Intern Report: San Francisco Supercross

By: mxgirl99

Posted: 02/04/09

2316 Views

0 Comments

Tags:

San Francisco proved to be another exciting round of the 2009 AMA Supercross Series. With the sunshine breaking through the clouds there was nothing but great racing expected, but it was the unexpected to which made the racing interesting. A slick track proved to be difficult for the riders, and throughout practice each contender realized that a holeshot was the true key to victory.

This style of track received mixed responses from the riders. "The track was different, I ran a good heat and in the main I just had t work through it, also with my shoulder it was really an up hill battle," said Josh Hill. A very straightforward statement came from Nick Wey on the podium upon receiving his Medicard as the first rider not to make the main out of the LCQ; he commented he would give the money, "back to Dirt Works to build some more jumps."

Regardless, many riders were thankful for the uncharacteristically dry San Francisco weather, and a beautiful day of racing. The venue was alive with anticipation and as fans entered AT&T Stadium riders were seen perusing the pits and enjoying the city by the bay.

The riders lucky enough to make the night show eagerly awaited the drop of the gate. In heat one, holeshot expert Josh Grant took the win. Earlier in the day Josh Grant had mentioned he had, "a special feeling like the one I had at Anaheim." Premonition?

Another athlete to victoriously charge in San Fran was the often underestimated Jake Weimer who assertively out powered Ryan Dungey to take the win. In the lites LCQ Chris Blose and Adam Chatfield gained the transfer, leaving rookie Michael Hall out of the main. In the Supercross main event Stewart, Reed, Villopoto and Grant put out some fast times on an already fast paced track. Taking the win, Stewart secured his position in 2nd for overall championship points.

Following the race I caught up with Ryan Villopoto who has been improving with each race.

How did you feel about the race?
"It was good, we got a decent start and then I was behind Alessi, then Chad got me and we got Alessi, I was able to ride the 20 laps right on Chad. That’s my goal to race with James and Chad and tonight it was Chad so I’m definitely happy."

What was your opinion of the track?
"This weekend was tough, it was slippery and once the sun went down the moisture started to come up, so it was definitely slippery, and we need some bigger whoops. Other than that it was okay."

With every race and every city, we learn lessons. One constant we have come to accept is that no matter how much we bench race, we can never truly anticipate the outcome of each round, and isn’t that what makes this sport so fun to follow?

Check back next week for another report from Anaheim 3!

—-Kristen Beat