Stewart, Weimer Take Phoenix -ozzy go- speedtv.com

When the Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series rolled into
Phoenix for round two, the only thing anyone knew for sure was
that the track was going to be dry, unlike the opener in Anaheim.
A lot of riders who had poor outings in the mud at the opening
round were hoping to prove their mettle on the dry circuit.

At least one definitely succeeded.

Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Jake Weimer failed to make the main
event at the series opener after injuring his shoulder in a heat-
race crash and then falling again while in a qualifying position in
the Lites LCQ. However, despite the injury, and limited riding time
during the week because of it, Weimer grabbed the holeshot in
the Lites main and led the first lap in front of opening-round
winner Ryan Dungey of the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki squad,
Yamaha’s Broc Hepler, Monster/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Brett
Metcalfe, MDK KTM’s Justin Brayton, DNA Honda’s Kyle
Cunningham and opening-round runner-up Jason Lawrence of the
Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy squad.

Dungey and Hepler both found their way by Weimer on the
second lap, displacing Weimer to third, where he came under fire
from Metcalfe. Meanwhile, up front, Hepler was giving Dungey all
he could handle, and then some, and repeatedly passed the
Suzuki phenom, which had the side result of allowing Weimer to
stay close enough to strike if anything happened.

And it did.

On the 10th lap of 15, Hepler and Dungey got a little too close for
comfort coming up to the triple on Chase Field’s first-base line and
Dungey was forced to forego jumping the obstacle, which moved
Weimer up into second. On the very next lap, Hepler fell down by
himself in a tight right-hand turn following the finish line, and
Weimer reassumed the lead with four laps to go, and Dungey
breathing down his neck.

Over the final four laps, Dungey tried everything to get by
Weimer, but he was thwarted at every turn until the last lap of the
race, when Dungey tried to dive inside Weimer approaching the
same first-base-line triple he had trouble on previously, and
Weimer squeezed him down low, halting Dungey’s momentum and
forcing him again not to jump the obstacle. Weimer, meanwhile,
dropped the hammer and seat-bounced the triple, which gave him
all the space he needed to win his first-ever AMA Supercross main
event – one race after failing to qualify for the main event
altogether.

“I’m sure it will sink in tomorrow or something,” Weimer said, “but
right now, it’s pretty hard to believe.”

Dungey hung on for second and extended his points lead in the
West to nine over Lawrence, who wound up fifth on the night.

Metcalfe finished third, just in front of Hepler and Brayton.

Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s holeshot artist Mike Alessi lived up to his
reputation in the 450cc main event, grabbing the holeshot just in
front of defending champ James Stewart of the Monster Kawasaki
squad and San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed, who won the
opening round.

Stewart quickly assumed the lead, with Reed right on his tail, and
the two proceeded to put on a clinic, as they lapped consistently
in the 46-second range, while everyone else was running laps of
47 seconds and higher. Stewart even got into the 45s on a couple
laps during the main event.

For the first few laps of the main, Reed was all over Stewart and
was threatening to pass, but as the time wore on, Reed slipped
little by little and fell further and further behind. Stewart ended up
winning his first main event of the year by just under two seconds
over Reed, with Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham, and
Honda Red Bull Racing teammates Andrew Short and Ivan
Tedesco rounding out the top five.

Reed and Stewart are tied atop the championship leaderboard
each with 47 points with 15 rounds... full story on speedtv.com