Cycle News

SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD ROUND 3 / JANUARY 23, 2016 ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM / ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA P50 My Own Race: 22 CHAD REED 2 ND 450SX Chad Reed said that the whoops were one of his strongpoints of the night. "They were nice," he said. "I think I only had one or two bobbles [in the whoops]; when you got a little sketch, they were scary for sure. They were fun. Every lap you'd come into them and you'd perk up a little bit and try to take some time out of Dunge [Dungey] and put some time on the guys behind me. It was my strength [tonight], but there were a lot of turns on the track. The whoops were nasty, pointy, the bike wanted to move around so you had to be perfect; more than anything, I was just trying to get in, just send 'er in and get the rpm's real low and not let the bike move around. Anytime I didn't get in as I needed to, you open the throttle to try and move and that's when it starts spinning and wants to go side to side. [Overall] I know what I needed to do, but, for the most part, I think I executed but it wasn't perfect. Ryan is solid in the whoops and great in the turns. We were trading lap times; it wasn't like he walked away from me, he just kind of inched away, inched away. I know where I was giving it up and we're not far off. The goal is to be on the podium every weekend, but I want to win." 3 ELI TOMAC 4 TH 450SX Eli Tomac was eying his first podium of the year but that went out the window when he fell while pressuring Chad Reed for second. "It was just a front-end washout—bum- mer!" said Tomac. "And it came from out of nowhere. I was feeling good the whole time and it—I don't know, all of a sudden I was on the ground. It would've been a big battle on the last lap, I'll tell ya. I would've been throwing it on the inside of Chad and Kenny would've been throwing it on the inside of me, who knows what would've hap- pened. For me, it was just a huge improvement the whole week. We were fighting for podium speed and we had the winning speed tonight; I felt that last two weeks I was a fourth-place guy. Tonight I felt like I was a podium guy. It was a good night; we were as fast as anyone. It was a big improvement, for sure." 1 RYAN DUNGEY 1 ST 450SX "It was a good night," said Ryan Dungey of his race. "I got a good Heat-race win which was important because it gave us a good gate pick for the Main, which was good because there wasn't a lot to chose from, so we were able to pick a good gate with a good exit. That really helped with the drive off the start in the Main. Almost got the holeshot but Davi stole it from me. I was behind him for three laps but that was good because I was able to pick up on some of his good lines that he was doing that I felt like were better—like in the whoops, Davi is good in the whoops—and I was able to apply that for the lead. These whoops were no joke, they were hard to get through and you were hanging your wheel on them and it was taking away your momentum every time you hit a whoop. So it was comforting to know that, hey, a guy [Millsaps] who is really good in the whoops [is also struggling], maybe we're not so bad. I wanted to open up some good distance. All the guys were on it tonight, from practice, to the Heat—Ken was putting on the pressure on me, so I really wanted to get out in front early and open up a little bit of a cushion. When I got out into the lead I tried to keep the roll in the turns and tighten up some lines. They were harsh and choppy on the outside, and there was more grip on the inside."

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