Torco Racing Fuels Honda Race Report - Detroit

DETROIT, Michigan – The Torco Racing Fuels Honda team – the only team in the middle of battles for championships in both the 450cc and Lites Supercross classes – headed into Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, with the goal of maintaining the lead in the Lites East and closing the gap in the Supercross class.

In the 450cc class, Kevin Windham was second-fastest in practice, then made quick work of his competition in the opening Heat race, landing him a good gate pick for the main event, while his championship rival Chad Reed hurt himself in practice and was forced to take a provisional (and the last gate pick that went along with it) for the main event.

Windham didn’t get a great start in the main, but he quickly passed his way into third, where he remained to the finish.

“I rode behind me a little bit in the beginning, and then I was able to open up a gap on [Josh] Hill,” Windham said. “Those whoops were brutal, and the track was tough, and I made a couple mistakes. I had thoughts throughout the day of where I came into the race, being 27 points back, and where I was after the first practice, and where I am now. It’s just been an up-and-down battle all day trying to keep myself calm, and Jeff Spencer and I are really going to analyze this deal and come into the next race with a strong gameplan to get us through the last three rounds.”

Windham narrowed Reed’s point lead from 27 to 16 with three rounds still left to run.

In the Lites class, championship leader Trey Canard started out the main event in second, but unfortunately went down and had to restart his bike, which dropped him out of contention for the win. Once he did get his bike refired, he was a lap down, but was still able to fight his way through to a top-10 finish. He carries a three-point lead into the season finale next weekend in St. Louis.

The bad luck with crashes on the Lites side of the team continued with Josh Grant, who fell in the whoops in the main event while running fourth and had to restart his bike, landing him an eventual 19th-place finish.

“It’s easy to be fast in practice, but my races haven’t been very good this year,” Grant said. “In the main event, I went down in the whoops, then I couldn’t get my bike started, so it pretty much ruined my race. I’m just looking forward to the outdoors now.”

Despite all of his bad luck this year, Grant sits seventh in points, and only five points out of fourth in the series, with one round left to run.

From here, the Torco Racing Fuels Honda team heads to St. Louis, Missouri’s Edward Jones Dome for round 15 of the AMA Supercross Series, and the series finale of the Lites East.

Team Sponsors: Torco Race Fuels, Honda, Planet Fitness, No Fear Energy, AMSOIL, Factory Connection, No Fear, Shoei, Gaerne, Spy, DVS, Cycra, Dunlop, EK, Ferodo, Hinson, Ogio, One Industries, Pro Circuit, Renthal, Showa, TAG, Twin Air, and Works Connection.

Detroit Lites Main:

1. Ryan Villopoto Kaw

2. Ryan Morais Yam

3. Branden Jesseman Kaw

4. Nico Izzi Suz

5. Matt Goerke KTM

6. Tyler Bowers Yam

7. Kyle Partridge Hon

8. Kyle Chisholm Kaw

9. Travis Sewell Suz

10. Trey Canard Torco Racing Fuels Honda

19. Josh Grant Torco Racing Fuels Honda

AMA Eastern Lites Standings (After 6 of 7 rounds):

1. Trey Canard (122/3 wins)

2. Ryan Villopoto (119/3 wins)

3. Nico Izzi (86)

4. Tyler Bowers (76)

5. Martin Davalos (73)

6. Branden Jesseman (72)

7. Josh Grant (71)

8. Ryan Sipes (70)

9. Ryan Morais (68)

10. Billy Payne (60)

Detroit 450cc Main:

1. Davi Millsaps Yam

2. Timmy Ferry Kaw

3. Kevin Windham Torco Racing Fuels Honda

4. Josh Hill Yam

5. Andrew Short Hon

6. Travis Preston Kaw

7. David Vuillemin Suz

8. Charles Summey Yam

9. Heath Voss Hon

10. Jason Thomas Hon

AMA Supercross Standings (After 14 of 17 rounds):

1. Chad Reed (296/8 wins)

2. Kevin Windham (280/2 wins)

3. Davi Millsaps (229/2 wins)

4. Andrew Short (221)

5. Josh Hill (191/1 win)

6. Timmy Ferry (189)

7. Nathan Ramsey (155)

8. David Vuillemin (137)

9. Paul Carpenter (123)

10. Nick Wey (121)