Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 28, 2014 second in the main event. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider, who was suffering the effects of a nagging cold the first three rounds, worked his way past Wil Hahn, Ryan Dungey and Justin Brayton early in the main. Then he found himself trailing only Reed and Villopoto at the halfway point. Stewart followed Reed for seven laps and then used a big heave over the quad to pull within striking distance of the Kawasaki rider. He then used that momentum to make the pass on Reed two turns later with an inside line in a bowl turn to take over second. "We kind of struggled all day, but we got a good setup, made good changes, and had a good race tonight," said Stewart. "I feel all year, the best I have ridden, even the last two weeks, has been in the main event. That's what I pride myself on; I pride myself on relying on my fitness. The first few races, the flu took it out of me, but tonight is more like how we should be racing." The quad jump was a deal breaker for Reed, as well. The Discount Tire Racing/TwoTwo Motorsports Honda rider admitted after the race that it took a lot of nerve for him to jump it the first time. In the end, Reed said it was Stewart's ability to jump it consistently that enabled the Suzuki rider to beat him out for second. "James was just doing the quad, and that was it," said Reed. "Other than that, I think I had him covered. I think I was better in the whoops than everyone, so the race just boiled down to the quad tonight. "That quad drove me nuts all day. I was frustrated with it; I'm not normally one that comes out and jumps things before anyone else. I felt like it was do-able, but no one else was doing it, so I was thinking I didn't want to try something that maybe wasn't P69 Briefly... I'm really bummed and I want to be out there battling. I want to be at 100 percent and be where I was before my crash last week physically. I'm going to get therapy this week and do anything I can to get back to 100 percent." Cooper Webb crashed on the final lap of practice and sprained his wrist, which bothered him during the evening program. The MyPlash/ Star Racing Yamaha rider still managed a ninth-place finish, despite going down after coming together with Malcolm Stewart. GEICO Honda's Wil Hahn enjoyed his best race so far on the 450. He finished third in his heat race and battle up front in the main for a while before settling into eighth for his best 450-class finish to date. "The whole night was better," Hahn, the 2013 East 250 Supercross champ said. "My practices were better and my heat race was awesome. I got my starts better, and that was the main goal of the week. We did well there, and more than anything I was able to bring more speed. My riding was a lot more well-rounded. "That brought a lot of momentum for me," Hahn said. "I needed that. From the practice to the heat to the main, I had a lot more momentum on my side tonight." Hahn was fifth after one lap of the 20-lap feature, but after contact with former teammate Justin Barcia on the fourth lap he fell back to eighth. "I made too many mistakes in the main," Hahn said. "I went backward and had to come back forward. Those first couple laps, those guys are firing and everyone's getting pushed around. (Barcia and I) just came together. That's how he rides, continued on next page

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