Sign of the (Lap) Times: A3

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:

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
1	54.536	Chad Reed	Yamaha
2	54.866	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
3	55.168	Andrew Short	Honda
4	55.988	Kevin Windham	Honda
5	56.064	Ivan Tedesco	Honda
6	56.555	Davi Millsaps	Honda
7	56.642	Josh Hill	Yamaha
8	57.263	Grant Langston	Yamaha
9	57.436	Eric Sorby	Honda
10	57.593	Charles Summey	Yamaha
11	57.637	Mike Alessi	Suzuki
12	57.795	David Vuillemin	Suzuki
13	57.939	Paul Carpenter	Honda
14	57.975	Manu Rivas	Kawasaki
15	58.428	Heath Voss	Honda
16	58.433	Nathan Ramsey	Yamaha
17	58.447	Jake Marsack	Honda
18	58.457	Troy Adams	Honda
19	58.593	Travis Preston	Kawasaki
20	58.903	Jeff Gibson	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	Chad Reed	Yamaha
2	54.652	Davi Millsaps	Honda
3	54.774	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
4	54.983	Kevin Windham	Honda
5	55.205	Andrew Short	Honda
6	55.925	Mike Alessi	Suzuki
7	56.209	Nathan Ramsey	Yamaha
12	57.034	Josh Hill	Yamaha
10	57.445	Manu Rivas	Kawasaki
13	57.459	Eric Sorby	Honda
8	57.466	Nick Wey	KTM
16	57.607	Charles Summey	Yamaha
11	57.746	Paul Carpenter	Honda
14	57.921	David Vuillemin	Suzuki
9	57.985	Troy Adams	Honda
17	58.270	Jeff Gibson	Kawasaki
20	58.362	Heath Voss	Honda
15	58.744	Travis Preston	Kawasaki
19	59.336	Antonio Balbi	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!

Mike Alessi

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.

Eric Sorby