Windham sparkles in Emerald City, Tomac gains big ground in Lites West

SEATTLE (Apr. 17) -- It was good to be a GEICO Honda rider during the 15th round of Supercross in Seattle. Fan favorite Kevin Windham and teammate Eli Tomac both earned runner-up finishes under the Saturday night lights at Qwest Field, Windham on his 450cc ride and Tomac on his 250cc Lites bike.

Windham, who won Seattle last season, always rides well on muddy racetracks and Seattle delivered for him again as rain leading up to the race made it treacherous for many riders.

"I did well because I was able to keep it on two wheels. That was the battle this whole race," Windham said. "The track changed each lap and I was just able to ride it out and keep my GEICO Honda upright."

The veteran rider has been working hard to crack the top five each weekend but has fallen short of a medal finish until this round.

"When you haven't been on the podium all year long, this feels like a win," Windham said. "All my guys have been working hard all season long and I'm so glad to be up here for them."

In Lites West action, Tomac earned his fifth straight podium finish with his second-place result. Tomac had a tough day with the rain and the mud, but made up for it a few laps into the main event.

"I'm feeling awesome," said Tomac, who gained five points in the world rankings. "I finished ahead of the guys I needed to get ahead of in the championship fight so I'm really happy with that."

Tomac worked his way up from as far back as seventh place. The fluid rider rode hard but stayed smooth as he picked the riders ahead of him, gaining on every single one, including eventual winner Cole Seely.

"I definitely turned around my day," Tomac said. "My practice wasn't that great, neither was the heat race, or even my start in the main, but I got fired up and made up for it when it mattered. I wanted to outdo the guys ahead of me in points, and I did."

Tomac made up some valuable ground in the championship points standings by finishing ahead of current points leader Broc Tickle. Although Tomac did not improve his third-place ranking, he is only seven points out of the lead heading into the second to last race of the year.

"It's nice to be on the offensive side of things," Tomac said. "I'm the guy in third chasing them so I've got nowhere to go but up. I like where I'm at and hopefully I'll make up points at the last two races and can sneak in and take that championship."

Fellow GEICO Honda Lites rider Jimmy DeCotis' day was cut short in Seattle due to an injury he suffered in the first practice session. DeCotis dislocated his right elbow on a landing in what seemed to be a routine jump for the rookie rider.

"I landed weird and my elbow just came out of place," DeCotis said. "I felt it right away so I pulled over and laid down for a couple of minutes. They got me in the rig and got it back in place, which is a good thing. It's still tender but it's already starting to heal."

DeCotis was disappointed his day was cut short, as he was looking forward to earning his first podium of the season as well as helping his teammate Tomac's championship chase. 

"I'm hoping to get back out here by Salt Lake City, but we'll see" DeCotis said. "I'm just really bummed I couldn't get back out there tonight."

The GEICO Honda team has put a rider on the podium at 12 consecutive races.

The next stop on the Monster Energy Supercross Series is April 30 at Rice-Eccles Field in Salt Lake City.

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All at Raptor send good luck to graham for the Scottish six day

5 Minutes with Graham Jarvis & Chris Pidcock

SSDT 100 Years & Honda/Montesa

In a move which has shocked the trials world the winner of World Rounds, British Championships, The SSDT and Scott Trial legend Graham Jarvis has been taken under the wing of Honda/Montesa trials front man Chris Pidcock for a week of fun in the centenary celebrations of the worlds most famous trial, the SSDT.

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De Dycker triumphs at Mons, Simpson third!

Mons - After vice Belgian titles in 2008 and 2009, Ken De Dycker has his eyes set on a first domestic crown in the highly regarded Lotto Trophy/Belgian MX Championship. The tall Belgian started his national campaign in terrific form today in Mons. The 26-year-old took the overall win and claimed two dominant victories. Only in the last race of the day he was outgunned by home rider Desalle. Teammate Shaun Simpson enjoyed a consistent day (4-3-4) and was rewarded with his first ever podium finish in the Belgian Championship.

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Tough experience for Gregory Aranda / Win for Livia Lancelot

The fourth round of the French Elite series hasn’t been successful for Gregory Aranda, who lost many points when he retired in the second heat. For the team Rockstar Bud Racing Lovemytime Kawasaki the best this weekend came from Livia Lancelot, who dominates the opening round of the French women series.

Starts, starts and starts! Once more this weekend Gregory Aranda, who posted the fastest qualifying time in the morning, suffered from poor starts in the races and lost too much time to recover. Coming back in third position of race one behind Barragan and Boog, Greg will unfortunately not finish the opening lap of the second moto; after his worst start of the season so far he passed many riders, but took too many risks and crashed! He was unable to continue, as his bike was damaged.

