GEICO Powersports Honda Race Report

ANAHEIM, CA – There is always a lot of hype to start a new season, and the Anaheim Supercross was no exception this year. The GEICO Powersports Honda team brought 2008 Lites Eastern Regional Supercross Champion Trey Canard out West for 2009 to give him some experience on the other half of the tracks that he may be racing on a 450cc machine next year, along with Dan Reardon in the Lites class and SX series 2008 runner-up Kevin Windham in the 450cc class.

Reardon and Canard started 1-2 in both their Heat race and the main event. In the main, Reardon led the opening two laps, but Canard got taken out by another rider exiting the second turn. After restarting in last, he had some more bad luck, which cost him even more time. He soldiered on to a 14th-place finish, despite the bad luck.

“The first practice was pretty good, and then we made some pretty good changes after practice one, and practice two was awesome,” Canard said of his day. “I felt really comfortable on the bike, and everything was good. In Heat one, I almost got the holeshot, and Reardon pushed me up in the second corner. I got in the lead, and then on lap six, I kind of cratered, and I’m not really sure what happened – the front end just washed out really quick. After that, I got up, finished third, and in the main, I started up front, and then there was some carnage in the second turn, and that was that. I got up last, got up to 15th, then someone else hit me and blew my hand off the bars. I stalled the bike, and it took me a while to get going. I was a lap down but I kept my head down to do what I could do.”

For Reardon, after falling to second and holding his ground, he was hit by another rider and knocked down and was unable to restart his bike.

“I felt going into Anaheim that I was pretty ready for it,” Reardon said. “I had a really good off-season, and I felt more prepared this year than I did last year coming into the series. My starts were good, and I realize that’s an important part to racing, and hopefully they continue to be. The Heat went pretty good. It took a little bit for me to get up to speed with a section at the back of the track. Then in the main, I had another good start, and then [Jake] Weimer passed me and I made a couple mistakes. But [Justin] Brayton and I came together, and we went down, and I wasn’t able to restart the bike and regroup. It was disappointing, for sure, but that’s why there’s another race this weekend. I can start all over again in Phoenix.”

In the 450cc class, Windham had a fall early in his Heat race and had to fight his way into the main event and didn’t get a great gate pick. Still, he used his experience to his advantage and started out near the front. When running fourth in the main event, and gaining on third, the two leaders, James Stewart and Chad Reed, went down together. As Windham attempted to ride by Stewart and into second place, Stewart pushed his bike in front of Windham and sent Windham to the ground.

“I’d like to think it was a solid podium finish, and win? Maybe. It’s all hypothetical, but I definitely was in the position that I needed to be in, and I think there were still 12 or 13 laps that still had to play out,” Windham said. “There’s a lot that can happen in that amount of time, and you don’t want to think about too many ‘what ifs’ but I had fallen in the Heat race and had to do some game-planning to get myself in a position to have a successful night, and I think that I was there. I was happy with the way things were going, and one lapse of concentration by one of my competitors, and it kind of took me out. I’ve thought about what happened time and time again of what I could’ve done differently, but I couldn’t come up with anything. I thought I had a podium in me, but I’m looking forward to getting to Phoenix and getting this thing really started.”

From here, the GEICO Powersports Honda team heads to Phoenix, Arizona, for round two of the AMA Supercross Series on January 10 inside Chase Field.

Team Sponsors: GEICO Powersports, Honda, Planet Fitness, Unbound Energy, AM/PM, Factory Connection, Fox, Shoei, Gaerne, DVS, Amsoil Lubricants, Cycra Plastics, Dunlop Tires, EK Chains, Filtron Air Filters, Hinson Clutches, Leatt Brace, One Industries, Pro Circuit, Renthal, Shock Doctor, Showa, TAG Sprockets, Vortex Ignitions, VP Fuels, and Works Connection.

Anaheim I Lites Main:
1.         Jake Weimer    Kaw
2.         Ryan Morais     Kaw
3.         Ryan Dungey    Suz
4.         Chris Blose       Hon
5.         Jason Lawrence            Yam
6.         Ryan Sipes       KTM
7.         Justin Brayton   KTM
8.         Jeff Alessi         Hon
9.         Ben Evans        Hon
10.       Chris Gosselaar            Kaw
14.       Trey Canard   GEICO Powersports Honda
19.       Dan Reardon  GEICO Powersports Honda

Anaheim I 450cc Main:
1.         Josh Grant        Yam
2.         Andrew Short   Hon
3.         Chad Reed       Suz
4.         Timmy Ferry     Kaw
5.         Ryan Villopoto Kaw
6.         Ivan Tedesco    Hon
7.         Heath Voss      Hon
8.         Ben Coisy        Hon
9.         Nick Wey        Yam
10.       Paul Carpenter Kaw
15.       Kevin Windham         GEICO Powersports Honda