GEICO Honda Race Recap: St. Louis

ST. LOUIS – Three proved to be the magic number for GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia during Saturday night's Monster Energy AMA Supercross Lites East race at Edward Jones Dome.

On the third day of the third month, Barcia won his third straight race to start the East season and his third consecutive contest in the Gateway City.

"That's a lot of threes," Barcia said. "I'm speechless right now. It's amazing. I'm in shock practically. The team is doing such a great job. Everyone is on it."

Barcia was dominant all day, qualifying second, winning his heat race handily and winning the Lites main by 7.921 seconds.

"It hasn't been easy, that's for sure," Barcia said. "It doesn't feel easy when I'm out there riding. But the main thing right now is that I'm having fun, and when I have fun I race well and win."

Barcia also extended his championship lead in the East. He leaves St. Louis with a commanding 18-point edge over second-place Ken Roczen.

GEICO Honda's Supercross rider Kevin Windham matched his season-best finish by crossing the finish fourth on Saturday.

"My 201st race was a lot better than the 200th," Windham said. "I got a good start, which is something I wanted to focus on all night. I was looking to get to the first turn in a reasonable position.

"I feel like I missed an opportunity to get on the podium. I'm happy with the fourth, but after being so close, you want more. We didn't make a change on the bike all day, and when you can come to a race and do that – your machine is dialed in pretty good."

Before the race, the Supercross series and Feld Entertainment honored Windham for reaching the 200-start milestone last weekend. The GEICO Honda team gave Windham a new pickup truck and the series presented Windham with the gate he started from during his historic race.

"I'm in a pretty elite club right now," Windham said. "It's just our team manager, Mike LaRocco, and myself right now. I'm thankful for all the people, fans and sponsors who are by my side. It's an amazing feeling."

Windham is now in fifth place in the Supercross standings and should pass the injured Chad Reed for fourth next weekend.

GEICO Honda's other Lites East rider, Justin Bogle, came a half-lap short of finishing on the podium for the second straight week.

The team's rookie battled for 14 laps with Roczen for second place. Roczen's advantage over Bogle shrank and grew with every turn. On the white flag lap, Bogle pushed too hard, tipped over and ultimately finished fifth.

"I got up to third right off the start," Bogle said. "Barcia was gone, and it was me and Roczen battling for second. I was right on his back wheel, but I just couldn’t find a place to make a pass happen.

"I was still in third after I fell over, but fell again getting up. It was still a good night. I will keep working on my starts so I will be in better position."

Bogle leaves St. Louis in fifth place, 13 points behind the two riders tied for third place.

Up next for the GEICO Honda team is a trip to historic Daytona International Speedway on March 10.