We’ve seen some great 450 Supercross races the last couple of weeks but if you look closely, the Lites class is shaping up nicely as well. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki riders Jake Weimer and Ryan Morais are already up to speed and are front runners. The outlaw Jason Lawrence is the defending champion and can’t be counted out—remember he scored no points in one main last year as well. Then there is MDK/KTM’s Justin Brayton, who is ready to show that he can win these things as well. And we haven’t even talked about Trey Canard and Dan Reardon, as they are off to rough starts but you can bet they will be in the mix before it’s all over—just like the seemingly unlikely Chris Blose has with a pair of top-five finishes on his Troy Lee Designs Honda.
That brings us to the Phoenix winner and the favorite for the title, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey. Ryan took advantage of Weimer’s fall and claimed his first win of the season and, more importantly, the points lead as well. The heavy favorite for the title going in, Ryan has experienced probably a little more competition then he would like, not to mention some off-track business distractions as well. Although still the favorite to capture this title, he is going to be in for a fight the whole way. These other kids are not going to go away and they already have shown us they have something for Suzuki’s golden child.
In Phoenix we don’t know what would have happened had Weimer not fallen in the sand on lap six—he did win there last year after all—and we don’t know what would have happened had J-Law and Canard made the main. What we do know is that Ryan Dungey is even more of a favorite going into Anaheim 2.
Racer X - Motocross & Supercross News
