Anaheim 1 Insider

The opening race of the season is always a nerve-wracking event for the riders. It gets team managers pretty wound up too. There’s so much hype surrounding the first race of the year and expectations are high, making some riders do crazy things – or at least attempt things they have no business attempting. But all in all, Anaheim 1 was a pretty clean race with no major incidents other than the collision between Chad Reed and Austin Stroupe, which left Reed’s Kawasaki with enough broken spokes to force his retirement.

Reed’s official statement was, “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.” But you can be assured that he had plenty more to say behind closed doors. “I was in fifth off the start and Stroupe just turned down really quick,” Reed added. “He had the same idea I had, he was trying to pass the guy in front of him and I was trying to pass him, and there was nothing we could do. He didn’t do anything wrong and I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Reed was sixth in qualifying and later revealed that he was experiencing some issues again with his stomach. “This isn’t something I haven’t had to deal with before and I was just trying to put myself in a good position for the main – I felt we had come a long way with the bike from practice to the main,” Reed said. “We tweaked on things to where I felt I was good enough for a podium. I’m confident enough to say I know I would have been on the podium. I think I could have got up there and mixed it up with [Stewart and Dungey]. We just have to pick up and move on to Phoenix.”

Reed might have been victim of the little “esse” turn that was thrown into the middle of the start straight. GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard, who finished the Lites main event in second behind Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer, called it “hairy." “I’ve never seen a start like that before,” he added.

The incident and the resulting DNF leaves Reed in the same situation that James Stewart was in after Anaheim 1 last year. It’ll be interesting to see if Reed is able to mount the comeback that Stewart did during last year’s series.

As for Stewart, he was impressive, but he was definitely not the dominating rider he was last year. After the race he indicated that the team might have missed the setup, which makes one wonder if the short amount of testing time the Yamaha teams have had on the new YZ450F was a factor. Said Stewart, “I just wanted to settle in at the start and get some lines picked out, but I struggled at the beginning part of the race. On the setup, I think we went the wrong way, it was a little rigid out there.”

Stewart also indicated that he wasn’t really sure where he stood as far as his health was concerned, since he had spent most of the last two months resting up instead of riding, after dropping out of the Bercy Supercross with a stomach ailment.

“I didn’t really know where my health was, coming in, but I think I proved it’s good,” he said. “I DNF’ed [this race] last year and still came back and won [the title], so this is a lot better start to the year.”

One of the big surprises of the weekend was Ryan Dungey’s incredible ride. Most people thought he would be in the hunt this year, but not right out of the gate! The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider looked every bit of Stewart’s equal and posted many of the fastest laps during the race. Dungey credited his intense off-season regiment. “I got a lot of good testing done with Suzuki and I think it showed tonight,” he said. “I think we came in here in better shape than some of the other teams.”

Another surprise was Kevin Windham. The 31-year-old GEICO Powersports Honda rider came into the race a little bit off the radar and left with a third. K-Dub was all smiles on the podium. “Maybe everyone overlooked me,” Windham said. “This is pretty special, to get third. It’s hard to continue to prove yourself week in and week out, and I understand the difficulties of getting on the podium on a consistent basis, but I came in with the goal of putting myself in position to be a podium finisher.”

Side note No. 1: Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto went down on the first lap of practice and tweaked his wrist, however, according to Kawasaki’s Tom McGovern, it was a non-issue during the evening program. Villopoto rode to a fairly uneventful fifth place finish.

Side note No. 2: Josh Grant decided not to race the main event, electing to give himself another week to recover from head injuries suffered in a midweek crash.

Speaking of Josh Grant, the JGRMX boys were running a trick rear shock on their YZ450Fs, which were built exclusively for the team by JRI. JRI has done suspension work for NASCAR and Formula 1 teams, and they definitely did a beautiful job on this item. According to Justin Brayton’s mechanic Patrick Barker, JRI took the stock unit and improved on it. “They took all the pluses and minuses of the stocker and just made it a little more tuneable,” said Barker.

As far as the Lites class is concerned, Weimer was no surprise; Canard is definitely a contender; and Canidae Motosports Suzuki’s Ryan Morias was his usual consistent self and should be a factor for the title.

The Star Racing duo, Broc Tickle and Max Anstie, suffered poor starts in the main, but ran away with the opening heat races of the evening, showing speed. And Josh Hansen showed good pace, but fell a few times in the main. Should be an interesting race next weekend in Phoenix, so be sure to stay tuned!