Anaheim 3 - CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Welcomes Back Tommy Hahn in the Rain!

When Albert Hammond wrote the song with the lyrics “It never rains in California,” he obviously was not talking about Anaheim 3, 2009. The rains poured down consistently for 3 days and paused almost long enough to complete round 6 of the 2009 Supercross Season under a dry sky. The track crew did an outstanding job of providing a track that was in pretty good shape considering what they had to work with, although the track was one lined and extremely rutted and difficult.

First up was the Supercross Lites, Heat 1 featuring CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki riders Kyle Cunningham and P.J. Larsen. #36 Kyle Cunningham finished with a strong ride taking the 5th position while # 87 P.J. Larsen ran as high as 4th in the heat race and finished soundly in the 6th position, easily securing a spot in the main event.

Next up for CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki was the season debut for #48, Tommy Hahn in the Supercross class. Hahn who has been healing from a broken hand suffered in testing a week before the series opener was looking great in practice setting the fastest lap time in his session. Tommy would carry that over to his heat race where he would finish in 3rd place after passing Heath Voss and Tim “Red Dog” Ferry on the last lap. A great ride for his first race back.

CANIDAE All Natural Pet Foods sponsors the “Lucky Dog” Last Chance Qualifier, which is the last chance for the remaining 250 and 450 riders to make it into the main event. In the “Lites” class, it was Jake Moss and Eric McCrummen getting in and Andrew Short and Paul Carpenter in the premier class.

The “Lites” Main Event was going to be a knock down, drag out on the season’s toughest track where only the strong would survive. CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki riders Cunningham and Larsen would exit turn one in 6th and 10th respectively and clear of the mayhem as they settled into a comfortable pace. On lap 3 while still running in 6th place, Cunningham would crash hard on a tricky section as he was passing for a position. The set back would cost Kyle 10 positions as he righted in 16th. P.J., who had moved up to 7th on lap 2 would take over 6th place on lap three and hold it until he crashed on the section known as “The Dragon’s Back.” The crash was a bad one but certainly could have been much worse as Larsen hurried to remount in 13th place. Cunningham’s charge to the front was derailed on lap 7 as the charging rider who had worked his way up to 14th before he found himself on the ground again relegating him back to 17th. Kyle would charge back from 17th to finish in a respectable 11th place and end the night in the 15th spot in the season long points battle. Larsen would work his way all the way up to 8th as the checkered flags flew keeping him in eighth in the points chase and the top rookie.

As the 450’s rolled into the starting gate, the rumor was that the rain was only minutes away. As the 20 riders shot out of the gate, it was obvious that chaos was upon us. The riders slipped and slid as they all fought for traction. Several riders would go down, unfortunately collecting the #48 of Tommy Hahn with them. Tommy would pick himself up in last place several second behind the next rider. As Hahn got underway, it was apparent that he was on a mission to catch back up to the pack. Hahn would do just that as he finished lap 1 in 19th, lap 2 in 18th and lap 3 he jumped all the way into 16th. This was amazing considering the carnage and the severe track conditions. On lap 4, Hahn had moved into the 14th position behind Tim Ferry before going down hard in an attempt to get around the veteran as the rain began to fall. The crash would end Tommy’s night but it was still a great sign of what is to come for the young CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki rider.

Next week we move onto San Diego and hopefully drier conditions. We look forward to seeing all of you there.

Jason Cobb