For the first time in nearly a month, the Supercross show enjoyed a full Saturday without the threat of rain. Instead, the sun shined down into Angel Stadium and welcomed a regular practice schedule with 70-plus degree weather and a highly technical track, complete with a wall of death and an over-under section. With a tight points chase led by Ryan Dungey in the premier 450 class, the racing was guaranteed to be exciting in the final round of Supercross in California. In the Lites class, Monster Energy Pro Circuit’s Jake Weimer enjoyed a comfortable points lead over Geico Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard, but it was still anyone’s game heading into the West Coast Lites hiatus.
Lites Qualifying
Monster Energy Pro Circuit’s Josh Hansen won an easy holeshot in the first heat race of the night, and pulled away quickly. Geico Powersports Honda’s Blake Wharton settled into second place early followed by DNA/Shred Stix/Star Racing’s Broc Tickle. The top three riders checked out from the rest of the field almost immediately, showing they had clearly dialed in the track in practice. Before qualifying, Hansen told us he was not riding well, and was frustrated with his showing in practice. He said he’d be reviewing some video footage and trying to smooth over by race time. Apparently, the time back at the Pro Circuit semi paid off, as he easily won the heat.
The second heat of the night took a gnarly turn for the worst, when Max Anstie wadded up trying to reel in Jake Weimer, who was engaged in an intense battle with Trey Canard; so intense, that when the red and red-cross flags came out, the two disregarded them and continued their battle for nearly another complete lap. Weimer had won the holeshot, but Canard passed him over the wall; from there, the two put on a show until Anstie, who was well on his way to catching the two riders, unintentionally hit the eject button.
The red flags forced a restart, but Jake Weimer repeated his first start with another holeshot. Wil Hahn and Trey Canard settled in second and third early. Sean Borkenhagen moved into fourth, but Jeff Alessi overtook the position. Hahn showed Weimer a wheel more than once over the course of the heat, but Weimer held on for the win.
Lites Main Event
At the drop of the gate, Wil Hahn grabbed a solid holeshot and started pulling away instantly. Before the end of the first lap, he already had a one second lead on second place, Trey Canard, and third place, Jake Weimer. The three riders who battled in their heat seemed poised to do battle. By the second lap, Canard was determined to not let the opportunity slip away, and quickly made up the gap, passing Hahn over the first triple. From first back to fourth place Broc Tickle, who had suddenly become a player, there was only about a one and a half second gap.
On lap three, after passing Hahn, Weimer had a fall in the turn before the finish that knocked him way back in the pack, as he was unable to restart his bike until he was in dead last. Tickle was the man on the move though, seizing the opportunity, and passing Hahn for second place. Further back Blake Wharton was able to make his way around part time FMF/KTM rider, PJ Larsen for fourth place. But out front, Canard was not messing around, laying down some of the fastest laps of the evening to inch away from second place and hold a comfortable cushion over second place by five seconds. Way back, Weimer was forced to push his way back up through the pack and with five laps remaining in the race, had moved up to 12th position.
As the laps wound down, it was apparent that Canard was on a different level than the rest of the pack. A nice cushion over second place saw him push all the way to the finish for his second win of the season. Although Weimer’s eighth place finish is probably not enough to push Canard into the lead, it will not hurt the Geico rider’s confidence as the West Coast Lites heads into a break. Rounding out the top three were Broc Tickle and Wil Hahn. A notable finish goes to PJ Larsen in fifth in only his second ride aboard a borrowed machine.
RESULTS
1) Trey Canard
2) Broc Tickle
3) Wil Hahn
4) Blake Wharton
5) PJ Larsen
6) Phil Nicoletti
7) Travis Baker
8) Jake Weimer
9) AnotonioBalbi
10) Jeff Alessi
11) Ryan Clark
12) Sean Borkenhagen
13) Hunter Hewitt
14) Eric McCrummen
15) Bob Kiniry
16) Chris Gosselaar
17) Josh Hansen
18) T. Reidman
19) Tiger Lacey
20) Hugo Dagod
TAGS: a3, Anaheim, Angel Stadium, ball park, Broc Tickle, jason lawrence, josh hill, kevin windham, lites, Race Report, racing, report, RV, ryan dungey, ryan villopoto, supercross, SX, trey canard, wil hahn
