Sign of the (Lap) Times: St. Louis
March 26, 2009, 12:26pm
Riders seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the track that Travis Pastrana designed for St. Louis. If they got a good start and were up front, riders seemed to like it—a la Blake Wharton. Get a bad start and try coming through the pack and chances are you’re not going to have any good things to say about the course—a course which was supposedly designed to create more passing opportunities.
In the Lites class, it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe setting the fastest time in the class with a 47.314, barely edging out Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Nico Izzi. Our winner, Blake Wharton, proved you don’t have to be the fastest rider to win, as his 47.466 was third quickest. The top five fastest riders all had times in the 47-second range, as Suzuki City’s Matt Goerke and Star Racing’s Matt Lemoine rounded out the top five.
In the Lites class, it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe setting the fastest time in the class with a 47.314, barely edging out Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Nico Izzi. Our winner, Blake Wharton, proved you don’t have to be the fastest rider to win, as his 47.466 was third quickest. The top five fastest riders all had times in the 47-second range, as Suzuki City’s Matt Goerke and Star Racing’s Matt Lemoine rounded out the top five.
|
Finish
|
Best Lap
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
2
|
47.314
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
3
|
47.401
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
1
|
47.466
|
Honda
|
|
|
4
|
47.894
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
6
|
47.912
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
5
|
48.098
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
7
|
49.106
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
9
|
49.140
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
10
|
49.312
|
Shane Sewell
|
Yamaha
|
|
8
|
49.337
|
Honda
|
|
|
16
|
49.835
|
Honda
|
|
|
19
|
50.018
|
Honda
|
|
|
18
|
50.294
|
Kyle Keylon
|
Honda
|
|
13
|
50.307
|
Cody Gilmore
|
Honda
|
|
11
|
50.629
|
Chad Ward
|
Kawasaki
|
|
20
|
50.743
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
14
|
51.042
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
15
|
51.136
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
12
|
51.257
|
Honda
|
|
|
17
|
52.041
|
Spencer Dally
|
Honda
|
Matt Goerke
photo: Simon Cudby
In the AMA Supercross class, it was San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart logging the quickest lap time of the evening, his 45.435 coming on lap six, followed by Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed. Big surprise, huh? Third fastest was JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha’s Josh Grant, followed by Boost Mobile/Yamaha’s Jason Lawrence and Honda Red Bull Racing’s Ivan Tedesco. Check out the rest of the top twenty below.
|
Finish
|
Best Lap
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
2
|
45.435
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
1
|
45.731
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
3
|
46.932
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
5
|
47.122
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
6
|
47.187
|
Honda
|
|
|
4
|
47.317
|
Honda
|
|
|
11
|
47.605
|
KTM
|
|
|
15
|
47.674
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
13
|
47.723
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
16
|
47.764
|
KTM
|
|
|
8
|
47.790
|
Honda
|
|
|
9
|
47.826
|
Honda
|
|
|
10
|
47.920
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
14
|
48.061
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
12
|
48.075
|
Honda
|
|
|
7
|
48.087
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
17
|
48.512
|
Honda
|
|
|
18
|
48.644
|
Billly Laninovich
|
Kawasaki
|
|
19
|
48.652
|
Honda
|
|
|
20
|
49.472
|
Kawasaki
|
Josh Grant
photo: Simon Cudby
