It is no secret that several riders, and teams, deliberately avoided the Eastern Region Supercross Lites series this year for one reason, Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto. Seventeen year old supercross rookie Trey Canard took his Honda CRF250R to the starting line at the Eastern Region opener expecting nothing more than to do his best against Villopoto and the rest of the competition. The result? Canard has won every single race he has entered in the Eastern Region Supercross Lites this year (all three heats and all three main events). Who is Trey Canard, anyway?
Canard grew up in Oklahoma and, as a young amateur, had the same primary sponsor most riders have, his dad. Canard’s father died in a tragic accident roughly four years ago, and it forced Canard to grow up quickly. By all accounts, Canard is a polite, respectful young man, but he is driven hard by a desire to succeed.
The last two years of Canard’s amateur career, he dominated. According to his biography, he won 17 out of 18 motos at Ponca City, Oklahoma and six championships. He also earned two more titles at Loretta Lynn’s that same year (going 6-for-6 in the motos he entered). In 2007, Canard again won all of the classes he entered at Loretta Lynn’s, and was presented the AMA Horizon Award as the most promising amateur rider in the country. Canard rode a few Nationals at the end of last year, and did pretty well for a rookie. He will ride the entire National Motocross series this year in the Lites division.
The photo at the top of this article is Canard riding the brutal Daytona Supercross this last weekend, which was not only muddy, but featured huge ruts and deep standing water. Daytona is where Canard recorded his third straight victory of this Eastern Region Supercross Lites series.
