Indi-bag for slick Villopoto
By TMX Archives on 24th Feb 10
THE 2010 Monster Energy AMA Super-cross, and FIM World Championship headed to the Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, for the seventh round of the series and the opening round of the East Coast Lites. And what a night it was as the packed crowd of over 60,000 fans witnessed Ryan Villopoto take his second consecutive win of the championship to pip Ryan Dungey and lead the series by virtue of most wins. Meanwhile in the East Coast Lites, French ace Christophe Pourcel made it a Kawasaki double with a win over Suzuki's Austin Stroupe.
The night was a toughie for Villopoto, as he crashed in his Heat race, and had to qualify through LCQ, resulting in a poor gate for the main race. As the main kicked-off, Honda's Davi Millsaps left the line like a shot to claim the holeshot award, with fellow Honda rider Kevin Windham close behind. Surpris-ingly, Villopoto got a great start and hit the first turn in third. By the third lap Windham had found a way round Millsaps to lead the pack. Windham was riding hard and remained at the front with Villopoto, now in second, snapping at his heels. At the halfway point the Kawasaki rider saw his chance and dived inside Windham to take the lead.
Meanwhile, Ryan Dungey gated mid-pack and worked hard to climb up to third. The Suzuki rider saw his chance with eight-laps to go and made a pass stick to claim second. Villopoto then led with Dungey second, Windham third and Yamaha's Justin Brayton in fourth. After a blistering start Milsaps had to settle for fifth.
I had the very last gate and had to make something of it, said Villopoto, Fortunately there were some sections where I was faster than Davi [Millsaps] and K-Dub [Windham] and I was able to close the gap and get them. We had a good battle going there for awhile. I felt relief when I got to the lead and could hear the crowd when Ryan got around Windham and I knew I had to keep riding a clean race.
Dungey was still pleased with his second place finish. I've always known Indy to have a tacky surface, said Dungey, who is in his first year in the premier class. "There were some tacky spots, but overall the track was really slick tonight. It was tough because when you wanted to square it off and make a pass, you couldn't cut it down too hard because you'd lose your front.
Yamaha's Josh Hill had a disappointing evening finishing ninth overall and dropping down to third in the series standings.
nIN the East Coast Lites class, Honda's Justin Barcia claimed the holeshot ahead of Christophe Pourcel and Austin Stroupe. Pourcel was on form though and quickly took to the lead. The Kawasaki rider never looked back as he led to the flag and claimed the win. Barcia fell on lap three, handing second to Stroupe, however with 13-laps still remaining, Barcia was able to claw his way back to finish third overall.
I just felt pretty good, said Pourcel. Everything was OK today for me so I am just really happy to win the race tonight. The track was pretty tight tonight and I needed to win the race so coming into the main event I just gave my best.
Fresh off a successful final amateur year, Scottish born, Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki's Dean Wilson put in a solid performance in this opening round to finish sixth overall.
The Monster Energy Supercross series heads to Atlanta Saturday, February 27, for the eighth round of the main class, and the second round of the East Coast Lites at the Georgia Dome.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS
CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
SUPERCROSS CLASS: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 3 Kevin Windham (Hon), 4 Justin Brayton (Yam), 5 David Millsaps (Hon), 6 Chris Blose (Hon), 7 Grant Langston (ZA - Yam), 8 Nick Wey (Kaw), 9 Josh Hill (Yam), 10 Jason Lawrence (Yam), 11 Ivan Tedesco (Yam), 12 Jarred Browne (Kaw), 13 Michael Byrne (AUS - Kaw), 14 Kyle Chisholm (Yam), 15 Matt Boni (Hon), 16 Thomas Hahn (Suz), 17 Jason Thomas (Suz), 18 Billy Payne (Hon), 19 Dan Reardon (Yam), 20 Trey Canard (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 17) rounds: 1 Villopoto 145 points (3 wins), 2 Dungey 145 (2 wins), 3 Hill 135, 4 Millsaps 114 (1 win), 5 Windham 106, 6 Brayton 105, 7 Tedesco 97, 8 Wey 74, 9 Short 69, 10 Hahn 61, 11 Chisholm 60, 12 Byrne 57, 13 Langston 54, 14 Stewart 51 (1 win), 15 Blose 50, 16 Iziord 32, 17 Thomas 31, 18 Reardon 22, 19 Coulon 20, 20 Stroupe 18,...
SUPERCROSS LITES (East): 1 Christophe Pourcel (F - Kaw), 2 Austin Stroupe (Suz), 3 Justin Barcia (Hon), 4 Ryan Sipes (Yam), 5 Brett Metcalfe (AUS - Hon), 6 Dean Wilson (Kaw), 7 Kyle Regal (Yam), 8 Nico Izzi (Yam), 9 Martin Davalos (Yam), 10 Troy Adams (Suz), 11 Blake Baggett (Suz), 12 Jake Moss (Suz), 13 Levi Kilbarger (Hon), 14 Adam Chatfield (GB - Kaw), 15 Taylor Futrell (KTM), 16 Michael Willard (Hon), 17 Vince Friese (Yam), 18 Kyle Cunningham (Hon), 19 Tevin Tapia (KTM), 20 James Decotis (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Pourcel 25 points, 2 Stroupe 22, 3 Barcia 20, 4 Sipes 18, 5 Metcalfe 16, 6 Wilson 15, 7 Regal 14, 8 Izzi 13, 9 Davalos 12, 10 Adams 11, 11 Baggett 10, 12 Moss 9, 13 Kilbarger 8, 14 Chatfield 7, 15 Futrell 6, 16 Willard 5, 17 Friese 4, 18 Cunningham 3, 19 Tapia 2, 20 Decotis 1,...
NEXT ROUND: February 27 Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
In the East Coast Lites class Nico Izzi (341) takes the holeshot from James Decotis (613), Justin Barcia (17) and Austin Stroupe (45), Nico was to finish eighth overall in a very competitive race.