San Francisco: Powersports Honda race report

Canard scores first win of season for GEICO Powersports Honda team

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 30) -- Trey Canard proved his riding ability in 2008 by winning the Supercross Lites East championship in his rookie campaign. Saturday night in San Francisco, the 19-year-old from Shawnee, Okla., showed he could handle the action out west as well by winning his first race of the year at AT&T Park.

The victory extended an impressive streak for Canard's GEICO Powersports Honda team, which has now placed a rider on the podium at all four races in the 2010 Monster Energy Series. As the season reaches the quarter mark, Canard is a solid second in the 250 West Standings, while teammates Kevin Windham and Blake Wharton both hold down fifth-place rankings, Windham in Supercross and Wharton in Supercross Lites.

"This felt so good," said Canard, who is recovering from a foot injury sustained two weeks ago in Phoenix. "It was like a weight off my shoulders. I'm just so thankful; it's been a rough go to get this, and that made it awesome.

"I had a good start tonight. I just put my head down the first few laps and when I realized I had a decent lead, I kind of got nervous. But I was able to hold on. I built on last week, I just kept doing everything I could, and it paid off."

Canard expertly answered the numerous challenges of incoming points leader Jake Weimer, who ended up second in the main event, and managed to gain a few valuable points on the tricky racetrack.

The racing surface played a role from the start of the day as heavy rain had soaked AT&T Park Friday night. The soft dirt was quickly riddled with braking bumps and ruts, but the GEICO Powersports Honda team seemed mostly unfazed by the conditions with all three riders performing well in their respective practice sessions. In fact, Windham paced the 450 class with the top time of practice, while Canard and Wharton earned the fifth and seventh spots in Lites.

In the Lites heat race, Canard and Wharton both started strong with Canard the quickest of the six-lap test. Wharton barely trailed him until lap four, when he crashed and unfortunately could only muster a return to 10th. For the third race in a row, Wharton was faced with having earn a spot in the main event via the Last Chance Qualifier. Once again, the young rider channeled his frustration in the critical LCQ, got the holeshot, and quickly pulled away from the pack, easily garnering the first of the two remaining spots for the main event.

It just wasn't Wharton's day, however, as struggles early in the main event relegated him to the back of the pack. He fought to pick up the pace and began making headway, but simply ran out of laps and finished 13th.

In the Supercross heat, Windham had his pick of gates thanks to his stellar qualifying result and was moving towards the lead until just before the final lap when he made a surprising mental error and let off the gas, thinking the heat had concluded. Thankfully, the mistake was quickly realized without much ground lost, and Windham returned to pace and nabbed a nice third-place finish. But in the main event he was unable to capitalize on his powerful early performance and ended the night in 11th place.

"Earlier in the day, the GEICO Powersports Honda was running great, I was feeling good, and I was able to get the fastest time," Windham said. "I hadn't been able to do that yet this year, so I was pumped. I was looking forward to having a good night, but it just wasn't in the cards for the main event."

The breakneck pace of the 2010 season leaves no time to rest as the tour now heads to San Diego for next Saturday's round five event.

-source: powersports honda