Barcia Bags his First Pro Win to Lead GEICO Powersports Honda Team
March 15, 2010, 9:29am
TORONTO -- Rising star Justin Barcia won his first Supercross Lites race Saturday night at the AMA Monster Energy tour stop in Toronto. The race was just his fourth as a pro for the 17-year-old Barcia (bar-sha), who stormed through the amateur ranks before joining the powerful GEICO Powersports Honda team last year.
"This feels incredible," Barcia said. "It seems like it took forever for this to happen. It's something I've thought about my whole life and it's unreal that it finally has happened. Now I need to go out and do it again.
"I was just on it tonight. I got the holeshot in my heat race and that gave me the line I wanted for the main event and I was able to get the holeshot again. I got way ahead in the trace and I was pretty excited and I made a few mistakes, hit some bales, and went off the track there for a second, but I stayed up front and managed to open my lead back up again after that. I feel like I've learned a lot in the four races I've run."
In the Supercross main event, teammate Trey Canard recorded his third straight podium finish with a strong third-place finish. After winning twice earlier this season on a 250cc machine, Canard was promoted to a 450cc ride in place of injured factory Honda rider Andrew Short. He's now raced four times in the sport's premier class.
"I was doing my best to hang with those guys," said Canard, who was the early leader in the race. "I got beat by like 30 seconds last week, so tonight in those first five laps I was doing everything I could to stay up there. I was kind of spent after that.
"I don't want to make excuses but the travel is starting to wear on me. I've never done the east and west coast thing and I've never raced 10 weekends in a row before, but this has been a great experience for me."
Star attraction Kevin Windham recorded the 100th top-five finish of his illustrious career when he worked his way through a tough field to take fifth place overall.
"I'm really disappointed with my start," Windham said. "I had a slow reaction to the gate and was playing catch-up after that. The GEICO Powersports Honda was great and I just didn't do it justice tonight."
Barcia's win marks the third victory of the season for the GEICO Powersports Honda group. They've put a rider on the podium at nine of 10 races this year.
Windham is now fifth in the AMA Supercross standings. Barcia ranks fifth in the Supercross Lites East standings, while teammate Brett Metcalfe, who finished sixth in Toronto, is one point ahead of Barcia in fourth.
The tour now heads to Texas for next Saturday's event at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
"This feels incredible," Barcia said. "It seems like it took forever for this to happen. It's something I've thought about my whole life and it's unreal that it finally has happened. Now I need to go out and do it again.
"I was just on it tonight. I got the holeshot in my heat race and that gave me the line I wanted for the main event and I was able to get the holeshot again. I got way ahead in the trace and I was pretty excited and I made a few mistakes, hit some bales, and went off the track there for a second, but I stayed up front and managed to open my lead back up again after that. I feel like I've learned a lot in the four races I've run."
In the Supercross main event, teammate Trey Canard recorded his third straight podium finish with a strong third-place finish. After winning twice earlier this season on a 250cc machine, Canard was promoted to a 450cc ride in place of injured factory Honda rider Andrew Short. He's now raced four times in the sport's premier class.
"I was doing my best to hang with those guys," said Canard, who was the early leader in the race. "I got beat by like 30 seconds last week, so tonight in those first five laps I was doing everything I could to stay up there. I was kind of spent after that.
"I don't want to make excuses but the travel is starting to wear on me. I've never done the east and west coast thing and I've never raced 10 weekends in a row before, but this has been a great experience for me."
Star attraction Kevin Windham recorded the 100th top-five finish of his illustrious career when he worked his way through a tough field to take fifth place overall.
"I'm really disappointed with my start," Windham said. "I had a slow reaction to the gate and was playing catch-up after that. The GEICO Powersports Honda was great and I just didn't do it justice tonight."
Barcia's win marks the third victory of the season for the GEICO Powersports Honda group. They've put a rider on the podium at nine of 10 races this year.
Windham is now fifth in the AMA Supercross standings. Barcia ranks fifth in the Supercross Lites East standings, while teammate Brett Metcalfe, who finished sixth in Toronto, is one point ahead of Barcia in fourth.
The tour now heads to Texas for next Saturday's event at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
