GEICO Honda team survives Texas, earns first podium finish of outdoor season

WORTHAM,
Texas (May 28) -- The most brutal stop on the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross
Championship tour lived up to its billing Saturday as the top riders in
the world fought to survive 95 degree temperatures that scorched
Freestone County Raceway.

GEICO
Honda rider Justin Barcia, just a few weeks removed from his Supercross
Lites championship, led his team with a runner-up result in the second
moto of the day to fashion a fourth-place overall finish. Stablemate
Eli Tomac also showed well, going 5-6 on the day, while new team member
Lance Vincent and veteran 450cc rider Kevin Windham did their best on
the severely rutted and sun-baked course.

Barcia
was razor-sharp out of the starting gate in both motos, earning a pair
of holeshot awards. But racing with 39 other riders proved costly in
the first turn of Moto 1 as a rider clipped him from behind and knocked
him off his bike, moving him all the way back to 39th place. He had to
ride hard the rest of the way but somehow made it back to ninth. 

Wishing
to separate from the pack immediately in Moto 2, Barcia had an even
better start and rode away from the field until getting passed with
just two minutes left in his ride, which dropped him to second place.
The points he earned on the day lifted him to sixth in the season
standings.

"I
just got tired at the end there," Barcia said. "This is the hardest
race of the year and you really just want to survive it. The track is
so rutted and hard. The whole day I was just squeezing my bike as hard
as I could to hang on. 

"The
first moto took a lot of effort because I got knocked way back at the
start so I was charging the whole race. That caught up to me later in
Moto 2. Considering this was easily the toughest ride I've had all
year, to end the day on the podium feels good.

"I'm
really happy with my bike and me and my dad have been working on my
starts every day at home, just doing dozens and dozens of them. All
that hard work paid off."

Tomac
was solid in both races, riding to fifth and sixth in his two motos for
an overall finish of fifth place, which lifts him to third in the
championship points.

"Just
another okay round for me," Tomac said. "A fifth and a sixth, fifth
overall, not exactly what I was looking for but it wasn't bad either. I
need to get up on the podium next round. That's the main thing for me
right now.

"I've
trained a lot for the heat, especially thinking back to what happened
last year here when it just crushed me, and although it's still
unbelievably hot, I feel like I handled it much better this time
around. There's still another level I need to reach but I'll get there."

New
team rider Vincent, sporting No. 245 on his GEICO Honda, took 16th in
Moto 1 before improving to 10th in Moto 2 to finish 13th in the overall
Lites standings. Although this was his first race of the outdoors
series, he's already in 19th place in the championship rankings.

"The
track was so gnarly and the heat was just ridiculous but I managed to
make it through the day and I'm not laid out right now," Vincent said.
"The team and the support they gave me is unreal. I couldn't ask for
more. They motivate me so much.

"First
moto I got a good start, maybe fifth or so, and then settled into about
eighth place and was there for a good 20 minutes until I clipped a hay
bale and went over the handlebars. By the time I got up I as 16th and
just rode it out. My start wasn't as good in the second moto and I
tipped over early so I was playing catch-up the rest of the way. I
still ended up in the top 10, which is what I wanted, so it was a solid
day."

Windham
was frustrated by his visit to Texas, despite two fairly decent rides.
He started strong in Moto 1 but his Factory Honda 450cc machine
encountered some mechanical issues late in the race and he was unable
to finish. He was credited with a 28th-place result. In Moto 2, he
outlasted several riders that wilted in the heat and finished ninth.
His 28-9 finish earned him the 17th slot in the overall standings.

"We
had a little mishap in the first moto and I wasn't able to finish,"
said Windham, who slipped a few spots to eighth in the 2011 rankings.
"The bad part was it happened pretty late in the race so I had spent a
lot of energy. We got into the second moto and I just hit the wall.
Somewhere around the 15-minute mark this Texas heat just got me.

"It's
frustrating and I'm a little embarrassed. I was late getting ready for
the outdoors. It was an unexpected move and I entered Round 1 after
just a few days of preparation. It was crazy to think I could catch-up
right away, especially coming to heat like this in week two. We've got
an off weekend now so hopefully we can use the extra time to get better
and have a good showing in Mt. Morris."

The AMA Lucas Oil Motocross Series next races on June 11 in Mt. Morris, Pa.