Canard Finishes Sixth at Ironman Season Finale

The 2015 AMA Pro Motocross season concluded with the Ironman National in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where Team Honda HRC’s Trey Canard rode to a respectable sixth-place overall finish. The Oklahoman struggled in the first moto, getting a less-than-desirable start and riding to eighth. In the final moto of the year, Canard launched his factory CRF450R off the line to a decent start, only for the race to be red-flagged on the opening lap. After the riders were directed back to the starting line, Canard was unable to duplicate the strong launch on the restart, and was outside the top 15 on lap one. He quickly began advancing though the pack, ultimately finishing the 15-lap race in fifth place.

NOTES

• On Friday, Trey Canard and mechanic Brent Presnell both sat down with Feld Motorsports’ film crew at the Ironman MX track to interview for the 2016 Supercross preview show, which will air in December on Fox Sports 1.
• During timed qualifying practice, Canard was eighth fastest with a time of 2:25.964, while fellow Red Rider Justin Bogle landed in 10^th aboard his GEICO Honda CRF450R, at 2:26.351.
• In only his third 450 showing, Bogle looked more like a veteran, riding to an impressive fifth-place finish in the opening moto. While running eighth in moto 2, Bogle went down hard with two laps left and was unable to resume competition. His 5-30 scores landed him 13^th “There’s a silver lining to this day,” Bogle said. “I got one solid moto in before the season was over, so that’s good.”
• Despite having raced all but five weekends since the New Year, Team Honda HRC will only have a short break before switching gears back to Supercross, as they begin testing for the Monster Energy Cup, to be held at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium October 17. “We’ll have about a two-week break, because that’s what Trey himself is taking off,” said mechanic Brent Presnell. “It doesn’t actually mean much for us, other then we get to catch up on everything. We won’t get a lot of time off, but it will be a little more relaxed around the shop at least. Then we’ll start testing for Supercross.”

THE FOCUS: Honda Legends Return

In addition to serving as the final stop in the AMA Pro Motocross series, the Ironman National showcased a 12-rider lineup of racing veterans and former champions, in the inaugural Legends Race. It was a rare opportunity for race fans to see some of the sport’s most successful names take to the track for bragging rights. The star-studded roster included Honda hero Jeff Stanton, a triple champion in both AMA Motocross and AMA Supercross, along with fan-favorite and 27-time premier-class race-winner Kevin Windham. Also lining up for the memorable event was 1990 AMA Motocross 125 Champion and current Motosport.com/GPI/Honda team manger Guy Cooper.

Windham has only ridden sporadically since retiring in 2013, but he enjoyed the opportunity to get back on his GEICO Honda CRF450. “I didn’t know what to expect because a lot of us haven’t ridden in a long time,” Windham said. “Some of them had, and I think it was pretty obvious who had been doing the riding and who hadn’t. I tried to stay with them as best I could, but being retired and old, I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I could get hurt.”

Press contact: Mandie Fonteyn // Dispatch Communications // mandie@dispatchco.com // +1 (951) 537-0454