Racer X - Motocross & Supercross NewsRacer X

  • Subscribe Now
  • Latest
  • Features
  • Breaking News

Racer X - Motocross & Supercross NewsRacer X

  • One Click Sign-In

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    OR

    Sign in with your username and password

    • Sign In
  • Features
    • 10 Things
    • 30 Greatest AMA Motocrossers
    • 3 on 3
    • 250 Words
    • 450 Words
    • Between the Motos
    • Breakdown
    • Deals of the Week
    • GNCC Report
    • Great Battles
    • How to Watch
    • Injury Report
    • Insight
    • In the Mag, On the Web
    • Lockdown Diaries
    • Longform
    • MXGP Race Reports
    • My Favorite Loretta Lynn's Moto
    • Next
    • Observations
    • On This Day in Moto
    • Open Mic
    • Privateer Profile
    • Race Day Feed
    • Racerhead
    • Racer X Awards
    • Racer X Redux
    • Rapid Reaxtion
    • RX Exhaust
    • Saturday Night Live
    • Staging Area
    • The Conversation
    • The List
    • The Moment
    • Things We Learned at the Ranch
    • Unphiltered
    • Wake-Up Call
    • Where Are They Now
    • 50 Years of Pro Motocross
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Photo Galleries
    • The Weege Show
    • Racer X Films
    • Video
    • SX Preview Shows
    • Factory Tech Tip
    • MX Preview Shows
    • Behind The Bars
    • Racer X Rapid News
  • Races
    • Series Schedules
    • TV Schedules
    • Results
    • Champions
    • Teams
    • 2022 Numbers
  • Results
    • Points Standings
    • Race Results
    • Riders
    • The Vault
    • Loretta Lynn's Vault
  • Shop
  • About Us
  • The Mag
    • Digital Magazine Bookstand
    • Customer Care
    • Current Issue
    • Newsletter
    • Store Locator
    • Subscribe
    • Free Stickers
    • Sell Racer X
  • Table of Contents
  • Subscribe Now
  • Latest
  • Features
  • Breaking News
Results Archive
GNCC
Hoosier
Articles
Overall Results
  1. Ben Kelley
  2. Trevor Bollinger
  3. Josh Toth
Full Results
XC2 Pro Results
  1. Lyndon Snodgrass
  2. Angus Riordan
  3. Liam Draper
Full Results
Supercross
Salt Lake City
Articles
450SX Results
  1. Jason Anderson
  2. Chase Sexton
  3. Justin Barcia
Full Results
250SX Showdown Results
  1. Nate Thrasher
  2. Hunter Lawrence
  3. Pierce Brown
Full Results
MXGP of
Italy
Articles
MXGP Results
  1. Tim Gajser
  2. Jeremy Seewer
  3. Maxime Renaux
Full Results
MX2 Results
  1. Jago Geerts
  2. Tom Vialle
  3. Stephen Rubini
Full Results
MXGP of
Sardegna
Articles
MXGP Results
  1. Calvin Vlaanderen
  2. Jorge Prado
  3. Glenn Coldenhoff
Full Results
MX2 Results
  1. Tom Vialle
  2. Jago Geerts
  3. Thibault Benistant
Full Results
Upcoming
GNCC
The John Penton
Sat May 21
Articles
Upcoming
Motocross
Fox Raceway 1
Sat May 28
Articles
Upcoming
Australian SX
Gillman
Sun May 29
Articles
Upcoming
MXGP of
Spain
Sun May 29
Articles
Full Schedule

St. Louis SX Race Report

March 22, 2009 3:12am | by: Steve Cox
  • Home
  • Race Day Feed
  • St. Louis SX Race Report

Maxxis Tires. From your bike to your truck and almost every tire in between, Maxxis Tires will have you hooking up, pulling the holeshot, and beating your competition. Just ask the King, Jeremy McGrath. To learn more, follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Advertisement | Advertise with Us
  • Josh Grant took the holeshot at St. Louis and led the first two laps before losing the lead to Chad Reed and then second to James Stewart on lap three.
  • Reed (1) led lap three, but Stewart (7) used this move to set up Reed for a pass just before the finish line.
  • After leading 11 laps, and pulling away from Reed (after a few of those laps), Stewart hit neutral on a step-up and went down, handing the lead - and the win - to Reed.
  • Andrew Short rode strong for fourth.
  • Jason Lawrence ran inside the top five all night, eventually finishing fifth.
  • Reed won his third main event of the season, and is now one main-event win away from defending his title - assuming he finishes no worse than second the rest of the year.
  • The 450cc podium, with Reed, Stewart and Grant.
In the middle of the tightest supercross championship in recent history, the Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Championship headed into St. Louis with most of the talk seeming to surround former Lites East SX and National MX champ (but more famously X Games champ and Nitro Circus star) Travis Pastrana. Pastrana designed the course, and helped build it, but although he wasn’t slow by any means, he was his own worst enemy, crashing out of a qualifying position in his Heat race, and then draining his RM-Z450 of coolant after landing on the back of another bike on the opening lap of the LCQ. His Suzuki quit a full six laps later while he was battling for a qualifying position.

JGR/Toyota Yamaha’s Josh Grant grabbed the main-event holeshot and led the opening two laps while both Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed and San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart worked their way through the front-runners on the opening lap. As the trio crossed the line, marking the end of the first lap, Reed was working on Grant, and Stewart on Reed.

