— AMA Monster Energy Supercross – Round 9 – St Louis
— Smarty’s Report
St Louis 450 Class Report: OK, it took nine rounds but the big four finally lived up to their billing. Ryan Villopoto has taken a win ahead of James Stewart, Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey on a track that was very technical and took a fair degree of experience to put 20 laps down on and that is why I suppose they are known as the ‘big four’.
BUT, it wasn’t quite as simple as it seems. This final actually had two starts and it was (obviously) Mike Alessi who pulled the original holeshot from Justin Barcia, Bobby Kiniry, James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto and Chad Reed while Ryan Dungey sat a little further back and Davi Milsaps for the first time this year way back, almost last.
While Andrew Short and Trey Canard pick their bikes up from a first lap crash, Stewart blew by Kiniry and Barcia before being handed the lead by Alessi (Alessi actually let Bubba by – I have no idea why) but on lap three the race was stopped when Kyle Chisholm crashed after he and Matt Goerke crossed lines while in the air over a big triple leaving Chisholm to be carted off on a stretcher by the Asterix Medical staff.
So, for the first time in AMA Supercross history the race was restarted in a single file fashion but the drama didn’t stop there. With Chisholm down there were caution flag right along one of the jump infested straights and Villopoto, while in third place actually double jumped too early and was penalized three spots for the restart.
With James Stewart starting from ‘pole position’ the Suzuki rider got down to business at the front of the field with Alessi, Barcia, Reed, Kiniry, Villopoto and Dungey all in tow while Milsaps was still back in 13th position but with 17 laps to go.
Once Alessi and Kiniry were dropped from the front pack it was fascinating as RV passed Reed for third then Barcia for second before getting held up by Stewart so at one stage Stewart, RV, Barcia, Reed and Dungey were all either taking off from, in the air or landing from the one triple jump…and guess who was closing in fast…Davi Milsaps!
RV had several goes at getting by JS7 before finally making the move stick and even that was somewhat controversial as there were yellow flags flying near that part of the track but no further action was taken by officials.
Villopoto explains the yellow flag pass. “We rolled the triple, passed the red cross, and then it was two yellow flags and then Kiniry was up on his bike getting ready to take off and that’s what the dispute is about. We had already passed the red cross and we didn’t double anything and I passed in the next turn.”
Villopoto explains how he was penalized. “I made a costly mistake and jumped on a red cross, I thought I was past it but it’s obviously the full straightaway. It was on Mike (Alessi), and obviously we know Mike’s kind of hard to pass so I wanted to try to get it done right away and just jumped the gun.”
“It was one of the more intense races, being that this dirt’s pretty good, I was just eating roost big time and I tend to ride with my mouth open so I get it all in my mouth and stuck in my throat, so was trying to cough that up a few of the laps, it was a crazy race,” concluded Villopoto who now sits just 12 points back from championship lead Davi Milsaps.
With five laps to go Barcia missed a triple handing third and fourth to Reed and Dungey. Lap time wise Reed and Dungey really should have been able to pass Bubba but the Suzuki rider dug deep to stay in second leaving Reed to hold off Dungey for the final podium position.
“That was a much better result tonight,” said Reed who was racing his 150th Supercross Class race at St Louis. “I felt that I had a little more fight for the boys, I think now the bike is good, it is just up to me to trust it again. Every time out tonight I felt a little more comfortable.”
“I feel like we are going in the right direction, it is just trying to get that trust back,” Reed added. “Every time I pushed the bike tonight it gave me the right answers so it is up to me to find that little something extra.”
St Louis – 450SX Results
Heat 1 (Top 9 to Main): 1. R. Villopoto. 2. J. Barcia. 3. J. Brayton. 4. A. Short. 5. M. Alessi. 6. T. Canard. 7. W. Peick. 8. K. Chisholm. 9. R. Kiniry. 10. B. Lamay. 11. J. Hill. 12. E. Tomac.
Heat 2 (Top 9 to Main): 1. J. Stewart. 2. D. Millsaps. 3. R. Dungey. 4. C. Reed. 5. B. Tickle. 6. P. Nicoletti. 7. M. Goerke. 8. K. Partridge. 9. J. Weimer. 10. L. Smith. 11. J. Albertson. 12. J. Sipes.
LCQ (Top 2 to Main): 1. E. Tomac. 2. J. Albertson. 3. C. Blose. 4. J. Sipes. 5. B. Lamay. 6. J. Hill.
Main Event: 1. R. Villopoto. 2. J. Stewart. 3. C. Reed. 4. R. Dungey. 5. J. Barcia. 6. D. Millsaps. 7. M. Alessi. 8. T. Canard. 9. J. Brayton. 10. A. Short. 11. B. Tickle. 12. J. Weimer. 13. E. Tomac. 14. J. Albertson. 15. M. Goerke. 16. K. Partridge. 17. R. Kiniry. 18. W. Peick. 19. P. Nicoletti. 20. K. Chishol
450SX Points after 9 of 17 Rounds: 1. Davi Millsaps 189pts Suz. 2. Ryan Villopoto 177pts Kaw. 3. Ryan Dungey 166pts KTM. 4. Trey Canard 148pts Hon. 5. Chad Reed 147pts Hon. 6. Justin Barcia 132pts Hon. 7. James Stewart 122pts Suz. 8. Andrew Short 113pts KTM. 9. Justin Brayton 103pts Yam. 10. Broc Tickle 87pts Suz. 11. Matt Goerke 85pts KTM. 12. Mike Alessi 74pts Suz. 13. Jake Weimer 70pts Kaw. 14. Weston Peick 42pts Suz. 15. Josh Grant 40pts Yam . 16. Jimmy Albertson 38pts Hon. 17. Kyle Chisholm 38pts Yam. 18. Matt Lemoine 34pts Kaw. 19. Vince Friese 30pts Hon. 20. Robert Kiniry 28pts Yam.
