Kevin Windham: Seattle Rain Breaks Drought

SX Racing Seattle

Seattle is known the world over for its’ constant rain, and that suits Supercross legend Kevin Windham just fine.

The 32-year-old crowd favorite rode a soft course at Qwest Field to racing perfection Saturday night, scoring his first AMA Supercross victory in two years and breaking a winless streak dating back to the 2008 Seattle event.

The race track was made treacherous by this week’s rain in the Great Northwest and Windham, known as the top rider in the sport when conditions are at their worst, led start to finish on his GEICO Powersports Honda.

Kevin Windham says: "That was the gnarliest race I’ve ever ridden. The streak is over and it happened here in Seattle. It feels so good. I closed it out here in 2008 strong and I’m glad to do it again. I’ll tell you, as I get older, things like this are much harder to come by. Tonight was just about survival. I was glad I could keep it up on two wheels."

The big victory, which follows back-to-back runner-up finishes for Windham in Houston and St. Louis, lifts the Centerville, Miss., rider to third place in the championship points. He’s now just 18 behind Ryan Villopoto, who is out for the year, with two races left on the schedule.

"Second place is the goal," said Windham, who took this Seattle victory by a gargantuan 20 seconds. "Ryan Dungey clinched the title tonight so the next best thing we can shoot for is second place and we’d love to get that for GEICO Powersports and all the other sponsors. If we maintain what we’ve been doing it could happen."

Coming off a motorcycle racing break in the Lites West schedule, Blake Wharton and Trey Canard rejoined Windham in the Emerald City. They both started strong with Canard winning the first heat and Wharton taking second in his warm-up race.

Unfortunately, after a terrific 1-2 start in the Lites West main event, the two teammates got tangle up with one another and went down, allowing several bikes to pass them.

In the end, Wharton managed to climb back to fourth place, but Canard was relegated to 11th. With on Lites West race remaining, Canard has fallen to third and is 24 off the lead, while Wharton remains fifth, 48 off the pace.

AMA Supercross Seattle Results
1. Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda
2. Tommy Hahn, Alvord, Texas, Suzuki
3. Justin Brayton, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha
4. Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki
5. Davi Millsaps, Murrieta, Calif., Honda 

The motorcycle racing tour now moves to Salt Lake City for next Saturday’s race at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

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