Torco Racing Fuels Honda Race Report - Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – The Torco Racing Fuels Honda made history at perhaps the muddiest, sloppiest supercross race ever held, as team riders Kevin Windham and Trey Canard swept both classes, helping the team to become the first-ever non-factory team to sweep both classes in one night.

The Daytona Supercross is already known as the most demanding supercross of the season, and with heavy rains, it was turned from demanding to ridiculous. Windham got a decent start in the main event, fought through some mud, and then found himself in second by the end of the first lap, trailing points leader Chad Reed. Reed led the majority of the race, even though the inevitable mistakes under the conditions led to the lead swapping more than a couple of times.

Windham was forced to stop for new goggles a few laps in, temporarily giving second to Davi Millsaps, but found his way back by. On the last lap, three turns from the finish, Reed’s Yamaha gave up the ghost, and Windham splashed his way by to take the victory.

“Daytona is a unique race. Just by the nature of the track, it is by far the most brutal supercross that we run,” Windham said. “And there is so much prestige in being part of Daytona. To win it is incredible. Tonight was definitely a race of different elements with the rain and whatnot, but it still lived up to the brutal Daytona deal. I think it was the most brutal race I have been in in my entire life. I think the scorers lost track of who was leading, because I was in the back corner and the flames above the finish line went off. I was thinking Chad just won the Daytona Supercross. In the matter of one straightaway, it was the biggest emotional roller coaster I’ve ever been on in my entire life. I went from thinking I could salvage a second here, still have a couple turns to go, then, ‘Man, I’m going to win the Daytona Supercross.’ It was an emotional roller coaster for me. It was just an incredible race.”

Reed, Windham’s championship rival, was credited with sixth, but then penalized for cutting the track during the race, dropping him to seventh. As it turned out, even if his bike would’ve run to the finish, Windham would’ve won the race by virtue of Reed’s penalty.

Windham now sits only 23 points behind Reed in the championship with seven rounds left to run.

In the Lites main event, it looked as if Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Josh Grant was going to come away with the holeshot, but he was forced wide in the first turn. Canard snuck around the inside of the turn and came away with the lead.

“Every lap was pretty sketchy,” Canard said. “I was glad to only have one spill. Going into it, I knew that the start was going to be huge because of the vision thing and getting roosted. If you can’t see where you’re going, it’s hard to go anywhere. Getting a good start was huge. I don’t think I was going to get it. I was behind Ben Coisy, but somehow managed to snake to the inside and came out in the lead. If I didn’t get that, I don’t know what I could have done. It’s hard to be behind someone in the mud like that, because you can’t see anything. It was bad enough with the water holes, but getting roosted was bad.”

Canard went on to lead every lap, falling once on his way to almost as perfect of a race that could’ve been expected under the conditions.

“Coming into that race, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I just wanted to go out there and do the best that I could,” Canard said. “I did everything I could possibly do during the week, and I think I was as prepared as I could possibly be, so I could give it everything I had, every lap out there.”

Grant’s bad luck continued, though, as after he got forced wide in the first turn, he ended up cross-rutting off of a jump and got buried in a drainage ditch.

“I got a really good jump off the gate, and everything was going as planned, but in the first turn, everyone was kind of going crazy,” Grant said. “It was super-sloppy out there, and I just stuck my head down. I was in fifth or something, and then I rode behind those guys for a while before getting cross-rutted off of a double that everyone was doing in the mud and went into a hole that they had dug for drainage. I was in like waist-high water, and I was stuck for over a lap or something. I just went back out there, rode again, and tried to get as many points as I could.”

Grant ended up 19th.

With his win, Canard now maintains a perfect record on the season, winning every Heat and main event he has competed in thus far. He has a 24-point lead in the Lites Eastern Regional Championship with four rounds left to run.

From here, the Torco Racing Fuels Honda team heads to Minneapolis, Minnesota’s domed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for the fourth round of the Lites Eastern Region championship and round 11 of the AMA Supercross Series.

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.

Daytona Lites Main:
1.            Trey Canard                        Torco Racing Fuels Honda

2.            Ryan Villopoto            Kaw

3.            Matt Boni                        Hon

4.            Ben Coisy                        Hon

5.            Jimmy Albertson            Suz

6.            Ryan Sipes                        KTM

7.            Willy Browning            Suz

8.            Shane Sewell                        Kaw

9.            Ricky Renner                        Kaw

10.            Billy Payne                        Hon
19.            Josh Grant                        Torco Racing Fuels Honda

AMA Eastern Lites Standings (After 3 of 8 rounds):
1.            Trey Canard                        (75/3 wins)

2.            Ryan Sipes                        (51)

3.            Ben Coisy                        (47)

4.            Ryan Villopoto            (44)

5.            Nico Izzi                        (42)

6.            Martin Davalos            (33)

7.            Billy Payne                        (31)

8.            Tyler Bowers                        (30)

9.            Branden Jesseman            (30)

10.            Jake Moss                        (28)
12.            Josh Grant                        (25)

Daytona 450cc Main:
1.            Kevin Windham            Torco Racing Fuels Honda

2.            Davi Millsaps                        Hon

3.            Jacob Marsack                        Hon

4.            David Vuillemin            Suz

5.            Antonio Balbi                        Hon

6.            Heath Voss                        Hon

7.            Chad Reed                        Yam

8.            Andrew Short                        Hon

9.            Eric Sorby                        Hon

10.            Ryan Dungey                        Suz

AMA Supercross Standings (After 10 of 17 rounds):

1.            Chad Reed                        (223/6 wins)
2.            Kevin Windham            (200/2 wins)

3.            Andrew Short                        (154)

4.            Davi Millsaps                        (149/1 win)

5.            Timmy Ferry                        (137)

6.            Nathan Ramsey            (123)

7.            Josh Hill                        (110)

8.            David Vuillemin            (102)

9.            Nick Wey                        (89)

10.            Paul Carpenter                        (87)