Windham would stay with him a little but Reed did pull away in the closing laps, winning by 5 seconds. Reed and Windham lapped the field up to 5th place.
The race for third was just as good as the race for the lead. David Vuillemin held off Mike LaRocco up until lap 11, when LaRocco got by Vuillemin in a rhythm section and he held third for the rest of the main.
After LaRocco and Vuillemin was Heath Voss, putting in a strong ride for 5th. Voss went into the weekend tied in THQ World Supercross GP points with Damon Huffman, but Huffman was slowed due to an injured hand and rode in pain to end up 13th. Voss now has a 9 point lead in world points with 2 rounds to go.
“The track was actually pretty good but the soil was made very difficult to be aggressive and to change lines,” said LaRocco of Reed and Windham‘s runaway performance, “It definitely made you ride on your toes and a little bit more cautious that I normally like to. The track was difficult because of the dirt conditions. You had to ride cautious and the top guys were racing and everyone else were focusing on making mistakes and riding the track cautiously and they were racing and that clearly made a difference.”
Windham has won here before and liked the Dallas track. “I really liked the track from the start,” he said, “I prepared myself for what it was going to be like. On Friday you always walk down the tunnel and they have it prepped so awesome. It’s watered and its fluffy and everything looks great but you know that its going to pack in and be really hard but the obstacles and the track was really good and Dallas dirt is Dallas dirt and there is nothing much we can do about it. Its hard but it makes you feel a lot more when you over jump or under jump stuff. That’s just the way it is. I knew what to expect. The track lay out was awesome!”
Reed didn’t start out the weekend feeling all that great, but as time went on he got faster. “Coming into this weekend I had been riding my 4-stroke a lot and I think it showed,” he said, “I was off my game yesterday and this morning. I was kind of scratching my head trying to make things happen and they were not coming my way. I had to watch Kevin on the video and take it from him and come the heat race and the main it came my way. It was a struggling weekend into a good weekend. We were just doing the obstacles every lap and pushing in between the jumps and being aggressive. The track was hard and slick and you had to be careful and wanted to win. There are only 2 races to go. Kevin definitely wanted to get a win. He was riding great all weekend and it was fun to battle with him.”
THQ World Supercross Series/THQ AMA Supercross Series Event Results, Dallas
1.Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha
2.Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda
3.Mike LaRocco, Corona, Calif., Honda
4.David Vuillemin, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha
5.Heath Voss, Mico, Texas, Yamaha
6.Ezra Lusk, Bainbridge, Ga., Yamaha
7.Nick Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Suzuki
8.Sean Hamblin, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki
9.Isaiah Johnson, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha
10.Tyler Evans, Canyon Lake, Calif., Suzuki
THQ AMA Supercross Series Season Standings
1.Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Yamaha, 336
2.Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda, 296
3.Mike LaRocco, Corona, Calif., Honda, 272
4.David Vuillemin, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha, 258
5.Michael Byrne, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki, 178
6.Nick Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Suzuki, 173
7.Heath Voss, Mico, Texas, Yamaha, 166
8.Damon Huffman, Valencia, Calif., Honda, 142
9.Sean Hamblin, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 139
10.Grant Langston, Lake Elsinore, Calif., KTM, 111
THQ World Supercross GP Season Standings
1.Heath Voss, Mico, Texas, Yamaha, 296
2.Damon Huffman, Valencia, Calif., Honda, 287
3.Tyler Evans, Canyon Lake, Calif., Suzuki, 249
4.Grant Langston, Temecula, Calif., KTM, 228
5.Ryan Clark, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha, 192
6.Keith Johnson, Albuquerque, N.M., Yamaha, 160
7.Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., Suzuki, 138
8.Joe Oehlhof, Hesperia, Calif., Honda, 128
9.Jason Thomas, Melrose, Fla., Honda, 126
10.Erick Vallejo, Dallas, Texas, Yamaha, 110
Pro Circuit’s Ivan Tedesco is still putting in a near-perfect 125 west supercross season. He clinched the west regional title a week before the last regular season race with a big win at Dallas. Tedesco has raced a new 4-stroke Kawasaki 250F (legal in the 125 class) that his team put a tremendous amount of work into before the season began.
Nathan Ramsey was second, and third went to Amsoil/Chapparal’s new hire Greg Schnell.
