Sign of the (Lap) Times: Phoenix

January 13, 2009, 12:24pm

At Anaheim I, we saw Rockstar/Makita Suzuki teammates Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey both set the fastest lap time in their respective class during the main event. This time around, neither had the fastest lap time, but one of them did find themselves in the winner’s circle.

AMA Supercross Lites
Coming off his victory at Anaheim I, Jake Weimer looked fast and smooth at Phoenix. After a solid win in his heat race, Weimer pulled the holeshot in the main event and set the fastest lap time on lap two—a 53.571—in his effort to pull away from the field. It looked to be working till the sandpit swallowed his Pro Circuit KX250F on lap seven, allowing Dungey to motor by on his way to not only the victory, but the points lead as well.

You can’t take away anything from Dungey. Outfitted in his new Fox Racing gear, Dungey was only a tenth of a second off of Weimer’s fastest lap. Third-fastest was Muscle Milk/MDK KTM’s Justin Brayton, followed by Troy Lee Honda’s Chris Blose and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Morais.

Here’s a nod to Canidae/Motosport Kawasaki’s P.J. Larsen, who had the sixth-fastest lap time on his way to a sixth-place finish; this coming a week after he failed to qualify at Anaheim I. Check out the rest of the field below:

Finish	Best Lap	Rider	Bike
4	53.571	Jake Weimer	Kawasaki
1	53.682	Ryan Dungey	Suzuki
2	53.960	Justin Brayton	KTM
5	54.061	Chris Blose	Honda
3	54.092	Ryan Morais	Kawasaki
6	54.202	P.J. Larsen	Kawasaki
7	54.761	Ryan Sipes	KTM
8	54.818	Cedric Soubeyras	Yamaha
10	54.998	Dan Reardon	Honda
14	55.533	Shaun Skinner	Honda
13	55.558	Eric McCrummen	Honda
12	55.805	Adam Chatfield	Honda
11	56.021	Cole Seely	Suzuki
9	56.114	Ben Evans	Honda
16	56.268	Alex Martin	Honda
19	56.475	Daniel Hendrix	Honda
20	56.818	Ryan Clark	Honda
15	57.152	Michael Sleeter	KTM
17	57.212	Topher Ingalls	Yamaha
18	58.195	Michael Blose	Honda

Jake Weimer leads Chris Blose (63)
photo: Simon Cudby

AMA Supercross
San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart turned things around at Phoenix and laid down the fastest lap time on his way to his first AMA Supercross main-event win aboard a Yamaha. His fastest time of a 51.848 came on lap five; coincidentally, that’s the same lap Reed set his best time. At the end of the twenty-lap main, there was only .59 seconds separating the duo, which provided the Phoenix crowd with some of the best racing yet. Third fastest in the AMA Supercross class was JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha’s Josh Grant, whose third-place finish kept him atop the points standings. Fourth-fastest was Honda Red Bull Racing’s Ivan Tedesco, followed by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto. Check out the rest of the lap times below:

Finish	Best Lap	Rider	Bike
1	51.848	James Stewart	Yamaha
2	51.911	Chad Reed	Suzuki
3	53.567	Josh Grant	Yamaha
4	53.653	Ivan Tedesco	Honda
7	53.849	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
5	53.928	Andrew Short	Honda
10	54.127	Davi Millsaps	Honda
6	54.253	Kevin Windham	Honda
9	54.599	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
12	54.989	Josh Summey	KTM
15	55.155	Nick Wey	Yamaha
11	55.185	Mike Alessi	Suzuki
8	55.211	Josh Hill	Yamaha
13	55.218	Paul Carpenter	Kawasaki
19	55.316	Troy Adams	Honda
14	55.393	Travis Preston	KTM
16	55.593	Bobby Kiniry	Kawasaki
20	55.604	Matt Boni	Honda
18	56.113	Daniel Blair	Honda
17	56.439	Josh Hansen	Honda

James Stewart
photo: Simon Cudby