Torrance, CA: This past Saturday, the Honda Red Riders took on round 14 of the 2014 AMA Supercross series at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. It was a stellar night for Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia, who landed on the podium for the fourth time this season with an impressive second, while teammate Trey Canard finished in fourth. This weekend also played host to round seven of the Western Regional 250 SX class and Muscle Milk-backed GEICO Honda’s Zach Osborne scored a fifth-place finish.

450 Race
Barcia looked impressive all day. He laid down the fourth fastest time in qualifying practice and finished third in his heat race after an intense five-way battle. In the main event, he launched his CRF450R off the line to a top-five start and quickly worked his way into second, which is where he stayed the remainder of the 20-lap race. Barcia now sits fifth in the championship standings.

In only his second race back, Canard showed increasing speed all night. Once again, he transferred directly into the main event with a fourth in his heat race. He then got away to a good start in the main, and battled challenges to finish fourth.

Muscle Milk-sponsored GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac finished a respectable ninth place. After qualifying seventh quickest in qualifying practice, Tomac transferred into the main event via a second-place finish in the semi-qualifying race. Early in the main event, Tomac worked his way up to fifth before going down on lap 10. He remounted to finish ninth.

“This day was pretty much like the whole season has been going for me. In practice we were consistently top three or four in every session, so I felt pretty comfortable,” explained Tomac. “The heat races have been a bit of a struggle. I’ve been struggling myself and we’ve struggled with the bike a bit. It was no different here. We did make a change for the semi and I rode really well there and almost won it but ended up second, so that put us in a fairly good spot for the main. In the main event, I got an okay start and worked up to fifth before casing a jump pretty hard and going down in the next turn.”

250 Race
After a seven-week hiatus the Western Regional 250 Supercross class resumed the battle this weekend for round seven of the series and Muscle Milk-supported GEICO Honda’s Zach Osborne put together a solid fifth-place finish. After missing two rounds earlier in the season due to injury, Osborne now sits eighth overall in the championship standings.

“Tonight offered a lot of positives, especially being my first race back from injury,” Osborne said. “To finish top five, when you look at it, is pretty decent. Even so, I don’t feel like that finish really shows how I am able to ride. It seems like I deserved to be up front, but I struggled just enough in the whoops to kill my chances.”

450 Class Overall Results
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Justin Barcia
3. Ken Roczen
4. Trey Canard
5. James Stewart
6. Andrew Short
7. Ryan Dungey
8. Mike Alessi
9. Eli Tomac
10. Chris Blose

450 Class Championship Points (after 14 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Villopoto 293
2. James Stewart 248
3. Ryan Dungey 247
4. Ken Roczen 235
5. Justin Barcia 198
6. Justin Brayton 196
7. Andrew Short 181
8. Broc Tickle 126
9. Wil Hahn 122
10. Josh Hill 112

250 Supercross West Overall Results
1. Jason Anderson
2. Dean Wilson
3. Malcolm Stewart
4. Cole Seely
5. Zach Osborne
6. Cooper Webb
7. Shane McElrath
8. Jake Canada
9. Justin Hill
10. Jessy Nelson

250 Supercross West Championship Points     
(after 7 of 9 rounds)
1. Jason Anderson 156
2. Cole Seely 145
3. Dean Wilson 120
4. Justin Hill 119
5. Malcolm Stewart 109
6. Cooper Webb 107
7. Jessy Nelson 87
8. Zach Osborne 85
9. Shane McElrath 85
10. Dean Ferris 63