Photo Update after Round 15 of the Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series.

photos and report by James Lissimore

Coming into the second to last round of the supercross series, the perfect storm was shaping up to be better than anyone could have imagined. Little did anyone know, mother nature had her own plans and decided to drop a real storm on the track after the third practice session. The constant rain quickly turned the track into a soupy mess and the second rounds of practice were cancelled in hopes of keeping the track surface semi-intact before the racing began.

Seattle also marked the final round of the west coast Supercross Lites class and like the premier class, the title chase had come down to the final round. Honda’s Andrew Short came into the weekend ahead of Monster/Pro Circuit’s Grant Langston by four points and was looking to clinch his first championship. Unfortunately it was not to be and Short would only be able to come out with an eighth place finish while Langston would get the win and the championship.  

Hometown favorite Ryan Villopoto was one of the few riders who wasn’t worried about the mud. The Washington native jumped out to the early lead until Langston got by (or possibly was let by) and the young Kawasaki rider settled in and rode comfortably to a second place finish.

With Colton Facciotti out with a shoulder injury, Darcy Lange was the lone Canadian rider lining up for the Lites class. After posting the fastest lap in the heats, Lange was looking like a serious threat in the main but several crashes relegated him to 20th.

In a familiar situation for him, Grant Langston came into the final race with the championship on the line. The Kawasaki rider was four points down on Andrew Short and needed a bit of luck to win his second SX championship. Grant pulled off the win while Short faltered and Grant would go on to win his second championship by eight points.

Some of the best racing of the night occurred in the first Supercross heat as Kevin Windham jumped out to the early lead with Chad Reed and James Stewart in tow. The three riders proceeded to swap the lead back and forth for a few laps until Stewart finally settled into the lead and took the win.

No stranger to the mud, Ontario’s Doug DeHaan had a good night, placing second in his semi to transfer to the main. He would go on to finish sixteenth by the night’s end. According to BBMX’s Forrest Butler, if DeHaan can make the main this weekend in Vegas, 2006 will be his most successful SX season yet. “He had a mid-race off-track excursion and got stuck between two lanes in the mud. He lost a lot of time but got back in 18th and moved back past Thomas and Dement for 16th,” said Butler. “If you could have seen his pace, he would have definitely held down around 10th.” Doug was named the WWR Most Improved Privateer of the week and moved into 15th in the world standings.

Ricky Carmichael had an off night; getting a bad start and then having a bobble that pushed him back to 14th. He put his head down and started passing riders, working his way up to third by the end of the race.

Chad Reed put in a great ride for second, moving him into a tie with Ricky Carmichael for the championship lead. With two second place finishes in a row, Reed has gone from a rider that had been written off to a serious title threat going into the final round this weekend in Las Vegas.

James Stewart proved that mud is no obstacle for him as he jumped out front on the first lap and never looked back, running away with another wire-to-wire win. Stewart finds himself four points back coming into the series finale and needs a miscue by both Reed and Carmichael to take the title. (If Stewart wins and someone other than Reed or RC finishes second, Stewart takes the AMA title.) Still, with the way the series has gone so far, anything is possible. Tune in live on Saturday night to watch the race, it will definitely be history in the making.

For Top Photos from Seattle, click here for Racer X Illustrated's
Sunline/SixSixOne photo report. [1], [2]