THO World Supercross GP/
THO AMA Supercross Series
ately, it seems that whoever gets
out front first between Kevin
Windham and Chad Reed stays
there. For the last two races, it's
been Reed who has gotten out
front early and stayed there. But this we ek
it was Windham's turn not only to get the
early advantage, but to keep it.
With Reed and his factory Yamaha tak- .
ing a few laps to move from a so-so start to
second place, it proved to be a few laps
too many, as Windham had checked out just like he'd planned . By the time Reed
was in a position to attack, Windham was
seven seconds clear. End of race .
L
"I got a good start, and o nce I got to the
lead, I just really tried to check out,"
Windham said. "It worked out for me ."
The win moved Windham and his
Amsoil/C haparral Ho nda once again to
within 25 points (o r one race ) of Reed in
the championship. Although it's a bit early
for such pondering, it should be noted that,
as unlikely as the scenario is, if Windham
were to win all eight ro unds from this point
on and Reed finished second every week,
Windham wo uld win the 2004 THQ AMA
Supercross Championship by a single
point.
Fast-starting C hevy Trucks Kawasaki
rider Michael Byrne grabbed the holeshot
16 MARCH 3, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
for the second time to start t he 20-lap
main event, while perennial contender
Mike laRocco dusted himself off after
cras hing in the first turn.
"I didn't go in as good as I needed to ,
and it kind of bottled up in the second turn ,
and I think I just went in too hot , and I kind
of highsided over [Heath] Voss," laRocco
said. "I went down, and it was just kind of
an awkward area, so it took me a while to
get going."
MotoworidRacing.com Suzuk i's Andrew Short sat second off the start, and
Windham was third . Before the end of the
first official lap, though, Windham was in
40th Anniversary
(Above) M ichael Byrne (26 ) gat his
secand haleshot in three weeks, but
Kevin Windham (14 )3ot around
quickly and left w hile Cha Reed (22 )
got hung up in the pa ck.
(Right) Jonathan Hyland, Windham 's
mechanic, kept him informed
throughout the ra ce while Honda 's
JeH Stan ton [left) cheered him on,
the lead. Reed rounded that first lap fifth,
all over his teammate David Vuillemin.
"I had to pass Michael [Byrne] and
Andrew [Short] , and they were all ove r the
place , and it was kind of to ugh," Vuillemin
said. "We were losing a lot of time - you
