Phoenix SX Practice Update

January 10, 2009 5:07pm | by: Steve Cox

First practice is over at Chase Field, and it's the usual suspects up front. In the 450cc class, it was San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart setting the fastest lap, and in the Lites class it was new Fox Racing rider Ryan Dungey.

The track, so far, doesn't seem like the typical Phoenix track, as it's rutting up in the turns, and there's a sand section that was really popular with photographers (this one included).

The Lites practice saw a myriad of riders top the leaderboard. For quite a while, round-one winner (and last year's Phoenix SX winner) Jake Weimer sat on top with a 54.094-second lap, only for Dungey to top him with a 53.394 late in the session.

Third in the first Lites session was Trey Canard, who came in late with a 54.836, followed by defending champion Jason Lawrence (55.240), Justin Brayton (55.342), Chris Blose (55.556), Ryan Sipes (55.993), Kyle Cunningham (56.257), Dan Reardon (56.370), and Ryan Morais (56.531).

Some people consider a better indicator of racing speeds to be the riders' second-fastest laps, and when you look at that, the top five are within 1.2 seconds of one another.

The 450cc class was all about James Stewart, who put down a 52.696 on the ninth lap of practice. He was the only rider in the 52s, and his second-fastest lap was also a 52 (52.787).

Second, predictably, was Chad Reed with a 53.016, followed by Josh Grant (54.006), Ryan Villopoto (54.140), Ivan Tedesco (54.405), Andrew Short (54.686), Timmy Ferry (54.753), Davi Millsaps (54.966), Josh Hill (55.256) and Kevin Windham (55.272).

The second practice is coming up in a few minutes, and it should be more typical of what we can expect for tonight's racing.