Reed and Windham run away again
By KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
f there's one word that could best
describ e this year's 34th running of
the Daytona Supercross by Honda.
it probably would be - endurance.
The traditionally rough and brutal
Daytona track , which more closely
resembles an "outdoor " National
motocross track than a traditional supercross track, lived up to its reputation
once again, as it certainly tested everyone's strength and stamina. And the two
riders who passed the test with flying
colors were the same two riders who
have been battling at the front of the
pack all season long. Team Yamaha's
Chad Reed and Amsoil/Chaparral/Factory
Connection's Kevin Windham proved
that not only are they consistently the
fastest 250cc-c1ass riders of the series,
but they are, without a doubt, also the
fittest . For the second week in a row,
Reed and Windham finished 1-2, well
ahead of the rest of the pack , which
included Travis Pastrana , who returned to
I
racing for the first time since last year.
After some pretty exciting qualifying
races, the 20-lap 250cc main could not
maintain that same close-racing action
pace , as Reed got out front early, despite
tapping bars with his cousin, Craig
Anderson, down the start chute, and
Windham got caught in the middle of the
pack after getting a late jump and then
squeezed out in the first turn. He came
out of it around ninth.
Pastrana , however, kept things somewhat interesting for a while, pulling into
second place during the first lap. After
beating Windham in his earlier heat race ,
where he set the quickest 250cc heatrace time of the night, many were expecting Pastrana perhaps to give Reed a run
for his money, but Pastrana was never
really able to challenge the YZ250 pilot,
as he physically started to run out of gas
and noticeably began to fade by the seventh lap. Having just started riding again a
few weeks earlier, his lack of training cer-
24 MARCH 17,2004 • CYCLE NEWS
