’s efforts, as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Yamaha rider battled Monster Kawasaki’s Stewart hard for the entire main event, then came up just 1.5 seconds short of him at the checkered flag. Simply challenging Stewart proved that there might be some racing to be had this year after all.
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And some drama. Reed snuck to the inside of Stewart in a timing section, but James had a little more speed in the whoops and was able to get back next to him and make a block pass—with contact—in a left-hander. After that, the crowd was not only made up of Reed fans, but also Stewart foes.
The move #7 made will surely be dissected for months, and it will probably never be determined if he meant to merely pass Reed or to touch him. Regardless, it allowed him to put about three seconds on Reed halfway through the main. With the lappers, Reed got close again, but he couldn’t get James back by the end of the race.
Stewart wasn’t quite out of it yet, though, because on the podium, the fans rained down with a chorus of boos. James said it was just close racing without any intent to knock anyone down.
So there was a chase for the win, passing for the lead at the midway point, and even some controversy after the race. That doesn’t sound too bad now, does it?
And how cool was it to see Tim Ferry on the box three years after his last visit at Anaheim 1 of 2004? The guy has been down for the count, but he kept working and digging and now he’s making a great go of it again. Well, done, Red Dog.