The 2008 Daytona Supercross by Honda was probably the sloppiest, nastiest, and most treacherous supercross race ever run, but sometimes it's easier just to show a picture. After all, a picture is worth 1000 words, or so they say.
That's
Cole Siebler's Rockstar/Hart & Huntington Honda CRF450R after it was heartlessly abandoned part-way through the 450cc main event.
No one was immune to falls and stalls. Ultimately, the victor was determined simply by who stayed cleanest, and who made the least mistakes.
The Lites main gets underway. It looked like Torco Racing Fuels Honda's
Josh Grant (20) was going to come away with the holeshot, but it was actually his teammate
Trey Canard (48) who snuck around the inside of the first turn and took the holeshot, while Grant was forced wide and started out near the tail-end of the top 10.
Canard (48) led Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's
Ryan Villopoto (2) and Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy's
Ryan Morais (116) early in the Lites main.
Canard fought off the advances of Villopoto early on and went on to establish a nice lead for himself, despite at least one fall in the main.
Villopoto tried to put pressure on Canard early in the main, but just ended up eating sloppy roost from Canard's Honda before mistakes forced him to fall behind. He finished second for the second week in a row.
DNA/Butler Bros. Honda's
Matt Boni got his (and his team's) first-ever podium finish in the Daytona slop, finishing third overall.
French Honda Red Bull racer
Ben Coisy (moto) ran up front throughout the main, but was forced to settle for fourth.
Team Suzuki City/Rockstar's
Jimmy Albertson was fighting it out with Coisy for the final podium position on the last lap, when both he and Coisy went down, handing two spots to Boni, moving him from fifth to third.
For Canard, it was his third AMA Supercross victory in as many tries, and he now holds a sizeable points lead of 24 points with only four rounds remaining.
Canard (center) celebrates with Villopoto (right) and relative giant Boni (left).
The 450cc main event got underway with a spray of mud and water.
Chad Reed was way behind going into the first turn...
...but San Manuel Yamaha's Reed snuck around the inside while Eric Sorby did him the favor of blocking the first turn behind him.
Reed (22) snuck into the lead, passing
Paul Carpenter (42).
Reed led the first two laps before stalling and handing the lead to Torco Racing Fuels Honda's
Kevin Windham.
Windham led the next lap, but then as Reed passed him around the outside, Windham stalled when attempting not to hit Reed.
In the ensuing laps, Reed (22) and Windham (14) went back and forth, allowing Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's
Ryan Dungey to catch up to them.
On lap five of 12, Dungey crashed, handing third temporarily to Honda Red Bull's
Davi Millsaps.
On the last lap, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's David Vuillemin went from seventh to fourth.
To show you how hard things were,
Antonio Balbi, pictured here, won his Heat race, and then finished fifth in the main event.
On the last lap, with only three turns left in the race, and while leading by more than a minute, Reed's bike gave up the ghost.
A minute later, Windham went by on his way to victory. Reed had lapped sixth place, and as such, he was credited with sixth in the main.
Windham took his second win of the season, and his first-ever win at Daytona, in front of Millsaps.
Reed walked away from his stranded bike in obvious disgust after leading probably the most difficult supercross ever, and coming up just three turns short of a win.
Jacob Marsack one-upped his San Francisco mud performance with a third-place finish.
Windham (middle) celebrates with Marsack (far right) and Millsaps (left).