In St Cheron near Paris, Livia Lancelot dominates the three heats of the French series. It was for Livia a perfect opportunity to prepare the opening round of the World Championship, as she had to work all day long on the settings of his Kawasaki as the track changed through the weekend. She had the best feeling in the last race, and will arrive confident in Bulgaria for the World Championship race. Gregory Aranda will also be with Davide Guarneri in Sevlievo, while Dylan Ferrandis will have new exams on his wrist this week; the youngest member of the team expect to be ready in three weeks time in the Netherlands for the first round of the MX2 European series.

Gregory Aranda: “In the first heat I struggled with some other riders and I was sixteenth at the start; I came back third, but I wasn’t confident as I had some troubles with the engine on some jumps. It was better in the last part of the race, but Jonathan and Xavier were far away. I took my second bike for the next race, but my start was even worse and I was passing a couple of riders when I crashed in a fast corner. I did a mistake, I wanted to come back too fast and the bike was damaged so I retired; if Xavier doesn’t do any mistake in the next two rounds I have no more chances for the title.”

Livia Lancelot: “This weekend my 4th race of the season took place in St Cheron near Paris, it was the opening round of the French women series. I won the three heats of the weekend. Quads were also riding and they destroyed the track, I had some troubles to find my rhythm. The third and last heat was the best for me; I had a great feeling with the bike and was happy with the settings of the suspensions. I think that I made a huge improvement compared to the previous seasons, now I know what to do with the suspensions, thanks to the work we did this winter with Sébastien Dassé. I will go to Bulgaria confident, even if I have no ideas about my level compared to my rivals; I’ve a good feeling with the Kawasaki, and I worked hard this winter to prepare this season.”

Jacky Vimond: “It was a mixed weekend for us; Greg didn’t get a good start in both races and then it was difficult for him. During the first heat he wasn’t so confident as he had some troubles with the engine, but during the last part of the race he had a good rhythm.  His second start was worse than the first one but he passed promptly several riders, until this spectacular crash and he was lucky to stay safe. This week Greg will have to work on the starts again, in GP’s it’s much more difficult to come back and he must find a solution.”

Raptors rider Jack Sheppard prepares for ACU British Trial Championship

Young seventeen year old Jack Sheppard has made quite a name for himself in the World of trials over the past twelve months and it’s not just here in the UK. After finishing runner up in last year’s SPEA FIM Youth Trial World Championship the young star from Ipswich, Suffolk attracted direct support from the Italian Beta factory. Having just returned from Australia, where he featured in his second stint of Top Gear Live shows, Jack has just taken delivery of his brand new factory Beta machine and is now fully focused on spear heading an attack on the British Trials Championship.

missed the opening round of the British Championship as I was in Australia, but now I’m back home the championship takes full priority.

Another new challenge for Sheppard during 2011 will be his first outing at the infamous Scottish Six Day Trial (SSDT) where Jack will be looking to make his mark. This year marks the event’s centenary and is therefore expected to bring in record crowds and stiff competition.

Round 1 - Harwood Dale, North Yorkshire

Defending champion of the series was raptors rider Daryl Bolter, who could not make the trip due to other commitments so it was up to KORR's rookie rider Jonny Walker to represent KTM and the team. Walker is another upcoming raptor rider. Jonny has ridden many times before at Harwood Dale but only in Trials, this weekend he returned to make his first Cross-Country race on his KORR Azego KTM 300 EXC. 
He made a good start and within a few turns was quickly up to second and then just followed KTM's Ashley Woods, the 2 riders quickly pulled a big gap on the rest of the field and Jonny shadowed Ashley following him in his wheel tracks for a few laps.
On lap 3 Jonny moved to the front and started to make a safe gap of around 1 minute on Ashley, we only used a stock EXC tank so it would be touch and go if we could make just one fuel stop, fortunately with the clear tank we could see the level and kept him out until the last moment on reserve and just managed to pass the halfway point which would mean we only needed to stop once for fuel.
The second half of the race Jonny just managed his lead and rode effortlessly to finish 1st overall, meanwhile veteran Ady Smith on his 250XCF worked his way up to third to make a KTM 1-2-3 on the podium.
Overall Results
1. Azego KTM UK 300 EXC Jonny Walker 2. ET James KTM 250 XC Ashley Woods 3. KTM UK Off Road Schools Ady Smith