Windham wants it

wet and muddy when

Supercross Series hits San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 28) -- It takes a special person to enjoy the Bay Area on a rainy weekend in January, but when Supercross rider Kevin Windham arrives in town for this Saturday's race at AT&T Park he'll undoubtedly be excited about the prospect of getting dirty.

"It's pretty much a given in our sport that when the racetrack is muddy, K-Dub is the man to beat," said Jeff Majkrzak, co-owner of Windham's GEICO Powersports Honda race team. "For whatever reason, he just handles the mud better than anyone I've ever seen. I'm sure he won't be upset if it rains all day."

For Windham, it's all about keeping it simple.

"I just try to keep the bike on its wheels," the 16-year veteran said. "You can't go forward if you're laying on the ground and there's definitely more chances to fall over when it's wet out there. It seems obvious but it's not always easy to keep the bike upright.

"To me a wet forecast offers us a unique chance to gain some points. That gets me excited. We'll have to see how it goes. All you can be sure about in San Francisco is that you can't be sure about anything. The weather there is always crazy, especially this time of the year, and there's not a roof on AT&T Park."

Wet or dry, Windham and Supercross Lites teammates Trey Canard and Blake Wharton are off to a strong start to the 2010 Monster Energy Series. Windham is currently tied for fifth place with reigning world champion James Stewart in the Supercross standings, just a few markers off second place, while Canard has logged two podium finishes in Supercross Lites to earn the No. 2 spot overall in his category. Just two spots behind Canard is Wharton, who had a podium finish of his own in Phoenix.

"We're all riding well so far," Windham said. "It's very early in the season. We've only had three races, but you always keep an eye on the standings and it's nice to see our team riders up there. There's two guys just one point ahead of me right now and the guy in second place is only six points up so I can make a big move this weekend.

"So far, my performance is better than my results. My laps times have mirrored the leaders everywhere we've been. I just need to get a better start out of the gate. If I can do that I should be able to start visiting the podium every week."

The GEICO Powersports Honda team has put a driver on the podium at every race this year. At the first event in Anaheim, Calif., both Windham and Canard earned third-place finishes. Canard repeated the feat last weekend at the Anaheim 2 event. Wharton, meanwhile, got the bronze in Phoenix, the second race of the year.