AMA Supercross
Sure the Daytona International Speedway track was a rough as they come and Justin Barica’s broken wrist was hurting, but once the gate dropped on Saturday night’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross Lites East race, GEICO Honda’s budding star gutted out a third straight podium finish.
Justin Barcia (GEICO Honda Supercross) says: "Going into the main, the bones in my wrist were hurting. I toughed it out and soldiered on. They call it Daytona Supercross, but they should call it Daytona Mototcross, because that was a gnarly race with all the bumps and jumps in the track."
Barcia finished second aboard the Honda CRF450R for the second straight week and thanks to Dean Wilson’s eighth place finish, Barcia is once again atop the Lites East standings all by himself.
Justin Barcia says: "I always want to finish first, obviously, but sometimes you have to take those seconds and thirds. It was a good night, we got points so that is good. I really want to win for this team. I’ve been racing for GEICO Honda for a couple of years. They want to win, I want to win and that combination will get us places."
Barcia leads Saturday night’s winner, Blake Baggett, by four points heading into next week’s event in Indianapolis. Barcia also extended GEICO Honda’s Lites podium finish streak to seven straight races.
Justin Barcia says: "I’ve dreamed about this since I was 7 or 8 years old riding a 50cc. This is the biggest series in the world, and I have the points lead. I want to finish on the podium every week because that what it’s going to take to win this championship."
GEICO Honda’s other Lites rider, Blake Wharton, shook off two straight races where he fell, keeping his bike on two wheels all night long, ultimately finishing fourth.
Blake Wharton (GEICO Honda Supercross) says: "I feel like I rode all right. It was a tough track, and I felt like I was a little bit off tonight. I made it through and I’m looking forward to next weekend."
Wharton moved up one place in the points. He’s now fifth, 18 points behind Barcia.
Blake Wharton says: "I kept my points position. But I don’t want to stay there, I want to be going forward. We’ve got four or five rounds left. I know a lot can happen, but still I’ve got to get up there and get on the podium."
Barcia won his heat race with Wharton finishing third in the same heat.
On the Supercross side, Kevin Windham finished seventh on Saturday night after getting caught up in a pack at the start.
Kevin Windham (GEICO Honda Supercross) says: "It was a tough main. It’s just been tough for the last couple of weeks. We’ve had some times where we’ve shown some real brilliance and other times where we fell a little short.
"Right now, I’d love to get some consistency and have a complete, good night from start to finish, then start stringing a couple of them together."
Windham, who finished second in his heat race, currently sits 10th in Supercross points.
Up next for the GEICO Honda team is the March 12 Monster Energy AMA Supercross stop at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