125 Racing
Tedesco won his heat race easily, then took over the main on the second lap with a pass on Ramsey over a triple jump. He opened up a 5-second lead and held on from there.
Tedesco’s teammate Stephane Roncada also battled Ramsey but was stuck in third when he dropped way back with 5 laps to go. That handed third to Schnell, who has just passed Australian Jay Marmont for 4th. Marmont was doing his first professional race in American and finished an impressive 4th. He will be racing for KTM USA in 2005 in the 125 class.
Schnell’s third was his best race of the year so far. He started the season on a privateer Honda, then spent some time in Australia racing with Marmont. When Amsoil/Chapparal had a few open spots due to injuries, Schnell had a way in. “Travis (Preson) and Billy (Laninovich) were hurt and I called up JC (Waterhouse) and Franky at Amsoil and it went from there, discussing with those guys to see if they could give me a good ride,” said Schnell.
“I told myself that I was not going to put any pressure on myself and go out there and have fun and see what I could do,” said Schnell, “I was doing that and hopefully it will just get better. In practice and heats I was pretty strong in the whoops. I was struggling a little bit in the corners but I just felt really comfortable on the track and the bike is working awesome and the track was good but it was a little on the slippery side. Other than that, I thought the obstacles were good and everything was cool. I always new I had the speed to run in the top 3. I just had to overcome a couple issues and I am good to go. I am really excited about this new team and I am happy here. It’s a good opportunity.”
“The track is weird here,” said Ramsey, “You add water and it gets hard but looses its traction. Whether it’s dry or it’s wet its always slick. It makes it technical. The jumps it’s hard to work the dirt and its kind of clump so it makes it a notchy face for the take off and makes you ride tough and ride hard and be as precise as possible. Unfortunately for me I got the hole shot and it takes me 2 or 3 laps to settle in and by that point Ivan had already passed me. Roncada and I got into a little battle there and probably made each other slow down a little bit and Ivan just checked out. Once I got into my grove I tried to put in some hard laps and Ivan rode a great race.
While on break between the first west race and Dallas, Tedesco didn’t race the east but just watched. “I was sitting back there and thought about Dallas everyday and watched all the races,” he said, “I watched Josh (Hansen) and saw that he was doing pretty good on the east coast and he would come home and start running his mouth and saying he was ready for me in Dallas. I would just brush it off. He has been riding good and I think he forgot how hard the west coast was and he refreshed his memory tonight.”
“Roncada and I ride together,” said Tedesco, “We have been doing a lot of testing for outdoors and he has been going real fast. He has been riding really good and rode really good this weekend. I think this dry, slick track suited him. I was kind of nervous coming into the night and I knew he was riding good. I just tried to keep my head straight and do what I could. I got a second place start behind Nathan and saw him mess up a couple times and knew I needed to make my move at the beginning because he was making a few mistakes. I did that and tried to get a little bit of a lead and ride 15 hard laps. He kept me honest and was right there. I felt like I was doing good.”
THQ AMA Supercross Series 125cc Western Regional Event Results, Dallas
1. Ivan Tedesco, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki
2. Nathan Ramsey, Menifee, Calif., Honda
3. Greg Schnell, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Honda
4. Jay Marmont, Temecula, Calif., KTM
5. Michael Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Yamaha
6. Brock Sellards, Sherrodsville, Ohio, Yamaha
7. Joshua Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Yamaha
8. Rodrig Thain, Temecula, Calif., Suzuki
9. Joshua Summey, Stanley, N.C., Yamaha
10. Darcy Lange, San Jacinto, Calif., Kawasaki
THQ AMA Supercross Series 125cc Western Regional Season Standings
1. Ivan Tedesco, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki, 172
2. Nathan Ramsey, Menifee, Calif., Honda, 131
3. Stephane Roncada, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Kawasaki, 119
4. Travis Preston, Hesperia, Calif., Honda, 117
5. Brock Sellards, Sherrodsville, Ohio, Yamaha, 107
6. Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., Suzuki, 89
7. Greg Schnell, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Yamaha, 87
8. Troy Adams, Brooksville, Fla., Kawasaki, 71
9. Joshua Summey, Stanley, N.C., Yamaha, 51
10. Michael Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Yamaha, 46
Info photo (C) TFS