Sign of the (Lap) Times: Anaheim 1

Precipitation can change a lot of things when it comes to racing dirt bikes. Underdogs suddenly become viable contenders and vice-versa. But what we saw in Anaheim Stadium on Saturday night was that the pre-race favorites still performed well, as the cream really does always rise to the top. So let’s take a look at the fastest lap time recorded in each class.

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
2	55.661	James Stewart	Kawasaki
1	56.353	Chad Reed	Yamaha
15	57.031	Ivan Tedesco	Honda
4	57.742	Grant Langston	Yamaha
3	57.924	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
5	58.053	Kevin Windham	Honda
7	58.949	Davi Millsaps	Honda
6	59.159	Mike Alessi	Suzuki
8	59.245	Andrew Short	Honda
9	59.279	Nick Wey	KTM
16	59.835	Josh Hill	Yamaha
13	1:00.349	Paul Carpenter	Honda
14	1:00.543	Heath Voss	Honda
11	1:00.627	Nathan Ramsey	Yamaha
12	1:00.676	Eric Sorby	Honda
10	1:00.805	David Vuillemin	Suzuki
20	1:01.007	Josh Hansen	Yamaha
17	1:01.079	Jeff Alessi	Honda
19	1:01.836	Troy Adams	Honda
21	1:02.132	Jeff Gibson	Kawasaki
18	1:02.941	Bryan Johnson	Honda
22	1:03.774	Jason Thomas	Honda

In the AMA Supercross class there’s no surprise that it was James Stewart setting the fastest time of the main event on his Monster Energy-backed Kawasaki with a 55.661. Second fastest: Chad Reed, with a 56.353. Of course Reed won, after Stewart hit those ruts in the first turn, went down in a heap and was never able to challenge the winner.

Ivan Tedesco finished 15th.

But the rider with the third fastest time may come as a surprise, as his results didn’t turn out as expected. Honda Red Bull’s Ivan Tedesco logged a 57.031 on Lap 3 in his valiant charge to salvage his main event after crashing in the first turn. Unfortunately IT only made it to 15th—the worst finish of the three Honda Red Bull factory riders.

Yamaha’s Grant Langston showed some good speed on the rutted course, logging the fourth fastest time and leading a few laps, and Monster Energy’s Tim Ferry used both speed and consistency to climb up on the podium.

Fastest non-factory rider? Atomic Racing’s Paul Carpenter, who had the 12th fastest time with a 1:00.349.

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
2	57.993	Jason Lawrence	Yamaha
1	58.159	Ryan Dungey	Suzuki
11	59.606	Broc Hepler	Yamaha
5	59.647	Austin Stroupe	Kawasaki
3	59.662	Justin Brayton	KTM
6	1:00.242	Tommy Hahn	Kawasaki
19	1:00.261	Brett Metcalfe	Kawasaki
4	1:00.625	Dan Reardon	Honda
8	1:00.774	Andrew McFarlane	Kawasaki
18	1:00.935	Matt Lemoine	Yamaha
9	1:01.309	Chris Blose	Suzuki
10	1:01.476	Wil Hahn	Yamaha
7	1:02.013	Gavin Gracyk	Honda
17	1:02.666	Kyle Cunningham	Honda
13	1:04.860	Michael LaPaglia	Suzuki
12	1:05.052	Jeff Northrop	Honda
14	1:05.665	Michael Blose	Suzuki
15	1:06.011	Michael Willard	Honda
16	1:06.967	Adam Chatfield	Suzuki
20	1:07.551	Eric McCrummen	Honda
21	1:08.153	Shaun Skinner	Honda

The Lites class was similar to the premier class in which the rider with the fastest lap time in the main event finished second, and the third fastest rider had a dismal main event. In this case the fastest rider was Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence, who recorded a 57.993. Main event winner Ryan Dungey wasn’t too far off of that with a 58.159, followed by 11th-place finisher Hepler, who was over a second back with a 59.606. Rookie Austin Stroupe was fourth fastest, followed by MDK KTM’s Justin Brayton.

Biggest surprise: Fun Center Suzuki’s Chris Blose, who was 11th fastest.

Now it’s on to Phoenix, which is guaranteed to be drier and much faster!

Yamaha's Broc Hepler had the third fastest lap time in the Lites class.