On the third lap, Reed finally made a pass stick on Grant, and Stewart followed him quickly through. The race was on. Stewart used a clever pair of outside lines in the S turn that criss-crossed the front straightaway to set up Reed for a pass just before the finish line, grabbing the inside on the defending champ and jumping the finish line anyway. Reed followed suit and began to give chase. For the bulk of the next 11 laps, Reed stayed about the same distance behind Stewart, but then lost a couple seconds in one lap when he had a moment in the track’s whoop section, running over a Tuff Block knocked in front of him by a lapper.

But it all came to a head on the 15th of 20 laps, when Stewart – who had fallen twice earlier in his Heat race on his way to ninth place, barely qualifying for the main event – went down in the main event. Stewart hit neutral on the face of a tricky step-up following the whoops before Yamaha’s Josh Hill careened off of him. Stewart was up as quickly as could be expected following his endo, but not quickly enough to keep Reed behind him.

Reed took over the lead, and led the final six laps unchallenged on his way to his third victory in four weeks. Stewart was second, and bummed out, while Grant was pumped to finish third, despite a badly bent shift lever that had him stuck in third gear for much of the main event. Andrew Short finished fourth, while Jason Lawrence finished fifth.

With the win, Reed extended his points lead back to 11 with five rounds left to run. Hypothetically, if Stewart wins the next four rounds, and Reed is second, Reed will go into the Las Vegas finale one point behind Stewart, making for a winner-take-all scenario. Or, assuming neither rider finishes lower than second from here on out, all Reed needs is one more win to ensure his second-consecutive AMA Supercross championship.


AMA Supercross Class Results, St. Louis
1. Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Suzuki
2. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha
3. Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha
4. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda
5. Jason Lawrence, Carlsbad, Calif., Yamaha
6. Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda
7. Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., Suzuki
8. Davi Millsaps, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda
9. Kevin Windham, Centreville, Miss., Honda
10. Paul Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y., Kawasaki

AMA Supercross Class Season Standings
1. Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Suzuki, 271
2. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha, 260
3. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 197
4. Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 172
5. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 165
6. Ivan Tedesco, Tallahasse, Fla., Honda, 163
7. Mike Alessi, Apple Valley, Calif., Suzuki, 160
8. Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda, 158
9. Davi Millsaps, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda, 152
10. Josh Hill, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha, 108

LITES

  • Blake Wharton grabbed the holeshot in the Lites main event.
  • Nico Izzi chased Wharton for most of the race, but lost ground around the halfway point, and lost second on the last lap.
  • Austin Stroupe came from outside the top five off the start to pass Izzi for second just before the finish.
  • Matt Goerke (34) started in the top five and stayed there, finishing a season-best fourth.
  • Wharton took his first-career victory at St. Louis, leading every lap of the main event.
  • Points leader Christophe Pourcel came from 17th on the opening lap to finish a strong fifth and maintain a healthy points advantage of 25 points with two rounds left in the Lites east.
  • Wharton, Stroupe and Izzi celebrate on the podium.
GEICO Powersports Honda’s Blake Wharton has figured his starts out. After struggling with his starts for much of the early part of the season, Wharton has started at or near the front for the last two weeks. In the Lites main event in St. Louis, Wharton grabbed the holeshot while his most likely challengers – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel and Austin Stroupe – were 17th and fifth on the opening lap, respectively.

However, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Nico Izzi was all over Wharton out front, and remained such for about half of the race before Wharton – riding much more like a veteran than a rookie – began to distance himself from Izzi, who fell back into the grasp of the charging Stroupe.

On the final lap, Stroupe made a pass stick on the fading Izzi for second, but Wharton had the race wrapped up. He rode over the finish line without so much as a fist in the air, and rode over to the podium, perhaps not realizing what he had just accomplished.

Pourcel, who started well back in the pack, methodically worked his way through to fifth and holds a 25-point lead over Stroupe with only two rounds left to run in the Lites East. Matt Goerke rode a solid race for fourth.

Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites Class Results, St. Louis
1. Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Honda
2. Austin Stroupe, Lincolnton, N.C., Kawasaki
3. Nico Izzi, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki
4. Matthew Goerke, Lake Helen, Fla., Suzuki
5. Christophe Pourcel, Corona, Calif., Kawasaki
6. Matt Lemoine, Collinsville, Texas, Yamaha
7. Steven Clarke, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki
8. Daniel Blair, Modesto, Calif., Honda
9. Darryn Durham, Wildomar, Calif., Yamaha
10. Shane Sewell, Westville, Ind., Yamaha

Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites Class Season Standings
1. Christophe Pourcel, Corona, Calif., Kawasaki, 131
2. Austin Stroupe, Lincolnton, N.C., Kawasaki, 106
3. Nico Izzi, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 102
4. Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Honda, 91
5. Branden Jesseman, New Brighton, Pa., Kawasaki, 73
6. Matthew Goerke, Lake Helen, Fla., Suzuki, 68
7. Wil Hahn, Decatur, Texas, KTM, 68
8. Matt Lemoine, Collinsville, Texas, 66
9. Steven Clarke, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki, 65
10. Daniel Blair, Modesto, Calif., Honda, 63
  • Racer X Films: Kevin Windham Racer X Films: Kevin Windham 10:20am
Presented by:
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Website
Read Now
July 2022 Issue Now Available
Get Racer X on your iPhone
Check out all the exclusive content this month on any device!
Read Now
The July 2022 Digital Issue Availalbe Now

Motocross & Supercross News - Racer X

122 Vista Del Rio Drive, Morgantown, WV 26508 | 304-284-0084 | Contact Us
©1999 - 2022 Filter Publications LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
designed at: Website DesignImpulse Studios