Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/291759
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 14 APRIL 8, 2014 P41 aled," he said. "I'm heading back to California now to chill out, but stay focused, too." Muscle Milk Honda's Trey Ca- nard, competing in only his sec- ond event of the year, finished fourth. Canard too, rode unchal- lenged but was happy with his performance. "The track was way tough and was brutal and there were a couple of really tough parts," Ca- nard said. "These last two tracks were hard to come back to. The arm is one hundred percent but the race fitness is what needs to be worked on, but I feel like I im- proved this week." My Own Race: 5 RYAN DUNGEY 7 TH 450 Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey was hoping for another solid finish at Houston and perhaps gain a few points on Villo- poto, the one rider ahead of him in the points standings. A first-lap crash, however, left Dungey scraping for what- ever he could, which was a disappointing seventh. "Un- fortunately, I got a bad start and then came together with another rider on the opening lap, which caused me to go down," Dungey said. "I did my best to salvage what points I could riding from last to seventh by the end of the race. I'm disappointed how the race turned out but happy that I'm healthy and came away unscathed." 16 ZACH OSBORNE 5 TH 250 GEICO Honda's Zach Osborne returned to action in the 250 West class. Osborne missed the last couple of West rounds because of injury, but he rode well in Houston, fin- ishing fifth in the main. "Tonight offered a lot of positives, especially being my first race back from injury," Osborne said. "To finish top five, when you look at it, is pretty de- cent. Even so, I don't feel like that finish really shows how well I feel like I was able to ride. It seems like I deserved to be up front, but I struggled just enough in the whoops to kill my chances. The main thing is that, physically, I'm 100 percent. Everything is working fine and I didn't experience any pain or weakness in my shoulder, so thumbs up there, for sure. I'm ready to keep racing and I'm looking forward to Seattle." 48 BEN LAMAY 19TH 450 Cycle Trader Rock River Yamaha's Ben Lamay qualified for only his second main of the year after missing the first 10 rounds with a pre-season injury. He returned at Detroit but went down and suffered a concussion. He made the main last week at St. Louis and qualified 18th in Houston and was riding well in the final until a scary over the bars crash ended his night. "It was carnage in the first straight and after that I was running good, like 10th or 12th, but made a mistake on the dragon back and endoed," Lamay explained. "I mangled the front end and it was all twisted so I couldn't finish, but up until that point I felt good. My speed is coming, but I'm not comfortable and in that race mode yet, so I just need more racing and gate drops." 37 COOPER WEBB 6TH 250 Cooper Webb, now in his rookie season of Supercross, has had mixed results thus far this season, but added a sixth to the resume, not to mention his first ever heat-race win. With two rounds remaining, Webb holds sixth in the points as well. "The night was pretty good and it started off with my first ever heat-race win, so that was cool," Webb said. "Got a bad start in the main and just worked my way through the pack. The track caught us off guard and it was gnarly with some big whoops. It was tough for a short guy like me. I qualified sixth and finished sixth, so I guess I was the sixth best guy today." 347 CODY GILMORE 14TH 450 Yankton Motosport.com's Cody Gilmore has been on fire lately and qualified for his fourth main event in a row at Houston. Although he didn't feel good on the track all day, Gilmore finished a career-best 14th in the final. "I didn't feel it out there at all and rode terrible in practice and in the heat and semi," Gilmore said. "I knew I had to get a start in the LCQ, which I did, and finally got in. In the main, I got a bad start but all those guys went down and it was scary. All I heard was metal clanking and bikes and bodies flying all over the place. I was in 10th for a while but didn't want to over ride the track and go down, so I just did my own thing and rode around until the end." 3 ELI TOMAC 9 TH 450 GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac had another disappointing night as he continues battling back from a series of injuries. "This day was pretty much like the whole season has been going for me," Tomac said. "In practice we were consistently top three or four in every session, maybe just a few 10ths [of a second] off the lead, so I felt pretty comfortable. The heat races have been a bit of a struggle. I've been struggling myself and we've struggled with the bike just a bit. It was no different here. We did make a change for the semi, and I rode really well there and almost won it but ended up sec- ond. I was on the outside for the start [of the main], but a few of us over there still managed to get pretty good starts. The field kind of shuffled up front from there, and I think I was like in a group around sixth, seventh, or eighth. I rode all the way up to fifth at one point, but on lap 10, I cased a jump pretty hard and that kind of knocked the wind out of my sails and I fell back to ninth."