Reed Races Past Main Rivals

If Kevin Windham and David Vuillemin wanted to get inside Chad Reed’s head and let him know they would challenge the Australian for the THQ AMA Supercross championship, they did it Saturday -- for nine laps.

Unfortunately for them, that was 11 laps too few.

Reed passed his two rivals on the same lap and won the third of 16 rounds in the series in front of 43,602 at Angel Stadium.

Reed took the 20-lap main event on his Yamaha YZ250, winning for the second time in three races. He finished second to Windham last week in Phoenix in a controversy-filled race in which Windham was penalized 10 points for rough riding. Windham is fourth in the series with 49 points; Reed leads with 72, followed by Vuillemin and Mike LaRocco, who finished fourth here, with 56 each.

“I heard them back there, tried to break away and just couldn’t do it,” said Windham, who led the first nine laps on his Honda CRF450R.

French rider Vuillemin finished in third place on his Yamaha.

Ivan Tedesco rode his four-stroke Kawasaki KX250F to a third consecutive victory in the 125cc Western Regional series. He went from fourth to second on the second lap, and passed Amsoil Chaparral Honda rider Travis Preston on Lap 12.

Preston, the 2002 regional champion, hung on for second place.

-- Martin Henderson