Houston, Texas ~Team AMSOIL supercross riders Josh Grant and Kevin Windham are finding a mid-season groove as the AMA Supercross Series wraps up its West Coast swing.

Grant continued his success on the AMA Supercross Series two weekends ago with a third place finish at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The AMSOIL sponsored rider finished third in the Lites division, his third straight podium finish. Meanwhile, teammate Jake Wiemer finished sixth in the same race.

Last weekend, the AMA headed to San Diego and Grant was looking for his fourth straight podium. Instead, a crash curtailed the young rider’s hopes. Grant finished 13th while teammate Jake Wiemer finished in seventh. After seven rounds on the West Coast Lites Series, Wiemer is currently in third while Grant is sitting in fifth. Grant and Wiemer won't be riding again until the West Coast Series returns on April 28 in Seattle.

In the Supercross Class, Windham keeps moving up the standings. In Houston, Windham started strong, grabbing the lead over Tim Ferry on the second lap. He would lead about half of the main event before giving way to winner James Stewart and second place finisher Chad Reed. Windham battled Ferry for third, but a bobble with two laps to go pushed him into fourth.  AMSOIL Teammate Travis Preston finished in fifth.

In San Diego, Windham quietly turned in his best performance of the season. He started the race in fourth and made a pass for third in the opening laps of the race. From there, the Mississippi native rode confidently to his first podium finish of 2007. Teammate Travis Preston finished 10th in the main. The third place finish moves Windham into fourth in the season standings, while Preston dropped to sixth.

The East Coast Lites Class, along with the Supercross Class, will be in Atlanta, Ga. this weekend.

Uncasville, Conn. ~ Team AMSOIL arenacross rider Darcy Lange, fresh off a dominating season championship in the BooKoo Arenacross Series, was looking to top off his championship run with a win at the Inaugural U.S. Open Arenacross.

The Canadian rider took his shot at the title and the $50,000 check that comes with the win.  Lange, however, ran into one of the top riders in the Series this year in 15-year-old rookie Tyler Bowers.

The first lap of the 250 main event on Friday would be the downfall for Lange. While leading the pack coming out of the whoop section, Lange went down with several riders landing on top. Bowers went on to win, with Lange getting up and working his way back to a 6th at the checkered flag.  The 450 main event on Friday was all Lange, with Bowers hanging on to take a second. After the scores were tallied, Bowers would have a 5-point advantage over Lange heading into Saturday night.

Saturday was almost a repeat of Friday, with Lange leading the 250 main event on the first lap when suddenly he went cartwheeling down the track. Lange got up and took off like a mad man…dead last. While Bowers was out front getting signals from his crew, Lange was on a mission.  With 15 riders in the 20 lap main event, Lange worked his way around 13 riders to finish a remarkable second place behind Bowers.

At the start of the 450 main event Lange took control early.  After the first lap Bowers was in seventh.  During the closing laps, Bowers moved up to third with Lange taking the win.  Bowers would end up winning the BooKoo U.S. Open of Arenacross with two wins, a second and a third.  Lange finished second.

“Eckstrom Nabs First Podium of Season”
East Coast swing helps Team AMSOIL jump back into points race

Buffalo, N.Y. ~ Team AMSOIL snocross riders Shaun Crapo and DJ Eckstrom and the rest of the WPSA field found the snow they've been looking for all season long in Buffalo, N.Y. two weekends ago. With record snowfalls in upstate New York, Crapo and Eckstrom were hoping for a record weekend of racing on the freshly fallen snow.

In Pro Stock, Eckstrom was the number four qualifier. Crapo battled two crashes and settled for a last chance qualifier win to advance to the main. Eckstrom finished eighth in the final, while Crapo couldn't overcome the back row starting spot and finished 12th.

In Pro Open, both riders started on the front row. Crapo turned in a fast race, battling up front with the race leader. Crapo ultimately finished in fourth. Eckstrom was fighting for fifth, but got tangled up and finished 13th.

The WPSA made its yearly trek to Valcourt, Quebec last weekend, and that was good news for AMSOIL rider DJ Eckstrom. Eckstrom pushed his #25 AMSOIL/Polaris to a second place finish in the Pro Stock class. It marks the first time this season that Eckstrom has made it on top of the podium. Teammate Crapo finished ninth in Pro Stock.

In Pro Open, Eckstrom finished tenth, but Crapo was unable to make the final after finishing last in his third qualifying heat.

The AMSOIL team will be a little closer to their Northern Minnesota home as they will be racing at the AMSOIL Eagle River Derby Track in Eagle River, Wis. On February 23-25. The event is a double national with races starting on Friday.