Kevin Windham wins Daytona Supercross mudfest

Kevin Windam led a Honda clean sweep of the podium at the Daytona Supercross after Chad Reed practically handed him the victory when his Yamaha let him down.

Instead of the typical Florida sun, the Daytona Supercross turned into the sort of rain-soaked mud-fest you would normally associate with Britain at this time of year.

Despite shortened practice to try and protect the track, the heavens opened and were to remain open, and even attempts to cover the track to keep the rain off were fruitless – instead of the deep and rough Floridian sand, it was just slop, slop and more slop.

Nevertheless, the racing went ahead –on a night where everyone made mistakes, it was all about damage limitation, and the battle came down to Chad Reed and Kevin Windham who had both been fast and comparatively error-free.

As the race neared the closing stages, Australian Reed looked to be on his way to coming out on top of the close battle with Windham.

But then, astonishingly, with just three corners between him and the chequered flag, Reed stalled his bike with the race in his grasp. He kicked, and kicked but the San Manuel Band Of Mission Indians YZF had simply just had enough, and Reed, the current series leader, had to abandon his bike and walk home.

Windham was the man next along and scooped up the honours with his first Daytona win, ahead of Davi Millsaps and Jacob Marsack, who seems intent on proving his credentials as a mud rider after a similarly brilliant ride in the wet at San Francisco.

So far superior had the first two been that they had lapped up to sixth place before retiring, which should therefore have been Reed’s finishing position – however, to add insult to injury, he was given a time penalty by the AMA which dropped him a further position.

Ultimately, he’s still the man in the championship driving seat, however, as Windham is still almost a whole win down, despite this gift.

Trey Canard, however, seems unable to put a foot wrong. The Torco Fuels Honda rookie spent his first Daytona Supercross under pressure from one of the best MX2-class riders on the planet.

Ryan Villopoto spent large parts of Friday trying to apply the thumbscrews to Canard, but instead it was Villopoto himself who began making mistakes, after eating large portions of the dirt from the back of Canard’s bike, the Pro Circuit Kawasaki star dropping back and settling for second.

Third place went to Matt Boni after Ben Coisy and Suzuki privateer Jim Albertson tangled late on and took each other out.

AMA Supercross Championship
Round 10, Daytona
1 Kevin Windham Honda 
2 David Millsaps Honda
3 Jacob Marsack Honda
4 David Vuillemin Suzuki
5 Antonio Balbi Honda
6 Heath Voss – Honda 

AMA Supercross
Series standings
1 Reed – 223
2 Windham – 200
3 Short – 154
4 Millsaps – 149
5 Ferry – 137
6 Ramsey – 123

AMA Supercross Lites East Coast Championship
Round 10, Daytone
1 Trey Canard – Honda
2 Ryan Villopoto – Kawasaki
3 Matt Boni – Honda

AMA Supercross Lites East
Series standings
1 Canard – 75
2 Sipes – 51
3 Coisy – 47