–nnSt Louis 250SX Class Report: If anyone had any doubts that Wil Hahn’s win last week was a fluke those doubt would have been erased after the Geico Honda pilot took another holeshot in the St Louis main event ahead of Blake Wharton and then went toe-to-toe with Dean Wilson to eventually win the race by several bike lengths.
“That wasn’t an easy race,” said Hahn. “It was a tight race tonight with Blake pressuring me early and Dean came on strong late in the race. Tonight was awesome, and my family was here tonight to enjoy this with me.”
“It was a tough race,” said Wilson. “I didn’t make things easy on myself tonight with that bad start. I passed him once, but it wasn’t good enough.”
Blake Wharton spent the whole race just off the leaders in third place while Marvin Musquin has to fight from a poor start and a small crash to finish in fourth place. Jeremy Martin continues to impress in his rookie year with a fifth place finish just ahead of Vince Friese.
Aussie Jackson Richardson missed the main event for the first time this year with a crash in the heat then a poor start in the LCQ putting the young privateer out for the night. Look for Jatz to bounce back at Daytona.
Arlington – 250SX Results
Heat 1 (Top 9 to Main): 1. B. Wharton. 2. J. Hill. 3. J. Martin. 4. S. Rife. 5. M. Musquin. 6. Z. Freeberg. 7. M. Oldenburg. 8. L. Kilbarger. 9. P. Larsen. 10. B. Kiesel. 11. Z. Bell.
Heat 2 (Top 9 to Main): 1. D. Wilson. 2. W. Hahn. 3. V. Friese. 4. L. Vincent. 5. D. Herrlein. 6. J. Decotis. 7. A. Catanzaro. 8. C. Thompson. 9. K. Hussey. 10. R. Zimmer. 11. G. Faith. 19. J. Richardson.
LCQ (Top 2 to Main): 1. Z. Bell. 2. G. Faith. 3. R. Zimmer. 4. B. Kiesel. 5. J. Richardson. 6. K. McCabe. 7. K. Peters. 8. J. Wentland. 9. G. Swanepoel.
250SX Main Event: 1. Wil Hahn Hon. 2. Dean Wilson Kaw. 3. Blake Wharton Suz. 4. Marvin Musquin KTM. 5. Jeremy Martin Yam. 6. Vince Friese Hon. 7. Jimmy Decotis Hon. 8. Cole Thompson Hon. 9. Zach Bell Hon. 10. PJ Larsen Yam. 11. Gavin Faith Hon. 12. Zack Freeberg Hon. 13. AJ Catanzaro Kaw. 14. Kyle Hussey Kaw.15. Mitchell Oldenburg Hon. 16. Justin Hill Kaw. 17. Levi Kilbarger Hon. 18. Daniel Herrlein Hon. 19. Lance Vincent KTM. 20. Shawn Rife Hon.
250SX East Points after 3 of 7 Rounds: 1. Wil Hahn 70pts Hon. 2. Dean Wilson 69pts Kaw. 3. Blake Wharton 60pts Suz. 4. Marvin Musquin 53pts KTM. 5. Vince Friese 39pts Hon. 6. Gavin Faith 38pts Hon. 7. Justin Hill 36pts Kaw. 8. Jimmy Decotis 34pts Hon. 9. Jeremy Martin 32pts Yam. 10. Kyle Peters 31pts Hon. 11. Zach Bell 26pts Hon. 12. Cole Thompson 25pts Hon. 13. Mitchell Oldenburg 25pts Hon. 14. Lance Vincent 22pts KTM. 15. Gareth Swanepoel 13pts Kaw. 16. PJ Larsen 11pts Yam. 17. Jackson Richardson 11pts Hon. 18. AJ Cantanzaro. 11pts Kaw. 19. Levi Kilbarger 11pts Hon. 20. Adam Gulley 10pts Kaw.
250SX West Region Point Standings: 1. Ken Roczen 138pts KTM. 2. Eli Tomac 121pts Hon. 3. Cole Seely 95pts Hon. 4. Jason Anderson 88pts Suz. 5. Kyle Cunningham 83pts Yam. 6. Martin Davalos 82pts Kaw. 7. Zach Osborne 82pts Hon. 8. Joey Savatgy 62pts KTM. 9. Christian Craig 62pts Hon. 10. Jessy Nelson 60pts Hon. 11. Tyla Rattray 58pts Kaw. 12. Austin Politelli 57pts Hon. 13. Travis Baker 53pts Yam. 14. Malcolm Stewart 46pts KTM. 15. Max Anstie 38pts Suz. 16. Ryan Sipes 31pts Suz. 17. Josh Cachia 29pts KTM. 18. Jake Canada 21pts Hon. 19. Jean Carlos Ramos 21pts Kaw. 20. Michael Leib 16pts Hon.
Next week the SX riders head to the famous Daytona round.
