Forget everything you learned in practice. Hansen crashed? Stewart sat out? Whatever. Check this out.
Lites Heat 1: Kyle Cunningham has been fast all year, but starts and crashes have done him in. He grabbed the holeshot in the first heat, and proved he indeed can deliver when the situation is right, holding on for the win. Eli Tomac pressured him at times, but tipped over in the sand, handing Cunningham a big win.
Lites Heat 2: Josh Hansen comes into this one with a broken hand from a practice crash. It doesn’t show in this heat race when he grabs the holeshot and leads early. Martin Davalos applies a little pressure but can’t close the gap, Hanny is the winner. Let's coin the nickname Broken Handy.
LItes Heat 1: Good thing we raced this heat because we weren’t sure if James Stewart was fast. He’s only been spectacular since his very first supercross race, which took place in this building nine years ago. He dominated this one. Ivan Tedesco took the holeshot, Stewart made the pass and checked out. After a near-crash in the whoops on the first lap, he started upping the pace, going quad-quad through a rhythm lane, and then adding in a third quad, a huge one on the first rhythm lane, on the last lap. Ryan Villopoto battled Tedesco, making a mistake, then getting back to second way too late to challenge Stewart. But would he have been fast enough to do it anyway? Stewart was .8 seconds faster on his fastest lap.
Lites Heat 2: Ryan Dungey looks fast tonight—remember, he had the fastest qualifying time (but also remember, Stewart didn’t ride the second practice). But Trey Canard is also fast. He shadowed Dungey the whole way, never trying to make the pass, but definitely matching speed with the champ.
