Yamaha Race Report: San Diego Supercross

AMA Supercross Round 6 | February 9, 2008 | San Diego, CA
For the third consecutive weekend, Yamaha’s Chad Reed and Jason Lawrence
topped their respective Supercross and Supercross Lites classes, this time in San
Diego, CA. on Saturday night, Feb. 9. Reed’s victory, his fifth this year, means he
has won all five California rounds of the 2008 AMA Supercross Series. Even more
importantly, he now holds a big 35-point advantage over Kevin Windham in the
championship standings. Lawrence’s win is also his third of the season and vaults
him into the Lites points lead over Ryan Dungey.

Supercross... Reed was quickest in practice and finished second to Windham in
his heat race aboard an L&M Racing YZ450F. Davi Millsaps grabbed the holeshot
at the start of the 20-lap main event and Reed jetted past him a few corners
later. Millsaps then forged back into the lead, battling with Reed as the enormous
crowd of 64,251 cheered both riders. Reed reclaimed the lead on lap three and
held it for 10 laps before falling in a sandy section and giving Millsaps the edge.
He quickly remounted though, caught Millsaps on lap 17, and raced home for the
win as Millsaps faded to third behind Tim Ferry. “There’s just something about
this event!” Reed said afterwards. “I am pumped to get another win in San Diego
and to win all the California rounds – I don’t think anyone has ever done that
before.”

Supercross Lites... Although Lawrence finished only ninth in his Lites qualifying
race, in the final he blazed out of the gate to take the holeshot and lead all 15
laps aboard his Yamaha of Troy YZ250F. Fortunately for Lawrence, points leader
Dungey had a troublesome night and crashed repeatedly, finishing sixth and
giving Lawrence a slender two-point lead. “I was glad to see another sweep for
Chad and Jason and it was nice to have Jason take over the Lites points lead for
the first time in his career,” said Supercross team manager Jim Perry after the
event. “Now we’re moving on to Houston!”

In other Yamaha Factory Racing news, Broc Hepler, injured at Anaheim III on
Feb. 2, had a pin put in his thumb last week... full story on yamaha-motor.com
pic from tedescophoto.com