Sign of the (Lap) Times: Houston

January 27, 2009, 12:19pm

In both classes at this past weekend’s Houston supercross, the top four finishers in each class were in the exact same order with their fastest lap times. Let’s begin with the Eastern Regional Lites class, which made its season debut.

There were several riders who were dubbed as “preseason favorites” prior to the gate dropping in Houston, but one of the biggest question marks had to be Frenchman Christophe Pourcel. After all, it’s been over two years since he raced a supercross here in America, and although he proved he had the speed to win back in 2007 (he won Phoenix), the 2006 MX2 World Champion has been through a lot since. A nerve damage and over a year off the bike hasn’t blurred Pourcel’s vision to come to America, and through all of that Mitch Payton still believed in him. After Houston, Pourcel has a lot more believers, as not only did Pourcel pull the holeshot and lead every lap of the Lites main event, he set the fastest lap time in the class as well—a 50.866—which came on lap two.

The next fastest time came from GEICO Powersports Honda’s Brett Metcalfe (50.899) and Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Nico Izzi (51.073). Pourcel’s teammate, and 2008 Houston winner, Austin Stroupe was fourth fastest with a 51.707. Check out the rest of the Lites field below.

Finish	Best Lap	Rider	Bike
1	50.866	Christophe Pourcel	Kawasaki
2	50.899	Brett Metcalfe	Honda
3	51.073	Nico Izzi	Suzuki
4	51.707	Austin Stroupe	Kawasaki
18	51.838	Matt Lemoine	Yamaha
5	51.900	Blake Wharton	Honda
6	52.143	Wil Hahn	KTM
7	52.155	Martin Davalos	KTM
20	52.457	Vince Friese	Honda
14	52.538	Hunter Hewitt	Kawasaki
8	52.749	Darryn Durham	Yamaha
12	52.858	Branden Jesseman	Kawasaki
10	52.870	Matt Goerke	Suzuki
9	53.351	Daniel Blair	Honda
13	53.393	Steven Clarke	Suzuki
15	53.585	Teddy Parks	Suzuki
16	53.590	Tyler Wharton	Honda
11	53.628	Jacob Saylor	Yamaha
17	54.482	Kyle Gills	Kawasaki
19	54.904	Chad Ward	Kawasaki

Christophe Pourcel
photo: Simon Cudby

In the AMA Supercross class, it was business as usual for San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart, who clocked the fastest lap time of the night (49.150) on his YZ450F on lap three. Chad Reed was .5 seconds off of Stewart’s best lap, and his came on lap 11. Ryan Villopoto, Andrew Short and Josh Grant rounded out the top five in both results and lap times.

Finish	Best Lap	Rider	Bike
1	49.150	James Stewart	Yamaha
2	49.626	Chad Reed	Suzuki
3	49.897	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
4	49.986	Andrew Short	Honda
5	50.445	Josh Grant	Yamaha
6	50.691	Ivan Tedesco	Honda
8	50.729	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
9	50.935	Kevin Windham	Honda
7	50.957	Mike Alessi	Suzuki
10	51.188	Davi Millsaps	Honda
11	51.286	Josh Hill	Yamaha
12	51.594	Heath Voss	Honda
16	51.787	Ben Coisy	Honda
13	51.791	Paul Carpenter	Kawasaki
14	51.807	Cole Siebler	Honda
18	51.810	Josh Summey	KTM
20	51.840	Josh Hansen	Honda
19	51.949	Manuel Rivas	Kawasaki
17	52.289	Kyle Chisholm	Yamaha
15	52.302	Matt Boni	Honda

James Stewart
photo: Simon Cudby

Biggest surprise: Here’s a nod to Honda privateer Vince Friese, who had the ninth fastest lap time in the Lites class aboard his #719 Honda CRF250R. Friese also battled with Stroupe in his heat races but unfortunately crashed out and finished 20th in the main event. Nonetheless, he definitely turned some heads in Texas.