Reed walked off the track with some help from the Asterisk medic crew, but didn’t get back into the race. Meanwhile Villopoto cruised to an easy win, gaining huge points in the series. Meanwhile Jake Weimer took over second and battled Ryan Dungey to the end to try to keep it, but Dungey made a move late to steal the spot. Weimer rounded out the podium. Mike Alessi held on for a solid fourth, Josh Hansen was fifth. James Stewart stalled when trying to get around his teammate Davi Millsaps, who had fallen. They got up in last and next to last, Stewart came back for sixth, ahead of Windham Metcalfe Brayton and Chisholm.
Crashes and big points told the story in the Lites East opener as well. Justin Barcia took the win, but he did some battling, getting past his teammate Justin Bogle and Darryn Durham to get the lead. Ken Roczen rolled up on the group and got Bogle for third, then Malcolm Stewart tried putting a hard block pass on Bogle, and that put both of them on the ground. Stewart got back going quickly, but Bogle lost a ton of spots and finished 14th—he did give Stewart a slap on the helmet before he got away, though.
But other contenders had it worse—like Blake Bagget and Kyle Cunningham who went down off the start and finished way back. You can’t win it in one race, but, well, you can set yourself up for an big comeback, right?
