A beautiful day in sunny Southern California greeted riders and fans as round number one of the 2010 AMA Supercross series got underway in Anaheim on Saturday.
With a healthy field of Lites and Supercross-class riders ready to strut their stuff at the season opener, the Anaheim faithful were not disappointed, as the racing action was exactly what we’ve grown to expect out of A1!
In the first Lites heat race of the year, Red Bull-backed Troy Lee/Lucas Oils/Honda’s Will Hahn battled back after a mediocre start to qualify for the main in the fifth spot. In heat number two, Hahn’s TLD Honda teammate Cole Seeley grabbed a top-ten start to kick things off, and then motored his Red Bull-powered CRF250R to a fourth place finish by the wave of the checkers, easily qualifying for the night’s main event.
To get things crackin’ in the Supercross class, Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps grabbed the lead early on lap number one of the opening heat and never looked back! Millsaps grabbed a handful of throttle and proceeded to reel off eight perfect laps to take the first heat race win of the year in the premier class!
In Supercross heat number two, Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short chased James Stewart around the track, finishing just a couple seconds back in the second spot. With Red Bull athletes qualifying 1-1-2 out of the heats, the gate was set for an incredible Supercross-class main event!
With the capacity Anaheim crowd standing on their feet, the Lites-class main event was loaded into the gate. As it dropped, Hahn suffered a less than ideal start, but put his head down and motored his way back up to a very respectable fifth place finish. Look for Hahn to be a permanent fixture on the podium as the series progresses!
'We battled to the end. That's what racing's about.' -James Stewart
In the Supercross main event, Stewart moved into the second spot behind Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey by turn number two, where he began a patient and controlled assault on the Anaheim circuit. Losing ground at times due to a few uncommon mistakes, it wasn’t until lap 18 that Stewart finally made his move on Dungey for the lead. Despite a last lap retaliation by Dungey, James held on to the top spot, and motored on to a well-deserved win!
The 24-year-old Stewart, who crashed out of the season-opening race 12 months ago, was full of praise for the rookie who pushed him so far in front of 43,841 at Angel Stadium.
"He was riding good; we battled to the end. That's what racing's about. When you get that close, you battle to the end. He's a great competitor."
Kevin Windham finished third ahead of fourth-placed Andrew Short and Ryan Villopoto, who was fifth, while Stewart's arch-rival Chad Reed suffered a broken front wheel on the first lap.
Stay tuned as racing returns next week in Phoenix, Arizona, for round number two of the 17-race Supercross series!
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