AMA Supercross: Jason Lawrence takes West Coast Lites title, Chad Reed closes in on crown

Jason Lawrence has taken the West Coast Lites title at round 16 of AMA Supercross in Seattle, but Chad Reed will have to wait a bit longer as he closes in on the Supercross crown.

Lawrence headed into Seattle with a six point gap over West Coast Supercross Lites title rival Ryan Dungey.

Dungey got a decent start that was soon converted into the lead, and he began to build a lead. But unfortunately for him, Lawrence was carving his way through the pack on his Boost Mobile Yamaha, taking five laps to get into second place, and once he was there it was just a matter of bringing it home to take the title.

Kawasaki’s Brett Metcalfe had third place in his grasp, but a fired-up Broc Hepler got close enough for a last-ditch pass attempt that left Metcalfe on the floor and won the factory Yamaha rider the last step on the podium.

In the Supercross class, San Manuel Yamaha rider Chad Reed, still on the mend from a nasty shoulder injury, went down in turn one of the main event and spent the whole race playing catch-up.

Kevin Windham, second in the title hunt,  looked to have things turning his way as he got out well, soon passing Honda team-mate Andrew Short and pulling away in the lead, but an off-track excursion sucked a banner into his back wheel, necessitating a stop to uncoil it.

The stop dropped him to fifth, but Windham immediately began making inroads on the leaders, although there were less than three laps to go before he resumed the lead.

Unfortunately for Windham, however, Reed was smashing his way through the pack – by the time the white flag flew, he was on Short’s back wheel and looking for a way through.

He found a rough way past, but Short returned the favour straight away. Reed had enough to get back by Short before the finish, but he was not a happy man.

With one round left for the Supercross class a place of sixth or higher will give Reed the title no matter what Windham does.

For the Supercross Lites riders, it’s the annual shootout as the best of the East Coast meet the best of the West Coast to see who’s the faster.

AMA Supercross

Round 16 – Seattle

1 Kevin Windham – Honda
2 Chad Reed – Yamaha
3 Andrew Short – Honda
4 David Millsaps – Honda
5 Timmy Ferry – Kawasaki
6 Josh Grant – Honda

AMA Supercross standings

1 Chad Reed 340
2 Kevin Windham 330
3 Davi Millsaps 262
4 Andrew Short 261
5 Josh Hill 210
6 Timmy Ferry 206

AMA Supercross Lites East Coast

Round 7 – Seattle

1 Ryan Dungey – Suzuki
2 Jason Lawrence – Yamaha
3 Broc Hepler – Yamaha

Final standings

1 Jason Lawrence 157
2 Ryan Dungey 154
3 Austin Stroupe 131