Sign of the (Lap) Times: A3
February 5, 2008 11:42am
We’re switching it up a bit this week and just concentrating specifically on the AMA Supercross class from Round 5 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series. (The Lites lap times aren’t loading on AMAMotocross.com, so we’re improvising.) We decided to run both the practice and main event lap times to see how they differ. If you saw the race live or on CBS, you know how rutted the track was in the main event, so it would stand to reason that the qualifying practice times would probably be faster, right? Wrong. Check out the practice times below:
San Manuel/Fusion Yamaha’s Chad Reed was fastest in practice, his 54.536 topping Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry’s 54.866. But when you compare their times to the main event, they were both slower in practice! Check out the fastest lap times of the main event below:
Even on an off-day, Reed still managed to log the fastest main event lap time, with Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps stepping up from the sixth fastest practice time to second in the main. Ferry was third, followed by Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham and Millsaps’ teammate, Andrew Short. But the competition is definitely closing the gap on Reed, as the top five are all within one second of Reed's time.
And check this out: Short’s winning time for the first heat race was 7:28.1, compared to 7:37-plus for heat two winner Reed. But with slower times, Reed used a holeshot to his advantage at the start of the main event. That’s great race management on an otherwise off night.
It’s interesting to note that the top seven finishers all had the top seven lap times in that same order!
Some of the biggest improvements we saw from practice to the main included Mike Alessi going from the 11th fastest in practice to sixth in the main aboard his Rockstar Suzuki, and Spaniard Manu Rivas going from 14th fastest in practice to ninth in the main event aboard his Wonder Warthog Racing ride. And give credit to Moto XXX/Hooters Honda’s Eric Sorby for putting in solid top 10 times all day long on his way to his 13th-place finish.
Finish
|
Best Lap Time
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
1
|
54.536 |
Yamaha
|
|
2
|
54.866 |
Kawasaki
|
|
3
|
55.168 |
Honda
|
|
4
|
55.988 |
Honda
|
|
5
|
56.064 |
Honda
|
|
6
|
56.555 |
Honda
|
|
7
|
56.642 |
Yamaha
|
|
8
|
57.263 |
Yamaha
|
|
9
|
57.436 |
Eric Sorby
|
Honda
|
10
|
57.593 |
Yamaha
|
|
11
|
57.637 |
Suzuki
|
|
12
|
57.795 |
David Vuillemin
|
Suzuki
|
13
|
57.939 |
Honda
|
|
14
|
57.975 |
Manu Rivas
|
Kawasaki
|
15
|
58.428 |
Honda
|
|
16
|
58.433 |
Yamaha
|
|
17
|
58.447 |
Honda
|
|
18
|
58.457 |
Honda
|
|
19
|
58.593 |
Kawasaki
|
|
20
|
58.903 |
Kawasaki
|
San Manuel/Fusion Yamaha’s Chad Reed was fastest in practice, his 54.536 topping Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry’s 54.866. But when you compare their times to the main event, they were both slower in practice! Check out the fastest lap times of the main event below:
Finish
|
Best Lap Time
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
1
|
54.522 |
Yamaha
|
|
2
|
54.652 |
Honda
|
|
3
|
54.774 |
Kawasaki
|
|
4
|
54.983 |
Honda
|
|
5
|
55.205 |
Honda
|
|
6
|
55.925 |
Suzuki
|
|
7
|
56.209 |
Yamaha
|
|
12
|
57.034 |
Yamaha
|
|
10
|
57.445 |
Manu Rivas
|
Kawasaki
|
13
|
57.459 |
Eric Sorby
|
Honda
|
8
|
57.466 |
KTM
|
|
16
|
57.607 |
Yamaha
|
|
11
|
57.746 |
Honda
|
|
14
|
57.921 |
David Vuillemin
|
Suzuki
|
9
|
57.985 |
Honda
|
|
17
|
58.270 |
Kawasaki
|
|
20
|
58.362 |
Honda
|
|
15
|
58.744 |
Kawasaki
|
|
19
|
59.336 |
Honda
|
|
18
|
59.977 |
Jiri Dostal
|
Kawasaki
|
Even on an off-day, Reed still managed to log the fastest main event lap time, with Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps stepping up from the sixth fastest practice time to second in the main. Ferry was third, followed by Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham and Millsaps’ teammate, Andrew Short. But the competition is definitely closing the gap on Reed, as the top five are all within one second of Reed's time.
And check this out: Short’s winning time for the first heat race was 7:28.1, compared to 7:37-plus for heat two winner Reed. But with slower times, Reed used a holeshot to his advantage at the start of the main event. That’s great race management on an otherwise off night.
It’s interesting to note that the top seven finishers all had the top seven lap times in that same order!
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