“Windham and Grant Leading AMSOIL Charge”
Veteran Windham finds first podium of season
Houston, Texas
~Team AMSOIL
supercross riders Josh Grant and Kevin Windham are finding a
mid-season groove as the AMA Supercross Series wraps up its West
Coast swing.
Grant
continued his success on the AMA Supercross Series two weekends
ago with a third place finish at Reliant Stadium in Houston,
Texas. The AMSOIL sponsored rider finished third in the Lites
division, his third straight podium finish. Meanwhile, teammate
Jake Wiemer finished sixth in the same race.
Last
weekend, the AMA headed to San Diego and Grant was looking for
his fourth straight podium. Instead, a crash curtailed the young
rider’s hopes. Grant finished 13th while teammate Jake Wiemer
finished in seventh. After seven rounds on the West Coast Lites
Series, Wiemer is currently in third while Grant is sitting in
fifth. Grant and Wiemer won't be riding again until the West
Coast Series returns on April 28 in Seattle.
In the Supercross Class, Windham keeps moving up the standings.
In Houston, Windham started strong, grabbing the lead over Tim
Ferry on the second lap. He would lead about half of the main
event before giving way to winner James Stewart and second place
finisher Chad Reed. Windham battled Ferry for third, but a
bobble with two laps to go pushed him into fourth. AMSOIL
Teammate Travis Preston finished in fifth.
 In
San Diego, Windham quietly turned in his best performance of the
season. He started the race in fourth and made a pass for third
in the opening laps of the race. From there, the Mississippi
native rode confidently to his first podium finish of 2007.
Teammate Travis Preston finished 10th in the main. The third
place finish moves Windham into fourth in the season standings,
while Preston dropped to sixth.
The East Coast Lites Class, along with the Supercross Class,
will be in Atlanta, Ga. this weekend.
“AX
Champion Takes Second At U.S. Open”
Lange wraps up season with strong finish
Uncasville, Conn. ~
Team AMSOIL arenacross
rider Darcy Lange, fresh off a dominating season championship in
the BooKoo Arenacross Series, was looking to top off his
championship run with a win at the Inaugural U.S. Open
Arenacross.
The
Canadian rider took his shot at the title and the $50,000 check
that comes with the win. Lange, however, ran into one of the
top riders in the Series this year in 15-year-old rookie Tyler
Bowers.
The first
lap of the 250 main event on Friday would be the downfall for
Lange. While leading the pack coming out of the whoop section,
Lange went down with several riders landing on top. Bowers went
on to win, with Lange getting up and working his way back to a
6th at the checkered flag. The 450 main event on Friday was all
Lange, with Bowers hanging on to take a second. After the scores
were tallied, Bowers would have a 5-point advantage over Lange
heading into Saturday night.
Saturday
was almost a repeat of Friday, with Lange leading the 250 main
event on the first lap when suddenly he went cartwheeling down
the track. Lange got up and took off like a mad man…dead last.
While Bowers was out front getting signals from his crew, Lange
was on a mission. With 15 riders in the 20 lap main event,
Lange worked his way around 13 riders to finish a remarkable
second place behind Bowers.
At the
start of the 450 main event Lange took control early. After the
first lap Bowers was in seventh. During the closing laps,
Bowers moved up to third with Lange taking the win. Bowers
would end up winning the BooKoo U.S. Open of Arenacross with two
wins, a second and a third. Lange finished second.
“Eckstrom Nabs First Podium of Season”
East Coast swing helps Team AMSOIL jump back
into points race
 Buffalo,
N.Y. ~
Team AMSOIL
snocross riders Shaun Crapo and DJ Eckstrom and the rest of the
WPSA field found the snow they've been looking for all season
long in Buffalo, N.Y. two weekends ago. With record snowfalls in
upstate New York, Crapo and Eckstrom were hoping for a record
weekend of racing on the freshly fallen snow.
In Pro
Stock, Eckstrom was the number four qualifier. Crapo battled two
crashes and settled for a last chance qualifier win to advance
to the main. Eckstrom finished eighth in the final, while Crapo
couldn't overcome the back row starting spot and finished 12th.
In Pro Open, both riders started on the front row. Crapo turned
in a fast race, battling up front with the race leader. Crapo
ultimately finished in fourth. Eckstrom was fighting for fifth,
but got tangled up and finished 13th.
The WPSA made its yearly trek to Valcourt, Quebec last weekend,
and that was good news for AMSOIL rider DJ Eckstrom. Eckstrom
pushed his #25 AMSOIL/Polaris to a second place finish in the
Pro Stock class. It marks the first time this season that
Eckstrom has made it on top of the podium. Teammate Crapo
finished ninth in Pro Stock.
In Pro Open, Eckstrom finished tenth, but Crapo was unable to
make the final after finishing last in his third qualifying
heat.
The AMSOIL team will be a little closer to their Northern
Minnesota home as they will be racing at the AMSOIL Eagle River
Derby Track in Eagle River, Wis. On February 23-25. The event is
a double national with races starting on Friday. |
