After a frustrating outing at round 1 of the THQ AMA Supercross series in Anaheim, Team Moto XXX/Honda figured there was only one direction to go in the results. And with Kyle Lewis’ propensity for great starts, it seemed to be a reasonable line of thinking. As it turned out, Phoenix brought some similar frustrations, but the final results were better.

Daytime qualifying went well for both Kyle Lewis and Justin Buckelew. Though competition for the 20 positions in the 250cc main event was fierce, Lewis transferred out of his semi, while Buckelew was forced to ride the LCQ. All appeared to be well, as he was running second, but the race was red-flagged due to an injury on the track. On the restart, Buckelew moved out front again and seemed to be a lock to qualify, but was taken out by another rider. Still, both Justin and the team felt confident about his speed and expect improvement in the coming rounds.

Despite having a less than stellar gate pick, Lewis decided to go for it when the main event started. His CRF450 responded well, propelling him toward the front of the pack as it headed into the first turn. Unfortunately, poor decision making on behalf of other riders continued to plague the team, and Lewis was taken out for the second time in as many weeks. Getting underway in last place, “Lucky” went to work and improved to 14th by the end of the race. Even though he expects better, Kyle was encouraged to be able to come through the pack and still improve on his Anaheim results by four positions.

On a side note, the AMA began sound testing in Phoenix. Though enforcement did not begin immediately, Moto XXX Performance and Akrapovic Exhaust put together a package that is not only notorious for getting holeshots, but passed the sound test on its first attempt. Thanks to the technology brought to the table by Akrapovic and the exceptional tuning abilities of Team Manager Allan Brown, the Moto XXX Hondas are producing plenty of horsepower at acceptable sound levels. There aren’t many teams that can make such claims, but Moto XXX has chosen to take a proactive approach to the noise issues facing the sport of motocross.