450 Words: Indy

I hardly noticed Chad Reed on the track at Indy. In fact, the only time I really watched the San Manuel/Fusion Energy Yamaha rider the entire night was in his Heat race, when Kevin Windham was trying to reel him in by jumping a tricky rhythm section that Chad wasn’t jumping. Reed then grabbed the Progressive Direct holeshot in the main event and rode a blazing-fast, mistake-free 20 laps, winning by a very comfortable 10.6-second margin over Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill. At least I think he rode mistake-free. Instead of watching the #22 Yamaha ride way out front by himself, it was a lot more interesting watching five different riders slug it out for the runner-up spot.
 

Yamaha went 1-2 in Indy.

After two very impressive weekends, Honda-mounted riders were left battling for second in Indy as Andrew Short, Davi Millsaps and Kevin Windham were all in the mix at one point or another. Throw in 450cc rookies Josh Hill and Ryan Dungey, and there was an all-out war taking place in Indianapolis. It was some of the best racing this season. Too bad Tim Ferry, Ivan Tedesco and Mike Alessi weren’t out there, but I digress.
 
As the Red Riders battled, with Dungey nipping at their heels on his maiden voyage aboard his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki RM-Z450, it was Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill slowly reeling them all in. Hill started in sixth and made his first move on lap seven, passing Dungey. His next move came on lap 12, where he was able to get around his childhood hero, Kevin Windham, and into fourth. The very next lap, he passed Andrew Short, moving into third. From there, it looked like the podium was set, as Millsaps had a firm grasp on second place, with Reed cruising way out front.
 
However, with only a few laps to run, Millsaps landed on a Tuff Block in that tricky rhythm section that Windham was so good in, handing over the runner-up spot to Hill, which matched his career-best finish in the AMA Supercross class. 
 

The AMA Supercross podium.

As for the rest of the field, Short managed to hold on for his second-consecutive third-place finish, which pushes him past Tim Ferry and into third in the series points standings. 
 
Arguably the most-impressive performance of the night was put in by Minnesota’s Ryan Dungey, who was racing a 450 for the first time ever in AMA Supercross. He’s currently six points behind Jason Lawrence in a battle for the Western Regional Lites Championship, but rather than sit around listening to the Supercross Live! webcast, he decided to head East and move up to the premier class. 
 
Windham, who is coming off a win and a second-place in the last two races, finished fifth, which now gives Chad Reed a commanding 34-point lead with eight rounds left in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship.