“Tonight was great and I am very thankful to even be here,” stated Canard. “It was an uphill battle all week and even today with being sick, but I was able to set that aside and make it on the podium. A year ago tonight I was being taken away on a stretcher, so I believe it is only by God’s hand that I am able to race today. I can’t thank the whole Team Honda Muscle Milk crew enough for everything that they do and for everyone who has supported me.”

Canard’s American Honda teammate Justin Barcia didn’t experience the type of race he was hoping for one week removed from winning his first career 450SX race in Phoenix. After a strong start, Barcia experienced trouble upon takeoff from one of the tracks triple jumps and landed short, forcing his head to slam the handlebars. After attempting to resume competition, Barcia pulled off the track in apparent pain, ultimately suffering a laceration to his eyebrow and nose. While the extent of his injuries have yet to be confirmed, Barcia is expected to be back on track tomorrow night, looking to climb his way out of eighth in the points.

As a result of overcoming Millsaps in their heated battle in Anaheim, TwoTwo Motorsports Honda rider Chad Reed captured his first podium finish of 2013 on the heels of back-to-back fourth-place results to start the season. Reed has been one of the most consistent riders this season and appears to be ready to challenge for wins, entering Oakland third in points, just seven points out of the lead.

“It has been a rough couple of weeks with two fourths,” stated Reed. “Finally now being up on the podium, I guess I’ll take third. We are getting closer within that window but it’s been frustrating. I want to win and challenge for wins. Tonight I rode better and the bike was better, but something was still a little off so hopefully we can get things dialed this week before Oakland.”

One week after suffering from misfortune at Phoenix en route to an eighth-place finish, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey was once again struck with bad luck in Anaheim, getting caught up in incidents not of his doing in both his Heat Race and Main Event. After making his way into the Main Event via the final transfer spot, Dungey was forced to battle his way through the field for the second consecutive week in Anaheim. Dungey’s resiliency resulted in a sixth-place finish, but caused him to fall to fifth in the point standings. He’ll look to end a two-race podium drought in Oakland.

Yohsimura Suzuki’s James Stewart confirmed in the days leading up to Anaheim that he suffered a torn ACL at the opening race of the season. Despite the injury, Stewart has continued to give it his all out on the track and while he has yet to have a chance to battle at the front of the field, Stewart still posted top-10 results through the first two weeks. Last weekend, Stewart encountered misfortune and had to settle for a 12th-place finish, leaving him in ninth place in the championship. As the defending race winner in Oakland, Stewart is looking for big things on Saturday night.

“The day didn’t go the way I hoped it would at Anaheim, but it started out good,” admitted Stewart. “The Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 was working great in qualifying and my Heat Race. But in the Main, I got a bad start and then I got tangled up with another rider a couple of times and I fell over the second time. It was frustrating because I felt good going into the Main Event. But now I’m just focusing on Oakland this weekend. I like racing there and I’ve done well there in the past, so we’ll see if we can’t turn things around.”