GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia clinches second Lites East championship

NEW ORELANS (April 14) – Fourth place never tasted so sweet
for GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia.

All Barcia had to do was finish Saturday night's race in
fourth or better at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, and a second consecutive
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Lites East title was his. The main event was
filled with fierce battles and aggressive riding throughout, but Barcia stayed
cool and won the title by finishing exactly where he needed.

"It was quite the race," Barcia said. "It was
a really crazy race. Finishing in fourth place was good enough to get the
championship, and I'll gladly take it."

It's the first time in almost two years that Barcia had not
finished a race in the top three, but with the stakes so high Saturday, finishing
off the podium wasn't the end of the world. Throughout the intense 15-lap main event,
Barcia kept cool and his mind on the big picture.

"I was trying to be as smart as I could," Barcia
said. "I was trying to block my inside and watching it, because the other
guys were putting it in there hard. When I'd watch the inside, I'd get passed
on the outside.

"It was really tough for me for sure."

Barcia said he chalks the 2012 title up to teamwork and a
personal rededication to being the best there is on a 250cc motorcycle.

"We all put a lot of hard work into this season,"
Barcia said. "Personally, I've put in 100 percent effort, and got 100
percent out of it. The team did its very best to make sure the bike was perfect
every weekend. This title and tonight's celebration is a reward everyone on the
GEICO Honda team is sharing tonight."

Barcia
leaves New Orleans with five wins in eight events and
a 42 point lead over Ken Roczen and Darryn Durham, who are tied for
second. All Barcia needed to clinch was to have a 25 point lead at the
end of the night.

The GEICO Honda team wasn't shut out from the podium because
the team's other Lites rider, Justin Bogle, finished third.

"I didn't have the best gate pick, but I still got off
to a pretty decent start (in the main)," Bogle said. "I'm pumped to
get back up on the podium. I had to run down some good guys and made quite a
few passes during the night.

"It's getting toward the end of the season for me and
it feels great to be ending the year on a high note."

Bogle, who now has two podium finishes in his rookie season,
is in seventh place in the points. He trails sixth place Jake Canada by 11
points with one race left in the season.

Wil Hahn, who has been filling in on a Supercross bike for
the Muscle Milk Honda team, used a daring final-lap pass in the Last Chance Qualifier
to make the main, then came home ninth in the 450cc main event.

Kevin Windham, who was injured at Houston two weeks ago,
made a valiant attempt to race on Saturday in front of his hometown crowd despite
bad shoulders and a busted up left wrist. He made one lap during practice but
the pain in his wrist was too much to overcome.

"I love what I do and I wanted to try and race,"
Windham said. "I'm hoping that I'll heal up enough to race before the
season is over, but I'm not optimistic that it will happen. We'll just have to
wait and see."

The scene shifts back west next week and the Lites West series
fires back up for its stretch run on April 21 in Seattle.