Surprised that Ezra Lusk beat the latest supercross phenom, Chad Reed, last evening in Phoenix? Surprised that Lusk beat Reed twice — both in their heat and in the main? Surprised that Ricky Carmichael crashed after six laps in the main event trying to hang with the pace set by Lusk and Reed? Maybe, you shouldn’t be.
In a sport where “What have you done for me lately?” means almost everything, you might be excused for forgetting that a healthy Ezra Lusk soundly defeated Jeremy McGrath several times in the late ’90s in the AMA Supercross series. Indeed, Lusk may have had problems with consistency and injuries (injuries that ultimately caused a serious disruption to his career and a loss of self-confidence), but a healthy Lusk had plenty of speed on a supercross track.
Last year, Lusk joined Kawasaki (after leaving Honda) and slowly adapted to his KX250 — showing good speed toward the end of the year. Ezra loves his all-new 2003 KX250, and it showed last night in Phoenix.
Is Ezra back to the level he was at in the late ’90s? We hope so. His perseverance should be rewarded, and his talent is unquestioned.
By the way, Yamaha’s Chad Reed rode superbly again last night. He was ready to hand Ricky Carmichael another defeat, and take his third victory in four attempts at the THQ World Supercross GP. How fast is Ezra Lusk? Ask Chad Reed.
