Cycle News

MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2014 P37 Supercross was no different. At the last two rounds, that team has been Stewart and the Yoshimura Suzuki crew, headed by team manger Mike Webb. One week ago in San Diego, Stewart said the team struggled all day with setup, but finally set- tled on a combination just before the main event that allowed him to find traction on the hard-packed surface where others couldn't. In Arlington, finding a setup came a little quicker for the Su- zuki bunch and Stewart was fast from the get-go, although Justin Barcia nearly ran him down in the first heat race of the day. "This weekend I was real com- fortable out front, but I struggled Briefly... go to the semi. I only got fifth in the semi, the last transfer spot, so I had a bad gate pick for the main. The start in the main was crazy. Everyone was pushing hard. I got edged out a little wide, and once I was that far back it was a struggle the whole time. The track deteriorated quite a bit from the heat to the main, so it was even tougher. I'm learning more ev- ery race, but you always want more when you're not on the podium." In general, it was a big night for the GEICO Honda Team with the return of the injured Justin Bogle, the Supercross debut of Matt Bisceg- lia, and the return of former GEICO Honda rider Blake Wharton. Bogle pulled through with a fifth in the 250 main, Wharton seventh and Bisceg- lia 19 th after suffering bike problems. "My heat race was horrible, probably one of my worst rides ever as a pro- fessional," said Justin Bogle of his night. "But you know, it kind of turned into a blessing in disguise, because I had to come back and race the LCQ, which allowed me to get some extra laps on this crazy track. I just rode so much better in the LCQ, got that win, and that lifted me up mentally. I ended up kind of having another bad start in the main, but I knew the lines I wanted to ride and I ended up in the top five, which was my goal at the start of the race." The first corner, where several riders went down throughout the day, cost Blake Wharton some valuable posi- tions in the main event and the defi- cit proved too much to overcome. "It was really slick there, so getting a holeshot became so important into what angle you could take into the CHAD REED'S VALIANT EFFORT Despite breaking four bones in his shoulder area (not to mention damaging his lung) in last week's last-lap crash at the San Diego Supercross, Discount Tires/ TwoTwo Motorsports Kawasaki's Chad Reed attempted to com- pete at the Dallas Supercross, but after a valiant effort, couldn't quite make it happen. The team's plan all along was for Reed to participate in the first non-timed practice session to see how the shoulder would hold up, and if things went well, he'd skip the second outing and come back for the third and final quali- fying session. The first practice went about as good as he and the team could expect – though he was indeed sore - and was hopeful that he would be able to race later on, but during his second time out, Reed landed hard from a jump and his already weak shoulder simply gave out, which was something they were worried might happen. The hard decision to pull out was made by Reed and the team right then and there. "Well, we tried," Reed later Tweeted. "Went to go for a time and shoulder either popped out or the coracoid [a part of the scapula] process pulled off which is what we were concerned 'bout." Reed said later that none of the breaks he suffered in the San Diego crash are considered seri- ous, which gave him the hope of competing at Arlington, and he now hopes to be back racing soon. But how soon? Reed says that he's not sure what the near future holds for him at the moment. He'll have an MRI and more x-rays on the shoulder this week and then will make some decisions, but none of those deci- sions, he said, will have anything to do with an early retirement. Chances are that he'll now wait until he's all healed up, but if he can ride without causing any more damage to the shoulder, he'll no doubt race, even in pain. He's proven that he can certainly do that. continued on next page

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