Words by Chris Kinman
Photos by Brendan Lutes
After a five year hiatus, Supercross returned to Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles stadium and what a return it was. Even with the threat of rain looming on the horizon and eventually materializing just before the gate dropped, fans flocked to witness the intense racing action.
In the end, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey was crowned champion in the West Coast Lites series, while San Manuel Band of Mission Indians/Yamaha’s James Stewart and Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki Chad Reed battled tooth and nail for most of the main event. But to learn all the details and to check out the photos, read on…
LITES QUALIFYING
Heat 1
When the gates dropped for the first Lites heat in Salt Lake City, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer took the holeshot with Seaspan Troy Lee Designs’ Chris Blose and Jake Moss settling in behind. Weimer’s teammate Ryan Morais and Geico Powersports Honda’s Dan Reardon took an early fall in the second turn, but only Morais managed to re-enter the battle inside the top ten. Morais snuck into fourth place; Reardon, however, settled into 13th. Moss made his way past his teammate, Blose, and he enjoyed a second-place finish while Mike Sleeter put his KTM inside the top five just behind Ryan Morais. Weimer easily took the win with the TLD teammates rounding out the top three. Ben Lamay snuck into qualifying with his ninth-place finish and guaranteed himself a spot in the main.
1. Jake Weimer
2. Jake Moss
3. Chris Blose
4. Ryan Morais
5. Mike Sleeter
6. Michael Hall
7. Jeff Alessi
8. Ryan Clark
9. Ben Lamay
Heat 2
In the second heat of the night, Canidae/Motosport/Kawasaki’s Kyle Cunningham took the holeshot but could not keep it on two wheels. Geico Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, and Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM’s Justin Brayton quickly took over the top three positions. Cunningham’s teammate PJ Larsen also kept pace and held onto fourth place. After three laps, Canard grasped onto a 1.8-second lead over Dungey, as Brayton comfortably held onto third. Larsen, nearly 10 seconds off the leader, safely finished fourth, almost 13 seconds ahead of fifth-place finisher, Cole Seely. Cunningham, who went down early, managed to battle back to seventh, just behind Sean Borkenhagen aboard the Seaspan/TLD Honda.
1. Trey Canard
2. Ryan Dungey
3. Justin Brayton
4. PJ Larsen
5. Cole Seely
6. Sean Borkenhagen
7. Kyle Cunningham
8. Adam Chatfield
9. G. Davenport
LCQ
1. Brady Sheren
2. Ben Evans
TAGS: chad reed, james stewart, Race Report, Rice-Eccles Stadium, ryan dungey, salt lake city, supercross, SX, trey canard
