After a frustrating outing at round 1 of the THQ AMA Supercross series in Anaheim, Team Moto XXX/Honda figured there was only one direction to go in the results. And with Kyle Lewis’ propensity for great starts, it seemed to be a reasonable line of thinking. As it turned out, Phoenix brought some similar frustrations, but the final results were better.
Daytime qualifying went well for both Kyle Lewis and Justin Buckelew. Though competition for the 20 positions in the 250cc main event was fierce, Lewis transferred out of his semi, while Buckelew was forced to ride the LCQ. All appeared to be well, as he was running second, but the race was red-flagged due to an injury on the track. On the restart, Buckelew moved out front again and seemed to be a lock to qualify, but was taken out by another rider. Still, both Justin and the team felt confident about his speed and expect improvement in the
coming rounds.
Despite having a less than stellar gate pick, Lewis decided to go for it when the main event started. His CRF450 responded well, propelling him toward the front of the pack as it headed into the first turn. Unfortunately, poor decision making on behalf of other riders continued to plague the team, and Lewis was taken out for the second time in as many weeks. Getting underway in last place, “Lucky