— AMA Monster Energy Supercross – Round 15 – Seattle
— Smarty’s SX Report
450 Class Report: The start straight of the 20 lap main event was more like a smash-up derby than a supercross race with riders tangling handlebars and bashing into each other all of the way into the first corner.
The losers out of this was first of all our own Chad Reed who was on the receiving end of an out of control Ryan Villopoto who tangled bars with Barcia for the whole length of the straight and instead of backing it down RV kept the throttle on and ended up high-siding over the back wheel of Barcia’s Honda and slammed straight into Reed.
Effectively, IF Reed wasn’t there, RV would have spewed off the track and it could have been disastrous for his championship hopes but the Yank ranga had luck on his side and Reed was left to leave the track with what looked like an injured arm.
The other rider to end up on the ground was Ryan Dungey who was caught up in a first turn pile-up on the other side of the track from the RV/Reed crash and was forced to start the race in dead last (if you don’t count Reed who was walking off the track at this stage).
All I can say is that we can be thankful that James Stewart wasn’t in among the start straight carnage or the whole scene could have been so much worse, Bubba doesn’t work well when logical thought processes are needed.
Up front Justin Barcia held the early lead from Mike Alessi and of all people Villopoto who in turn had Davi Millsaps hot on his heel but it didn’t take long for RV to slide into second place and start gaining ground on Barcia.
At this stage of the race I would have put money on another Villopoto win but to his credit ol’ ‘Bam-Bam’ kept his head and rode the track really well. In fact, it started to sprinkle rain mid race and Barcia kept putting in solid lap times while Villopoto seemed to lose some rhythm and had to settle for second place ahead of Millsaps.
Obviously Barcia was wrapped with the win. “Oh man, I’m sky high right now, that was such an awesome race! The track was brutal, and I rode a little tight in the beginning but I loosened up at the end. There were a lot of lappers too, and it was really one lined just because the ruts were so deep. Ryan [Villopoto] was behind me, and he was charging hard, I could hear him the whole time. I just tried to ride a smart and consistent race. Getting the holeshot is so key in this class. I’ve been struggling with that, but I was lucky enough to get a holeshot tonight. I feel so great, it’s awesome!”
Dungey charged through to fourth place ahead of Jake Weimer, Alessi and Broc Tickle who ride from well outside the top ten to garner solid points to now sit 10th in the championship points. After coming together several times this year the Andrew Short/Broc Tickle punch up didn’t eventuate as Broc passed the veteran cleanly on his way to 7th but the bad blood between the two continues to bubble along.
450SX Round 14 Results: 1. Justin Barcia Hon. 2. Ryan Villopoto Kaw. 3. Davi Millsaps Suz. 4. Ryan Dungey KTM. 5. Jake Weimer Kaw. 6. Mike Alessi Suz. 7. Broc Tickle Suz. 8. Justin Brayton Yam. 9. Andrew Short KTM. 10. Phil Nicoletti Yam. 11. Vince Friese Hon. 12. Josh Hill Suz. 13. Ben LaMay Yam. 14. Chris Blose Yam. 15. Cody Gilmore Kaw. 16. Weston Peick Suz. 17. Kyle Partridge Hon. 18. Trey Canard Hon. 19. Mike Horban KTM. 20. Chad Reed Hon.
450SX Championship points after round 15 of 17: 1. Ryan Villopoto 321pts Kaw. 2. Davi Millsaps 296pts Suz. 3. Ryan Dungey 295pts KTM. 4. Justin Barcia 245pts Hon. 5. Chad Reed 213pts Hon. 6. Trey Canard 202pts Hon. 7. Andrew Short 189pts KTM. 8. James Stewart 174pts Suz. 9. Justin Brayton 162pts Yam. 10. Broc Tickle 155pts Suz. 11. Matt Goerke 139pts KTM. 12. Jake Weimer 131pts Kaw. 13. Mike Alessi 107pts Suz.
250SX Class Report: Seattle is well known for it’s rutted jump faces and loose soil, conditions that I thought would suit Eli Tomac and for the best part of the final Tomac was proving m theory right but it was the rutted face of a little kicker double that saw the Honda pilot thrown over the bars.
As Tomac picked his Honda out of the dirt Ken Roczen rode on by and took another win for the 2013 season and extended his points lead to 20 with just two rounds remaining. “Eli and I were doing the same times so I just rode a smart race, the track was tough and you had to concentrate hard, the team did a great job, we are very happy.”
“The track was forming into a great race track and I was on auto pilot but my bike grabbed a rut on the face of a little jump and the front wheel disappeared, I was thinking of trying to ride it out but I decided to bail over the bar, to get second after a crash that big is a bonus,” said Tomac after the race.
Zach Osborne put his recent training program to good use to ride from 10th place up to third. “This is huge for me, I did some GNCC races to keep me focused and I have been training and doing motos non-stop, third place is the results of the hard work.”
Cole Seely passed Tyla Ratray for a fourth place finish while Malcolm Stewart kept the family ethos ticking along by crashing from a possible podium back to 11th place.
250SX East Round 7 Results: 1. Ken Roczen KTM. 2. Eli Tomac Hon. 3. Zach Osborne Hon. 4. Cole Seely Hon. 5. Tyla Rattray Kaw. 6. Austin Politelli Hon. 7. Ryan Sipes Suz. 8. Joey Savatgy KTM. 9. Martin Davalos Kaw. 10. Jason Anderson Suz. 11. Malcolm Stewart KTM. 12. Christian Craig Hon. 13. Killy Rusk Hon. 14. Jake Canada Hon. 15. Travis Baker Yam. 16. Scott Champion Hon. 17. Travis Bright Hon. 18. Kyle Cunningham Yam. 19. Bryce Stewart Yam. 20. Trevor Ivey Hon.
250SX West Region Point Standings after rounds 7 of 9: 1. Ken Roczen 163pts KTM. 2. Eli Tomac 143pts Hon. 3. Cole Seely 113pts Hon. 4. Zach Osborne 102pts Hon. 5. Jason Anderson 99pts Suz. 6. Martin Davalos 94pts Kaw. 7. Kyle Cunningham 86pts Yam. 8. Joey Savatgy 75pts KTM. 9. Tyla Rattray 74pts Kaw. 10. Austin Politelli 72pts Hon. 11. Christian Craig 71pts Hon. 12. Jessy Nelson 60pts Hon. 13. Travis Baker 59pts Yam. 14. Malcolm Stewart 56pts KTM.
250SX East Championship points after rounds 7 of 9: 1. Wil Hahn 178. 2. Marvin Musquin 173.3. Blake Wharton 153. 4. Vince Friese 103. 5. Gavin Faith 100. 6. Dean Wilson 87. 7. Cole Thompson 83. 8. Kyle Peters 78. 9. Jeremy Martin 71. 10. Justin Hill 68. 11. Lance Vincent 66. 12. James Decotis 66. 13. AJ Catanzaro 62. 14. Mitch Oldenburg 61. 15. Peter Larsen 54. 16. Jackson Richardson 42. 17. Levi Kilbarger 40. 18. Steven Clarke 39. 19. Zach Bell 37. 20. Zack Freeberg 36.
