Windham Scores His Ninth Podium in Detroit

Kevin Windham puts the hammer down at Ford Field and scores a 3rd, pulls to within 16 points of Monster Supercross Series leader Chad Reed; Trey Canard holds onto ESX Lites lead - barely

CARLSBAD, Calif., (April 16, 2008) – Spy Optic’s Kevin Windham, the fans’ favorite pick to win the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series title, raced to his ninth podium finish of the season this past weekend at Detroit’s Ford Field and pulled to within 16 points of series leader, Chad Reed, 296-280.

Windham, who started off the weekend at Detroit by winning his heat race by 2.6 seconds over eventual main event winner Davi Millsaps, didn’t pull that great of a start (7th after the first lap) and had to blast past some racers early to get into podium position by lap four.

Once there Windham was seemingly his usual calculating, smooth and error-free self, putting up solid and consistent lap time numbers while holding tight to his podium position. But according to Windham it was a bit more of a grind than it looked.

“I was on a HUGE emotional rollercoaster today,” he said. “I made a couple mistakes, fought it a little bit. The whoops were brutal and the track was real tough. It’s going to be a tough series, title’s not won, there’s three rounds left and we’re gonna ride ‘em strong.”

Not far behind Windham was another guy running Spy Optic goggles (along with Spy sunglasses and casual wear off the track), Honda’s Andrew Short. “Shorty” managed to get into even worse trouble than Windham at the start, coming around outside the top ten after the first lap. He then buckled down and started picking off riders before settling into 5th. Once there he held off factory Kawasaki racer Travis Preston to keep the top five spot through the checkers. Short did lose some points on Millsaps for 3rd overall in the standings. As it stands Millsaps leads Short 229-221 for the third and final Supercross class podium spot.

In the Lites class finals Spy Optic’s Trey Canard had a rough go of it, finishing 10th and losing a handful of points and some ground to series rival Ryan Villopoto. The stage is now set for an all-or- nothing battle at St. Louis with Canard’s slim three-point lead (122-119) on the line.

Said Windham of his buddy Canard’s situation: “He’s (Canard) gotta pick his head up. He’s won a lot of races this year. He’s a rookie, but has to step up and charge through these downfalls.”

Simply put, which ever guy wins at St. Louis – Canard or Villopoto – they win the ’08 ESX Lites title.

Next up for the Spy Optic racers on the Monster Energy Supercross tour is the Saturday, April 19th St. Louis Supercross, Round 15 of Monster Energy Supercross.