Davi and Ryan are Detroit spinners...
By TMX Archives on 16th Apr 08
THE rollercoaster AMA Supercross season took another memorable twist on Saturday when longtime championship leader and champion elect Chad Reed crashed heavily during practice for the Detroit round, suffering a fracture to his shoulder.
The gritty Australian returned from hospital to amazingly line up for the night's Main after using the provisional rule that allows top-ten ranked riders an advancement into the Main if they fail to qualify and salvaged an incredible 12th place finish to limit his points loss on title rival Kevin Windham who finished third on the night behind winner Davi Millsaps and Tim Ferry to close to within 16 points of the Yamaha rider.
Over in the east coast Lites division, there was no shortage of excitment either as season long-time championship leader Trey Canard saw his lead cut to just three points as he again suffered misfortune and could do no better than 10th as Ryan Villopoto again dominted to win easily.
A very heavy spill over the bars on a fast rhythm section during afternoon practice sent Chad Reed to the emergency room coughing up blood and with a shoulder injury and many assumed that his championship was over there and then, but Reed returned to the stadium and lined-up to race, much to the amazement of his rivals and fans alike.
It didn't get much better for Reed as he was taken down in the first turn as Millsaps quickly hit the front with Ferry in tow. As Millsaps opened up a two-second lead over Ferry, which he would hold to the flag, Reed made steady progress through the field to work his way up to an amazing 12th by the flag.
It was a far from pleasant ride for the San Manuel Yamaha team leader, but it limited what could have been a huge points loss for him to just 11 as Windham could not capitalise fully and move further forward than third place by the chequers.
With the gap closed to just 16 and Reed likely to be feeling the effects of those injuries just as much this Saturday night in St Louis, the run in to the final showdown in Las Vegas could be a very interesting one indeed.
Reed, however, was just happy to get out of Detroit under his own steam:
I just put my head down and went for it. I can't believe I crashed in the first turn. That's unbelievable. To feel the way I do, crash in the first turn and come back to 12th, this is a win right here. If we're standing in Vegas and we're the champions, this is the one that got it done.''
I've been here before,'' he added. With a 27-point lead, I'm not going to just stand and watch it go. I've always been able to go out there and grit my teeth, but this was possibly the worst race of my life. I spent four hours in the hospital, and I was scared for my life, to be honest. I've never coughed up so much blood in all my life. I'm happy to be here.''
No-one got close to Ryan Villopoto once again in the Lites class, least of all championship leader Tery Canard who for the second race running hit the deck and had trouble firing-up his machine.
The end result was a runaway victory for Villopoto from Ryan Morais and second Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Branden Jesseman, while Canard could recover no further than 10th and haemorraged more points on the advancing Villopoto who sits just three points behind him in the title race now with just one race to run in the east coast series.
Whether Canard can regain the incredible composure that he displayed early in the campaign to hold off Villopoto remains to be seen, but it will not be through lack of trying by the fantastice rookie.
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 13 Ford Field, Detroit, MI
SUPERCROSS: 1 Davi Millsaps (Hon), 2 Tim Ferry (Kaw), 3 Kevin Windham (Hon), 4 Josh Hill (Yam), 5 Andrew Short (Hon), 6 Travis Preston (Kaw), 7 David Vuillemin (Suz), 8 Charles Summey (Yam), 9 Heath Voss (Hon), 10 Jason Thomas (Hon), 11 Kelly Smith (Kaw), 12 Chad Reed (Yam), 13 Nathan Ramsey (Yam), 14 Ryan Clark (Hon), 15 Eric Sorby (Hon).
Series Standings (After 13 of 16 rounds): 1 Reed 296, 2 Windham 280, 3 Millsaps 229, 4 Short 221, 5 Hill 191, 6 Ferry 189, 7 Ramsey 155, 8 Vuillemin 137, 9 Paul Carpenter (Hon) 123, 10 Nick Wey (KTM) 121.
SUPERCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 Ryan Morais (Yam), 3 Branden Jesseman (Kaw), 4 Nico Izzi (Suz), 5 Matthew Goerke (KTM), 6 Tyler Bowers (Yam), 7 Kyle Partridge (Hon), 8 Kyle Chisholm (Kaw), 9 Travis Sewell (Suz), 10 Trey Canard (Hon), 11 Kyle Keylon (Hon), 12 Zach Ames (Hon), 13 Nathan Skaggs (Hon), 14 Billy Payne (Hon), 15 Levi Kilbarger (Hon).
Series Standings (After 6 of 7 rounds) : 1 Canard 122, 2 Ryan Villopoto 119, 3 Izzi 86, 4 Bowers 76, 5 Davalos 73, 6 Jesseman 72, 7 Josh Grant (Hon) 71, 8 Ryan Sipes (KTM) 70, 9 Morais 68, 10 Payne 60.
Next Round - April 19, Edward Jones Dome, St Louis, MS
For full pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, April 18, 2008